Their Little Sister
1132 Words
The atmosphere inside the Alpha’s office was tense long before Kael walked in.
The eldest of the three brothers, Alpha Ryker, sat behind the massive dark wood desk near the window, lazily flipping through documents with the cold composure that made most of the pack nervous around him. Even seated, Alpha Ryker carried an overwhelming presence. Cold silver eyes lifted briefly toward Kael before returning to the papers.
“You’re late,” Ryker said calmly.
Kael ignored the comment and shut the door behind him.
The third brother, Lucien, sprawled across one of the leather couches nearby, glanced up from the dagger he had been spinning between his fingers. Unlike the other two, Lucien looked perpetually amused by everything around him.
“Well,” Lucien drawled, “you look disturbed.”
Kael remained standing for a moment, his expression tensed in a way Ryker had not seen in years.
That alone caught both their attention.
Ryker slowly placed the documents down. “What happened?”
Kael exhaled slowly, almost like he was debating whether to speak at all. Then he finally said, “Darlah treated a girl rescued near the outer forest a few days ago.”
Lucien snorted lightly. “And somehow that information dragged you into this mood?”
Kael shot him with an annoyed look before continuing. “She said the girl resembles Mother.”
The room went silent instantly.
Lucien straightened slowly from the couch while Ryker’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly.
Kael ran a hand through his hair, frustration visible on his face. “I thought she was imagining things, too. Until Darlah mentioned the birthmark.”
That got their full attention.
Ryker’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “What birthmark?”
“The same one Mother had.”
Lucien’s joking expression disappeared completely.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Ryker finally leaned back in his chair slowly, his gaze unreadable. “You’re certain?”
“No,” Kael admitted honestly. “That’s the problem.”
He paused before continuing.
“I saw the girl myself. She…” He frowned slightly, like he still couldn’t properly process it. “She looked enough like Mother to make me stop in my tracks.”
Lucien exchanged a quick glance with Ryker.
Kael continued, “Before I could question her properly, she panicked and ran off. We searched the garden, but she disappeared before we could confirm anything.”
Ryker’s fingers tapped once against the desk.
“Did she give her name?” he asked quietly.
Kael hesitated briefly.
“No.”
Lucien muttered a question under his breath, “How about age?”
Kael shook his head once. “Early twenties, maybe. Hard to tell exactly. She looked exhausted… malnourished.”
Lucien’s jaw tightened slightly at that.
Ryker remained silent for a long moment before asking the question that both younger brothers were already thinking.
“And her scent?”
Kael’s expression darkened immediately.
“That’s the strange part.” He frowned. “I couldn’t properly smell her.”
Lucien blinked. “What?”
“I could only smell herbs from Darlah’s treatment…” Kael’s voice lowered slightly, his brows pulling together in frustration. “It’s either she hasn’t shifted yet and has no wolf…”
He paused.
“…or her scent is being suppressed.”
Ryker went completely still behind the desk.
Because both possibilities were wrong.
Terribly wrong.
A wolfless member of their mother’s bloodline was nearly impossible.
The Aureline bloodline had been feared for generations because of the unnatural strength of their wolves. Even weaker descendants usually shifted early. There had never been a recorded case of one reaching adulthood without a wolf.
Which meant…
The more likely answer was suppressants.
And somehow, that possibility was worse.
Ryker’s expression hardened slightly.
“If suppressants are involved, then someone spent years making sure her identity stayed hidden.”
Suppressants strong enough to completely bury a scent were expensive, dangerous, and nearly impossible to maintain long-term without damaging the body. Whoever had done this either feared the girl immensely…
…or feared what she represented.
Kael spoke up.
“There’s still the possibility we’re wrong.”
But even he sounded unconvinced now. Because facial similarities could happen. Coincidences could happen.
But the birthmark?
The eyes?
The strange missing scent?
All together?
No one in the room believed in coincidences anymore.
Kael folded his arms tightly across his chest. “I know how insane this sounds.”
Insane didn’t even begin to cover it.
Their younger sister had disappeared twenty years ago during the attack that killed their mother. They had searched for years afterward and eventually buried the hope altogether.
“Are you sure she resembles mother?” Lucien asked quietly this time.
Kael exhaled through his nose.
“At first glance, I thought I was hallucinating.”
Kael rarely lost composure.
But earlier in the garden, when the girl had looked up at him with those familiar silver-gray eyes—eyes identical to the woman buried twenty years ago—his mind had genuinely gone blank for a second.
Ryker stood slowly from his chair.
The movement alone shifted the atmosphere in the room immediately.
“Find her,” he ordered.
Kael frowned. “We’ve already started searching quietly—”
“Not quietly anymore,” Ryker interrupted coldly. “I want every discreet patrol route checked. If she’s truly here, nobody lets her leave the territory.”
Kael’s expression darkened slightly as the memory resurfaced. The girl’s terrified face flashed through his mind again.
The moment Darlah started asking her questions about herself, Darlah said the girl had looked like a trapped animal searching desperately for an escape route. Then she had fled before anyone could stop her.
Kael frowned faintly.
“She was terrified,” he said quietly. “The second Darlah started asking where she came from, she panicked.”
Kael continued, his voice quieter now. “She ran like she genuinely believed we were going to hurt her.”
Then Kael looked toward his eldest brother. “That’s why we need to handle this carefully. If we flood the territory with warriors searching for her, she’ll notice immediately. She already doesn’t trust us. If she realizes the entire pack is looking for her, she’ll disappear again before we get answers.”
And this time…
They might never find her again.
The thought unsettled him more than he wanted to admit.
Because despite how uncertain this situation sounded, the image of those familiar silver-gray eyes refusing to leave his mind made something feel deeply wrong.
Ryker studied him for a long moment before finally speaking.
“So what do you suggest?”
“Quiet surveillance only,” Kael answered immediately. “Use trusted patrols, keep the searches discreet, and don’t allow rumors to spread through the pack.”
- Writer
