Chapter Thirty-Seven

**Sloan**

“I swear I don’t know where the Omega is… I’m loyal to you, Alpha Sloan.” Richie gasped in fear.

Alpha gazed at the trembling boy and arched an eyebrow before roaring in his face, “**Then why do I smell my female on you?!**” Upon hearing this, both Tristan and Declan growled in anger. Alpha sensed that they had taken a fighting stance, ready to fight for their Omega.

“I swear!!” The boy begged, “I don’t know anything.”

“**I will ask one last time… where is she?**” Alpha asked again, but his tone was deathly quiet this time.

The boy stopped struggling, and his whole demeanour changed. Despite being strangled, he smirked up at Alpha. “There’s no use… her mangled body will most likely be returned to you soon enough.”

“Cocky little fucker!” Tristan growled but didn’t make a move to sidestep Alpha. Alpha saw through his peripheral view that Tristan was clenching his fist, trying to resist hitting the boy.

“**You’re going to learn that you chose the wrong side,**” Alpha whispered in his ear. He enjoyed the smirk that suddenly dropped from the boy’s face and dragged his struggling body out of the control booth.

“Kenny, hack his profile… there should be a trace left on his system.” Declan ordered before following them out.

Alpha wanted to teach this boy a lesson. So, he made the last-minute decision to conduct the beat down in the training gym. Those who were still in the house witnessed their Alpha man-handling the boy. Though they were all confused, no one voiced their concerns for the boy’s safety, especially with Declan and Tristan trailing behind them.

Alpha kicked open the double doors to the gym, reducing the wooden material to splinters. He kept dragging the boy until they got to the boxing ring. For a brief moment, Alpha and Sloan’s memory of Myra sparing with Leanne and the pleasurable aftermath flashed across his mind. It made them both nostalgic and further fuelled his anger. He tossed Richie into the ring like a child discarding a ragdoll. The boy’s body landed in a loud, sickening thud which knocked the wind out of him. Because of his heightened hearing, Alpha heard something snapped. As Richie coughed and groaned through his pain, Alpha grabbed the neckline of his t-shirt and ripped the fabric apart.

“I swear I don’t know anything.” The boy tried begging, forgetting that he had already shown his hand in the whole affair.

Alpha jumped into the ring, landing heavily on his feet, seemingly shaking the room. He cracked his neck and slowly stalked towards the boy. Richie tried crawling backwards away from Alpha, but he kicked him hard in the stomach, taking away another breath from him.

“**Who else has been spying on us?**” Alpha questioned, just as Declan addressed the growing stunned audience inside the gym.

“For those of you gathered, Richie is a rogue spy… he had been part of the murderous group who have been terrorizing the city for the past eight months. He also had a hand in the breach in security which resulted in the death of Toby and Adam, plus Elizabeth’s escape and the subsequent kidnapping of Omega Myra.” Declan explained, though his words got deeper and anger as he listed Richie’s various crimes. Disgusted growls, barks and roars echoed through the gym, each member displaying their emotional distaste for the boy.

Richie whimpered through his pain and tried staggering to his feet. A silver dagger glinted in his hand, and he smirked at Sloan, smiling with a bloody mouth.

“*Interesting that he chose now to reveal that he was armed all along.*” Sloan thought, and Alpha grunted in agreement. “**You got one chance… and you better make it worth it because once I get my hands around your twig of a neck… I won’t hesitate to snap it.**” Alpha dared him, standing with his hands behind his back.

Richie tossed the blade from one hand to the other, possibly calculating his chances. Alpha could smell his fear and anxiety, and those moods only heightened his excitement for the hunt.

“A true Alpha isn’t boastful.” Richie spat at Alpha, proving himself to be a real-life Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The boy was an emotional seesaw, not sure which way was up and down.

“**And your ‘supposed’ Alpha isn’t?? He’s nothing but an egotistical murder who’s a coward, hiding in the shadows while pathetic fools like you get your hands dirty.**”

Tristan decided to hackle from the sidelines with the same amount of venom and hatred that Alpha felt for the boy. “Your group preyed on innocent Shifters and Humans… thirty-eight individuals lost their lives, some in the most heinous and brutal way imagined… because for what? A power grab within the city?”

Richie ignored Tristan’s comment and pointed the blade threateningly at Alpha. “And who gets to decide that he’s the Alpha?” He growled, “Want to talk about egotistical? Take a fucking look in the motherfucking mirror.”

More growls and barks of anger responded to the boy’s disrespect of their Alpha. If Richie thought he was going to gain support from the gathered group, he was sadly mistaken. Alpha took another deep breath, looking for any other trace of Myra’s scent in the air. He needed to be sure that all those gathered were still loyal to him and not another rogue spy.

Her faint scent was still only on Richie – their Judas.

Richie took the opportunity while Alpha was scenting the room to strike out at him. Alpha twisted out of the way, but the boy was cunning and switched the hands holding the dagger. At the last second, Richie swung the blade across his face. He felt the blade slicing through his skin. A burning sensation ran from the top of his right eye, across his nose and down his left cheek.

The room got painful quiet as they looked from the blood dripping down from the wound on their Alpha’s face to the smirking boy.

“Slow, fat cunt!” Richie gloated, already celebrating his small victory of actually injuring the Alpha. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, producing an extra burst of adrenaline while feeling invincible.

“**That was your one and only shot.**”

Alpha’s body started to vibrate, and he started shifting before everyone’s eyes. However, to the casual observer in the room, this shift was different.

Richie decided to take this as another opportunity to strike out at Alpha. But once he was within arm’s length, Alpha quickly disarmed the boy knocking the dagger out of his hand, and it landed softly behind them. Alpha’s fingers curled around his neck. They grew longer than usual. His claws dug into the skin of his neck, causing him to bleed. Alpha’s bones snapped and popped as he stretched in height. At this point, Shifters would usually hunch over changing into their animal form, but not this time. Richie looked in horror as Sloan’s face began to change into a mix of his human features and his wolf’s.

The eyes and bridge of his nose were the only human part of his face. The end of his nose and mouth elongated into a wolf’s snout, with his upper and lower canines begging to rip out Richie’s throat. His ears twitched at the slightest of sounds, and Alpha took immense pleasure in hearing the rapid beating of Richie’s thundering heartbeat.

As suddenly as the shift started, it finished. Sloan stood on his fur-covered hind legs. His jeans were ripped and shredded into pieces allowing his tail to twitched excitedly behind him. His torso, stomach and upper arms still looked human but more muscular and defined. His elbows, lower arms and hands were covered in fur and looked like a hybrid combination of his human body and his wolf’s form.

Alpha stood about seven and a half feet tall, causing the boy’s legs to dangle frantically like a freshly caught fish.

Someone gasped, and Alpha turned midnight black eyes at the gathering. Immediately, everyone dropped to their knees, baring their necks to him in submission. Instead of basking in his powerful glory, he sucker-punched the boy in the stomach, breaking several ribs and puncturing vital organs.

“**Not only did you disrespect me as your one, true Alpha,**” Alpha commented while tightening his grip around the boy’s neck. The atmosphere in the gym turned even more frigid as most Shifters couldn’t speak verbally in their animal forms. It was shocking to hear the gravelly animal growls formulating perfect sentences. “**… you made the grave mistake of stealing away your Luna!**”

Richie’s eyes almost bulged out from both fear and the inability to breathe. He was indeed turning a brilliant shade of blue; Alpha took pleasure in his discomfort. “**Last chance, where is she, and how many are involved?**”

Richie’s legs kicked out wildly as he tried in vain to remove the hand choking him. Alpha took pity on him and loosen his grip, barely.

“I swear, I don’t... know. We were bl–blindfolded on-once we met up with the-the carriers.”

Alpha shook his body from the neck, willing some sense to form in his traitorous head. The boy started crying; it was truly disgusting and hilarious at the same time. Some from his team even laughed at his display.

“I swear… that’s all I know… she seduced me… she needed my help to get them… to set Elizabeth free.” He confessed in a panic.

“**She?? She who?**”

“St… Stacy…”

Without looking back, a couple of individuals stood up and ran out of the gym. He knew either his brother or Declan had ordered Stacy’s detainment. For the simple joy of it, Alpha punched Richie again, knocking his body to the floor. The blow further broke and punctured more internal bones and organs. The type of damage Alpha was inflicting on him was too extensive for his animal spirit to heal promptly.

“**I suggest you use whatever is remaining of your meager life to remember something significant.**”

“I–I–I’m… I am only a-a-a foot sol–soldier ne-new to the group,” Richie wheezed, confirming that Alpha had punctured at least one or both of his lungs. “The alp… leader al–always wore a… a G–Guy Fawkes masks.”

“What did he smell like? What type of Shifter are we dealing with?” Tristan asked impatiently.

“H–He…” Richie groaned and gasped for air.

Losing his patience, Alpha stomped down on his left leg shattering his fibula and tibia. He screamed out in pain, looking at his mangled leg in horror. The pain of his broken leg transformed his face into something ugly, earning some grimaces and chuckles from their audience.

“**Tick, tock bitch… now speak!**”

“He didn’t… he didn’t… umm, he smelt… like… like different Shifters.” Richie stuttered through his pain.

“Damn Alpha, maybe he doesn’t have enough oxygen flowing to his brain.” Declan wondered aloud, causing the room to erupt in laughter.

Choosing not to laugh as well, Alpha raised his paw to stomp on the opposite right femur. Richie held up his hand in front of his leg with fat tears rolling down his cheeks. He was drenched in sweat and smelt like he had either pissed or shit himself. Possible both.

“I’m tel–telling the truth,” He cried, “There wasn’t - there wasn’t one scent… un-uni-unique to him.” He tried to explain through his tears, but his eyes never left Alpha’s still risen leg.

“**How many are in his rank?**”

“I… umm… I don’t kno… OWWWWW!!!” He screamed as Alpha shattered his femur. Instead of removing his paw, he twisted it into the broken bone, causing Richie to howl out in pain. “He has spies in every pack, clan and coven… their numbers are… ma… many!!”

Tristan was the first to recover from laughing and said, “We want a number, dumbass.”

“Thr… three to four members… per pack, clan etc.”

“Wait a minute… this group isn’t rogues at all?” Declan questioned in shock, and the rest of the group stopped laughing immediately.

Richie took too long to reply, so Alpha twisted his paw again. “N… NOOO!!!”

“Fuck!” Tristan and Declan swore.

“**Times up… any passing remarks for your family?**”

“Wait… wait…” He held up his hand, begging for his life. Alpha just grabbed it and twisted it. He dislocated his shoulder, popped out his elbow and broke his wrist with a simple jerk.

“**Why?? You didn’t give us anything useful.**” He growled but stopped suddenly when a sweet sound echoed clearly in his mind.

“*Sloan!*” Myra’s terrified voice called to him. Alpha stared at Richie, waiting to hear the sweet melody that made his heart skip a beat.

“**Myra?**” He called out, waiting but got no reply. Did he imagine the sound due to stress? “**Myra?? Angel, can you hear me?**”

“*Sloan?*”

It was her!

The fact that he can hear her means that her vixen spirit wasn’t completely blocked by the drug and needed time to work it out of her system. However, Myra sounded unsure, and he realized his voice, even in his link, would be different. She started to doubt their connection, and he quickly reassured her that it was him and a lot had happened since her abduction.

With this connection to his Angel, Alpha momentarily abandoned the pitiful creature at his feet. Richie was a sweaty, broken, crying disgrace curled up in pain.

“**Angel, where are you?**” He asked, but she was too confused by their shared communication to focus and answer his questions. He knew his other Angel would know. Now was definitely a good time to introduce Myra to her other half. “**Skye?**”

He waited as her vixen took control and gave him what he needed to locate them and quickly. He glanced at Tristan and nodded in a silent request for pants before he shifted back into his human form. Unfortunately, Myra and Skye were having a one-side bickering match. At least, that’s what he assumed from the bits that were coming through the link.

“**Girls, you can fox-fight at another date. I need to find you before,**” He let the thought trail off. He refused to acknowledge that outcome as a possibility. However, Skye popped that bubble and voiced what he couldn’t anyway. She started to describe what she could smell.

“*I smell dirt… blood, chemicals and something else.*” Skye’s angelic voice cooed in his mind.

“**What kind of chemical?**” He asked when Tristan returned with a pair of pants. For good measure, Tristan kicked Richie in the stomach while glaring at him. Declan had recovered the blade and stopped, sniffing the blood-covered item. His head snapped to the Alpha’s face and then to the boy.

“You fucking bastard… this is coated with wolfbane and deadly nightshade!” Declan growled as Alpha – who had shifted back into his human form and pulled on the pants given to him – wiped his face and realized that he was still bleeding. He ignored the scene before him and concentrated on his Angel.

“*I can’t name most of them… but I do smell rotten eggs and sea salt.*”

Rotten eggs? That could be Sulphur. Where in Seattle was there a Sulphur manufacturer? He thought to himself. Sky further explained that she was most likely underground with several individuals keeping her. Her next words caused him to see red.

“*––but Alpha, you need to hurry… Elizabeth plans to uphold her challenge,*” The word challenge repeated in his head like a broken record. So that was Elizabeth’s plan all along, to weasel her claim to him, but little does she actually know.

It took a while for the rest of her statement to register. He turned to Richie and punched him again. This time, in his face, cracking his skull and knocking him completely unconscious. He then addressed the room. “**He won’t die by my hands… lock him up, and we will let the council handle his fate alongside his band of rogue buddies… that isn’t if he doesn’t succumb to his injuries first.**”

Finally, the second part of her statement made sense to him, “*… Leanne’s gravely injured… her brother is behind all of this…*” And his growl shook the house.

“**Fucking Brainy Brian!**” He then desperately pleaded with Skye to find any distinguishing sounds, smells or sight. Anything to help narrow down her location.

Meanwhile, he stormed out of the gym, leaving the team to remove Richie’s battered body. He returned to the security booth since it was closer. Kenny was still working on Richie’s computer system; he had hacked his computer and employed an algorithm to sift through the system.

Alpha took the computer next to him and immediately started searching for Sulphur processing and manufacturing plants. Paying attention to facilities near the sea and were abandoned.

“*Wait a minute,*” Skye murmured.

“**What is it?**”

“*There’s something on the door… but it’s so faded… H…*” She started listing, so he quickly grabbed a pen and booklet and wrote down the different letters she called out.

H _ _ E V _ L _ E W A _ _R _ _ _ L

He stared at the random letters on the page then at the screen. The third link in his search list was the Haleville Watermill. It was an abandoned salt water processing plant that was shut down decades ago when the water reservoir became contaminated with the sulphur deposits found in the ground.

“**Found you!**” He said to the room in general.

“*Alpha, please hurry.*” She suddenly sounded anxious. Her panic drove him forward.

“**We’re coming.**” He reassured her just as the link between them unexpectedly dropped.