Two Halves of a Whole

Chapter 12

Cara looked up as the very person Sattira had been asking about entered the kitchen. Everyone stopped and gave a brief show of respect to their future alpha waiting for him to acknowledge them before returning to their duties. Cara’s mate was with him and quickly made his way to her side, resting his hand on her belly with a look of affection before leaning in for a quick peck on the cheek.

“I hope she is keeping the embarrassing stories to a minimum,” Lugos said as he pulled up a seat beside her.

“Oh, I have some really juicy stories…” Brad started to say only to be cut off by a warning growl from Lugos that caused him to chuckle. “What, can’t let Cara have all the fun now.”

“Actually we have better things to talk about than either of you,” Cara told them. They both attempt to look hurt but failed miserably.

Lugos grabbed a couple of the tiny triangle shaped sandwiches from the snack tray and started to eat them as he looked at Cara, “Actually I was hoping you could show Sattira around and keep her company for a while. We still have to meet with my father about the attack. I set Sattira up in the room across from mine for the time being. I thought it would be better to give her more privacy in case this all becomes a bit overwhelming for her.”

“That was very thoughtful of you,” Sattira mumbled. She was happy to know he cared enough to look out for her but at the same time disappointed that there wasn’t some deeper meaning behind him giving her a room so close.

Cara, on the other hand, was curious about the room he chose for her. She didn’t let on though but decided she would have to pay a bit more attention to Sattira and try to figure out what made her important enough that Lugos would want to give her such an honor as being allowed to stay in his wing of the alpha floor.

“Of course,” she replied. “I will show her what I can of the pack after we are done with our tea.”

He seemed satisfied with her response and he stood up to leave. “If you need anything feel free to ask. I will catch up with you as soon as I am done talking with my father,” he told Sattira as he stole a couple more sandwiches from the tray and turned to leave.

Brad kissed his mate again before following behind the young alpha as they left the two young women to talk. Lugos was not happy about not being able to show his mate around. His wolf wanted to kiss her and cover her in his scent to keep other males from daring to approach what was theirs but he couldn’t do anything yet to give away who she was. It would be suspicious enough that he was allowing her a room so close to his but his wolf would not let him put her anywhere else. He was surprised Brad didn’t pester him with questions but he was too busy worrying about his pup that was due any day now so Lugos considered himself lucky.

All the offices were on the main floor so pack members would have no reason for being on the other two floors except for a very few omegas that had earned the privilege of being allowed to enter the upper floors to clean. These omegas were given a higher ranking than the rest and wore their special uniforms with pride. It was very hard to get these positions and they came with lots of benefits most omegas didn’t have. He walked by a young she wolf in one of the coveted uniforms but was surprised he didn’t recognize her as he took special care to try to know their personal staff but brushed it off as he was almost to his father’s office.

He opened the door to find his father and Mother already there with their Beta couple William and Lucy, who also happened to be Brad’s parents. The stopped discussing whatever it was they were talking about as the two younger people joined them.

“Ah, Lugos, we have been waiting for you. I heard you arrived back without incident,” his father greeted him.

“Yes, sorry to keep you waiting. I wanted to get Sattira settled and where she is new to everything I left her with Cara to look after her so there should not be any problems,” he explained.

“Well that answered the question of where your beta’s mate was,” his father replied.

Lugos looked around. “Are the gammas or deltas coming to this meeting?”

“The gammas and delta’s are talking with the warriors and trainers as they were briefed after the attack. We didn’t manage to take any of the attackers alive but there were a couple we killed sitting in the morgue waiting to be dealt with,” his father continued once everyone was seated.

“So were they rogues?” Brad asked. Lugos had thought he should know since he probably took part in the battle.

“They didn’t smell like rogues, but we are not releasing that information at this time,” his father answered.

“Didn’t Brad take part in the battle?” Lugos was curious now.

“He was looking into something for me,” Beta William said. “He was away from the pack with Cara and only got back a short time before you.”

“Did he find anything while he was gone,” Alpha Stephan asked.

“It was another dead end,” Brad said, clearly disappointed.

“What was he looking into?” Lugos was curious now. His Dad ran everything by him but clearly he was not told about this.

“After Sattira shifted you told me her wolf was almost as large as your wolf so it only makes sense that she would have Alpha blood. I had Brad check the local hall of records to cross reference the names of anyone who gave birth with the last names of Alphas or any other wolves with strong blood lines listed on the birth certificate. We know none of the local packs delivered a child that isn’t accounted for but we had hoped maybe if someone was passing through and messed with a human the birth mother would have recorded them as the father,” his father explained, “or if a she wolf were unconscious and they took her to the hospital to be treated it would show up in the hospital records. I am sure her pack is missing her whoever they are.”

“I was hoping now that she has shifted that her wolf might know something that might help us. Our wolves can sometimes access memories we were too young to remember later in life but with everything going on I hadn’t gotten the chance to talk about such things yet,” Lugos told them. “Besides, I thought it might help for me to gain her trust first.”

“Very good son, but let’s get back to the main reason for this meeting. The wolves that attacked didn’t smell like rogues. The two dead in the morgue didn’t have anything to help identify them and didn’t smell like any of the local packs.” His father gave them all news they did not want to hear. “Furthermore we are not sure how they got inside pack territory because somehow the security feed was tampered with. By the time we realized it the attack was over. We don’t know what they were looking for or why they retreated almost the moment they came in contact with our patrols. We have no idea if they got what they were after or if they were just testing our strength. For the moment we are treating this like there is threat of a larger attack. Any recent additions to the pack are to be watched but I don’t want them to know we are watching them”

“On it Alpha,” Beta William said. He took a moment to mind link some of the most trusted members of the pack.

“And I need a list of everyone who might have had access to the the security systems and even the names of anyone who has access to that building, even if it was only to clean or make deliveries,” the Alpha said.

“So you think this is an inside job?” Lugos asked. He remembered the she wolf he passed on the way to the meeting. “Did you recently add someone to our personal staff?”

“No, why?” His father as well as everyone in the room was focused on him.

He explained about the staff member he had seen and the Alpha immediately locked down the pack house and pulled up security feed of the staff member his son was speaking of. He made sure to send an alert to every member of the pack asking to be notified if anyone saw the she wolf in the picture. Almost immediately messages filtered in from the dining hall. They raced out to apprehend the young woman.

When they got to the dining hall the she wolf was being detained by a couple of pack warriors. She was sputtering off about her rights and trying to sound innocent. The moment Lugos caught her scent he realized she was not a member of the pack nor was she a rogue. She was still wearing a staff uniform that was obviously not hers. When she felt the strong auras of the ranked wolves a look of fear crossed her face. She realized she was caught red handed.

“Take her to the holding cells,” Alpha Stephan told his Beta couple, who directed the warriors detaining the spy to bring her with them.

“What should we do?” Lugos thought his father would have taken custody of the spy immediately so he was curious.

“We need to evacuate the pack house and have it swept for anything that might have been placed by our intruder,” his father said as he stopped to send out a quick mind link. It was the start of lunch so their was food to be tested in case it was poisoned. All the floors had to be checked, with special care being given to the Alpha’s floor.

The meeting was definitely over for the moment. He waited with his father for the warriors that were trained for this. They checked the security system to see where the spy had accessed in the pack house and sent warriors to check those areas first. They checked for any other access that was suspicious and found nothing. After finding numerous bugs and other devices the Alpha ordered a sweep of the whole building while he and his son went to interrogate their prisoner.

When they got to the cells the she wolf had been stripped of the stolen uniform and dressed in one of the orange jumpsuit given to prisoners.

Lugos was surprised now that he could get a good look at her. Her hair was more brown than red and her eyes were a yellow hazel color but other than that she looked a lot like his mate. He was shocked he had not noticed before.

“She looks like she could be related to Sattira,” he linked the others in the room with them.

“Are you sure son,” his father sent back through the mind link.

Lugos sent an image through the mind link with the help of his wolf. It took a lot of effort so it was not something they did often but he felt it was important to share it.

“Wow, they could almost be sisters,” Beta William said.

“Ok, so we will handle this carefully,” Alpha Stephan sent back through the link.

“What is your name and what were you doing in our pack house,” Alpha Stephan asked the spy.

“I got lost,” she answered sarcastically. She smiled as if she had said something witty.

“Enough of your disrespect,” Alpha Stephan said as his wolf came forward, allowing his aura to flow over the female wolf in heavy waves. “What is your name and pack?”

Alpha wolves hated being disrespected. They watched as the spy fought to resist the aura that was crashing down on her before finally submitting and showing her neck in submission.

“Shelly Dire of Dark Moon pack,” she said through gritted teeth, still trying to fight the Alpha’s aura.

“Was it your pack that attacked us earlier?” He continued the questioning. He continued to allow his aura to press heavy on Shelly as he could tell it was the only way she would answer.

She growled as she fought to keep from answering the question.

“Answer the question,” he demanded. His aura was almost suffocating.

“Yes!” There were tears streaming down her face from the effort of trying to fight the aura.

“Why did they attack?” He was going to get answers if he had to pull each one from her.

“They were hunting for the abomination,” she was sobbing openly from the strain the effort of trying to fight the aura was causing.

“What? What abomination?” Beta Lucy was confused by where this was going.

“Answer the beta’s question, what abomination?” Everyone was equally confused but the alpha was not giving up anytime soon.

“When my uncle was Alpha he met his mate. She was an abomination but my uncle refused to see it. So my father had to protect the pack,” she was barely holding her head up from all the energy she had burned fighting the alpha aura.

“What does that have to do with my pack?” The Alpha was confused by what she was saying. The goddess would never choose a wolf who wasn’t worthy to be a Luna. And he failed to see what any of this had to do with his pack.

“He thought he cleansed the pack but they had a child. He recently started to feel her through the pack link and traced the abomination to your pack…” She passed out before they could get anything else from her.

“Put her in a cell and I want her cuffed and watched at all times,” Alpha Stephan directed the guards before turning to the others in the room. “William take your mate and find out everything you can about the Dark Moon Pack. Brad, take warriors and keep an eye on Sattira’s adoptive parents but be discreet. Lugos, go find Sattira and don’t let her leave your sight.”