The Forgotten Daughter

-11- Answers

LANDONS P.O.V

Reaching the door to the Alphas office, I found myself almost frozen to the spot. I wanted answers but what if those answers weren't exactly what I was looking for?

It was becoming clearer by the day that our pack held a number of secrets. Granted the biggest secret of all meant that Rory could live a normal enough life growing up, but it also meant that her early adult years are becoming plagued with uncertainty and lies.

I shake the thoughts from my mind and knock on the office door.

"Enter, young Landon" Alpha Nicos voice comes through the door as one of the patrol guards exits the office.

Stepping into the alphas office I notice my father and elder Micha sat upon one of the sofas towards the left of the room.

"Please take a seat" Alpha Nico gestures towards the sofa.

I nervously sit next to my father as elder Micha pours each of us a drink. I was definitely going to need it.

"I understand you wish to know what's going on lately and I intend on telling you as much as possible but you must understand that everything has been done with Auroras best interest at heart" alpha Nico pauses taking a sip from his glass.

I know that everything they've done or hidden is to protect Rory but right now it doesn't seem to be protecting her, only making her a target.

"I have kept many secrets, some of which I am not proud of" alpha Nico takes a larger mouthful before beginning to pace the room.

"Nic, are you sure you want him to know everything?" My father cautiously asks

Alpha Nico stops pacing and lets out a sigh "I will answer whatever questions he has, it's time for the truth"

My father simply nods in agreement as Alpha Nico finally takes a seat in the arm chair next to the sofa.

"Look I know it's not my place to question you Alpha Nico, but I have to ask why so many secrets? I know you want to keep her safe but is this really keeping her safe? She has an enemy that she doesn't even know about? She's the target for reasons completely unknown to her or anyone else, we need to know what where really up against and why" I keep my tone as calm as possible so as not to anger him

"Everything I've ever done has been to keep her safe, unfortunately my plan didn't quite go as I'd hoped. It seems that Carn has several moles within the pack who have been feeding him snippets of information over the years." He pauses briefly, gathering his thoughts.

"Carn is Luna Talia's twin. She was born first so was the true heir to the Alpha title of her pack, Carn could never come to terms with it and always bullied her. He almost killed her several times. Once I found she was my mate I bought her here to keep her safe but that still wasn't good enough, she was still the future Alpha of their pack. So when Carn found out she was with pup, he did everything in his power to get rid of them" Alpha Nicos voice was barely a whisper

Realisation hits me, Rory was the next in line.

"That's why he wants Rory, she's the rightful Alpha. With her alive, his title, pack and reputation are at risk." I say more to myself than anyone else

"So, you see now why I've done all that I have?" Alpha Nico asks while pouring another drink

I get why of course but does he not see how ridiculous it all is? He's kept her true identity a secret from the pack, as well as keeping goddess knows how many secrets from her. If the pack knew her true identity they'd keep her safe without question but right now she's just another pack member, of course we look out for each other but as our future Luna her safety would be priority.

"What else?" I ask. It's obvious there's more to all of this or Mac wouldn't have been so concerned by her chanting and my father wouldn't have hesitated at the idea of me knowing all that's going on.

"What do you mean, what else?" Alpha Nico snaps

"I'm not an i***t Alpha. She was chanting repeatedly about Carn, someone she's never even met and probably doesn't even know exists. Mac said himself it was possessive chanting, so tell me who could have done something like that to her?! And why would anyone choose to do that to her?!" My patience growing thin at his clear reluctance to tell me the full story

Before he gets the chance to answer his eyes glaze over along with my fathers as they mind link.

"We'll continue this another time, right now we have a messenger at the south border" he states as he stands and leaves, quickly followed by myself and my father, leaving Elder Micha behind.

As we all rush down the stairs, Alpha Nico stops to talk to one of the warriors "Send for Calebs body, have it bought to me at the south border"

Shifting into our wolf forms we run towards the south border at record speed. Rory was still out of action and whoever this messenger was probably knew that, I'd be surprised if they'd come alone.

The sounds of warning growls grow louder as we approach. Several of the guards patrolling the border were already in their wolf form, ready to attack if needed.

We shift back, grabbing a pair of shorts each from one of the many hollowed out trees as one of the guards; Matt, quickly greets us and fills us in on the what was going on.

"Alpha. Beta. Landon" he nods at each of us "A lone child was spotted on this mornings patrols, she was picking flowers about half a mile from the border. With there seeming to be no immediate danger we left her to it but when we returned this evening we saw.." Matt pauses briefly and turns to look just beyond the border ".. we saw them"

We each follow Matts line of sight, gasps escaping us all before quickly turning to growls. The bodies of five small children placed carefully in a row laid bloody across the ground surrounded by the picked flowers, a single envelope resting on the stomach of the middle child.

"Have you scouted the area?" Alpha Nico asks as he turns to Matt

"Yes Alpha. I sent a patrol out on a mile radius, I've received news from Troy as you arrived and unfortunately there was no trail to follow, however they did pick up a strange scent towards the stream that he believes to be a witch" Matt promptly informs the alpha with a slightly worried expression.

A witch? Surely that's impossible? There's not been a witch around for over a hundred years.

"Jacob, link Micha. Tell him to gather the elders and wait for me in my office" Alpha Nico says looking once again at the bodies.

As much as I tried I couldn't read the Alphas expression as he walked towards the children and knelt slightly to retrieve the envelope, his eyes also fixated on the children before him.

Who would do such a thing? They could be no older than five, maybe six years old, their futures simply taken from them. It made my stomach churn and my heart ache but I was so glad Rory didn't have to see this.

A vicious snarl came from Alpha Nico as he read the letter he'd pulled from the envelope before handing it to my father to read.

"He can't be serious" My father nervously laughs "No pack would allow for this to happen. If he's running two packs there's no way they'd let him do such a thing, surely not." He hesitantly looks towards to children while handing me the letter.

'Today you find five,

Tomorrow four more,

How many after that?

The countdown begins,

Until your princess awakes.'

I felt the colour drain from my face as my stomach churns once more. What kind of sick bastard is he?

"Five today, the countdown begins. What does that mean? He's counting down from five, so what five days?" I ask while reading it once more. "What happens on the last day? She wakes up? Then what? That's ten more children!" I ramble out frantically as a low growls rumbles through my chest.

"I think that's exactly what it means son" my father places his hand on my shoulder as he takes the letter from me.

"We can't let this happen" Alpha Nico snaps "Carn cannot get away with this again! Too many innocent lives have been lost at his hand, I will not let him take the lives of anymore!" As he growls and shifts, letting Cyrus take charge

"Gather the hunting parties. Warriors, trackers and elites. Call the guards back and have Troy come with me" Cyrus orders and he sets to work making a plan.

Everyone quickly gathered before Alpha Nico, waiting on his orders and as requested Caleb's body was also bought before him.

The plan was fairly simple. Half of the guards and warriors would remain with the pack in case of attack, the rest would split into three groups and each scout a different route. The Alphas groups would continue south towards the stream, where Troy had smelt what he believed to be a witch.

My fathers group would head east and my group to the west. I had no real idea what we were looking for but any little clue would help.

After around thirty minutes half of my group had decided to start fooling around, childish pushing and shoving. They clearly didn't understand the severity of the situation but how could they when everything had been kept so hidden.

I ignored them at first, hoping that as young adults they'd be able to at least realise when enough was enough. Most of them had calmed down after the first minute or so, getting back to the job at hand but there were two in particular that didn't seem interested in what they were meant to be doing.

Harry and Gyles were both fairly new to the pack, Alpha Nico had taken them in along with a dozen others less than a year ago. Their pack had been attacked by rouges and they'd sought refuge here after fleeing.

'You fool why did you not see it before!' Knox snarls suddenly at the forefront of my mind.

'See what exactly? Two annoying little shits, that some how managed to get in with the warriors?' I sarcastically roll my eyes at him, having no clue what he's on about

'Alpha Nico said we had someone leaking information and I think we just found out who. You need to watch them Landon.' Knox orders pacing uncomfortably before settling.

He was right! I've had my head so wrapped up in other things I hadn't even noticed.

'Alpha, within your group who is a newcomer?' I quickly link the Alpha, if we each have some in our groups it would be easy for them to throw us off any leads or worse have us ambushed

'Zac, Theo and Ryder. Why? What's happened?' Alpha Nico quickly responds

'That leaves Rex and Wesley with my father. I have a theory and I don't think you're going to like it' I inform him and quickly fill him in before linking my father too.

'Divert towards the stream, your father and I will meet you' Alpha Nico instructs before cutting the link

"Head towards the stream, we are to meet with the Alpha and Beta immediately" I inform my group before shifting and giving Knox control

"I thought the guards already sent a group to the stream, if they didn't find anything then why are we bothering?" Gyles questions

Was he actually questioning my orders right now?

"He's got a point yano, doesn't matter how many of us search the area, no ones going to find anything" Harry adds sending a devious grin towards Gyles

"You dare to question your Alphas orders? Why don't you tell him of your thoughts" Knox growls at them, not missing a step as we approach the edge of the stream.

It was eerily peaceful considering there were three groups of twenty wolves pounding around the place. The smaller creatures of the Forrest had already hidden themselves away through fear of becoming prey, only the faint sounds of the birds singing could be heard off in the distance. A strange smell of cinnamon and sage being gently carried on the breeze around us.

"Oh come on, what does the Alpha know? He's a sad lonely old fool who's reign has gone on too long. He doesn't even have an heir for his title nor has he chosen anyone to take over" Gyles sniggers

"Yeah, some Alpha" Harry adds nudging Gyles with his elbow

How dare they disrespect the Alpha in such a way. He had been understanding enough to even let the remains of their pack take refuge within our pack. The disrespect they so blatantly displayed had several of the warriors in a state of unease, as future Beta they knew Knox and I wouldn't stand for such a thing.

Knox skids to an abrupt halt, his paws scrapping through the dirt as he spins and stands before them.

"Of what concern is it to you weather or not the Alpha has chosen an heir? You're lucky he even allowed you filthy rogues to integrate into this pack, I would have had you chained in the cells and beaten for your sheer lack of respect!" Knox snarls at them, his jaws snapping just inches from their faces

"That'll be all, thank you Knox. Shift back and allow Landon control" Alpha Nicos voice comes from behind me

"Yes Alpha" Knox says with a small bow of his head as he quickly shifts back, giving me full control as I retrieve some shorts from a nearby tree.

"So you feel I am an unworthy Alpha, is that correct?" Alpha Nico asks as he stalks around the pair of them

It was then that I notice Zac, Theo, Ryder, Rex and Wesley were all bloody and bound with silver chains.

Harry and Gyles attempt to take a step back as the colour drains from their faces, only to hit a wall of warrior that had formed behind them as they too are quickly bound by silver chains.

"Err.. No Alpha... that's not what we meant" Harry stutters

"Of course you are a worthy Alpha.." Gyles adds

"SILENCE!" Alpha Nico growls cutting him off.

Just then the guard from earlier arrives with Calebs body and drops on the floor before us. The look of shock and fear evident on each of the newcomers faces.

"You see, I don't take kindly to having moles, traitors and snakes within my pack" Alpha Nico states as he begins to circle around them. "I don't appreciate my business being leaked to my enemy, nor do I appreciate my pack being put in the line of danger. Tell me who you're working for and what you know and I may just spare your life" he grins sadistically at each of them as his eyes show Cyrus' presence.

A menacing laugh comes from Gyles as he stares at the Alpha. "Ha. You think bringing us the body of that imbecile will get us to talk? Damn fool couldn't even butter a slice of toast by himself, let alone take on an Alpha"

Alpha Nico quickly grabbed the hair on Wesley and Zac's head, pulling them both up and ripping their heads clean from their neck as their bodies drop lifelessly to the floor, deep red blood creating a pool upon the floor.

Gasps and low growls escape the new comers as they try to fight for freedom against the silver chains with an audible hiss as their skin began to burn against it.

"No matter how many you kill, he will send more. Hundreds, thousands more!!" Gyles spits out venomously "This is not the end dear Alpha, only the beginning. My father will get what he desires or you and your pack will fall at his hand." As a large cloud of red smoke appears, making each of the newcomers disappear before our very eyes.

"FIND THEM?" Alpha Nico shouts, shifting into his wolf form and letting Cyrus out.