Two Halves of a Whole

Chapter 2

Lugos helped his future beta and best friend to his feet. “Nice try. You are getting faster but you are still too slow. You need to stop relying on your eyes to follow every move your opponent makes. Use your wolf. His instincts should help you to anticipate what an opponent does before you can see it.”

“I know, but it isn’t as easy for the rest of us. Your alpha blood makes your connection with your wolf a lot closer than than we lesser creatures have,” Brad teased his friend as he got up and took his fighting stance again.

Lugos grabbed them each a towel from the bench instead, tossing one to Brad. “I think that is enough for today. Your mate will never forgive me if I wear you out too much.”

As if speaking of her somehow summoned the dark haired beta female they looked over to see her waddling down the smooth stone paved path leading to the training grounds. One hand rubbed her ever increasing belly as her face shown with the glow impending motherhood.

Brad rushed to offer his assistance as he forgot everything but his beautiful mate and their unborn pup. Lugos was happy for his friend but couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. He wondered what it would be like to hold his mate in his arms and feel his pup growing in her stomach. He had often dreamed of the beautiful woman that would be his future Luna and the mother of his children. He wondered if his pups would have his steely blue grey eyes or if they would be a mirror of their mother’s, whatever color that might be.

Don’t worry, we will find mate soon. His wolf side sounded in his mind.

How can you be so sure, we have looked for her for so long? He answered back. He wanted to believe what his wolf was telling him but he was afraid to hope. The disappointment of not finding her when he had been searching for 5 years with no luck was starting to wear on him. At 23 he was already older than most wolves were when they found their mates. Alphas usually found their mates before they turned 20, even if they sometimes had to wait for their mates to mature enough to feel the pull.

“You should join us tonight. Danny and I are going to a party at some friend’s house of his mate,” Jacob rested a hand on his shoulder. Danny and Jacob were going to make good warriors but Lugos couldn’t understand their infatuation with humans. Hanging out with them could be very dangerous to their kind.

“I have better things to do than hang out with humans,” Lugos had said this before. He was a little surprised by Jacob’s response.

“Actually, the guest list is mostly wolves. Nina said her friend is a wolf but doesn’t know it yet. She wants to tell her but decided it might be better to wait until she gets her wolf. The girls are afraid she might shut them out or think they are crazy if they try to tell her.” Jacob explained.

“How does she not know what she is? Are her parents trying to hide from someone? Even still, it will be so dangerous for her and everyone around her if she doesn’t know what she is. It is so irresponsible of them.” Lugos was outraged at what he was told.

Jacob put his hands up in front of him with his palms facing Lugos in a gesture of surrender, “it’s a little more complicated than that. She was adopted by humans as a newborn. I doubt they even know what she is. The girls have been trying to get her to go to Paris with their families but she doesn’t want to be that fair from her adoptive parents because she is going away to college in the fall.” Jacob’s story made a bit more sense to Lugos and calmed him down some.

“Well this complicates things. We need to tell my father. I wonder why the girls and their family didn’t say something sooner. If anything happens you know the council will blame my father. He is responsible for anything that happens in our territory.” Lugos felt his mind fill with all the thoughts of ways this could end badly for them all.

The Council of Mythical Beings oversaw all affairs around the world but trusted in the Alphas and Leaders of each pack, coven, or group to be responsible for the area they ruled over. The council was good at covering up any unintentional exposure but there was always a price to be paid by whoever was responsible for the area that was affected.

Lugos had led Jacob to his father’s office and knocked on the door waiting for his father to bid them enter.

Lugos’ father was Alpha of the Red Sky Pack. Not only was their pack one of the oldest ever formed, it was also one of the largest. Though his father tried to be there for every member of his pack; visiting each member during births of pups, weddings, and funerals; he had learned early in his rule that it was best to delegate as much of the lesser day to day work as possible. He had taught Lugos to build trust in his leadership team but to also keep and eye on them and be ready to hold them accountable whenever necessary.

Lugos had Jacob explain everything he knew about the young wolf who was adopted by humans. When he was done Alpha Stephan called the parents of Nina and Kim as well as Danny.

When they had all entered the large office the Alpha asked, “who would like to explain to me why I have just learned of a pup that could get her wolf any day now and she is living with humans and has no idea what she is?”

Kim and Nina’s parents were really important to the pack as they were the faces of two of the biggest companies that the pack owned, so seeing the fear on their faces when they realized the Alpha found out about Sattira showed just how badly they had messed up not telling their Alpha about her situation.

“Apologies, Alpha.” It was Nina’s father who was the first to speak up. “Our daughter met Sattira when they were in junior high. Although she visited our home many times and we think of her as part of the family, we only recently met her parents at the graduation ceremony. We were trying to figure out how she came to be adopted by humans so we would have more information before we brought this matter to your attention. We checked the date of the accident that killed her birth parents but none of the packs reported any missing newborn baby girls around that time. Our daughter and her friend Kim have been keeping an eye on her and trying to get her to spend the summer with us so when she gets her wolf we can prevent her human parents from finding out.”

“You should have come to me immediately. I was informed that there will be a party at this girl’s house tonight. Lugos will be attending since I am too old to make an appearance without it seeming suspicious,” Alpha Stephan commanded. “You will tell me of everything that happens concerning this girl. Nothing is more dangerous to us than a wolf who doesn’t know about their own kind. There is no telling what she could inadvertently do without knowing the damage she is doing.”

“Yes, Alpha,” they all answered together. The parents in the room knew they were being let off easy but also realized from the tone of the Alpha’s voice that there could never be a next time he scolded them if they wished to keep their lives. The Alpha was fair but took matters of this nature very seriously.

The Alpha made it clear that they were dismissed but Lugos hung back to speak with his father.

“Was there something else?” The Alpha had thought the matter was resolved for the moment.

“From what I was told this Sattira has already declined the invitation to travel to Paris. Apparently she is close to her adoptive parents and doesn’t want to leave them. We have that Lake House close to the western border. I thought maybe we would have better luck getting her to stay there.”

The Alpha thought for a moment. “That could work. I will leave it up to you as to how you get it done but you need to make it happen.”

“Thank you, father. I won’t let you down,” Lugos said as he left the office.

“Lugos,” his father’s Beta acknowledged him as he passed him.

“Beta William,” Lugos returned the greeting before the beta disappeared into his father’s office.

Lugos took a moment to mind link Brad, “Have some of the cleaning staff go freshen up the Lake House. We might have some guests staying there for a couple of weeks. Also, let the pack members patrolling in that area know to stay out of sight and only watch at a distance unless rogues attack.”

“As you wish, Lugos. May I ask who the guests are?” He answered back through the link.

Lugos took a moment to fill him in on what he learned about Sattira and his plans to try to have Nina and Kim convince her to stay at the Lake House until after her birthday.

After he explained to Brad, Lugos went to his suite of rooms on the Alpha floor of the pack house. He needed to shower and change into jeans and a shirt. Jacob had told him it was going to be a pool party but he didn’t plan on swimming. He just planned on going to see if he could learn anything about that girl for the sake of protecting his kind from exposure.

He grabbed the keys to his truck and headed for the garage. There were places in the pack lands where the four wheel drive truck was necessary. The way he kept it cleaned and waxed no one would believe some of the places he had taken it so he could help pack members. He pulled up the address he was given for the party. Time to go check out this she wolf.