Chapter Four
John
Paul and I had arrived in upstate New York without any issues, however, after securing a car, I began to feel nauseated once we passed through the gates of the pack I was to take over as temporary alpha in my brother, Aiden’s place. I could sense that we were being watched the closer we got to the estate.
As if he could sense my uneasiness, Paul said, “Hey, John, you’ll do fine.”
“Thank you, man. That’s supposed to be my line,” I said, letting out a small laugh.
“It’s only natural for you omegas to feel nervous or scared. I am here for you,” he said, giving me a reassuring smile.
“I can only hope my brother knows what he’s doing.”
“Are you questioning Aiden?” he joked.
“My brother, yes. My alpha, also yes. I wouldn’t be his pain in the ass if I didn’t,” I laughed.
Paul knew I would never question my alpha in public. It wouldn’t be the first time I had to consort with Paul on his thoughts when it included anything to do with the pack. However, Paul is the only person I had ever discussed anything with concerning our alpha since Paul is the third in command.
“I would never question our alpha, but I am concerned about his choice for his replacement.”
“Me?”
“No. Your cousin Vince. He hasn’t been around in almost a year, and he doesn’t stick around for more than a week or two.”
“Let’s only hope that Vince has changed.”
As we approached, I saw several of the pack members standing outside, near the front door. The moment I stepped out of the car, I was knocked back with a mix of negative emotions. Anger was thicker than all the rest, but I understood why the pack felt this way. Aiden killed their pack master and told them an omega was standing in for him to be their alpha.
I didn’t want to say anything out loud for fear of one or all of the pack members hearing me, but I silently hoped that Vince would show up sooner than expected as I was certain that I wasn’t going to live for too long. I know Paul was strong enough to take on at least two, maybe three, but not the whole pack. And from what I was sensing, it was the whole pack who was expressing how unhappy they were with us being here.
As we approached the front door, I could hear a few low growls and some grumbling. This was going to be fun.
“Meeting in twenty minutes,” I said to them. “Tell everyone to be here.”
When I walked inside, a young male, who appeared in his early twenties, came up to me. Paul instantly stepped in front of me, blocking the young male’s path as he not only radiated hate and discontent, but his face and body posture shouted it.
“You’re not welcome here,” he spat.
“Meeting in twenty minutes,” I replied.
An older male stepped out of a room and walked over to the young male, wrapping an arm around him, and smiled at me. “You’ll have to ignore Brett. He’s harmless.”
“He needs to learn to show it,” Paul replied sternly. “And, not approach as if he’s challenging another wolf or he’ll soon learn his place.”
“Brett, why don’t you take a walk outside,” the older male said and turned his attention to me. “I’m George. I can show you around if you would like.” He extended his hand and I shook it. “Your office is down the hall, though, I should warn you, someone has already stepped up to claim their role as pack master.”
“Seems like we have a problem already, boss,” Paul told me without taking his eyes off George.
“Take me to him,” I replied coolly. I knew that something like this was going to happen.
The moment we walked into the office, my stomach churned. I wasn’t prepared to be challenged. I wasn’t one to accept one if I were. The male behind the desk sneered and Paul responded with a growl that rumbled the room. It was more of his claim as the pack’s alpha and I felt like tucking tail and running.
“I’ve already staked my claim as alpha and the pack already voted on it,” said the male.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Council doesn’t want anyone from your pack taking any officer roles. I’ve been put in charge for the time being until your alpha arrives.”
He jumped out of his seat and Paul let out another deep growl, causing the offending male to take a step back. “The Council can’t do that,” he snapped.
“The Council can and will. That’s why they are in charge.”
“No omega is going to take over this pack,” he growled. “I am and will.”
“You are going to back down,” Paul said deeply. “Obey your alpha or find yourself in contempt.”
“How are you going to run our pack if you have to have someone else barking your orders for you,” the male laughed. “I’m not sticking around, and neither will the rest of us.”
“Then you can leave. But, I should warn you, don’t think about starting your own pack. The Council has made a statement that you would be held in contempt should you do so. You can claim rogue status, but you need to leave the region.”
He scoffed, “And go where?”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Anywhere but this region and my pack’s on the west coast.”
When he opened his mouth to speak, someone burst through the door, panting, followed by two other males. “We lost her, boss.”
“Lost who?” I asked him.
He turned to me and narrowed his eyebrows as he ran his gaze up and down. “Who the fuck are you.”
The male behind the desk said in a sarcastic tone, “Supposedly our new alpha.”
The other males fell into a roaring laughter as if they had heard the funniest joke.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said loudly over them.
The man behind the desk smirked and said, “It’s none of your damn business.”
Paul was over the desk the second he had gotten the last word out, pinning the male against the wall. The three males who ran in with the news growled loudly as they began taking their clothes off to shift. Paul spun the male he had pinned around so fast, I just stood there with wide eyes. He had his arm around the male, pulling him up off his feet, and the male was clawing at Paul’s arm as he was visibly struggling to breathe.
“Back down,” Paul snapped.
“Back down,” I shouted when I finally found my voice. I glared at the three males, wondering if they would listen. They took their hands off their clothes but continued to show their canines. A sign that they were backing down, but they weren’t happy with Paul.
Paul loosened his grip around the male in his arm and said quietly, “Leave.” He glanced up at the three males and said, “All of you.”
“You’re banished from the pack,” I added, “and are hereby given rogue status. Pack your stuff and leave the region.” I turned my attention to George. “I need you to stay.”
“Would you mind explaining to me what that was all about?” I asked George as I sat down on the edge of the desk.
“A woman they were holding prisoner had escaped.”
“Why were they holding her prisoner?”
“She broke the alpha’s trust and helped his daughter run away. They were tracking her, but if they came back emptyhanded, then she made it to the witch.”
“The witch?”
George let out a breathy laugh, “Oh, yeah. You have a lot to learn here.”
“That I do. So, tell me about this witch and where I will find her.”
“She won’t be too happy if you bother her. She’s powerful and her place is well-warded against us.”
“I insist. After the meeting, I want you to take me to her. I need to make amends for the crimes this pack has done.”
“I can do that, but I won’t take you all the way to her. As I’ve said, she’s pretty powerful.”
“I’m guessing this pack has angered her to the point she’s had to take things into her own hands.”
“It’s gone back to when our last alpha took over. He killed the alpha. His mate is the witch. She ran away and she has done all she could to take in women that escape from here.”
“Oh, wow! I can see why she’s angry. Her mate was killed. You do realize that we can’t treat women that way anymore. We have laws to follow.”
“You won’t have to worry about most of the pack standing against you when you proclaim the new laws to be obeyed. When the last alpha had taken over, most of us were too scared to challenge his rules. Some were as ruthless as he was and had the same way of thinking as he did. Our pack did grow in numbers but at a cost.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to assemble the pack for a meeting?”
“Not that long. Most of the pack lives nearby. There are a few others who had stepped out years ago as they didn’t agree with the way things were going here. You can give them a call, but you may have to make personal trips to visit them.”
“I’m enlisting your help to call everyone that is local. I’ll need everyone else’s phone numbers. I’ll call them myself.”
George stepped out of the office, and I could feel the stress weighing on me. We hadn’t been here twenty minutes and it was already a clusterfuck.
“I hope you didn’t mind me stepping in like that,” Paul asked.
“Not at all. I was glad that you did.”
I was sure that Paul should’ve been the one that Aiden sent, and I had half the mind to tell my brother that. I pulled out my phone and hit his number on the speed dial, but it went straight to voicemail. I didn’t bother leaving a message. Aiden would have seen that I called and would get back to me.
“You know, I am glad that you are here,” I said to Paul. “No way I could have handled those guys, let alone one.”
“Hopefully it’ll be the last we hear of them,” Paul said as he stared out the window.
“I hope you’re right,” I replied, and my phone rang.
“Are you going to let the alpha know how well things are going here,” Paul laughed.
“What do you think?” I replied with a smirk. “I sincerely hope that Vincent is going to pull through,” I said to my brother.
“Well, hello, brother,” he snapped. “Guess you’re still alive long enough to get snarky with your alpha.”
“Oh, no,” I laughed. “You’re the one who put me in this position. They had put someone in charge when we got here and that isn’t all the trouble I’ve stepped into. I’m thankful Paul was here or I wouldn’t be.”
“Vincent is on his way.”
“He can’t get here fast enough,” I sighed.
“That’s why Paul is there with you, brother.”
“I’ll call you back in a while. I have to go break the news to the rest of the pack and then find a missing woman.”
I rubbed my head as I felt a headache forming caused by stress. How did Aiden do this as an alpha? It was different when I stepped in for him to take over our pack when he lost his first wife. Maybe it was because we were all bonded in a way so, it made it easier for me to be in charge. That wasn”t enough experience for me to take over this pack even if it was temporary.
“Missing woman?” he asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” I said sarcastically. “But you already knew they held them captive here. I’ve yet to investigate how bad it was. A woman had run away shortly before we got here so, I need to see if I can find her and check on her wellbeing.”
“Keep me informed,” he replied before ending the call.
The meeting didn’t last twenty minutes. Only twenty-two of the supposedly fifty-five-member pack showed up. George informed me that a few pack members stepped out saying that they were leaving the pack. It wasn’t looking good, and if that wasn’t bad enough, I asked George to show me where the runaway woman was being held. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
I contemplated taking this position. An omega had no business taking a role as alpha, especially alpha to a pack of ruthless wolves who were still stuck in the past. What I was looking at was more than barbaric. The stench of sickness and bodily filth about knocked me over once we entered the basement.
I couldn’t believe the things that Gemma told my brother Aiden and me. I also couldn”t believe my brother assigned me as the pack alpha until he pulled me aside later on to tell me it was a temporary position. I know he is trying to protect his young bride and not get involved with this pack, but I don’t foresee him leaving the East Coast any time soon, not especially to take over the West Coast pack he became alpha of once he killed the last alpha, who coincidentally was Gemma’s father.
That was the other reason why I couldn’t see him taking over as alpha to the West Coast pack. Gemma wouldn’t go back due to all the trauma she had endured at a place that was supposedly her home.
Aiden had asked Paul, our third, to go along with me. In all fairness, he should be alpha, if anything. He also should’ve been our pack’s second, but he politely took third when Aiden asked me to be his second.
At 6 foot 8, Paul is a bear of a man with muscles and his wolf was certainly not something you wanted to make an enemy with. He was in charge of our security team. And, right now, he was feeling as sick as I was.
“They locked them up down here,” George stated, snapping me back to attention.
“And, what? Forget that they’re down here?”
“Partially,” George replied.
“I think I’ve seen enough,” Paul added, not willing to take another step inside the room.
I couldn’t agree more with him. It was a nauseating thing how they treated anyone down here. “I want this place cleaned up. This place should only be used for rapid wolves, not holding women hostage so that they can be bred. That’s not how things are going to be done from here on out.”
We had used large cages to house the wolves who had gone rapid. It’s where they were too far gone and unable to shift back into their human form.
“They kept the women down here and had their way with them until they were pregnant.”
“Did they at least get medical treatment?”
“We have a doctor on the payroll.”
“Where was the runaway staying? I’d like to get her scent and see if I can pick up her trail.”
“Over there,” George pointed. “The far cage.”
It had to be the furthest one, forcing me to walk past all the others. Thankfully, they were all empty. I stepped inside the cage and picked up a pillow. It was small and raggedy, but it would carry her scent the most.
“Do you know which way she went?” I asked George.
“West towards the witch’s house.”
“Paul, I want you to take care of things here. George, I would appreciate it if you would help him while I’m gone. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can. If this witch is as powerful as you say she is, I want to try and make peace with her.”
“Good luck,” George added.
I headed outside towards the house”s eastern side and began taking my clothes off. I dropped the pillow and shifted into my wolf form. It was easier to scent and track this way. Once I had gotten a good whiff of the pillow, I headed east. Her scent was faint, but it was a start.
It had been a while since I had been in my wolf form. It was freeing getting to run, feeling the ground beneath my paws. Even though it was temporary, I was enjoying the freedom away from the estate. I knew Paul would be able to handle anything for me while I was away.
I paused to sniff the air and along the ground. Her scent was getting stronger, telling me that I was getting closer, but it was a maze getting through the wooded area as it was covered with thickets and brush. By the time I made it out of the woods, I could see a cabin, but what stopped me was an invisible barrier. The second I hit it, I was zapped, causing a pain to rip through me and eliciting a yelp from me. The barrier had some sort of an electrical pulse that had knocked me out.