***
I walk around the house when I arrive and head to the back yard. I can hear the pack members fooling around.
Wes is flipping burgers on the barbie. Alyssa, his mate, is lounging on the grass with a couple of other females, Rachel, Chloe and Delly. Eddie and Matthew are throwing a football around. The only member missing is Paddy.
The rest of the pack are all in groups at other locations. It’s too dangerous for us all to hunt together. We can be noisy on a hunt. Humans would notice large groups of us making our existence harder to keep from them.
There are already dangerous groups of humans who grow up knowing that fairy tales and monsters are real. They like to call themselves ‘The Cleaners’. Their mission is to cleanse the human race of all supernatural beings. They’re trained generation after generation to destroy us. If we hunted in one large group we would be giving them the opportunity to wipe out a whole pack at once.
We rotate locations and members so we all get a chance to hunt together. It’s safe and it works so we stick to it.
I reach out for the footy, grabbing it as it soars straight towards my head. "Nice try Eddie but you know I'm too quick for you. I don't know why you bother."
My comment doesn’t stop me from throwing the footy back in Eddie's direction at full pelt, aiming for his arse.
He easily catches it with a laugh and carries on his throwing game with Matthew. It's virtually impossible to catch a wolf off guard. Our reflexes are just too quick.
"Is Paddy on his way?" I ask no one in particular.
Everyone looks at me but not one of them offers a reply.
I turn my attention to Ed and head for Wes at the grill. “Ed, you two are pretty good mates why isn't he here? He's usually one of the first to arrive, he loves the hunt."
"I haven't heard from him today, I just figured you’d sent him to track for the rogue vamp or whoever is kidnapping the vamps. He often goes silent when he’s tracking.” Ed makes his way towards me, digging his phone out of his pocket. He taps the screen and holds it out. We can all hear it without even putting it on speakerphone. The seven of us crowd around as we listen to it ringing out before Paddy's voicemail finally kicks in.
“You’ve reached Paddy. I’m either ignoring you or I can’t answer the phone right now. Depending on which category you fall in, leave your number and I might call you back.”
I speak up knowing he’ll call back immediately on hearing my voice. “Paddy, call me.”
Ed wanders off, redialling his number.
I close my eyes and feel for him through the pack bonds. I find him in no time, agitated and scared. I open my eyes.
“Something’s… not right. He’s scared. We need to find him, retrace his footsteps.” I think back to the last time I saw or heard from him. The pack meeting. He left last night with Chloe over his shoulder.
I focus my sights on Chloe. “What happened when he dropped you off last night?”
“I’d come around by the time we arrived at my house. I thanked him with a peck on the cheek and left him in his car. He didn’t drive away until I closed the door behind me. Was I the last person to see him?” she asks sounding devastated at the thought.
“Fuck! He’s still not answering. When I got home and he wasn’t there I thought he’d gotten lucky with Chloe. I should have fucking called him. Some mate I am.” Ed says, pacing around the yard with his wolf riding him. I can feel the energy flowing around him.
Delly steps up to him, placing a comforting hand on his arm. “Don’t beat yourself up Ed. You won’t be any help to him if you turn wolf now. You know turning so close to the full moon means you won’t shift back until morning. We have a few hours before we have no choice but to shift so let’s make the most of it.”
He nods his agreement and they all look to me for direction. The problem? I have no fucking clue how to find him. He was in a car, meaning there’s no scent trail to follow.
“Wes, can you call the other the rest of the pack and make sure no one else saw him after he dropped Chloe off?” Wes wanders off with his phone in hand.
“What if the person taking the vampire’s has him? Are we safe? Could it be Cleaners?” Alyssa asks with a trembling lip.
I pull her petite frame into my arms, “He’s alive, sweetheart. It’s not the Cleaners. We all know they wouldn’t keep him alive. Whoever has him, we’ll get him back. To make sure everyone is safe tonight we’ll bring everyone here for the hunt. It will just have to be a quiet one.”
“What about the Cleaners?” Alyssa gasps as she steps out of my arms. We all know the dangers of hunting in the full pack.
“It’s a last minute decision. Even if they find out about it they don’t have the time to organise an ambush. We’ll just have to be extra alert. Do you think you could organise getting everyone here?” Giving her a job will take her mind off worrying about Paddy and the pack’s safety. Alyssa doesn’t need to worry about those things. That is my job as Alpha.
“Sure.” She nods and runs into the house, probably to use the phone in my office.
“We’ll get some food together for when the pack arrive,” Delly offers, taking Chloe, whose sole attention is on Ed and his phone calls, by the arm and heading into the kitchen.
Matthew and Ed are the only two left in the yard.
“We’ll go see if we can pick up anything at Chloe’s. It’s the last place we know he was so it’s our only option.”
I look closely at Eddie. “Do you feel like you can handle coming with us? Your wolf was riding you pretty hard a minute ago; we can’t have you shifting in the middle of Chloe’s street.”
He takes a solid minute to weigh up his wolf and whether he will be calm enough to allow him to join us. “I’m alright now, boss. He’s settled down.”
Taking him at his word, I turn and head for the truck, hoping for everyone’s sake we find Paddy and this is all some silly mistake.
If someone really has taken him, all hell is going to break loose.
11. CONS OF A TIE
Rosabel