AIDEN
" Rainbows?" Chris asked, looking at me the same way one would look at a wolf who had. lost his mind.
" Please Chris." I begged, grabbing one of his hands with both of mine.
" You have to understand I'm not delusional, I did see her change into a multicolored wolf and I know she's not dead, at least not yet." I continued.
" Please help me find her, I can't have another mate die on my watch." I pleaded. Chris jumped to my defense as usual.
" Krystal's death was not your fault." He said firmly.
ly, holding onto my hand as he spoke.
" It. Was. An. Accident." He added, pronouncing each word with more stress than was necessary.
" Yeah right." I scoffed.
" An accident that happened on my coronation day when the assailants that were supposed to kill me mistook my mate's car for mine and killed her instead of me." I said sarcastically.
" It was an accident." Chris insisted.
" Sure, whatever you say." I acquiesced, sarcasm dripping from every word I uttered. " Now will you please help find Ava, so I can avoid another accident?" I pleaded.
" Everyone believes she's dead." Chris Informed me.
" The men will feel like they're being led on a goose chase if I ask them to form a rescue....."
" I don't need a rescue party." I interrupted.
" Just two of your strongest men and as many weapons as we can carry." I added.
" We?" He asked dumbfounded.
" Surely you aren't planning on going with them?" He asked.
" Of course I am, they would be useless with out me." I announced.
" Please stay back and rest, I'll lead the search party and I give you my solemn promise not to return unless she's with me." He promised.
" Thank you for your loyalty chris." I said softly, patting his hand to show my appreciation.
" But I have to go, I'm the only one who can track her. Now go find me strong men and suitable weapons." I ordered making sure to add enough hostility to my voice. This was enough sappiness for one day, I couldn't afford to become soft.
" Of course Alpha." He agreed getting to his feet and paying obeisance with slight bow before leaving to do my bidding.
Slowly I got out of bed and carefully got dressed, making sure to clip on my arm band of throwing blades as well as slipping a tiny ceramic knife into the heels of my knee length boots as well as clipping my mini ax to my belt. I had no idea where Ava was or what I might run into in my search, but something told me I would need to be well armed.
I was buttoning up my deer skin coat when Chris came in with two hefty guards, Satyr and Hambul. I looked them over and approved of his choice. I had been personally acquainted with both men during training sessions and I knew that both their wolves were strong and ferocious. I was also pleased to note that they were ere both armed to the teeth.
Nodding at Chris to show my approval of his choice, I strode past them and headed out the front door. As soon as I stepped out of the front door, I crouched on all fours and changed into wolf form and ran into the woods, my nose firmly planted into the forest bed of twigs and dried leaves, desperately trying to sniff out and track Ava's scents, Satyr and Hambul dogging my footsteps.
AVA
" Who are you?" I finally got up the strength to ask after shoving more than half of the scrambled eggs in my mouth and downing the whole glass of juice in three large gulps.
"I'm Greeley." He said, coming over to give me a hearty handshake and hand me a mini bottle of juice before returning to his task of stuffing food into the empty garment bag.
" I'm from the millennial pack but I've worked for Ryker in his home for the past thirteen months in the off chance of such an eventuality. He continued taking the empty plate and bottle from me and tossing them under the bed.
" You'll need this." He continued handing me a particularly heavy deer skin coat.
" I don't understand." I said shrugging into the coat.
" What do you mean by such an eventuality?" I asked.
" Alpha Aiden and Alpha Cosmo have been enemies since they were mere pups, it's an enmity that has been passed down through generations. Thirteen months ago after months of strenuous training, Alph Aiden sent me into Alpha Cosmo's pack to serve as his eyes and ears here." He explained, slinging the now bulging garment bag over his shoulder and dismantling the trolley shelves.
" You're Aiden's spy?" I asked, unconsciously lowering my voice to a whisper.
" That's another way of putting it, I prefer inside man."
" You'll have to get in the trolley." He said waving me over.
" I'm afraid it's going to be uncomfortable, but it's our only chance of escape, we'll go through the service door. I'll uncover the trolley once we're outside,then we'll have to make a run for it and pray our food lasts long enough." He explained.
" Are we really that far away from the millennial pack?" I asked, watching him in awe.
I had heard tales of spies doing daring exploits for their packs, everyone did, but never had I dreamed I would ever meet one in my life time.
I had to admit I was disappointed at Greeley's appearance, I had expected that spies would be big burly men who went around with bags of lock picks and codes, not a tall reddy man with owlish eyes. But then that was an indication that brain power was equally as important as physical power.
" It's a three day journey by foot," he replied. "Come on." He continued beckoning me forward. " We don't have much time." He added.
Placing a hand on my arm, he helped me into a squat in the now empty trolley and spread the thick white drop cloth over my head making sure to completely obliterate me from the view of any prying eyes. I held my breath as he slowly wheeled the cart out of the room and down the passage way, certain that an over zealous supervisor could stop him any second and demand to search his trolley.
I shuddered to think of what Blue eyed man whom I now had reason to believe was Alpha Cosmo would do if he caught me trying to escape. But as much as I feared for myself, I feared more for Greeley. If Cosmo found out he had been a double agent for the past thirteen months,the goddess alone knew what horrors he would visit on him.
However, it would appear that the goddess had finally chosen to smile down on me as we passed through the building and managed to exit the service door without incident.
I sighed heavily in relief when Greeley finally wheeled the trolley to a stop and pulled off the heavy over cloth to reveal a heavily shrouded forest.
" That's the first hurdle crossed." He announced helping me up and proceeding to dismantle the trolley before tossing it's pieces into the forest.
" That should make it harder to find." He explained, slinging the garment bag over his shoulder and reaching out a hand to help me up.
" Won't you be missed?" I asked, linking my arm through his.
" I begged off a five day leave to visit my sick father." He explained.
" By any luck I should have you back safely with the pack and be on my way back by then, I'm sure I can conjure up some gifts from my home town to tone down the supervisor's ire at the extra day." He explained as we took our first step into the forest.
" Will we really be able to make the trip in three days?" I asked again.
" It's a straight path through the forest without any detours or wild animals except deers and boars.." He explained.
" We may even end up making it in less than three days." He added.
" Thank you." I said, stopping to give him a heartfelt hug.
" You just saved my life and I'm forever indebted to you." I added.
" If only I knew how wrong I was, but not to worry I was soon to find out.
" You don't need to thank me." He said awkwardly returning the hug. He sure was a wonderful performer.
COSMO
From a back window i watched them go,MY eyes narrowing in anger when she stopped to hug him.
The little backstabbing bastard thought he could outsmart him huh? He would see about that.
" I'll let him play out all his cards." I decided. " Then I'll trap him like the little rabbit he is."