9. Chapter Nine
~Felix~
When I returned to the weapons store, the guards and Alpha Marcus were still there, their faces tight with frustration that mirrored my own though for very different reasons
“The alert stopped,” the Alpha told me. “Whoever set it off has left our land, and as far as we know, they didn’t get anything this time.”
Compared to potentially meeting my mate, the situation with their weapons barely registered as a concern anymore, but I forced myself to feign interest. “Looks like the extra security is paying off. Can I use your phone, Alpha? I’d like to get some backup.”
His confusion showed in his face, no doubt wondering why I needed backup when nothing further had been taken, but thankfully, he didn’t argue. Together, we returned to the pack house, and I called home to the Crimsontooth pack, waking a grumpy Darius.
“This better be good,” our pack’s head of security grumbled.
I’d woken up my fair share of people in my time, but Darius sounded particularly unimpressed. It would have made me feel bad if I weren’t so focused on my own problems. As Beta, I outranked the Delta, and I pulled that rank now. “I need you at the Vermillion pack. Get here as soon as you can.”
His bed creaked in the background as he sat up. “Vaughan cleared this?”
“No,” I admitted. “He told me if I needed help, he and Calista would come. They’re needed there, though, and to be honest, I’d rather have you.”
Calista would be best placed to help with supernatural beings, but we still didn’t know for sure what we were dealing with, and when it came to my mate, I needed Darius’ tracking abilities more. No one got away from him when he set out to find them. If I wanted to find her, Darius would be my best bet.
“Alright, I’ll head out now.” He yawned loudly in my ear before signing off. “See you soon.”
I returned the phone to Alpha Marcus, letting him know to expect Darius, and was just about to head back to bed when the Alpha’s eyes glazed over.
“Another alert,” he informed me grimly.
Looked like I wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night. “Let’s head back out, then. But first, do you have a small tube of paint or something?”
His furrowed brow suggested he thought I’d lost my mind, but he had a staff member bring us one anyway and I shoved it into my pocket before we headed back out again.
For the next hour and a half, we searched the pack’s land, looking for any sign of an intruder. Not only did I not see or smell anyone, I didn’t see or smell my mate again either. One of the Alpha’s men reported that a wolf had marked some bushes, but knowing that was actually my scent, I kept my mouth shut.
“Has the intruder left the land yet?” I asked the Alpha when we all reconvened again in front of the weapons store. The guards reported there still hadn’t been any activity.
He shook his head. “No. It seems they’re still here but we’ve searched everywhere. I’m starting to think they must be invisible.”
The words were a joke to him, but I knew it might be possible. Alternately, it might be someone from his own pack. I still didn’t know what to believe.
“We do have another visitor, though,” the Alpha added.
He gestured with his head to the space behind me, and I turned to find Darius walking over to us.
“Alpha Marcus.” He lowered his head to our host politely before turning to me. “Hey, Felix. Didn’t think you’d still be up. What’s going on?”
Not wanting to tell him about my mate in public, I stuck to the facts about the intruder and the weapons store.
“Have you been inside to check if anything’s missing?” he asked.
“Not yet. That was going to be the next move. And just in case…”
I grabbed the bag of salt from where it had been left earlier, leaning against the wall of the small building.
Darius cocked a curious eyebrow. “What’s that for?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Along with Alpha Marcus and his Beta, we went inside and waited while they inspected their supplies. The cool, damp air of the underground room seemed heavier than before, almost oppressive.
You really brought me all the way over here for this? Darius asked through our mind-link, his voice echoing inside my head so the other men couldn’t hear.
No. I need your help to track someone else in the morning. I was following a scent but it disappeared.
The thief’s scent? he clarified, and a moment of realization hit me. In my excitement and confusion over possibly finding my mate, I hadn’t actually made the connection that my mate and the thief might be one in the same. I thought the thief might be fooling me with the mate scent, but somehow, it hadn’t occurred to me that it might not be a trick.
Maybe my mate was the thief.
What would that mean? Would I be forced to punish someone I was meant to protect? Would I have to choose between the woman intended for me and my duty as Beta?
Before I could answer, a movement over his shoulder caught my eye. A long strap dangling from one of the bags of arrows on the wall suddenly swayed as if something had bumped into it, despite there being no one around and no wind in the underground room.
Calista’s words came back to me about how someone from the fae realm might be invisible but would occupy space. Was there someone invisible standing there right now? Was it the thief? It couldn’t be my mate because I didn’t smell anything.
What the fuck was going on?
“Everything seems to be in order,” the Beta announced, and Alpha Marcus nodded.
“I think we all need to get some sleep. We can reconvene in the morning.”
They both turned back to the stairs, and I made a split-second decision. If all the information Calista gave me was true and there really was an invisible fae being in the room with us, I had all the tools needed to track him or her. If it didn’t work, I’d look like a lunatic. But if it did...
I had to know.
Reaching into the bag of salt, I grabbed a large pinch and let it fall to the ground in the middle of the room as I walked out.
Go up the stairs with the others and stall, I instructed Darius through our link. I’ll explain everything soon, I promise.
You never do anything the easy way, he grumbled but he also followed my instructions, herding the Vermillion Alpha and Beta up the stairs while I turned back and pulled the tube of paint out of my pocket. Squirting it in the direction of the salt, I watched as strings of paint spurted out, hitting the floor.
Most of them hit the floor, at least. For a second, I thought I must be imagining it, but when I blinked, there they were: a few splatters hanging in the air, sticking to something I couldn’t see, and my chest swelled in triumphant pride.
It worked. It actually fucking worked, which meant there was an invisible being right there from a species I’d never encountered before. All the hypotheticals Calista and I discussed earlier were now a reality.
Gotcha , Kai crowed in my head, as pleased as I was with this revelation.
Now, we just had to wait for the creature to leave so we could follow it. After losing track of my mate earlier, I wasn’t going to let anyone else slip through my fingers.