Sitting in my office, I waited for the Damisons and Alpha Rivera to arrive, drumming my pen against the table, nervously. I reminded myself of all those supernaturals who were in dire need of our help, reassuring myself that I could tolerate Alpha Rivera for some time if it ensured their safety.
"Shaayna," cried out a breathless Sean as he practically ran down the hall and into my cabin, "sorry, I'm late. Ethan couldn't make it. He had other engagements."
I knew quite well what those 'other engagements' were. Ethan had started going out with this guy named Ray a couple of weeks ago. Neither Sean nor I approved of the guy. There was something shady about him. But come to think of it, we didn't really approve of the guys Ethan dated. Except, maybe that one time. But it was a sore topic for Ethan so we never talk about it.
"That's okay," I said, "considering the fact that Alpha Rivera hasn't arrived yet."
No sooner had I said that, my nose picked up on the scent of the wolf in question. Dressed immaculately in a black suit, Alpha Rivera strode in confidently, the very picture of charm and poise, closing the door to my cabin after having walked in.
"Thank you all for waiting for me," he said in that composed voice of his, his eyes landing on me for a second before it shifted to acknowledge the other people in the room.
"Right…" Sean said, clearing his throat, "let's get started, shall we?"
I took out a map of our territories, placing it on my desk as the three werewolves huddled around it. "These are the areas in and near the Dark Moon where supernaturals have gone missing from," I pointed, marking the points on the map.
"These are the areas near the New Moon pack where there have been reports of supernaturals going missing," pointed Sean, marking the points on the map as Alpha Rivera proceeded to do the same for the areas in and around his territory.
"All the areas are around this region. I believe it's called Shelton Grove" pointed out Alpha Rivera, tapping his index finger on the region in the map.
Shelton Grove was a small clearing in between the pack territories. Before the rivalry between the Moonstone pack and the Dark Moon pack, the region was a territory collectively owned by the trinity packs. There would be festivals every full moon where wolves from the trinity packs would gather in this region to worship the Moon Goddess together. But after the relations had soured, the Werewolf Council had ordered the trinity packs to give up their claim on the land. Everyone had felt that it would mutually benefit the packs if there was unclaimed territory separating them. However, it appeared as though this very region had now become the hub of kidnappings.
"We'll have to inform the council about this," Sean stated.
"Not before we check it out once, see if we can find something," I countered, "we need to map out the area on our own first. In case we do find something there, we could report to the council with the proof. It'll speed up the process that way."
"Sounds fair," agreed Alpha Rivera.
"We go in there two days from now. We could get a couple of our most trusted warriors as backup but we need to make sure to be discreet," said Alpha Rivera.
"We'll enter Shelton Grove from the respective borders we share with the region. That way, we can cover more area within a shorter span of time," I said to Alpha Rivera, "once we're done, we'll meet each other near the border of the New Moon pack. It'll be neutral ground, considering that Sean's pack is on good terms with both of ours."
"Sounds good," the two alphas replied.
We discussed where to position our warriors in case we needed backup as well as our entry points, information that we needed to relay to our warriors, before parting ways for the day.
The next day was spent in selecting the warriors and briefing them about the task at hand, a task that wasn't too difficult considering that we trained together every morning and I was really close to them. I had chosen Drake, Caleb and Diana, three of the best warriors our pack had, to back me up.
As night fell the following day, I checked the gun on me, making sure that it was loaded. Dressed in an all black outfit in order to blend in with the darkness, I pulled on the hood to cover my face before leaving. Maya had offered to cover up my absence in case Gramps got curious. Gathering the three warriors, I got ready to go to Shelton Grove.
We discarded the cars that we had travelled in at the border before entering the unclaimed land, the warriors covering me. The clearing didn't seem like civilization had ever existed there. Barring the occasional sound of crickets and a couple of trees, there didn't seem to be any sign of life in the area even as we ventured further.
A sudden tap on my shoulder had me turning around sharply, pointing my gun at the person, my hand on the trigger. But the sparks that followed the contact, had me lowering the weapon.
"Where's your backup?" questioned Alpha Rivera.
I turned around only to discover that I had been separated from the warriors.
An exhausted sigh escaped his lips as Alpha Rivera grumbled, "You should be a little more careful, Romano."
"There was no one in that direction, Dee," a man approached us, most likely addressing Alpha Rivera, "I don't think so that there's anything here. It's sa-"
He was cut off by a wolf that jumped out of a bush close by, almost landing on me, if only Alpha Rivera hadn't pushed me out of the way, shooting it in the leg. The wolf rolled over, howling in pain as it tried running away, the bullet clearly having caused some damage as a limp could be observed in its stance. The man accompanying Alpha Rivera shifted before chasing after the wolf.
"There's probably more where it came from," I whispered to Alpha Rivera who nodded in agreement.
I signalled him to check the bushes on one side before shifting to go and check on the ones in the other direction.
Not having found anyone in the direction I was coming from, I returned back to where I had met Alpha Rivera. He was still in human form, checking for the presence of danger. As I approached him, I saw a man hiding in the bushes, a rifle in hand. I followed his line of sight, only to see Alpha Rivera, fighting a wolf. Oh shit!
From his angle, Alpha Rivera couldn't see the rifle, giving the man an advantage. The man bore no scent, probably concealed with a spray or a spell. I stalked towards the man slowly, making sure to not make a single sound. The man's back was turned towards me disabling him from being able to see me. I pounced on the man right before he pulled the trigger, landing a gash on his stomach right before we rolled out of the bushes, fighting. My jaws sunk into the man's neck, pressing against his pressure point in order to knock him unconscious. The man fought with all that he had in order to get me off of him while I refused to slacken my jaw. From this proximity, I realised that the man was a werewolf. However, he couldn't shift unless I let him go. We kept scuffing around.
Through my peripheral vision, I saw Alpha Rivera running in my direction, the wolf he was fighting lay unconscious in a distance. However, no sooner had I done that, than I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. Blood trickled out of the wound and I realised that the fucker had shot me. I refused to let the pain stall me as I tried my best to not soften my grip on the man's neck, even when black dots started dancing in my vision. My efforts paid off as the body underneath me slowly stopped fighting and slowly went limp. Breathing out a pained sigh, I rolled over, surrendering to the pain, my vision blurring with every passing second.
I welcomed the darkness, embracing it, drowning in it and right before it consumed me whole, I dimly registered a pained howl, the sound seeming so near and yet so far as a large body covered mine.
And then it all went black.