Pierce POV
“How many guards are on tonight?”“20 in total Alpha. Did you want more?”“No that’s a good number. Not being on high risk anymore, that should be sufficient.” I rub the temple spots by the side of my forehead. Things have been…torturous, but not for any visible reason. The entire pack has been on alert mode for the past 6 months.I have been meticulous in my planning of late.“Did you want to start looking at options for bringing the trackers back…it has been 3 months.” Dane, my long serving beta…my second in command asks.“Can we spare anybody else to take their places?”“No right now Alpha, no. I think they need the break. It has been constant for them, and I know for a fact that they haven’t once come across any Red Stone pack trackers…”They haven’t? In 3 whole months…that surprises me.“They haven’t?”“No, are you sure Alpha Reuben has trackers out in the field?”“That’s what he said.” I stand up from my desk chair, Dane sitting on the other side of my desk, his daily pack report in his hands.Pack operations were fine, great in fact…so why was I feeling so on uneasy still. I know why, but I can’t let things outside of this pack affect my daily leadership.I’ve had men out in the field on a tracking mission for the past 3 months, and they have found nothing.Nothing!How was that even possible.How can you find somebody that has vanished…as if they never existed. Which on the digital records, they never did.It was evening, the guard switchover for border patrol about to take place and as always, everyday I get a nervous sensation at this time.There is no obvious explanation for my wolf to be on alert. No rhyme or reason, but since the lake house and the soldiers in the woods, I’ve increased the protection levels of this pack as a precautionary measure.The Grey Howl pack has always stood separate to the royal alliance, the alliance my close friend Reuben and his wife Alpha Evelyn of the Silver Moon pack run together. I know if I needed to call upon them, even as a non member, they wouldn’t hesitate in coming to my aid…so why, why do I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that wants me to keep an eye on the borders.Only recently I have reduced our security status to non-high risk, having been that way for 6 months. My pack members were getting exhausted, each one of them taking it in turn to do their bit. But I have kept a high number of guards on night time patrol.I walk over to my cabinet and pour myself a glass of whiskey to settle the nerves that I have no control over.“Very well Dane, call the men back. After tonight, reduce the guards down to the lowest level. It’s time we got back to normal.”……It didn’t take long for the trackers to return to the Grey Howl pack, they must have been close by. I keep it a rule that if they are on a mission then communication with myself or Dane is limited, which is why I am only hearing about the lack of Red Stone trackers now.They were briefing myself and Beta Dane today, only after giving the order for their return 2 days ago. As I enter my office after completing my morning run, I find them already sitting around my desk. They all need a good shave and haircut, a good meal and a bath…but all in all they look well.“Morning chaps. I hope you had a good rest last night?” I greet them all, as I take my sit at my desk.“Yes Alpha, it’s good to be back.”“I bet, thank you for your extending assignment. So, tell me what you know.”“Unfortunately Alpha, every time we thought we were on a new lead it would just go cold. It was almost as if…the lead didn’t even exist. As if…”“She were being hidden by someone.” I finish one of my tracker’s sentences. This has been on my mind for a while now.I can understand somebody going into hiding, but to be completely undetectable in today’s strongly run digital world...someone had to be helping her.“I don’t want to speak out of term…” The mission leader speaks, apprehensive on how I will respond.“You won’t, speak.”“I know one of the trackers from the Red Stone pack well, and he’s been based at the pack for the last 6 months. He hasn’t had one mission yet.”What?That can’t be right.“How do you know this?”“We have an off the record agreement in place to share information, to help each pack. We might not be in the alliance but we are treated as such.”“What was your last lead?”“That case Birdy18 has been travelling the country hitching lifts by human lorry drivers..”A growl emits from my chest, my wolf disapproving of the idea of what she may have been doing to remain hidden.“We checked out the last service station known, even found her on CCTV…but then…”“Then what?” Dane pushes for me.“The footage when she leaves the service station has been tampered with. She’s there one minute in front of the camera paying at the till, then she disappears off camera. We can’t even find which route she may have then travelled on.”This was a nightmare, a nightmare I have been living for the past 6 months. I was desperate, my wolf arguing with me every day to find her, for us to leave the pack and find her.But I have a responsibility as an alpha to run the pack, to ensure the safety of my pack members. I can’t just up and leave.“Did you try each route anyway?”“Yes Alpha, numerous of times. I’m sorry to report that the trail just dies there.”I can tell this isn’t the news they wanted to share. That them returning empty handed, having been away from their families and pack for so long, is the last thing they wanted to do. They weren’t used to defeat, I can see their own disappointment in their eyes.“Thank you, I’ll let you know on the next cause of action. For now rest and be with your families.”“Yes Alpha.” They all submit their necks to me in a sign of respect before leaving my office.I pick up the file that is on my desk, which is titled Birdy18. Fitting for her.For 6 months I have lived without the other half of my soul, my heart split everyday between wanting to find her and being Alpha. A mate connection started only to be torn apart.He knows how much I need to find her, he said he would organise trackers himself. That I don’t need to worry, that he would handle it.But of course I did, I couldn’t just stand idly by and wait. So why, why hasn’t he sent them?If Reuben has been lying to me all this time, I need to know why.“Dane?”“Alpha?”“I’m going to see Reuben, find out why his trackers haven’t been searching for her as he said they would. You are in charge in my absence.”“Yes Alpha.”“Just keep an extra eye on the borders at night, something is niggling at me. I won’t be long.”I always called her my kitty kat, but perhaps Birdy was a more fitting nickname…always in flight mode, never landing. Well perhaps this alpha will be the cat that catches the bird after all.Alpha Pierce is back!!! 💎
Pierce POV I’ve visited Reuben’s and Evelyn’s new home plenty of times, but never with a purpose other than just spending time with them. If Reuben’s trackers haven’t been spotted by mine, then there was the strong possibility that he hadn’t sent any out at all.Fate had destined for Reuben and I to be in each other’s lives from a young age. Our Father’s were the best of friends until their feud, forcing Reuben and I to grow apart, to temporarily become adversaries. A few physical arguments as teenagers, I believe one being over both having a crush on the same girl…then our fates crossed again the day he carried a collapsed Evelyn in his arms out of a warehouse located on my outer pack grounds.I found immense pleasure in flirting with Evelyn so openly in front of him, even when he was denying their bond and remaining with Vicky. Now their kids call me uncle. The Royal Alpha family’s house was set away from both packs, geographically in the middle of the Red Stone and the Silver
Pierce POV “What do you mean she is safe?” I can feel my face screwing up as I ask my own question. My own mind at a loss of what he means. “Exactly that, that she is safe.” This is beggar’s belief. “How long….for how long have you known this?” “For 6 months.” For 6 months…for 6 months he has known she is safe yet he has let me think the worse. Every time I have been here I have opened up to Evely, told her how I have been struggling…no wonder he was so quiet, the prick was holding back from me. I could feel my body trembling, my beastly wolf wanting out…to punish this so called Alpha King for letting me think my own mate was possibly dead. My beast becoming ferociously dangerous in this lovely high-end designed kitchen of theirs. The only way to prevent a shift is to attack in myhuman form. The only warning I give him is the snarl that leaves my mouth. I lunge at him, it doesn’t matter there is a dinning table in my way. I knock him to the ground, our bodies rolling around
Pierce POV Reuben prepares me for a long wait. He says he has no idea where Libby has been hiding but from what he suspects, it is the other side of the country. At least, hopefully, she was still in the country and hadn’t gone overseas. That is what filled me with dread…that she would have used smugglers to get her out of the country. Libby has no trace of a digital record, something her father Odin made a point of ordering. She is on the records until she reached the age of 12 and then it’s as if she died…I even have her death certificate…and her mother’s. Claiming she died of pneumonia. We know for certain that Libby’s mother was human, which makes my mate half human half werewolf. A fact she didn’t know until she stumbled across our kind, both Reuben and I chasing her out of one of my warehouses. I have plenty of regrets with Libby. I regret letting her into this world so quickly…she wasn’t ready. She had also lived a life apart from most humans since her mother died. Her an
Libby POV It was a fresh new week on the farm and I was excited on what it might bring.The weekend had been eventful, I now know my friend’s Ben and Beth are secret werewolves with their own problems, hiding just as I am. I now had a fresh batch of tablets to suppress those stomach cramps, Ben and Beth non-the-wiser on my own part in the werewolf world….I was feeling great. Life was starting to seem less…bleak. My life will never be easy, but at least it was a life I was finally choosing for myself. Ben and Beth left my caravan and headed to theirs to freshen up. I took the eggs that Ben had left outside Anwir’s place and was busy making him his favourite breakfast on the campfire. He’ll be out of someone’s caravan momentarily and I’m pretty certain I know which one. I am crouched down by the campfire when I hear a door creak behind me, my head turning to find the culprit. “Why am I not surprised?” I mutter to myself as I witness Anwir climb out of a caravan, as soon as I start
Libby POV I’m slow in comparison but I manage to follow Ben and Beth, breaking away when I reach my own caravan. This was it. Time to move again. I cannot be caught. I rip open the cupboard door under the sink, reaching for my backpack and hoisting it onto my back. I rush to the fridge, clumsily reaching for bottled water as my adrenaline kicks in. I’ve been planning this for months but now that it is happening…I feel severely unprepared. I just don’t possess that…hunter mindset within me. “What’s going on?” Anwir is watching me, too cooly, at the steps leading up to my door. “They will only inspect the others and then move on. Why are you worried?” He turns and I stick my head out the door when I see the blue sirens gathering distance on us…on me. “Anwir…” I hush him, at the sight of the illegal farm workers starting to run away from the now running police officers in the fields. This was like a scene from those tv dramas I used to watch. But now I was in one. I can’t get
Pierce POV I’ve been traveling throughout all of last night and now today. I’ve checked plenty of farms in this area, none of them seem to be hiring illegal farmers from what I can see. Not that they would be advertising this but I have searched the areas for any signs of people remaining hidden. Anwir wasn’t exact in his location, he was holding back on Reuben and I, but I had a small part of the map that he pointed to and didn’t wait to start my search. I knew instantly this was the right farm. The police now swarming the area was the sign that I needed. I keep driving around the farm’s border fencing until I find the accommodation entrance, finding police loading people into vans and vehicles under arrest. I curse under my breath as I exit my vehicle…I was going to have to act as a detective to get any chance of gaining information. I head to the boot of my car, placing a long black smart coat over me…checking the fake detective badge in my inner pocket. “Can I help you?” A po
Libby POV We’ve been moving for hours…my legs were like jelly. I needed a break. I needed to catch my breath. I was already pushing through the burning sensation in my lungs, now fighting a painful stitch in my side. We must have covered miles since we left the farm, surely this would be enough distance for one night. “Ben.” I gasp which finally forces him to turn around to check on us behind. He had been leading our expedition and I had complete faith in him, but he was so hell-bent on getting us somewhere safe he forgot how much stronger he was than the rest of us. His eyes glance nervously upon Beth who was also panting slightly. She may have a wolf, but from what I understand, she hasn’t got her full strength yet. That wouldn’t come until she was of age. Therefore, for right now, she was stronger than me, but not considerably. “Okay, let’s stop for the night.” He agrees, my chest already feeling some relief from his words alone. “There’s a barn about half a mile in that dir
Libby POVIt’s a growl that wakes me. Not the growl from Ben’s wolf but the growl from my own stomach. With the adrenaline pumping through me last night to evade the police, I forgot about dinner. We all did. I sit up slightly, my back stiff from sleeping on the hard concrete barn floor, Anwir’s hands wrapped around me.It was only just dawn, the birds chirping away in the surrounding trees reminding me of the number of times I woke up early to feed the farm animals. Some sadness washes over me from that short life I loved, now having gone forever. Yes it was basic, yes it was hard work…but for once…it was mine and I called the shots. Not my Father, not my half brother….me. I’m hungry just thinking about those eggs sitting in the hen’s coop waiting to be collected. Like little golden eggs ready for the plucking, waiting to be scrambled for breakfast. I’m tempted to go back and get them, start our day off with some food in our stomachs at least. But I can’t, it’s too risky and to