Chapter 14

A whisper, a rumour and a lie.

(Fraction)

I have been sitting in this stinking cell for about four hours. Tommy’s wolf still hasn’t shown itself. It’s a

waiting game but I am about to lose my patience with him, just as I’m about to practise my punches on

him, my cell phone rings. With mild annoyance I stand and dig my

Samsung S21 out of my jeans. Noticing the caller ID, I can only hope this is the news I have been

waiting for.

“Darryl, tell me you have something?” Yeah, I know I’m a rude bas**rd. Alpha Darryl of the Grey pack

has been helping me look for Anna and the other wolves since the night she was taken, the night

Alpha. Rickson was killed. Sure, others are helping but Darryl and his pack have been my go-to as of

late. I hear him sigh; I can almost feel his regret though the phone.

“Nothing yet Fraction, I’m calling about something else.”

“I’m not interested in anything else right now.”

“You will be, have you heard of an Alpha called Max from Hati?” I’m caught off guard by the question.

“No. Should I?”

“I’ve heard whispers of him about a year ago, he entered America at the dead of night with his Head

Warrior. He stayed for three nights in South Dakota and then left. Now he’s back and he’s brought his

Head Warrior and ten others.”

“South Dakota? What the f*ck is there? There aren’t any packs there.

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Him and eleven wolves could mean he’s looking for a fight with someone.”

“No one I know of. I have asked all the other Alphas in the area. You are the last one. The other Alphas

agree, we can’t just have him and eleven warriors wandering around the American packs. I’m going to

be taking Lewis and meeting Alpha Callum and his head warrior on the border of South Dakota in three

days. We could use you and Patrick with us. Just in case.”

“In case of what? He could be on a d**ned holiday for all we know. I can’t come, I need to focus on

finding Anna.” I can’t spare the time: sure, this Max could be up to no good, but I just can’t care right

now.

“Fraction, we need you. If this is the outside packs moving into America, we need to stop it now.” Darryl

is right, this could be an invasion. It could be nothing as well. “The last time he was here it was four

days after Anna was taken, he landed two days ago.”

“Two days ago? That was Anna’s eighteen birthday.”

“So, we will see you in three days?” He knows he got me, it’s a long shot but it’s all we have had in a

long time.

“It’s a long shot, it could be nothing. It could be a coincidence.” I can’t pass this up, da*n it. “See you in

three days, text me the details.”

,

I turn back to Tommy. I decide that for now he can wait. As I inject him with a dose of wolfsbane I mind

link Liam back to continue what he was doing before I interrupted, then I link with James and Patrick to

meet me in my office.

Once in my office I take a seat behind my desk and await my Beta and Head Warrior, a knock comes to

the office door. I know it’s not Patrick or James, they both just walk in.

Poipet ja numipur and a he

“Enter” I call out. When my mother enters with some bacon sandwiches and three coffees, I can’t help

but smile. My mother is my

rock, she’s always there with anything I need or ant. When my father passed away, she could have

fallen apart and withered away like so many do when they lose a mate. Not my mother, she stepped up

and became a mother to the whole pack. She’s part of the reason I am the Alpha I am today. Some say

she resembles Meryl Streep in looks, I don’t see it. I see laugh lines from years of joy, wrinkled hands

that would catch me when I fell from trees as a pup. Green eyes that always. hold a promise of love

and loyalty, she has a smile that lights up the whole room, when she smiles you do too, you can’t help

it.

“Mother, how did you know I needed a dark roast?” I can smell the coffee the second she enters the

room, dark Colombian Roast, not creamer, no sugar, why spoil perfection.

“You can’t keep anything from me, Rick inhaled his sandwich so fast. I’m surprised he didn’t die at the

table. James is barking orders saying he’s heading into a meeting, so I figured my boys could use

some unhurried food and energy.” She places the tray on my desk and comes round to comb my hair

off my face, even at 28 she still treats me like a pup when we are alone, “You look tired Henry, you

need rest. Whatever it is, don’t go running in blind. You can’t get your mate back. while in a grave.”

My mother is the only one who calls me Henry, I was named after my father but two Henry’s were very

confusing so my middle name is what people started to use and it just stuck. It’s an odd name but I’ve

grown to love it. I do occasionally curse my great great grandfather for the name, you should see some

of the looks I get when I meet some people for the first time.

“I won’t mother. I have more to live for now than ever before.” At that moment James and Patrick enter

my office and make a beeline for the

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coffee and sandwiches.

“I’ll leave you boys to it,” with a peck on my forehead my mother leaves closing the door behind her. I

take a deep drink from my mug and wait for James and Patrick to doctor their coffees before they sit

down.

“So Darryl called, apparently an unwanted guest landed in South Dakota a few days ago, on Anna’s

birthday to be exact. And it isn’t the first time either. He was here a year ago, four days after Anna was

taken.” I watch James and Patrick sit up straighter, “Darryl is worried the Eastern packs are trying to

make a move on America, personally I think it’s something bigger. He’s travelling with eleven warriors,

one being his head.”

“Yeah you don’t travel with that much muscle for a holiday, where is he from and I can start digging?”

James is ready to be his usual detective self, honestly this man can find a lost needle, from twenty

years ago, lost in a different country. He is that good.

“All I know is that he’s from Hati and is called Max. Darryl has spoken to the Whiteridge pack and

Callum and his Head Warrior are meeting Darryl and Lewis on the border of South Dakota in three

days, me and Patrick will head up too. It could be nothing, it could be everything. We have to know.

“I agree, I’ll get Liam and Ben caught up to ensure patrols are kept on routine while we are gone” with

that Patrick gets up and leaves to chat to his warriors.

Once Patrick leaves James turns to me. “South Dakota is a long way to go for what could be nothing.”

“That’s all we have, Tommy ain’t talking. I have to find her James, Leo is just growling these days he’s

becoming withdrawn from me without his mate. I feel like I’ve lost her.”

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“Alright, I get it you have to go. I’ll cover everything from here and I’ll dig up anything I can. When are

you leaving?”

want to 20 as soon as

“Tomorrow morning, it’s a long a*s drive so I possible.” James looks like he wants to say something but

then thinks better of it, “just spit it out already.”

“Just, don’t get your hopes up, ok? If this isn’t a lead on Anna, we will find something, I won’t stop

looking. Be Careful out there, you might need your mate, but your pack needs its Alpha.”

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A witness to punishment