Chapter 51
FOR ALPHA'S EYES ONLY
Please reply to this email with a secure and private email address that only you have access to. A list of reliable and secure mailbox providers will be at the bottom of this email. A highly sensitive and important situation has presented itself and must remain secret until an issue in your pack has been resolved. I will explain everything once I am satisfied you have provided a secure email address.
Alpha Daniel Summer
I handed the phone back to him, a smug look on my face.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” He pondered, he scratched the back of his neck before he added the email addresses, and we walked back down the street. By the time he was done, and his phone was back in his pocket we had arrived at Ben and Maria’s yard. Before we walked through the gate, I turned to him, my back to the house.
“Does it look like I’ve been crying?” I asked him, he laughed and took my cheeks in his hands rubbing under my eyes softly.
“Honestly, a little.” He snorted; I sighed rolling my eyes. “Why? Does it really matter?” He asked exasperated.
“Yes, I don’t want to give your mother the satisfaction of thinking she got to me. When she didn’t, I was crying over losing you, not anything she said!” I snapped.
“You realise they can probably hear us.” He smiled.
“Fucking werewolves,” I muttered, making him bristle. “Yeah, yeah, you’re not a werewolf, you think I care about terminology when I’m about to walk in there and deal with Queen bitch again?” I asked, this time he flat-out belly laughed.
“Try to be nice? For me?” He asked with a chuckle as he placed a gentle kiss on my wrist above my pulse. I sighed in response, half turned on, half exasperated with the situation.
“Fine, but one more dig about my human half, and I go nuclear,” I warned as menacingly as I could.
“Does that mean you didn’t go nuclear earlier?” He asked as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest.
“Nope, that was just a little explosion.” I teased as I pulled away, I laced my fingers through his as I led him up the steps to the porch.
“Is it bad I kinda wanna see you go nuclear now? Just not at me or my mother, please?” He pulled a puppy dog eye look that had me giggling as Maria opened the door.
“Thank goddess you came back!” She exclaimed pulling me into a rib-crushing hug. “You have to promise me you will never leave me alone with her again! I need allies and you’re it!” She grumbled as she pulled me inside. I shot Miranda a warning look, as Maria led me back to the table, Daniel followed behind me our hands still connected. I sat on his right and concentrated on my breathing as he brushed his thumb over my knuckles in an attempt to comfort me.
“Is everyone caught up?” Daniel asked Ben, who nodded but looked as angry as I was. “Right, so, what we know so far is, there have been rumours of someone trying to gather support within our pack. They will be making a move to replace me as Alpha, and we believe Owen might be involved.” Daniel said, eliciting gasps from Maria and Miranda, Richard however, didn’t blink. “If the woman who gave Charlie her vision is to be believed, and the evidence suggests, we should believe her, we are not the only pack experiencing this. Ben and I believe this is all part of a bigger plan for the upcoming war. If the packs are under a leadership that is controlled or in league with the enemy Hyacinth saw, then there will be less resistance. The same thing can be applied to the witches and the nymphs. The other species haven’t been seen in centuries, but if there are any of them left, I think it's safe to assume this is either happening to them too, or their numbers are so few that they don’t pose a threat. Now, Charlie has helped me contact the other Alphas in the state, discreetly, once we have filled them in, we will make a plan to bring packs into the fold. This issue won’t stop at our borders, and we will need to exploit our family connections to ensure we prevent as many packs as possible from falling under the enemy’s control. And Charlie and I will be going to see Hyacinth on Monday. In the meantime, we need to find the source of this discord within our pack and destroy it. Does anyone have any questions or suggestions before we start?” Daniel asked, looking around the table.
“Why do you think Owen has anything to do with this treachery?” Miranda asked while she refused to look at me.
“When Ben informed the elders about the rumours here in our pack and the evidence that it is happening in Harvest Moon, Sycamore and Oaktree he didn’t behave as one would expect,” Daniel responded.
“Well, that’s hardly enough to go on.” Miranda cried as she threw her hands in the air like we were being dramatic.
“I was there, I saw it too, it concerned me. He’s our Epsilon, he made no move to plan for a battle, no move to increase security or patrols, he didn’t speak to anyone. Which is suspicious.” Richard snapped at her. “I didn’t want to believe my brother could make a move against my son, so I followed him. He arranged to meet someone, but I couldn’t tell who, immediately after that meeting. They are meeting tomorrow, outside of the pack.” He added, looking sad and hurt, this seemed to be enough for everyone around the table, except for me, I had no idea what that meant. I decided to ask Daniel later, also what an Epsilon was.
“Alright, so if Owen is our best lead, I think we should have him followed. Ben do you still have men on him?” Daniel asked his brother.
“Yes, some of our best Zetas have been following him since last night. They will be sending me a report this evening on his activity. Also, I have a cyber team looking at every text message and phone call that has come out of Appletree, I should have the first batch of information by the end of business today.” Ben replied, I had no idea they could access so much, but it made sense if it was done on a company phone or laptop, though I wondered if anyone would be foolish enough to use those to plot against the CEO.
“Very good, I want everything you have by tomorrow morning.” Daniel nodded. Maria looked around the table as if waiting for someone else to ask, whatever it was she was thinking.
“Um, what about the vision?” She asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.
“Well, I know you were upset, which is why we didn’t push, but you must have seen more than you told us?” She asked me. “Like something about the enemy or something? Maybe, if you went over it, one more time, we would pick up on something we didn’t before? If we know who we are up against, surely it will make it easier to find who is working with them within the pack?” She asked softly. I looked at Daniel, unsure, he gave me a lopsided smile and squeezed my hand gently and nodded, encouraging me. I took a deep breath.
“Okay, I was in a valley, everything was dead, it was barren-"
“How do you know it was barren?” Miranda interrupted, as I grit my teeth to stop myself from snapping as my anger and frustration grew.
“There were no plants, anywhere, no weeds even. And the ground was cracked and dry. The few trees had no leaves, they appeared dead like it was a desert but there was no sand.” I shot her a pointed look.
“Had you been there before?” Richard asked.
“Not that I’m aware of, it didn’t seem familiar at all.” I shook my head. “I heard screaming and laughter, but not happy laughter, sinister and unnerving, so I hid behind a rock.” I looked at Daniel, I didn’t want to relive that horrible dream. He started rubbing my knuckles again slowly with his thumb. “That’s when I saw Hyacinth riding Daniel’s wolf, they were being chased, and she was holding up a big stick thing.” It sounded ridiculous coming out of my mouth, even to myself.
“I think that’s her staff.” Daniel clarified.
“Chased by what? Or who?” Richard asked.
“I have no idea. I was far away and the only reason I could make out so much of Hyacinth was because she was riding a giant wolf, it kinda draws the eye.” I responded sarcastically; I rolled my eyes in frustration. “They were weird looking, kinda like they were too tall, or their limbs were too long or something, and they had black eyes and shark teeth.” I threw my hands up in defeat, it sounded crazy, I sounded crazy. We were sat analysing a dream, like high schoolers who had taken one psych class.
“You’re sure, the eyes were black? And the teeth were fang-like?” Richard asked me like it meant something.
“Yes, I’m sure, their mouths... they were too big, and there were too many teeth... it was bizarre and terrifying... and their eyes... they were like endless pits... almost like they weren’t really there.” I sighed, everyone at the table exchanged a look.
“Vampires,” Richard said quietly.
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