For reasons she couldn't place the face she saw in the woods unsettled Jessa to no end. She subconsciously scooted closer to James's side and wrapped her arms around his. A cue he didn't miss.
"What's wrong Jessa?" he asked
"Uh….Nothing… I just thought I saw something… SOMEONE in the woods for a moment. It spooked me." She said
"I know the alpha of those lands, I'll call him and see if he has anyone patrolling those borders currently. I can't imagine he'd have them so close to the road, they could be spotted by humans."
James called the Alpha of the Scarlet Moon pack from his cell. He was one of the alphas who pledged to fight with James and take down Jessa's old pack.
"Hey Leon, you might want to pull your troops in a bit. Your northern line has wandered down to the highway. Scared the hell out of my mate coming through." He said with the ease of the lifelong friendship he'd had with Leon White.
"I don't have any troops running that border right now James, your luna saw someone in the woods? I'll send a team out immediately to investigate. We haven't really seen any rogues lately, but could've just been someone passing through."
"I don't know man, better safe than sorry, let me know if you need any help. I will send extras for patrol if you need."
"I appreciate it, I'll call you back when I have news."
James put his arm around Jessa and pulled her in closer. He kissed her head and relayed what Leon had said. Drayven pulled out his phone and called Lloyd and told him to pick 40 pack members to be on standby should Leon need the help.
Anna looked out the windows keeping an eye on the wood line just in case she saw anyone out there but she saw nothing as the woods thinned out and gave way to the town. She had the slight feeling of being watched herself. It was unsettling.
This town was bigger than the last one they'd been to. There were so many tall buildings and she was surprised to see humans walking around with werekind and others. None of them seemed to notice the otherkin around them! How? Humans nearly always shied away from otherkin. They made them uneasy. Their own natural self-preservation at work. Though wolves took human mates all the time. Genetically they could even mate and produce offspring. Though it seemed to be a tossup of who would and wouldn't have wolf genes if the parents weren't properly mated. If a human was mated to a wolf they could complete a ritual to become otherkin themselves. They'd gain a wolf and everything.
Some refused their mates if they were human, or their mates refused them. Anna didn't care if her mate were human or some other variety of otherkin. She would love her mate regardless. She knew her wolf was coming. She'd been known since her last birthday, but every day she got closer and closer. Nearly there. Her birthday was in a week. She just somehow knew it would happen that night.
It had been a month since Jessa and everyone arrived, July was hot and sticky leading into stifling nights. Anna had been hanging around the pool a lot lately trying to tan. Between the pool and pack training she was golden. Jessa, now she needed a tan but it wasn't possible. Jess burned like bacon in the sun. Outdoor training had proven that. Huh, imagine, the first ever wolf in their area to ever need sunscreen.
Arriving at the mall Anna and Vivian lead the attack on the stores. Hours later they all sat in a restaurant having dinner and laughing. All of a sudden Anna had that being watched feeling again, she scanned the room while she noticed Jess doing the same. Vivian seemed to catch on too. Drayven stiffened up and Amelia mirrored his action all the while they never let on that they knew something was going on around them. They acted completely nonchalant and kept joking around.
Anna was the first to noticed the man standing in the background. He blended in well enough just slightly to the side of a larger group. In fact, the only give away was that this was the third group of humans he'd walked by in, other than that, he could've been next to invisible. He had no discernable scent, and he was nondescript. Mink linking she told the others to look sharp.
He was medium height and build, shaggy brown hair and brown eyes, jeans and a basic white tee shirt with black running shoes. Vanilla all the way, chameleon and easily blended into any setting. But she'd noticed.
Jessa shared that Jewel was on edge with the man wandering back and forth. He wasn't natural. Something was off with him. She couldn't pick out his scent, at all. Odd.
It didn't matter in the end anyhow. Quickly, quietly and swiftly the guards took the man into custody and whisked him into the back offices of the mall and into a holding cell. The group finished their dinner and went on to where the man was being held.
He was sitting on the floor of the cell, a little bruised and scuffed but mostly unharmed. The closer they got, the more it hit them that he honestly had no scent. None. Zero…. Jess couldn't figure him out. Every thing, person and place had a scent. There was nothing that was scentless.
The man was not willing to talk according to the guard, they only mildly roughed him up in an effort. Jessa didn't think that would work. He seemed edgy, frightened. She didn't think, she followed instinct and entered the cell kneeling in front of him.
"My name is Jessa, can I get you anything? Ice for that jaw or some Tylenol?" she said softly. "I saw you, in the woods, didn't I? Why are you following us?"
He sat there silently. James, after nearly having a heart attack tried pulling Jess away but she remained in place, planting her feet. She couldn't explain it, but she just knew something had this man spooked beyond words and she knew she could help him. She'd seen him somewhere. She could almost place him. Somewhere….
She was taking lunch to Caleb. He was mucking stalls. The smell of the horses and hay mingled with leather, wax and saddle soap. He was a stable worker. Sean, Sam…. Seth. That was it. His name is Seth.
"Seth, look at me." She said noting he stiffened. "Yes, I remember you, you worked the stables with Caleb. Now why are you following us?" she said a little more forcefully.
"I had no choice." He said finally.
"No choice? Were you ordered to follow one of us? The alpha? Amelia?"
"You." Came his reply.
"Why? And by whose order?"
He began to speak but then choked. He tried to speak again and felt like his airways were being squeezed tightly.
Jame was losing his patience with this man ignoring the questions of his mate. He was seeing red when he heard the man say he was ordered to follow Jessa, absolutely enraged when the man wouldn't answer her question of who ordered him to follow her. He wanted to snap his neck. He went towards the man intending to make him cooperate but Jessa stood between them shielding him. Jame felt a mix of shock and betrayal wash over him before anger took it's place.
"Stand aside Jess, that's an order!" he snapped out at her.
"I am you mate, your equal, not one of your subordinates James. Do not attempt to order me about." Jess muttered as the alpha command forced her to move aside. She felt a heat rising in herself and she stepped back between and in a double timbre of her own she said one simple sentence. "I will not be ordered around!"
Her eyes opened wide in shock as everyone in the room from alpha to the prisoner Seth, bared their necks in submission. She didn't know where that even came from. It was kind of thrilling and scary all at once.
Drayven sucked in a breath and walked to Jessa. He put his hands on her shoulders and led her to the side to calm herself.
"He can't tell us, he's bound by command. James is too hot headed to see that. I need to learn how I did that, I think I can override the command. I don't know how I know, I just do." She rambled off quickly
"It's an alpha command, a damn strong one. You have to pull the power forward harness it. Let Jewel speak through you."
With that Jessa dug deep and felt the power again, she looked to Seth.
"Who sent you on this suicide mission to spy on me?" she commanded.
"The future Luna and Alpha. The future Beta Heath wants your return. Please, Jessa, don't send me back. They'll kill me. Please, I had no choice. Honestly. I haven't reported anything at all yet." He begged.
"Don't worry Seth, you'll not be going back. I know you, you're one of the few good people in that pack. You know you can't be safe as a rogue, BUT, we can offer you a home, a pack, a job. IF you help us. If you chose not to accept, you still won't be returning, you'll be locked up until we do what we intend to do. Can't risk any tipping off."
"I will help you. They killed my brother and mother, they let the rogues kill my father. You saw what happened to me in the orphanage. I want nothing but the destruction of that worthless pack."
"Very well then, you'll denounce your ties to them immediately, and your allegiance to us. Do it now."
As he broke the ties to Blackfang and pledged himself to Rising Moon he felt hope for the first time in a long time.