The Queen Alpha

Rage

(Kara)

I stalk up to a private office and sit down angrily at the computer. Everything had been running so smoothly and now I have to deal with a sunken cargo ship and the Balt’s bitching about their men. The nerve of Carter to accuse me of blowing up my own ship. Does he really think I’m that horrible of a businesswoman that I would sacrifice my own investment and hundreds of lives over someone as insignificant as him?

I sign into my personal account and start pulling up the numbers to call. First I call the vice president of KingsCrest Shipping and let him know what’s going on, and groan in frustration when he answers completely intoxicated. I’m going to have to handle this myself. We’re going to fire him for this. Keira snarls, pacing in my head.

I scroll through the information I have on my ships, and find the button for an insurance claim. Quickly typing in the necessary comments, I dial Carter’s number on the office phone and call him. “Mr. Balt, I need as much information about what was on the ship as you can give me. How many of the shipping containers were on there and how many were you bringing back?” He rattles off a number and I type it in. We continue this for a while until finally everything is filled in.

“My Queen, why would somebody want to s*******r a third of my employees? I haven’t done anything to upset another pack except for yours due to my previous relationship with Emma. What does anyone gain by this, and what do you plan to do to protect my pack from further harm?” He questions and I bite my lip at his condescending tone.

“Mr. Balt, I don’t know who did this but I plan to find out and get to the bottom of it. I only have several ships of that style and now I’m down an entire one. My loss is just as great as yours in this and I will not let it go unpunished. Unfortunately, I have a few enemies so it may take some time, more than likely this was an attack on me, not you. But, we need to work together to figure out who would want us to be at odds. I’m going to need your help with that. Do some digging, find out who knew about your relationship with Emma and how it ended. Keep me updated. I’m going to email this to my contract writer and get a new contract written up as well. Goodnight, I’m sorry for your losses.” I hang up the phone and rub my temples, trying to ease my nerves, which seem unusually on edge. I’ve dealt with plenty of accidents and insurance claims so I’m not sure why something feels so wrong with me right now.

I text Felix and ask if they’ve made it home yet but he doesn’t answer. He’s probably still driving. Glancing at the clock and seeing it’s close to midnight, I go out to the party with a microphone to do the count down.

Stepping out onto the balcony I turn the microphone on and tap it twice to get everyone’s attention. “Whose ready for the countdown?” I ask and everyone cheers. Pulling out my phone, I bring up the timer and start. “Ten, nine, eight,” something doesn’t feel right. Keira whines. “Seven, six, five-“ my heart aches and a panic I’ve never felt before radiates from my chest, “four, three, two,” somethings wrong with Emma. “One, Happy New Year.” I say and the crowd erupts, kissing and hugging each other while I run down the stairs and call Anthony, whose at home with his wife and kids.

“Hello?” He answers groggily.

“Anthony, get dressed now, something’s wrong with Emma. I can feel it and Felix isn’t answering, you’re closer to the house than I am. Go now, I’m on my way.” I kick my heels off and run barefoot to an SUV waiting for me, along with a driver. “Get me home as fast as you can.” I instruct. Emma, are you okay? I can feel somethings wrong. I mind-link her but it feels as if there’s a block up, like I can’t connect to her, which only makes me worry more.

We’re nearly there when I see Anthony’s truck in the middle of the road with its hazards on. “Stop now.” I jump out of the vehicle before it’s stopped and see the SUV that Emma had been driving pulled off to the side, doors open and nobody in sight.

“What the hell happened here?” I ask Anthony, whose face is pale as he holds a fake baby and blanket.

“Someone took them.” He almost whispers, sorrow and fear in his eyes. I look out and see car tracks leading back the way we came.

“Get in the f*****g truck now, we have to hurry!” I scream, all my years of training myself to maintain composure completely gone. I jump into the passenger side and Anthony screeches around and forces the truck to go as fast as it can. “They have to be heading for the airport, we need to get there before they leave. I’m calling to have our jet pulled out in case we need to follow them.” I ring the airport and an employee answers.

“Hi this is Mrs, Kingston, I need my jet prepped for flight immediately and a pilot ready to go. It’s an emergency.”

The employee hesitates. “I’m so sorry Mrs, Kingston but we don’t have any pilots here right now and your jet has been undergoing maintenance, it won’t be ready for at least a day or two.”

I curse under my breath and try to think clearly. “Are there any planes that are ready right now to fly?”

He pauses to look at the flight charts. “Our last plane left about half an hour ago before we closed the runway until the storm passes.”

My heart sinks and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Covering the microphone so the person on the other end can’t hear me, I let my pain out. “Oh my Gods, she’s gone. They got away.” I sob once before covering my mouth and trying to regain control of my wavering voice. “Listen to me very carefully. I need every pinch of information you have on that flight sent to my email immediately and you need to get me a f*****g plane and pilot, if I don’t get that email in the next two minutes I assure you, I will kill you.” I snarl and hang up.

Anthony drives in silence, waiting for orders but I have none to give. I don’t know what to do, my mate is gone, taken from me. My wife, my son, my entire world has disappeared.

My phone dings and I see an email from the airport.“Anthony, turn around and take me home so I can change and pack a bag. You should pack one too. We’re going to be away from home for a while.” I report calmly, regaining composure as I plan my next move.

“We’re going to Seattle, Washington.” I take a deep breath and start thinking like an Alpha again. “I need you to get clearance for us to look at the airports security cameras when we land. Bribe them, threaten them, kill them, whatever you need done I want you to do.” Anthony nods, pulling into my driveway. “Go home and grab a bag and be back here in 20 minutes. Let Darlene know if she needs help with the babies to call someone and I’ll pay them for their time.” I run inside and up the stairs. Capone whines happily to see me and I realize I forgot all about him. Unlocking his cage, I clip a leash onto his collar and leave him downstairs to wait for me. I throw as many clothes of mine as I can fit into a bag and few outfits for Emma as well. Whoever took her will want her alive for now, or they would’ve already killed her. When I find her she’ll need something clean to change into.

Changing quickly into a black suit and designer sneakers, I head outside to wait for Anthony to return. It doesn’t take him long and he frowns when he sees Capone. “We have to drop him off at your house. Darlene will understand.” He sighs and goes back to his place, taking Capone in and once again we’re off to the airport, where a pilot and plane have suddenly been prepared for me. I try to mind-link Emma several times but nothing goes through, nor does anything for Felix. I understand why they took Emma, but I’m not sure what use they have for Felix, and I fear they may kill him soon.

The plane ride takes much longer than I would have liked but finally we touch down and I head straight for the security office. Having several very large and intimidating body guards with me as well as 2,000$ cash gets us into the camera room, much to my amusement. We watch all the planes landing around the time Emma’s captors would’ve gotten here and we spot a tiny aircraft touch down on the far landing strip, where they’re met with a vehicle that blocks the cameras view of who got off the plane and what they had. “That has to be them.” Anthony points out and I agree.

“Yes but there is nothing we can identify them with. We’re at a dead end until we figure out who could’ve done this.”

“What about the German scum that was talking about Emma the night of your coronation? Could he be behind this?” Anthony suggests.

I ponder it. “Potentially. Look into that during the next flight.”

“Where are we flying to now?”

“We’re going to go pay the Balt’s a visit, perhaps they know what’s happened to Emma. Maybe they took her in retaliation of their crew getting blown up. Or they took her for the baby. Something isn’t right about the whole situation.” We get back into the plane and fly to Portland, then hire a driving service to take us to the Blue Forest Pack.

Carter meets us at their main office, in a cheap suit and cocky smile. “Your majesty, we’re so happy to have you here, although I wish it were under different circumstances.” He sees my slew of guards and holds his hands out in confusion. “If you wanted to see the what they were able to salvage of your ship, it’s at the docks about an hour west of here closer to Portland. Had you called earlier I could’ve met you there. None the less, we could drive over together if you’d like.” He smiles, but it feels more like a snarl. Jeremy and Susan pull into the parking lot, seeming shocked to see me. “My Queen, we weren’t expecting to see you in person over the ship.” Jeremy says in disbelief.

I walk past him to go into the ugly building they so proudly call their pack house. “Mr. Balt, I’m not here about the ship, all that is being taken care of. Do you have a private office we could talk in?” I waltz through the front door, scanning the room for a secretary or assistant. Confronting the first desk attendant I see, I ask which way is a conference room. Carter follows behind me angrily grumbling about not being comfortable in a room alone with me if I’m not willing to tell him what I’m here for.

Finally finding the door, I open it and escort my parade inside. Carter hesitantly comes into the room, along with his parents.

The door shuts behind us and I motion for Anthony to lock it. “What is all this about your grace? You’re treating me like I’ve done something wrong.” Carter questions and I can feel my composure slipping away.

“Have you done something wrong?” I spin on my heel and get inches away from him. “I’m only going to give you this offer one time, and if you lie to me I will slit your throat in front of your parents and make them watch you choke on your own blood and die.” Susan’s eyes darken and I raise an eyebrow, daring her to challenge me. “I will let you and your pathetic pack live if you tell me where Emma is right now.”

“Something’s happened to Emma?” His face contorts to shock and his mother snorts.

“Oh no, the big bad wolf’s little piggie ran away? Poor thing.”

I close my eyes for a brief moment, taming Keira back down. “Tyler, cut a finger off each time she decides to make a snide comment about my wife. Susan, pick which one you will lose first.” One of my guards nods and without question pulls his knife out, grabbing the woman’s hand and placing it firmly on the table.

“This is an outrage! You cannot come to our pack and mutilate it’s Senior Luna!” She screeches, fighting against Tyler’s grip but it’s no use.

Jeremy and Carter look between Susan and me, unsure of what to do. “Go ahead and try to stop me Carter. Challenge me for my crown. I want nothing more than to f*****g kill you all right now.”

Carter starts to speak but Jeremy steps forward, his eyes pleading. “Please Your Grace, don’t hurt my wife. She didn’t mean it, and my son had nothing to do with your wife’s disappearance. I loved Emma like a daughter. I still do. I helped keep her safe as she grew up, and I tried to do right by her. Please don’t do this. Carter, tell her you had nothing to do with Emma.” He begs his son.

Carter’s face twitches between anger and fear. “My Queen, I did not have anything to do with Emma’s k********g. You can check my office cameras and see that I was here all night. I must warn you, I was with a woman so the tape is slightly vulgar.”

My eyes narrow. “I thought you were married now?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “We have an agreement. She’s aware of my affairs and understands them.”

I want to question him more about this odd arrangement but it’s not important now. “And where was your wife last night?”

“She was with me at their house. Amber was in a car accident recently and I’ve been caring for her. Go ahead, call the f*****g hospital and get her medical records. We have nothing to hide.” She continues to struggle against Tyler, who is waiting for my command.

“Cut her pinkie off. Jeremy, please bring me your Luna’s medical records after you drop your wife off to get her finger sewed back on.” I say calmly and walk out of the office, leaving Susan to scream and curse as Tyler does as I asked. Keira seems pleased with my actions.

“Anthony, have a hundred of our best soldiers flown out here as soon as possible. We’re not leaving until I find my mate.” I keep my gaze ahead, stuffing every emotion I have until I’m cold and empty.

“Kara, with all due respect, did you need to cut her finger off?” He asks, opening the car door for me.

“They’re lying, everything I asked they immediately had a reply. It felt planned, like they knew I was coming. And if I’m wrong, at least she’s learned to watch her f*****g mouth in the presence of her Queen.”