Chapter 37 One

*Alpha Connor*

The rogue's head fell back when I released his head from my grasp. I rose to my full height and pledged I would do much worse to One. Every night I would dream of my dead brother and wake up to the morning full of regret, guilt and remorse. If my baby brother were alive today, he probably would have a family with a number of pups of his own. I know I can never bring him back from the dead, but I most certainly can avenge his death.

I was about to leave the cell and tell the men to burn the bastard's remains when I heard a phone ring. I froze. My men obviously didn't empty his pockets.

My Beta raised his hand to quiet the men who were busy poking fun at the three dead rogues they shot down this morning. My Beta walked up to me, clearly surprised there was a phone ringing on the rogue's corpse.

"Sounds like it's coming from him." My Beta pointed at the rogue.

"Didn't you guys check his pockets?" I sounded irritated. We didn't have room to make mistakes.

"I guess the boys didn't. Damn it. He would have called for reinforcement when we weren't watching. But I've been with him all this while. Taking some payback," my Beta says, reassuring me the rogue wasn't alone at any time. Anyway, both his arms were in shackles and he was scheduled to be stripped of his clothing if I had allowed him to live as our prisoner.

I look through his pants' pockets and fished out a small phone in the small side pocket of his pants which I know were first designed for pocket watches. I was amazed there was a phone this small. I looked at my Beta whose eyebrows were raised, unaware there were gadgets this small.

I touch the screen to see if it had any security features and luckily it didn't. I check who had called him and I see the name One.

It starts ringing again, the name of One popping on its screen. I decided it was time for us to get acquainted, so I answered his call and put it on speaker so my Beta can hear.

"Omega 41, I expected a call from you for more information regarding the whereabouts of Lucas Lockwood. Have you spoken to your contact from that pack?" Shit. I had another traitor living with me. I looked at my Beta whose face had turned red. When he's angry, he always turns red. He can never hide it.

"Hi! Omega 41 can't come to the phone right now. But if you leave a message, we'll make sure he gets it," I said, mimicking an answering machine.

The One starts howling with laughter. It took him a good while to stop laughing. When he finally did, he got right down to business. "Is this by any chance the Alpha of the Night Walker Forest Pack? I didn't know you had experience being a secretary. You know I need one and you seem very qualified. Maybe you and I can meet and I can hire you to be my assistant. I give great benefits." He laughs at his own joke.

"No doubt you do. But when I see you, it'll be more of a "score to settle" kinda thing. If you know what I mean."

"Alpha, don't blame the messenger, blame the one who sent the message. I was asked to deliver a message and I did. Why harbor so much hatred against me? You're channelling it at the wrong person." This is the type of explanation you get from a wolf who has no soul.

"You call yourself a messenger? Alright, when I deliver a message make sure you won't harbor any ill feelings toward me. After all, there is only one person to blame and that is Eric Lockwood. Make sure you're ready, because I know when the Blood Moon rises into the night sky, change will happen. And that change will ultimately lead to your death. Have a good evening, One." I hang up and throw the phone to my Beta.

"There's a traitor here. Did he have another phone on him?" My Beta nods his head.

"Get all the information on the numbers from his contact list on both phones. Ask the Sheriff for help if you need to. And Matt, make sure no one else knows what you're doing. We need to make sure we get the traitor when he least expects it."

"Sure thing Alpha. I'll get to the bottom of this."

"Have the men burn this piece of shit. I'll be headed out to his camp to see what I can find." I exit the prison cell and head out of the dungeons. I needed to inform Athena her father knew she came here. I went inside my pickup, took out my phone from the glove compartment and dialled. She picked up almost immediately.

"Alpha, is there something I can do for you?" Athena is always proper. Sad to say her father wasn't.

"I just called to tell you, you were followed this morning. We caught the rogues who were following you and one rogue said he already informed his leader. Most likely your father already knows."

"Yes, I heard from our cook. My father is trying to get to Boston. He wants to make sure I'm here. I'd like to thank you for helping me find my brother. He's on his way to Massachusetts by the way. Seems there has been a slight development." That sounded like bad news.

"Slight development?"

"Yes, Edward Crowne's son, Ethan, is my niece's mate." Sonofagun. No wonder Edward Crowne is heading to Maine. He's looking for his son.

"I've read the society pages in the newspaper. I thought Alpha Ethan Crowne is supposed to mate Heiress Sophia Johnson of that wealthy pack in the Midwest." I get bored sometimes too you know. Flipping through the society pages helps with that boredom.

"I thought so too, Alpha Connor. But apparently Ethan and my niece Diana are fated mates." The fated mate of the black wolf. I needed to meet this Ethan. He must have a heart of gold to be mated to wolf like that.

"Well, in that case, if you need any reinforcements, I'l be happy to send some of my men. Just give me a call." I'd go, but after the attack of those rogues, I could never leave my pack.

"Thank you, Alpha. That is most generous of you. Anyway, Luke might be headed back to Jersey. We just have to wait for the Blood Moon." Now this is good news.

"That is what I have been waiting for all these years, Athena. The arrival of the black wolf."

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*One*

"Aaaaahhhhh...." I threw my phone on my desk, angry I had the rug pulled from under me.  Omega 41 is now presumably dead as well as the three men who had followed Athena Lockwood into Salty Moon Forest. The Alpha of the Night Walker Forest pack obviously knows how to play dirty and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty too.

Well, I had a few tricks up my sleeve that he didn't know of. Although I had mistakenly informed him of a traitor in his pack, it will take him a while to figure out who that traitor is. That's the beauty of unpaid debts, you can ask them for favors.

I controlled every operation in this city. From sex slaves to drugs, gambling to loan sharks, as well as smuggling. There isn't anything illegal that wasn't under me therefore, if you owed anyone money in this city, it meant you owed me, too.

The wolves from these mediocre packs, they like to be treated like kings. So when they happen to enter the city looking for a good time, I make sure they are treated better than the Alphas in their packs. I butter them up and give them the taste of the good life and wait patiently until they make a mistake.

And when they make a mistake, I am there to make sure they pay their debts in any way possible. Some of them become my hitmen. Some of them kidnap Omegas from their respective packs and bring them to me. Some of them help me launder money. Some of them become mules or drug runners. Some of them help me smuggle in goods while some of them become informants. Information is expensive these days. It's good to have someone on the inside, someone who could be your eyes and ears without paying them a single dime.

And that was what happened to the traitor in that good for nothing Alpha's pack. He came in with a bunch of his boys. Second sniffed him out from the humans he was with. I ordered Second to give him everything even good luck. I made sure he had a wonderful first night so he would come visit us again. I gave him the best whores, booked him the executive suite to my hotel, gave him a little something to take the edge off and made him win big at the tables. When he went home, he had so much money in his pocket, I knew he would come back for more.

And he did, again and again, until he was up to his eyeballs in gambling debts that he couldn't pay anymore. That was when I stepped in. I ordered Second to bring him to the basement and rough him up a bit until he uttered those three magic words, "I'll do anything."

I walked up to him from the darkness of the corner of the basement where I waited patiently for him to utter those words. "Anything?"

"Anything. I'll do anything. Just tell me what you want and I'll do anything for you," he muttered, blood spewing from his mouth unto the floor.

"Which pack are you from again?" I ask him gently. His eyes widened in surprise. We knew he was wolf.

"You're wolves?" He asked incredulously.

"Rogues actually. Sorry, you can't smell the wolf on us. We have that elixir on that masks our scent, courtesy of the mage who is in hiding. Now, which pack are you from?"

"Night Walker Forest pack within the Salty Moon Forest." Bingo! I have always wanted someone from Night Walker Forest pack to be my eyes and ears.

"So you'll do anything right?" I ask just to make sure we were at the same page.

"Yes, I'll do anything."

"I need information from your Alpha. Valuable information. About a missing Alpha named Lucas Lockwood of the Lotus Flower Pack. I need to know his location."

"The Alpha we helped save his little girl? All I know they're off the grid. No one knows where they are."

"Your Alpha was the last known contact of Lucas Lockwood. You get me that information and I'll cancel all your debts and I'll even sweeten the deal for you. I'll pay you a million dollars for your trouble. That's how valuable that information is." I wasn't really going to pay him all that money. I was going to kill him after he finds out and passes the information to me.

"I'll see what I can do. He trusts me. Just don't go off telling him about my gambling debts. We had someone in the pack that had the same problem. Just to pay off his debt, he went and killed a human nurse. If I'm not mistaken, that nurse bore Lockwood's daughter." He paused for a moment, thinking. "And you're the rogues who almost exterminated my pack!" Anger flashed in his eyes and for a second, I thought he was going to attack. But he lowered his eyes towards the floor of the basement, knowing full well he'd die if he tried.

"So, do we have a deal?" I asked him.

"Yes, we have a deal," he answered shamefully.

"Second, let him go. Give him the number of Omega 41. He will deal with him directly." I turn to exit the basement. It was getting stuffy in there. "By the way, if you betray me, I won't hesitate to go back to your territory and finish what I had started years ago. You mark my word."

The traitor was the one who alerted us that Athena was on her way to see his Alpha. He tried to listen in, but he could only get the name Crowne. He said it was too loud in the bar and Athena and his Alpha were huddled together whispering.

Eric Lockwood wanted information on an Alpha Ethan Crowne and here my informant mentioned the name again. There was a connection somehow. But what?

I needed to find out.