Chapter 3: The Hunt Begins

Amelia

Just like we always do when we’re together, I rub my scent on the new pups in our ranked member group. Both Nikki and Allison had their pups during Margot’s Luna ceremony a couple weeks ago. This is my first opportunity to meet them.

Our group of pups keeps getting larger and I wonder if I will someday have another pup as well. I have no problem with Athena being my pack’s heir, but I’d like more pups. Even Sophie has three pups now and she and I were pregnant together the first time.

As the night goes on and the pups fall asleep, I look around at my friends.

“How are Dr. Olander and Luna Olivia?” I ask.

“They’ll be here next weekend,” Eve says.

“Really?” I ask.

“Surprisingly, yes. At the time we left, neither of them had gotten their wolves back but Dr. Olander, through his notepad because he still can't talk, let me know that he didn’t have to speak to be able to heal others,” Dante says, then grins. “I think he and Luna Olivia are battling to see whose wolf will re-emerge first.”

“Well, that’s good news,” I say.

It’s late and I’m tired, but I don’t want to go to my room just yet. I know I won’t sleep tonight. Calvin is awake. He still has a significant memory loss. There’s so much he’s missed which means I already know that he and I will be fighting multiple battles again. The thought exhausts me.

“Hey, penny for your thoughts,” Sophie says quietly, coming to sit beside me.

“I’ll give you a quarter,” Jocelyn says, coming to sit on my other side.

“Is this an ante because I’ll go a dollar,” Nikki says, making me laugh.

I feel like I’m on the verge of falling apart but this group of women has always been the rock that kept our group of packs stable.

I look at all of them. The Alphas are noticeably quiet, but they’re here, watching and giving me their silent support.

“I don’t know if I have it in me to fight with Calvin all over again. It was hard enough the first time. He’s such a proud man. It took him so long to accept that he was wrong before. I just … I don’t know if I can do it again. I don’t even know if I want to,” I say, swiping away the wayward tear that escapes.

Sophie wraps an arm around my shoulders and Jocelyn wraps one around my waist, surrounding me with their love and understanding.

“What can we do to support you, sis?” Sophie asks.

“I don’t know. We all have so much going on. I’m thankful that most of our enemies are gone, but we still have at least one, maybe two out there,” I say.

“You’re talking about Alpha Daniel as the second potential enemy?” Allison asks.

“Yeah. Do we know any more about him?” I ask.

“He and I have only talked via email. I told him about Alpha David’s death, that the pack was overrun by another Alpha, and that now it’s vacant,” Nikki says.

“He didn’t question what happened to the other Alpha?” I ask, surprised.

“I may have said that Koden was hiding from one of our allies and he and his pack were taken out,” she says.

“How did he take that?” Kinsley asks.

“It’s hard to tell over email. We’re having a call this week. I’ll hopefully know more when we return next weekend. But back to you and Calvin,” she says, just as Remington’s phone rings.

“It’s Peter,” he says.

Since we all know Peter wouldn’t be calling this late unless something was wrong, we all watch as he answers the phone.

His head has just snapped up, and he’s turned to look at me when my phone rings.

I grab it, seeing Leah’s number.

“Leah?” I answer, already knowing something is very wrong.

“Alpha, we received a call from Peter, then we heard the howls go up in your pack. Brutus is on his way to your pack now, but I’m here with your patrols,” she says.

“Koden was on your pack lands,” Remington says, his eyes focused on me. “He left with someone. We don’t know who.”

“Leah, I need to speak with Brutus!” I tell her.

“Hang on, Alpha. He was went to the pack hospital to make sure Alpha Calvin was safe,” one of my patrols says.

I feel my chest tighten. Calvin would be the first person Koden would go after if he knew he was in my pack.

I hang up with Leah and call the hospital directly. I need to know that Calvin is alright. When one of my nurses answers, I hear Calvin in the background, arguing that he’s going to go after Koden.

“Put me on speaker,” I tell the nurse. I'm thankful that Calvin is okay, but he's only making everything more difficult and I need to figure out who Koden took from my pack. If it wasn't Calvin...

“Go ahead,” the nurse says.

“Dr. Caspian,” I say. He and I talked about this before I left. I knew there was a possibility that Calvin would become belligerent without me there to keep him in line. Now is not the time for him to be trying to take control. I give him permission to sedate Calvin.

Not surprisingly, Calvin is irate.

“You don’t have the authority …” he begins, but his voice trails off and I hear him collapse to the floor. I’ll have the deal with the aftermath of that when he wakes up, but for now, I need to make sure my pack members are safe.

“Who did he take?” I ask Brutus.

“We think it’s Charity, Alpha. The warriors are searching for her, but they haven’t been able to find her. My first concern was Alpha Calvin, but I’m headed to your packhouse now to help search for her.”

“I’m on my way, Brutus” I say, hanging up as I turn to Jocelyn.

“I’m coming with you,” she says.

“No, you need to stay here. Can you watch Athena for me?”

“Of course I will,” she says.

“We all will, Amelia,” Sophie says.

I can see my warriors getting up. They realize something is wrong.

“Jocelyn, let them know what’s going on,” I say, the begin to strip so I can shift.

By the time I’ve shifted, the other Alphas have shifted as well.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask in the Alpha link.

‘You don’t think we’re letting you go after Koden alone, do you? Remington and our Lunas can handle this while we go hunt for Koden. I want the fucking asshole dead,’ Hunter growls. At one time, Koden was Hunter's Gamma. He's regretted letting him go almost from the moment he did.

I don’t waste time arguing. I take off running. From here, it’s faster to run between Hunter’s and Kayce’s packs, up and over the mountain, and past the Watch Tower to get to my pack. It will still take time, but with only Alphas running, we’ll get there faster.

It takes two hours to get there by wolf, but by the time we reach the Watch Tower, I am able to connect to my pack members.

‘Status! Did you find Charity?’ I ask.

The entire time I’ve been running, all I could think of was that I told her I’d keep her safe. She’s only been in my pack a couple of weeks and now she’s been kidnapped.

Some fucking Alpha I am.

‘We haven’t been able to find her, Alpha. We did find Koden’s trail and Beta Brutus went out with warriors to hunt him.’

‘Lucas, are you in touch with Brutus?’ I ask in the Alpha link.

‘Yes,’ he says, opening the link to all the Alphas.

‘Brutus and Amelia’s warriors are following Koden’s scent. He’s moving northeast.’

I frown. ‘Toward Calvin’s pack?’

‘Yes,’ Lucas says.

‘Remember, Amelia, there aren’t any packs between Lucas’ and Calvin’s in that direction. There’s a lot of forest and places where a man who is as sneaky as Koden can hide,’ Hunter says.

‘He’s fucked with me one too many times, Hunter. This time, he took that sweet girl who is already suffering from what happened to her. I will rip that asshole apart when I finally get my hands on him,’ I say, howling my approach as we get close to my pack lands.

The pack answers, but I don’t stop. I need to get to Charity. I need to keep my promise to keep her safe.