Chapter 37
'Stop making all that noise before I knock you out!' I yelled at Callum through our mind link because he was trying to open a very noisy pack of potato chips.
'It's not my fault you made us skip lunch,' He retorted.
'This is more important than food right now so put that away,' I went to reach for the pack but he held it away from me and made even more noise.
'Callum,' I groaned.
'Okay, okay. I'll stop...for now,' He said and gently set the pack down on the grass.
This morning was uneventful. After checking out the other two suspects, they were in the clear. No suspicious activities, relatively normal and quite civilized with the hunters. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Now were tagging Bert and Doris. Callum still had his reservations, but I knew something was up. It had to be or else we'd be back to where we were before.
With no answers.
Currently, we were sitting across the street from Doris's house, nestled in the forest.
My binoculars could only see through the cracks between her curtains, but she barely moved from her spot in front of the television.
She sat down, put on the tv, went to the kitchen and then returned with a bowl in her hands.
After reporting that she was having lunch, Callum whipped out his noisy packet of chips. Luckily Doris didn't bat an eyelash. Hopefully, old age was making her werewolf hearing fade.
'Has she move yet?' Cal whispered into my head as if someone would overhear us.
'Nope, she's just sitting there watching Golden Girls reruns.'
'Maybe we should just leave. She's old and frail. A bit mean, but most old people are,' He shrugged like it was common knowledge.
'Well, we have some time left until Bert is finished with his training,' I informed him before peering through the binoculars again. 'Wait, she moved. Just exited the kitchen, moving to upstairs I think... Damn, I lost visual on her. I can't see through the curtains upstairs from here.'
'Ev, we're invading their personal space. It makes me feel like a creeper,' I felt him shudder beside me.
'Relax, it's for the greater good- wait I have eyes on her again,' I watched as she walked down the stairs and grabbed some novel off her coffee table. 'She's reading.'
Cal groaned beside me before laying on the grass and resting his head on my lap, 'Well, I'm taking a nap. Tell me when she's finished reading.'
'You could be a bit more helpful,' I flicked his forehead.
'One, ouch. And two, I was until I realized that these people are more boring than I thought werewolves would be. I support you, babe, I do, but we're not getting anywhere with this. I think we should think harder, put more meaning to the riddle,' His eyes held determination.
'Okay, alright,' I relinquished. 'You may have a point, but I'm still checking up on Bert before we go all Sherlock Holmes.'
'Wouldn't expect anything less,' He grinned before we both off the forest floor.
Taking one quick peek over at Doris's house, she was still sat on her chair reading.
'Let's go,' I said motioning in the direction of the training field.
Luckily, there were some bikes in the packhouse. Therefore, we had transportation that didn't make much noise.
Biking over to the field, I spotted Bert's wolf heading towards his house.
I took the lead and pedaled as quickly and quietly as possible with Callum following behind.
Unfortunately, where Bert lived in the pack, there were houses across from his own, so no bush for us to hide behind.
We stopped at the end of the street as he shifted and went inside.
Ditching the bike, I mind linked Cal, 'We'll hide between those two houses.'
Hopefully, no one would come outside after smelling their Alpha and Máni lurking around.
Crouching between the narrow space between the walls of both houses, I grabbed my binoculars.
'See anything suspicious?' Cal asked.
Just as I moved the lens around, I spotted a very naked old Bert and pulled the spy gear away and inaudibly gagged.
'He's butt naked,' I shoved the binoculars into Cal's chest.
'I told you we shouldn't be spying around,' He gave a scolding expression.
'Yeah, yeah. Just tell me what he's up to.'
'Ev, I am not looking at an old man's junk,' he shook his head furiously.
'Neither am I, so tell me,' I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.
'Those are useless on me.'
'Are they?' I asked and added a pouted.
With a little grumble, he quickly looked before cursing.
'Fucking hell!'
'What's wrong?'
'He's on the toilet!' Cal looked green. 'The shower is on as well, I think that's where he's headed next.'
'He's wasting water. Absolutely no respect for the dying earth,' I shook my head.
Cal rolled his eyes, 'Yeah, because that's what's wrong with this situation.'
'Let's wait it out and then see if he's up to anything else before we leave.'
'Fine, but I expect you to take me out and buy me a five-course meal when we're done spying.'
'Deal,' I shook his hand.
The next ten minutes passed by slowly before the front door of Bert's house opened. He stepped out in his Sunday's best completed with a nice shirt and tie.
'Looks like someone's going somewhere fancy,' Cal noted.
'Something's up,' I watched as Bert combed his fingers through his hair before making his way down the street.
'No shit sherlock,' Cal retorted and I tapped him upside the head.
With the grace of ninjas, we dashed between one house to the other as we followed Bert.
He stopped at the end of the street and I halted in surprise as Cal knocked into me from behind.
Turning around, I glared at him before we hid behind some trash cans.
It was Nina's house. She was the fashion designer of our pack. Also the dressmaker of my mom and grandma's wedding dresses.
I watched in fascination as Nina opened the door, grabbed Bert's tie and hauled him inside.
'I'm not looking inside,' Cal said with a grossed-out expression.
'Neither am I,'Â I agreed before raising to my full height. "Seems like I was wrong." All of that just to realize that Bert and Nina were... whatever they were.
Cal's expression softened, "What it means is that we're just closer to catching the actual traitor. Which we will do."
We started heading back towards our bike and I sighed, "This was some goose chase."
"Hey now, don't say that. We just need some food, ice-cream and to clear our heads. I think we should also consult Penelope and Charlotte on this. More minds are better than one and I know you trust them with your life."
I nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like the best plan we've got right now. I'll tell them to meet us at the packhouse with food."
"Don't forget, I still expect a date with five courses," He smirked.
"Tomorrow I'll take you out," I assured him.
Grabbing our bikes, we made our way back.
As we were goofing around on the empty stretch of road between the packhouse and the main area of the pack, I caught a faintly familiar scent.
On both sides of us was the forest and the packhouse was still a few minutes away.
That's when I heard it.
'Everette, stop.'
I almost crashed my bike into the pitch as I skipped to a stop.
Callum stopped with me, "Princess, what's wrong?"
'To your left, Alpha. We don't have much time,' The voice rang through my head.
My eyes shifted to the dense forest.
'Are you alone?' I questioned.
There was a brief hesitation, 'I'm with her.'
'But are you alone?' I asked again.
'Yes, we're alone. Now hurry, before they find us.'
I turned to Cal as fear started creeping up my spine, "This way."
He didn't question me, just dropped his bike and nodded.
Side by side, we entered the forest and I followed the scent before I caught another one.
It was only the two, but that still didn't put me at ease.
Walking further in, I spotted the pair hand in hand on guard.
Their shoulders were tense and their eyes regarded us with fear.
"Abel," I greeted with caution.
"Alpha, Máni." His eyes scanned the surrounded area behind us before asking, "You're alone?"
I nodded, "We are, but think for a second that we're about to open our arms back to you. You betrayed the pack. You ran off."
"I know," he sighed. "But we didn't have an option. My mate couldn't join your pack and her brothers would have killed me first."
"I told Holly she could join this pack, did I not say that Holly?" I turned to the woman in question and she straightened to her full height.
"You did, but you don't know the severity of the situation Alpha Everette," Her voice came out in a soft whisper.
"Then explain it to me. Explain why you're here and where you've been." I leveled them both a hard expression.
Abel nodded and started, "When I ran off with Holly, my intention was never to go to the rogues. My loyalty will only be to this pack but I knew Holly had more information that she couldn't divulge with her brothers around."
"So you left us for dead? To fight them in Fairbairn where humans were around?" Callum questioned.
"Are my brothers alive?" Holly asked.
"No, they're gone," I answered her and watched as her eyes filled with unshed tears.
Abel wrapped his arm around his mate and answered Callum's question, "No. It was only three of them and five of you. My objective was simple, get my mate as far away as possible and then convey the rogue plans to you. I still had they hypersthene we were carrying around and Holly had a piece of her own so we kept it on ourselves so no one would be able to find us or communicate with us."
"That's why I couldn't mind link you before," I realized.
"Exactly but I still kept my pack bond and didn't turn fully rogue because I knew I had to come back and warn you. We made it to another human town a few hours away from Fairbairn and Holly said we should be safe there. After gaining her trust, she told me everything."
"Finn said there are over two thousand rogues.
Abel's eyebrows scrunched up, "How'd he find out?"
"He got caught, saw for himself how much there were and they killed him," Callum murmured.
"Finn's dead?" Abel stumbled back in shock.
"We had a ceremony for him a few days ago," I said and Cal grabbed my hand. "But that's done now, tell us what you know."
"You were right, they do have a pack with an Alpha. They've established their mind link and calling themselves the Blood Revenge Pack-"
"That's a bit on the nose," Callum noted.
"Whatever they're calling themselves, they're doing some messed up shit. They're injecting children with a liquid they've created that makes them shift early. They using large doses of steroids to makes their bones stronger. Besides two thousand of them, they're stronger too. Not all, but a good sum of them."
"Fuck," I growled as my grip on Cal's hand tightened.
"There's more," Holly spoke up, "they plan on killing everyone in the pack and taking the children. Next, they're going back to Fairbairn to enslave the humans."
"What?!" Callum barked out in outrage.
"I'm sorry, it's all their plan. The rogues have been angry for a very long time," Holly explained.
"Which is why Holly and I are leaving," Abel declared with a guilty expression. "We already started settling into the human town. Holly doesn't want to be in a pack and I'm sorry Alpha but I won't put her in any danger. They'll kill us if they find us. You have to make me a rogue so we can leave."
"You're not going to help us?" Cal asked in exasperation.
My eyes lingered on Holly and I only just noticed the way one of her hand rested on her stomach.
"You're pregnant," I stated.
Abel stood in front of his mate and nodded, "Everything happened quickly and now I have a mate and a child to protect. You must understand my reason for wanting to leave. She's been through enough in the past, a human town will give us a quiet life."
"Fine, I can respect that. But once you turn rogue, I can't accept you back into the pack," Informed him.
"I know," I caught the trace of sadness in his tone but one look at his mate and he held a sure expression.
"I have to ask one thing before I could do that," I said. "Who's behind it?"
"That's the main reason we're here and you're not going to like the answer," Abel warned.
I held my breath as I waited for him to answer the question that's been haunting me for so long.
"It's Doris."
A/N
Chapter Update: Tuesday
HOLY! Doris?! (Refer to chapter 14 where it states she lost her mate her kids in the werewolf-hunter war (nothin to lose), this chapter for her 'reading' which may allude to her liking to read and being wise (far fetch I know) and she's old so she has knowledge of stuff like Jane knew about rogue Alphas).
Yup, I gave you all the answer last chapter but you guys were dead set on Callum, Teddy or Marie which I enjoyed reading those comments immensely!
Cal wouldn't make sense because the entire was revolved around their relationship and showing who is actually is so that plot twist wouldn't make logical sense. Teddy is a Blackwood, he has his family to lose even though he hasn't been around for years. He loves his family but he just feels lost with the pain of losing his mate (he's getting a mini-story so you all will understand him and why he thinks he dislikes his twin brother). As for Marie, well I hadn't given her character any time before the last chapter so that wouldn't make sense to just throw her in now. Plus she had Finn to lose (before he died) and this rogue thing has been building for twenty years. As for Doris, well it will make sense when she explains it in an upcoming chapter.
Only a few more chapters to go and I'm sad sad. ð
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