Chapter Three
1227 Words
James POV
“Where is she?!” I roared, slamming my hand against the granite island. “I demand to know where she is!” She’s been gone for almost two days. I was beginning to think of the worst after our pack was attacked by rouges losing many members of our pack and… Losing my father I couldn’t help myself from panicking
My Alpha voice echoed through the house as I glared at my Beta and Delta.
“We don’t know, Alpha,” my Delta, Liam, replied timidly. “Spike and I searched everywhere with the hunters.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my black hair.
Just as I was about to speak again, I heard the front door open and close.
Spike, Liam, and I rushed toward the entrance.
There stood my little sister, bent over with her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Hey… guys,” she panted.
“Don’t ‘hey guys’ us!” I snapped. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
I tried to march toward her, but Spike and Liam stepped in front of me.
“Whoa.” She held up a hand. “Before you go all overprotective big brother on me, let me catch my breath.”
She straightened herself and crossed her arms.
“I was out doing my own thing… which you guys don’t need to know about.”
“Well,” Spike said bluntly, “you look like shit.”
She shot him a glare.
Spike sniffed the air. “…Is that men’s cologne?”
Adeline immediately froze. Her glare darkened. “f**k you!” she yelled.
Liam and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I ran all the way home to tell you there was a rogue near the north side of the border!”
Every bit of amusement disappeared.
The room fell silent.
“You heard me,” she continued, rolling her eyes. “Stop standing there like a bunch of deer in headlights. If you care so much about protecting the pack, then go hunt the damn rogue.”
She walked over and plopped down onto the couch in the living room.
I stared at her for a moment before turning toward Spike and Liam.
I gave them a nod.
Their eyes instantly glazed over as they mind-linked the hunters.
A second later, they were already running out the door.
“When I get back,” I warned my sister, “you and I are having a talk.”
Without waiting for an answer, I shifted into my dark chocolate wolf and took off after them.
⸻
The hunters were already gathered near the northern border by the time we arrived.
Some remained in their human forms while others stood on four paws.
The moment they noticed me, every one of them bowed.
“Alpha,” Nathan, my second-ranked hunter, said. “We’ve picked up the rogue’s scent, but it’s weak. We don’t know how many there are. They’re still on neutral territory, so we can’t make a move until they cross onto our land.”
I huffed.
“Then let’s find out why they’re here”. I mind linked them all
I brushed past the pack.
Move out.
“Yes, Alpha.” The hunters immediately followed.
As we tracked the disgusting scent through the forest…
Something else drifted into the air.
It completely overpowered the rogue’s scent.
Honeysuckle. Vanilla. And just a faint hint of jasmine.
I froze.
Every instinct inside me screamed.
Mine.
“James?” Liam’s blond wolf stepped beside me. “What is it?”
“D… do you smell that?”
I lifted my nose again. The scent wrapped around me like warmth.
Liam sniffed.
“I don’t smell anything except rogue.”
Spike walked past us.
“Yeah, I smell something.”
Hope flickered inside me.
“It smells like bullshit. Quit your bitching and keep moving.”
“No, you i***t. I’m smelling something else.” I growled
I closed my eyes.
“Honeysuckle…Vanilla… And jasmine…”
Spike stared.
“I don’t know what drugs you’ve been taking…but I want some of that shit.”
Liam snorted.
I ignored them. The closer we got… The stronger both scents became.
The rogue. And… Her
The trail led us to a three-story apartment building near the edge of town.
My eyes drifted upward.
An open window.
Third floor.
Someone stepped into view. Even from this distance… I couldn’t look away. Her black waves danced gently in the evening breeze and she purple scarf flowed along
She stood in the window, staring out over the trees.
I couldn’t see her face clearly. I didn’t need to.
Mine, the word echoed through every part of me. My mate.
My other half, the woman destined to stand beside me. The future Luna of my pack.
“Earth to Alpha.” Spike placed his paw on my snout.
“Dude… we have work to do. You can’t spend all day staring at the hot girl in the apartment.”
A growl ripped through my chest.
Mine!
My Alpha command rolled through the forest.
Every wolf around me immediately lowered their heads in submission.
Everyone…
Except Spike.
Liam sighed. “Spike… I wouldn’t test him. I think he just found his mate.”
Spike blinked. “Seriously?” Then he grinned. “I’ll go up there myself and bang her.”
Liam shook his head of his wolf “your funeral”
“Mama didn’t raise no bitch.”
Liam immediately bit Spike’s scruff and dragged him backward.
I stalked toward him. “You really know how to get on my nerves.”
I lowered my head until we were nose to nose.
“Stay away from my mate.”
Spike snorted.
“You act like I’m a horrible person.”
He bumped my shoulder.
“I may be an asshole… but I’m not that much of an asshole.”
“Are you sure about that?” Liam asked.
Spike turned.
“You wanna go? I’ll have you on the ground before you can count to one.”
Liam simply laughed and walked away.
“Enough,” I growled.
The joking instantly stopped.
“Nathan.”
“Yes, Alpha?”
“Get as close to that apartment as you safely can.”
“I want to know who’s inside my mate has a purple scarf on.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Nathan disappeared toward the apartment building.
The rest of us waited in the bushes and the shadows of the trees
A few minutes later. He came sprinting back.
“Alpha.”
He bowed.
“There’s another female inside the apartment with your mate.”
My heart tightened.
“Pack?” I asked.
Nathan shook his head. “I couldn’t tell.” He hesitated. “Your mate, she smells human.”
Everything inside me froze.
Human?
How was that possible?
Yet… The Moon Goddess never made mistakes. No matter what she was… She was mine.
But if she was living with someone whose scent we know is a rouge Was she in danger? Or… Was she hiding something?
I looked toward the apartment one last time. Then turned away.
“Let’s go.”
No one spoke as we made our way back to the pack house.
- Writer
