Blood Pearl (Kingdom of Wolves #3)
Chapter 1
AURORA
Packed with the demanded food, the truck raced through the forest. If I learn that my pack members are starving despite the abundance of food I provide, I will bring about destruction and chaos.
There are ten individuals from my pack who are currently being held captive. Ensuring a steady supply of food, clothing, and information. The information I'm supplying is false, as I would never sell out my fellow shifters. I realize that my fate is death, but I'm more than willing to accept the consequences.
Stopping at the edge of my pack territory which joins no-man's-land, I stop the truck and grab the packaged food and start to throw it over the boundary. I wait patiently for the rogues to appear and pray to the Goddess that she is keeping my people safe.
Hearing rustling, I wait, keep myself calm, and do not show the anger and disgust I feel for these people. I've not met the leaders of this rogue pack, but I'm trying to find out as much as I can without getting any of my pack killed. Anything I find I will eventually share with the shifter council and hope they can forgive me for my transgressions.
“Did you bring what you were asked to bring?”
Looking over, I see the same shifter who has always collected the food, clothing or anything else they have demanded in return for keeping my pack members safe.
“Yes, of course.” I continue taking the packages from the truck and throwing them over the pack boundary. No way am I stepping into no-man’s-land. That would give them the ideal opportunity to take me as a hostage, too.
Three more appear from the safety of the trees. All have the stink of a rogue, which is sour, dirty, as you would smell on a corpse. It’s disgusting and I struggle not to cover my nose with my hand.
“What information do you have?” Taking steps closer to me and the boundary as he speaks. I struggle not to gag at the smell of him, and he knows it, but doesn’t seem to care that he will never get rid of the stink that follows him wherever he goes.
“No information. The packs have been fighting a war, which I’m sure you know about. I have had no communication with any packs or the Shifter Council.” I would tell them if I had, but thankfully I’ve not spoken to anyone since I stepped away from helping with the war.
I did what I could at the time for the Parklands, sending over clothing parcels, as and when I could. I could not supply warriors because I needed them in the pack, protecting the border between ourselves and no-man's-land. How they took ten of my people I don’t know, but I’ll get them back, and if I have to go to war without the other packs, I will.
“We need to know what the patrol times are, the numbers and anything else to get us in and out of Alpha Lyle’s pack land.”
“What is your name?” I ask, because I want to know who I’m dealing with most of the time. If he is from one of the other packs, then we may have information that will help us.
“You can call me Beta.”
I can’t contain the burst of laughter that escapes me, and looking at this idiot, I shake my head. “You have got to be delusional if you think you have a legitimate pack and can claim a pack hierarchy. You have all lost your minds and forfeited rank when you became filthy rogues.”
The Beta steps closer, giving me a feral smile before saying, “This filthy rogue has your pack members, and I can tell you now that if you cause trouble, I’ll enjoy taking them in front of everyone and killing them one-by-one.”
I step forward, throwing my Alpha aura forward, and I can see this Beta struggling to maintain his stance. “I’m telling you Beta…you touch one hair on their heads, and I’ll make sure you are the first one that I tear apart, and I’ll enjoy doing it.”
Laughing before he slowly claps his hands, his wolf has come to the surface and I can see he’s getting more feral by the red glow in his eyes. It won’t be long before his wolf is feral and he’ll have trouble holding himself together. Unless he has a mate who will keep him calm and stop him turning past the point of no return, truly becoming a feral wolf and needing to be put down.
Snapping his fingers together, wolves slink out of the trees and grab the food parcels, dragging them away until they’ve disappeared into the forest once more. I take in as much as I can, but it's nothing worth reporting back until I hear a woman’s voice speak. “Jackson, come on.”
“Well, well, Beta Jackson. Seems you have a name, after all.” I give him a raised eyebrow before I grin, then turn and walk back to the truck. Opening the driver’s door before turning to look once more at the angry shifter standing on the border of my territory. One step over the border and I will rip him apart. Aztec my wolf has kept quiet, but she has been watching and listening. Now she is ready to spring into action if needed.
Beta Jackson steps back toward the forest, and from my peripheral vision I see a woman appear from the trees. She is a mess. Hair not seeing a brush in a long time, clothing that may as well not be on her body, and she has the stink of a rogue, but it matches Jackson’s. Interesting! Seems Jackson has a chosen mate, not a fated mate, or he’d not be able to resist her demands before he goes to her.
Stepping into the truck and closing the door, I roll down the window. Resting my elbow, I lean out of the truck window slightly and grin. “Take care, Jackson. Now I know you have a mate. I know your weakness.” Winking as I drive away, listening to the growls and howls of fury. I know I shouldn’t push him, but I’m not sure I can get my pack members out at this point. They have been hostages for months and I’m not even sure if they are still alive.
Back at the packhouse, I run to my room, shower, and change my clothes. It’s always the same when I’ve delivered the food. Being close to the rogues has my skin itching and needing to get clean.
Aurora, we need to get our pack members back.
‘I know, Aztec, but I don’t know how. I’m doing my best to keep them alive, if they are still alive. We’ve had no proof of that in quite some time.’
No pains of losing a pack member. We would feel the pack bond break if they died.
Nodding, because I know that. It’s just hard to stay thinking rationally when you are worried about what is happening to them. Six females and four males. I know the males will try to protect the females, but I also know that Wren, Rue and Wynona will cause trouble when they can. They are powerful females and they will not want those males to suffer for them.
Randall and Fergus have started warrior training. That gives them skills that the rogues won’t have. I need to find out more about Jackson. Who is he, where did he come from, and why is he rogue?
Heading downstairs to my office where I’ve called my daughter, my Beta, and four warriors, which includes Wallace, who I made head warrior the previous month.
Stepping into my office, everyone I’ve called to this meeting are sitting around the long table we use for any official meetings. Taking my seat at the head of the table, I take a deep breath before speaking.
I speak to my daughter first. “Taria, I need you to find out from any of your friends in other packs if they know of a Jackson. He’s the one I’m speaking with when I drop off the food parcels. He has a chosen mate with him. I don’t know her name. But we need to know his history.”
“Okay, will do Momma,” Taria replies, and I can tell she already is thinking about who she can contact for the information we need.
The next person I look at is my Beta. “Raina, I want you to look at the border closely. I think they are leaving it unmonitored and that will give us an opportunity to get into no-man’s-land for information. Find out if they are patrolling the border and if they are, what timing we would have to sneak across, then back again.”
“Okay, will do that, Alpha. I’ll take Warriors Charlie and Crispin if that is okay with Head Warrior Wallace?”
“That is good with me,” Wallace replies.
As he speaks, Warrior Ken makes direct eye contact with me. “Alpha, we will have to speak to the shifter council soon. We’ve been trying to get our people back for months and we’ve made no headway. It seems we will go to war, and if it’s only our pack, then so be it. We are around three hundred now, but it may not be enough, even if we take the younger ones among us.”
“I don’t want to get them involved until we know we can’t do anymore. We have some information, but not enough.” I stand and walk away from the table and to the map on the wall. I point at the area we know they are holding our people, or they were at one time. “This is where they are holding them, if they have not been moved. I want to go in myself and see if I can get them out. I want the information on this Jackson. It may give us something to work with. It also may not, but it’s worth us finding out.”
“You shouldn’t go, I will,” Head Warrior Wallace states, standing from the table and giving me a steady look. “We can’t afford to lose our Alpha. Any of us could try to get in and out, but if we are caught, it doesn’t matter. We’d never tell them anything, and we’d die before betraying the pack. Izzy, I think, will have made her way to the rogues. She will have told them as much as she could to make sure she survives. She’ll not give a shit about any of the pack members. But if you are caught, Alpha, she would make sure you suffered.”
“I know, but I’m willing to take the risk. I’m faster than all of you, and stronger. Thanks to being an Alpha now, I’ve improved physically, and I’m always going to put the pack first. That was my oath when I took leadership, and I’ll never betray that.”
“We know that, Momma, nobody would ever think you would betray the pack. It’s not even a thought, never mind a question,” Taria says, looking at the others who are nodding agreement or verbally agreeing.
“Alpha, I don’t mean to change the subject, but has anyone seen Rona? She’s been missing for a while, it seems. One of the pack members asked me if she was gone for a mission!” Throwing his head back laughing, Warrior Crispin continues, “honest to the Goddess, why would we send Rona on a mission? She can’t keep a secret, can’t fight, and can’t even cook.”
Everyone laughs, and it was the tension breaker we needed. Warrior Charlie shakes his head as he wipes a tear from his eye from the laughter. “She’s up to no good. You can be sure of that.”
“What makes you say that?” I ask.
“She was never your biggest fan. We all know that. But when the pack members went missing, and you held the meeting telling the pack to keep it to themselves so you could get them back unharmed, it was her opportunity to dispute this or at least back talk. She’s been gone about three weeks, and you can be sure trouble will be coming,” Warrior Crispin states.
“From now on, I want everyone in our meetings to stop with the titles. We are all in this together. When we are outside of this office, then yes, we have to maintain respect for titles. But I would rather we drop the titles and just be ourselves.” I can see I’ve shocked everyone, but all this Warrior this, Head Warrior that, Alpha, Beta, honestly it is tiring.
‘Warrior Amos on border patrol, Alpha Aurora. Councilman Flint has arrived at the border. He is requesting a meeting. Shall I allow him passage into the pack land and to the packhouse?’
Sighing because I knew the council would find out eventually, but I had hoped for more time. ‘Allow Councilman Flint to enter the territory but have someone escort him directly to the packhouse and my office.’
“Seems we have a visitor. Councilman Flint is here. Do you think it’s surprising after we have just discussed a pack member has gone missing?” I ask the room. “Raina, you stay with me. Taria, find out what you can. Wallace, make sure everyone, and I mean each and every one of the pack members, is having a training session each day. They need to be ready to fight because I have a feeling that the war will come to us, or we will have to take it to them. We need to get our pack members back. They’ve been with the rogues for far too long.”
The room empties and I take the seat behind my desk. Raina takes her stance near the door, which is her usual place when a visitor arrives. She’s keen on making sure I’m safe, but she forgets sometimes that I’m a better fighter than she is. She is, however, the most loyal to the pack, and would die fighting to save any of us.
“Raina, make sure if anything happens to me, the pack survives. Even if you have to become the Alpha. You make sure it thrives.” I can see she’s going to speak, but I cut her short, “No arguments, that is my order.”
“Yes, Alpha Aurora,” Raina replies.
“None of that shit, Beta Raina. I told you in the office no titles.” I laugh along with Raina. “Let’s get ready for the meeting with Councilman Flint.”
We both calm and take things seriously again. I feel in my bones something has been said and things are about to change. But if my pack members are put in any more danger than they are already in, I’m going to lose all sense and reason.