Chapter 46

“That doesn’t sound right.” One of the Alpha’s chimed up while the others hummed in agreeance.

“How do you know she isn’t lying?”

“That’s the thing. We can’t prove it exactly that she isn’t lying, but this is completely out of her character.” Romano pursed his lips, a thoughtful expression on her face as he stared into the monitor and the six Alpha wolves that were present there. With him, that made seven however, there were supposed to be eight but it appeared that Alpha Orpheus had better things to do, as usual. “If you knew Melissa, you would be able to tell that she’s not someone that goes around lying or doing these sorts of things. She’s a simple girl who works as a nurse at the pack hospital.”

“It’s always the quiet ones that we should look out for.”

“Well, if that’s the case then none of this really adds up.”

A few of the Alpha piped up with their opinions, all of them confused and their minds a little bit complexed as they struggled to make sense of the strange situation that they had been presented with.

“I’m very thankful for the fact that Alpha Marcellus and two of his warriors were visiting in my pack at the time,” Alpha Romano started, purposely leaving out the reason as to why Marcellus had even been in his pack in the first place; to see if he found either one of Alpha’s Romano’s daughter to be his choice mate – both of them having agreed beforehand that they would like to be considered. “He was very helpful in leading the search and with keeping the pack calm and in control during these very peculiar times.”

While a few of the Alpha’s murmured in agreeance, some even praising Marcellus for a job well done, the sour Alpha and Beta duo remained as they pretended as if they hadn’t heard what Romano had just said.

“Anyway, that’s not the reason that I requested this meeting today. Melissa had gone missing and returned last month but just yesterday morning, another two wolves had gone missing.” When he paused, he was met with complete and utter silence as all the Alpha’s waited for him to continue.

While one missing wolf was bad enough, it definitely counted for something that she had been later discovered and completely fine, but two missing wolves after that was far from good and with now three in total, it was highly suspicious and definitely raised some eyebrows on the zoom call.

“Tell us more about these wolves.” Alpha Ryan asked, a seemingly stupefied expression on his face, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Was one of them Melissa?”

“No.” Alpha Romano shook his head. “But they were sisters and like Melissa, their father is a wolf but their mother is a human. And just like Melissa, they were found just outside the boundary line of the pack a few hours later, unconscious and seemingly without anything wrong with them. Once they awoke, they had no recollection of that day and both of them said that the last thing they remembered was going to bed the previous night.”

An eery silence filled the zoom call as they all blinked back at Alpha Romano, his words having given them a lot to think about.

“What are you suggesting?” Alpha Gabriel of the Red Howler pack asked on behalf of everyone else.

“I’m not sure but this has to be more than just a coincidence.” Romano pursed his lips and the others murmured in consensus.

“That’s three she-wolves taken and then returned a couple of hours later without so much as a hair out of place. All of them unconscious and then without any memory of what had happened.” Marcellus growled quietly, his wolf standing on guard at the threat. “This definitely is more than just a bloody coincidence. It appears as if your pack is specifically being targeted, Alpha Romano. Tell us, have you made any enemies lately?”

A few chuckles sounded on the meeting despite the severity of the situation, but it appeared that Romano was too concerned with the imminent threat to his pack and his wolves to notice the playful joke that had been made at the end in hopes of lightening up the mood.

“Do you think they’re being kidnapped out of their bedrooms?” Romano asked, a puzzled look on his face, rubbing a tired hand down the side of his face as he struggled to wrap his mind around the absurdity of the situation that they had somehow managed to stumble upon.

“You think they’re being taken in the middle of the night?”

“It’s possible, but Melissa disappeared some point during her night shift at the pack hospital.”

“What motive can they have with taking these she-wolves and then returning them only a couple of hours later?”

“No. There has to be more to it. I find it hard to believe that there’s nothing being done to these females?”

“What do you mean?”

As the incessant questioning continued, Marcellus subtly pulled out of his ear pods and put himself on mute, more than happy to sit back and allow them all to battle it out for themselves, opting to do some thinking for himself.

More questions sounded on the call for the remainder of the meeting and it was only when the Alpha’s found themselves at a standstill and with absolutely no hope of an immediate solution in sight that they decided to call it a day.

However, they had all come to the general consensus to increase border patrol both during the day and night, and if another kidnapping were to happen – in The Moon Shadow pack or any other – then a strict curfew would be put in place to keep them all safe.

However, something still didn’t feel quite right to Marcellus.

As soon as the meeting ended, Marcellus mind linked Dalton who replied and joined him in his office in under a minute.

“Did you just get off the zoom call with all the other Alpha’s?” Dalton asked as he slipped into the chair across the desk, stretching out his legs in front of him.

“Yes.” Marcellus groaned as he raised his arm to brush his fingers through his hair, tugging gently on the ends as he groaned again.

“Doesn’t sound like you enjoyed yourself.”

“That’s putting it lightly.” He snorted and leaned back in his chair. “But there’s been two more kidnappings.”

Dalton’s body stilled as the initial shock wore off, staring back at his Alpha and friend as Marcellus’ words settled in.

“Which pack?” Was all he was able to ask.

“The Moon Shadow pack again.”

“So, that’s three kidnappings in the past month now.” Dalton hummed aloud as he leaned forward and braced his elbows on the desk. “Surely this has to be more than just a coincidence.”

“Exactly what we were discussing.”

“Well, how are we moving forward from this?” Dalton asked the only question running through everybody’s mind right now.

“I’m not sure.” Marcellus shook his head, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he stared back at his Beta. “Nothing is really adding up.”

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Dalton asked abruptly, narrowing his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“You have that constipated look on your face that you usually have when you’re thinking really hard.”

“I don’t have a constipated look on my face.” Marcellus denied, though he couldn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped him, grateful that his Beta was attempting to keep things light. “But you’re right about me doing some thinking about all of this.”

“And what have you come up with?”

“That not everything is what it seems.”

“What are you saying?” Dalton chuckled, rolling his eyes playfully. “Why do you always have to speak in riddles when things are already as confusing as they are?”

“What I’m saying is,” Marcellus sighed, pursing his lips. “Maybe Alpha Romano isn’t as innocent in all of this as he would like us to think he is.”