The Alpha Summit

Chapter Seventeen

Achilles and Mel burst into Achilles' office. Jax and Bentley were standing together looking unsettled.

"Well," Achilles demanded. "What else do you need to tell us?"

Bentley cleared his throat apprehensively, "Alpha Wren wants the whole pack to come."

Achilles looked at him confused. That wasn't something they couldn't deal with.

"What else, Bentley. I can see you're not telling us."

Achilles looked from Mel to Bentley. Looking at him a second time he could see Mel was right. He wasn't making eye contact and looked nervous.

"Bentley," Achilles warned.

"She invited every pack in the United States. I don't know who is coming or how they are getting here so fast. I couldn't stop her."

Mel looked at Achilles with fear. There was ok way they would be able to sneak off and find Kasey now. Hell, they weren't even sure Alpha Wren had her.

"We need a new plan," Achilles stated.

"No s**t," Jax scoffed

Achilles growled deeply, "Don't test me right now."

Jax held his hands up in surrender, "I'm just as worried as you."

Mel sat down at Achilles' desk chair. She grabbed a piece of paper and pen.

"First, we need to put out a search for Kasey. We've done close to nothing except hope that Alpha Wren took her."

Mel wrote a giant one and wrote down what she said.

"I've mind-linked warriors to meet in the gym in five minutes." Achilles said. "Gamma Brianna will take care of that. I want the perimeter searched. They'll start where she was taken and go from there."

"Gamma Brianna?" Mel asked.

"Oh, she was the one that came after you punched that mirror. You didn't meet her though," Jax said.

Mel nodded, "I'll need to meet her sometime."

"She is amazing at her job. Very strong and smart. If anybody can find Kasey it's her."

Achilles placed his hand on Mel's back and she relaxed into his touch. She felt slightly better knowing that Kasey was being looked for now. But she still felt frustrated she hadn't done this before.

"Now about the party," Mel started.

She trailed off. She wasn't sure how they could pull this off. Everybody's eye would be on her and Achilles, so there was no way they could sneak off.

"We can't sneak off, " Achilles stated. "But I also don't want just any pack member doing this."

"What about me?"

Jax stepped forward, "Nobody is going to be looking for me, or Bentley for that matter. If we snuck off nobody would even notice."

"Yeah," Bentley agreed. "Plus you know you can trust us."

"It's not a bad idea," Achilles agreed.

"Okay," Mel said. "Where will you guys look? Her land is huge."

Achilles cleared his throat. "Well, they should probably start towards the dungeons. No matter how much we wouldn't like to admit, that is where she would be kept."

Mel still felt uncomfortable. They could be hurt if they were caught. But it seemed like there was no other way to execute a plan.

"I'll mind-link with Achilles the entire time, " Bentley assured.

Achilles moved over to his desk. He pulled open a drawer and took out a small camera. Despite being small it had a large lens on it. Mel assumed this was so it would be inconspicuous but still take a good picture.

Achilles handed the camera to Bentley, "Make sure you document everything. We need to be able to go over what you find. Right now, I just want you to get used to the camera so you will get good shots."

"Got it."

Bentley's eyes unfocused which signaled a mind-link. He quickly focused back in.

"Brianna needs me. I'll give her a breakdown of the plans and we will start forming defenses just in case."

Achilles nodded and dismissed both Bentley and Jax with his hand. They left the room quietly, shutting the large door.

Achilles sighed deeply. Swiftly he lifted Mel off of his chair and sat down placing her on his lap. He could see a blush coat her cheeks, yet the worry in her eyes remained.

"You're not just worried about Jax and Bentley are you?"

"No," Mel answered. "I'll have to see everybody from Dark Fang again. I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"That makes sense," Achilles replied. " The way they treat their Omegas there is wrong. It makes me angry to imagine you being treated like that.

A small growl came from Achilles as if to emphasize his prior sentence.

"It makes me so many because I know some packs are worse. It's so unfair that Omegas are treated like that just because they don't have status. I don't think I ever got it before when I was a Gamma. We didn't treat our Omegas like servants but we sure didn't treat them like normal pack members."

Achilles played with her fingers, "You're right. It's something that had needed to be changed for a while. Even the humans are starting to figure that out faster than us."

Mel chuckled, "Maybe when we figure out this whole situation we can work to fix this problem. It just feels unfair to them that I got to escape, but all of the other Omegas had to stay."

Achilles tilted her eyes to look into his, "Leaving there isn't your fault. We will fix this problem together. I'm sure we aren't the only people that have thought of this."

Mel flashed a small smile. Achilles ran his fingers through her hair and sighed. Unfortunately, the piles of paperwork on his desk were staring at him.

"Since we have nothing to do but wait, I should get to some of that."

Mel's eyes went to the stack of papers on his desk. It looked like a lifetime of work.

"I think that might be a good plan. Have fun with that."

Achilles groaned, "Yeah."

Mel stood up and laid a kiss on Achilles' cheek. He smiled up at her. She laughed and forced the stack closer to him.

"Get to work, Alpha."

With that, she walked out of the room. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Nobody spoke to her as she walked out the door. Part of her wanted to see the search for Kasey. She hadn't known her for long, but her stomach was in knots. What if they didn't find her?

As she walked closer to the woods she could see wolves scouring them. A large grey wolf came up to her and c****d its head to the side. It barked as if telling Mel to stay there. Mel obliged as the wolf ran behind a tree. Soon a woman walked back to Mel.

She was tall with braided dark hair. Her skin was flawless and her teeth were perfectly straight. The only correct word to describe her would be a goddess.

"Hi, I'm Brianna!" She exclaimed. " You must be Mel. I have heard so much about you and I was resting your blood to see why you weren't shifting. I'm Achilles' Gamma."

Mel's head was reading at the amount of information that had just been dumped into her lap. Brianna was certainly a very bubbly person

"It's nice to meet you. Achilles never told me about that," Mel said.

"Oh," Brianna chirped. "I'm sure he just forgot. So far I'm not seeing any genetic difference which is leading me to believe it's psychological. I would love to do a few scans to see if my theory is true. I was thinking maybe a PET scan or an MRI, I'm not sure yet."

Mel felt a little annoyed at Achilles for not telling her about this. He had mentioned it a while ago but had never said he would actually do it. Maybe Brianna was right though. Maybe he genuinely forgot to tell her with everything going on. She would have to ask him later. Mel wanted to avoid flying off the handle about a situation that could be solved with communication.

"Yeah, I would be willing to do that. The other doctor I saw did mention it might be a trauma response. I guess that would make sense. Anyway, how is the search going?"

Brianna frowned slightly, "To be honest, we haven't found anything. A slight trail went for a few feet, but it was quickly covered. They must have used wolf's bane to cover their tracks. It's hard to obtain, but if they were willing to do all of this we can only assume they have resources."

Mel bit her lip. Nothing was coming of this but more questions.

"Did the trail tell you which direction they might have been traveling in?"

Briana tilted her head, "It's hard to tell. The trail went northeast, but that doesn't mean that's where they went. They could have gone that way to fake us out or change directions on the way. It is a good idea to get some people going that way."

Mel watched as Brianna mind-linked somebody. A few wolves ran over to them and Mel watched Brianna focus back in.

"Mel thought it would be a good idea for us to go in the direction of the trail. As our future Luna, I thought it would be a good idea to trust her."

Mel's wolf swelled at the title. Mel couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"If they made any mistakes I am counting on you to find them, "Mel said, confidently.

The wolves all barked. Mel's wolf forced forward and gave them a low growl. They all bowed their heads a bit and braked again. Mel was able to translate that they were accepting her and her commands.

Mel wolf settled back down and the wolves ran off.

Brianna was smiling at Mel, "You are just what we needed. I'm so happy that Achilles found you. He's had it rough."

Mel gave Brianna a sad look, "We both have, which is why we're helping each other."

Brianna smiled at that. Mel was glad that she got to meet Brianna. She was a great person. It made her relieved to know that she was the one leading the search for Kasey. Suddenly Brianna clammed up. If Mel wasn't so close to her she wouldn't have even noticed the blush coating her cheeks.

"Um, I have one more thing to ask you. " Brianna said, nervously. "When I was getting you blood there was this guy in the room. He said his name was Jax. Do you know him?"

Mel hummed a yes. Somehow she could see where this was going. Jax was such a damn flirt. He was going to kill his mate.

Brianna hesitated, "Do you know if he is single? He was really cute and I think he was interested. I'm so bad at reading those situations though."

Mel sighed, "I'm sure he was flirting with you then, but shortly after he found his mate."

Brianna threw her head back, "Dang it! Well, who is it?"

"Beta Bentley."

Brianna's eyes turned happy in an instant, "Oh my goddess! Bentley found his mate too? I am so excited!"

Mel felt a smile grace her lips. Brianna was such a good person. Mel knew she was the type of person you could trust with your life.

"I'm sure you'll find your mate soon, "Mel assured. "And when you do, they will be the luckiest person on Earth. You are quite the catch."

Brianna flashed her perfect teeth, "Thank you! I needed to hear that, Mel. It just feels like I've been waiting forever. I just want to meet them already!"

Mel laughed, "You will. And if you're anything like me, it will be when you least expect it."

Brianna looked away longingly, "I just know they are going to be perfect when I find them."

Then she looked back at Mel like something caught her eye. She could see a few wolves waiting to talk to her and show her stuff. Mel smiled, getting the hint.

"I will leave you to it. It was wonderful to meet you, Brianna."

Brianna smiled and waved before dashing behind a tree to shift. Mel turned and began to wander back to the packhouse. She assumed not much longer than an hour had passed, so she still had time to waste.

She slowly walked back to the river Achilles had shown her before. It was still flowing diligently. Mel stepped closer to the bank, which triggered a frog to leap into the water. Mel giggled at the scare it gave her.

She lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs. Her hands drifted back to hold her weight. When she did so her right hand brushed against something. She turned her body to see a small piece of paper. She felt her breath hitch as she picked it. A note was scrawled against the page.

Can't wait for the party, Mel!

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Reading Questions:

-Do you like Brianna?

-Do you think the plan is going to work?

-Who do you think is responsible for the note?