Chapter 6 - The Grey Howl Alpha

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.