The Alphas Assassin (Complete)

Listening Devices

*Ariella*

I watched the car pull away from behind me. Carter had been hesitant to let me go, saying he’d rather I wait until morning. But knowing that Melany had been trained the same way we were, she knew just as well as us that nighttime was the best time to strike. I needed to make sure I got to Gabriel before she did.

I tracked through the wooded area around the pack house. The thin path was lined with shrubs that caught my clothing as I walked through. I followed my previous steps from the other times I had come along this path.

I panted and clutched my hand to my chest, leaning against a tree as I leaned over my knees, my heart beat becoming heavy, my lungs beginning to burn as I went. The cardiomyopathy was creating more problems than I cared to admit. I didn’t want Carter to know that I truly was suffering from the EBD. He’d never have let me come to Gabriel alone if I had…

I was surprised to see no guards patrolling the back of the house tonight. I couldn’t even sense anyone outside, pausing to listen from the safety of the tree line. I stayed there for longer than I normally would have. The effects of the EBD had attacked even my wolf's senses, my enhanced hearing and smell, even my eyesight seemed worse than it usually was… I had to be sure my wolf wasn’t missing anything in our surroundings, so I hesitated as I sat as still as a corpse. Listening for far longer than I ever would before, I finally urged myself to move forward.

I stood and took a hesitant step after my heartbeat had slowed down and I had caught my breath. Then I trotted through the yard to the delivery door, the key to the door between my fingers. But as I went to unlock it, I twisted the knob and the door opened easily.

I’d have to warn him about keeping the delivery door locked in the future… for the Alpha of the largest pack in the region, he surely had laxed safety measures for his house. I’m sure Melany had observed that just as much as I had… I’d remembered, however, that when I was working, his guard seemed to have a good rotation and schedule…

I wondered if he still had guards looking for me… Melany had mentioned when we got her from the pack house that The Alpha had sent every able-bodied person to hunt me down. Telling us she had heard from another housekeeper that the Alpha had gone into a rage when he found out I had left, he yelled at Beth, then yelled at Esen to “Find her”.

With the context clues, she deduced it was me he had been looking for.

I traversed slowly through the kitchen, my device held in my hand as I scanned the appliances in the kitchen, the stove, microwave, fridge, blender, coffee machine, and on until I had scanned everything I could think could hide a listening device like the one Carter had found in my hotel room.

Satisfied with my findings, I made my way into the hall, holding the device up as I went past one of the living areas and ran it over the TV and its remote. Then I scanned a house phone that sat in the foyer nearer the door as I moved through the house. I held it to every vase and decoration I passed as I made my way to Gabriel’s office.

I knelt at the door, stuffing the scanner into my pocket and replacing it with the lock picking kit Carter had given me. I expertly fiddled with the lock for a few seconds before I turned the tools and it clicked open and I pushed into the office, pulling the scanner back into my hand as the tools fell into my pocket.

It smelled like him. His intoxicating scent blasted into me and caused my insides to twist in excitement. I missed him terribly, my body reacted to him regardless of me rejecting him. I could tell just from how my body heated and sparked just by the smell and thought of him that the bond we shared was still tightly wound around us. At this point, I had realized it was pointless to fight it. I wanted to run straight to his room and throw myself into his arms… but even having accepted that, new problems loomed over us… if Melany was in fact who we believed she was, Gabriel was in danger and so was everyone within his ranks.

I shook my head, the sound of my wolf whimpering sadly in my mind as I told her to control herself from pouncing on our mate the moment she took in his thick scent in his office.

His scent did fuel her slightly though. I could feel the ache that had been lingering in my body start to dissipate the longer I was in its presence, running my hand slowly over every single inch of his office. I moved to his little en-suite bathroom first, scanned the room meticulously before turning back into his office and running the scanner through the plants around his desk, then over the chairs and then to the bookcase. Nothing had triggered the scanner so far and I was thankful.

I paused at the edge of his desk and stared at the space just in front of his plush leather chair.

Claw marks dug deep into the heavy wood of his desk. Tearing slivers of wood out in the shape of hands. I traced my free hand over the jagged edge and stared at the damage. His metal coffee cup sat dented beside his laptop, but I noticed his second monitor was missing.

“Gabe…” I whispered sadly to myself. My eyes glued to the spot on his desk. “I’m sorry…” a tear threatened at the back of my eye. I wanted to take back the rejection…

Then I swallowed as I went to set my other hand on the desk. The scanner flickered to green and made a small beeping noise as it came closer to the desk. I finally peeled my eyes from the claw marks and ran the scanner over the rest of the desk. First it died down as I moved to one side; as I brought it back, it increased at the lamp that sat on his desk.

I turned it over and found a small round device stuck to the bottom of the lamp with some sort of tacky material. It looked like a button battery and fit on the tip of my finger.

I plucked it from the bottom of the lamp and moved from the desk, putting the scanner on it to be sure. When it beeped I felt a growl escape my own throat. Surprising me, as it had been a long time since my wolf had caused such a strong reaction of anger to radiate unintentionally from my body. I had learned long ago to control that side of my emotions. I had held onto anger so deeply when I first shifted that she often got the better of me as a child. It took all of Mason's strength and the help of Carter to keep me under control for that first year and I had learned through many bouts of anger to control her... but the idea that Melany had bugged my mate's office infuriated me.

I gripped the tiny device in my hand as I flicked it off my finger and into my palm and turned to the bathroom. Tossing it into the toilet before flushing it, then flushing it again and again to make sure it was washed far enough away.

I stared after the rushing water for some reason, unable to tear myself away until I saw the small device swirl down the drain. My heart was aching as I thought about it. I wondered how much she’d heard, how much she’d relayed to Red River… I questioned if our safety was already in danger and what information they had to use against us. If Gabriel had at all talked about me after the room was bugged they would know he was looking for me. If she had told them already that I was pregnant, then that was just icing on the cake. My strength would be hindered. I wouldn’t shift if I didn’t want to risk the baby's life. She had seen EBD affect me, she’d know that I was weak, and she’d know that if I got too far away from Gabriel before the bond was either fixed or severed completely, that it might kill one or both of us. We’d be easy targets to pick off…

I had to repair the bond with Gabriel first and foremost, otherwise distance could be our killer. Then I had to warn him about Melany and Alpha Armin, otherwise they would surely be our killers…