CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was an hour later, around eight at night when we regrouped and judging from the tired, helpless looks, this had been a terrible fail.

Fuck!

“Anyone find any strange scent or clue to this bloody killer?” I questioned nonetheless.

The answer was a united no. Sense of disappointment mixed with the rage of losing members of my pack and then being unable to figure who killed them, washed through me. It clenched my stomach walls, making me feel like a failure. I should never have left the town. They would still be alive right now. If my father was to hear of this, he would take a jab at me, probably take the opportunity to reclaim the title of the Alpha. He wouldn’t give a shit if the other packs were hurt too by this ordeal. No, he would just focus on me and what a failure I’m before his eyes.

“Fuck!” I cussed in frustration. I hated this more than anything. I was a goddamn Alpha which meant I was supposed to figure it all out. A low, angry growl ripped through the back of my throat. When I was calm enough to speak, I faced the group.

“Just go ahead, I’ll catch up with you in some few minutes,” I motioned but Ethan was too stubborn.

“You expect us to leave you here when there is some killer on the loose that sent a death threat message to you? I can’t let that happen,”

“Just fucking go, okay? I’m very much capable of taking care of myself. Now just leave me alone,”

“Okay,” I watched him lead the park away and once he was off the vicinity, I got rid of my clothes, hanging them on a branch of a tree before letting my wolf take over. It was the same painful process of bones rearranging as fur covered every inch of my body. With my wolf eyes, I did not need any other light to see in the woods. Besides that, there was the crescent moon gracing the clear sky. A loud frustrated howl ripped through me as I charged through the woods, expertly evading the trees and the shrubs. The adrenaline rush was a medicine to my frustration and the more it pumped through me, the more the anger toned down a bit.

Then a strong scent wafted its way through my nostrils and I jumped to the side, right in the nick of time, the brown wolf narrowly missing me. With teeth bared out and snarling, he growled as he faced me. I growled right back as we moved in a circle, neither one of us attempting to attack the other while seizing each other. I knew who he was and I had a pretty good idea as to why he suddenly paid me a visit in my territory. Ignoring him, I raced back to the tree where my clothes had been hanging before letting myself change back to my human form.

I was closing up my shirt buttons when I felt him appearing behind me and he was in human form too. I really did not want to deal with him right now especially when I knew he’d just try to get on my nerves and I’d probably snap and end his life within a second.

“What do you want Xander?” I questioned, looking at the younger man who was also the Alpha of the Creek Moon pack, the second strongest pack in WoodCave Town. For a smart man, you would never let his young age fool you and even though I would never admit it out loud, he was the only werewolf that had ever come close to putting a slight ting of fear and utter caution in my heart. I knew a worthy rival when I saw one and he was clearly one.

“You know Collins, at first I wanted to smirk on your face because for the first someone had managed to infiltrate your Blood Moon pack. For the first time someone had beat you but then I realized the same tragedy had struck me too and the other packs. Still, I think I should not miss the chance to smirk on your face when I have it,” He smirked but that did not affect me. He actually really had nerve to play with his own life when he knew the moment I snapped, he’d be dead too.

“Why are you here in my territory young wolf?” I questioned, my hard gaze digging in his. If he badly wanted to piss me off, he should probably come some other time; not when I had three of my sentinels down.

“First off I’m an Alpha, not young wolf and second, after a lengthy discussion with the other Alphas in a meeting you were obviously excluded from, we’ve decided to invite you to our next meeting tomorrow at ten a.m. in the town hall. This killer is the top priority and common tragedy to all our packs right now. Well, considering everyone else was much of a coward to face you, it befell upon me to deliver the message much to my chagrin,” he snarled. His presence was not much of a joy to me either.

“So you were ready to risk me tearing you apart when you invaded my territory just to tell me some stupid message that you could have sent over a text?” I pointed out.

“I suppose I could have, couldn’t I? But then, I needed to see the look on your face and well, I’m a little disappointed to be honest. I thought you’d lose it and go rogue on everyone,”

“You know as tempting as it sounds to beat you to a pulp right now, I still have better things to do like figure out who is this killing machine coming after us. So if I were you little wolf, I would disappear off this territory as fast as I came before I snap you into two halves with my teeth. They are quite good at that,” I smirked.

“You know that one day I’m going to make you bow to me and admit that I’m better than you, right?”

“Wishful thinking, huh? We’ve all been there before little wolf. Keep on dreaming,” I parted his shoulder once before walking away.

“It’s going to happen you know,” I heard him shout behind me but that just deepened my smirk. He was quiet relentless, I had to give him that. Except to be an Alpha like me, one had to be me and there was no way anyone could come close to being me.

When I got back to the pack house, they had already built a large fire outside. Ethan was moving about, barking orders but the moment he saw me, he rushed over.

“One minute longer and I would have sent a search party,” he said.

“Relax. I told you I could handle myself. So how far are we with the preparations?” I questioned, surveying the crowd.

“Almost done. The bourbon should be here any minute now and well, I’ve already ordered the pack members to be here in thirty minutes with their families, including those who stay in other parts of town,”

“Perfect. Keep watch over the preparations while I try to figure out the note,” I patted his back once before retreating into my home office.

Someone was not just after me but after all the seven alphas of WoodCave town and I was going to figure out who.