The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Isaac's POV

Meanwhile…

After Xavier gave us out orders Thomas and I took off to the waterfall. "We should shift to make it easier to track and cover more ground quicker. What do you think Thomas?" I glanced over at him. "That would be best, I have the Luna's scent but we need to get to the waterfall quickly to see if the scent is still lingering up there to follow it." I nodded to Thomas and went to shift. I tied my shorts onto my ankle to keep them with me for when I shifted back and started the slightly painful shift into my wolf. His name is Ryder and he is a large brown wolf. Not as large as our Alpha but his Beta blood is very prominent. He has a white belly and light grey socks on all 4 paws. Our eyes are hazel, but the gold glows brighter when he is out. Once I finished the shift I headed back over to where Thomas was. He was already waiting for in his medium sized blonde wolf. His wolf's name is Lyre, he was sniffing the area along the river when Ryder walked over to him. It was about a 15min run, which is why I suggested shifting. Thomas is one of our best trackers so I know he will be able to pick up her scent and those of who attacked our Luna. She looked so broken and barley hanging on, I don’t know how she was able to survive so long.

We made it to the top of the waterfall, I shifted back to my human form while Thomas stayed in his wolf form. He was able to track better this way with his wolf senses are more prominent this way. We could smell better than humans in our human for but our wolf form heighted it to the max. Thomas took his time sniffing the whole clearing by the top of the waterfall. I was observing him and look around to see how she survived such a jump. I looked over the edge and even I wouldn't want to jump and I am werewolf. "That jump should've killed her or at least she should've drowned in the raging water and how fast the river is following up here." I turned to look at Thomas after I said this. His wolf looked up at me and huffed, pointing his head up through the foliage and into the forest. "She came from this way, her scent leads into the forest." Thomas mid-linked me but I understood what his wolf meant already and started walking behind him looking around to see if there was a clue to who the others were. "Did you pick up anyone else's scent? So far all I can smell is something but not sure what." There was a strange scent and another two but I couldn't distinguish what or who they were.   "Thomas?" I questioned him again since he didn’t answer. Soon though his voice filled my head. "There are four scents one is the Luna's along with the smell of her blood. One seemed to have a scent blocker, that is probably the one that smells off but nothing to really go on. The other two are definitely human but they have a slight wolf scent to them. My assumption they are mated and marked by a wolf." He stopped just in front of me and he looked up a steep slope, hell it could almost me a cliff. Thomas looked back down and growled at something. Walking over to where the brush was a little high and a large rock was underneath it. There was a lot of blood here. "Who's is it Thomas?" I kept looking over the spot and back up to see that a trail that looked like someone was falling down the slope before landing here. "It's the Luna's. She came from the top of the slope. The men scent is scattered all over here. They must've followed down after her when she fell."

His assumption seems right. The Luna had a nasty gash on the right side of her head and based off of this she hit her head when falling/tumbling down the slope. I nodded at him and we headed up the slope. Thomas was able to get up the slope quicker than I since he was in his wolf form. Even with how steep it was I was able to get up  to the top just after him. "Took you long enough." Thomas voice filled my head just as I was getting to the top. "Hey you're in wolf form, you knew I would be a little slower getting up that damn slope." I huffed at him. "We have bigger things to worry about then me not catching up. Now where does it lead? I am not picking up her scent as much. The air up here is filled with smoke, the remnants of a fire. A very large fire at that." I was sniffing the air trying to get more of her scent but I wasn't getting anything but the smoke smell. "This way." Thomas said and started towards the west of the slope. Soon after walking we noticed where someone was running through the area, by the branches that were snapped and a little blood indicating that the Luna ran this way. "The other scents are on either side of us. I am guessing they were trying to cut her and she led them to the slope instead. "Thomas was sniffing the air and moving to a few different spots. "Isaac that scent that was covered isn't covered up here. It was another wolf and definitely a rouge."  I looked over at Thomas when he said this and sniffed the air. Mixed into the smell of smoke and ash was that revolting smell of a rouge. Why was a rouge and some humans after the Luna? I pondered on this thought. Was our Luna more than just a human mated to our Alpha. I mean a human hasn't happened in our history since the War of the Races and where lots of human mates were killed when the Alpha King and Queen fell. That was over 500 hundred years ago. My Luna what a mystery you are.

"Isaac shift now." Thomas' voice sounded on edge. "Why?" I questioned him. "Just do it, we need to be stealthier there are humans up ahead." Thomas was a little annoyed at me but I brushed it off. I shifted like he asked once I had my shorts tied on my ankle again. We slowly made our way towards the humans. When we got a closer view, we could see a house had been burned to the ground. By the size of the driveway and the rubble you could tell the house was pretty large, definitely a family with money. "Stay low and try to focus on what they are saying. I am going to get a closer look." I nodded to Thomas and took my place right across from a few cops talking amongst each other.

"So what do you think about this?" the cop closest to me asked the female cop beside him. "I think it wasn’t another gas leak." she said never taking her eyes off the people searching through the rubble of the now destroyed home. "What do mean Kate?" the first cop  looked over at her waiting for a reply. "Well it just seems strange that a call comes in two hours before this one, and both homes are owned by James Cross." the cop he called Kate looked over at the man after saying this. "Don't you think it is a little odd that both properties owned by him caught on fire due to a gas leak." she said the last part in air quotes. I could tell she wasn't buying this story. "Well that is pretty suspicious, I see where you're going with this." the man looked back out at the rubble and then spoke again. "Do you think the daughter did it? I mean I don’t suspect she could've done this but you always have to look close to the family with these things." the woman Kate huffed at him, turning to look back him once again. "No, I don’t think she could do this. I went to high school with James and her mother Elizabeth. I know this family there is no way Waverly did this. I mean in the cabin we found the bodies of her best friends. We only know their identity due to the news getting to the cabin before we could secure it and the kids parents saw it on the TV this morning. They let us know who was staying there with Waverly." she paused for a moment then continued. "Waverly loved those kids as her siblings since she is an only child, she would never harm them. She also wouldn't set the cabin on fire with them in it. It just doesn't add up." she sighed before she continued again. " Plus the only people here was her parents, and once again I highly doubt that girl would burn them alive in the house as well. She left her Terrain in the driveway, but no trace of her." her phone started to ring and before she picked it up the other cop looked at her and spoke again. "Something is fishy here, very fishy. Who's is that?" he was inquiring about the person calling. "It's the coroner, let me take this." he nodded to her as she stepped a little further away and took the call. After sometime she came back to where the man was still standing. "So any news that can help us?" he looked at waiting for a reply. "Well according to the coroner the kids in the cabin were all shot before the house went up. The two girls were shot execution style while the male was shot multiple times. Also forensics sent me a picture as well of what they think is a silencer for a gun. They are going to look into the bullet fragments the coroner is sending over to see if they can match them to a specific gun." she was showing the picture to the guy now. "So this means she didn’t do it, but who did? Also what happened to her?" The said this while handing the woman back her phone. "We will put out an Amber Alert for her and see if anyone has seen her or saw who might have taken her. She obviously came back here at some point after her friends were already dead. Question is what happened at the cabin?" she nodded back to him confirming she had a similar thought as well.

"Thomas" I called him through the link I could see him across from me observing the people sifting through the rubble. He looked toward by direction and I signaled him that we should head back. He nodded his head and we started to make our way back to the pack hospital where the Alpha was sure to be. We need to get back quickly with the information I learned from the cops. We took off for the pack hospital while I tried to mind link with Xavier to let him know we were on the way. I wasn’t able to get through so I just focused on getting back as quick as possible. Soon we were coming up on the hospital we both slowed down and shifted, grabbed the shorts attached to our ankles and slipped them on. As we were walking up to the entrance our former Alpha, was heading in. "Boy's did you find out anything? I'm on my way to check on our future Luna and Xavier." he smiled at us and then gave a somber look as well. I am sure thinking of the future Luna's state and his son has been a little hard on him. Thomas and I filled him in on what we found out and were fixing to head in to inform Xavier when he stopped us. "Thanks boys but I will inform Xavier of what you found out. Right now I need you to head to the south border and take care of a few rouge that have been seen lurking around that part of the border." he squeezed my shoulder before adding, "Isaac I know you can handle this and other things for Xavier as stand in Alpha, but that won't be necessary. I will be stepping back in as Alpha until the Luna is well and Xavier isn't so stressed out with potentially losing her. We need him back at his best before he takes on everything with the pack." I nodded to Alpha Carter and took off with Thomas to the south border.