Chapter Four -Nate
1422 Words
The reports hadn’t changed, and unfortunately, neither had the questions. It had been 10 hours since Grayson had left with his team to investigate at Crystal Rock.
I sat back in my chair and rubbed a hand over my face.
Five years old…. Those words kept running through my brain. She was just a child, an innocent. She was the alpha’s daughter, his whole world, and someone decided that she needed to die.
A knock at the door pulls me from my thoughts
“Come in”
Matthew enters, looking as solemn as I feel.
“You’ve been staring at those reports all night,” he says as he takes a seat on the couch next to my desk.
“No, I haven’t”
“It’s four in the morning, Nate”
“OK, so it’s been most of the night.” I stand up and walk to the bar on the opposite wall from the couch. I take out a bottle of whiskey and pour some into two glasses before handing one to my Beta. “Why hasn’t Gray reported back yet Matt?”
Matthew took a full swallow of the amber liquid. “It’s a five-hour drive, Nate. He’s only been there a few hours, and there is a lot for them to go through. He isn’t going to inform you of every little thing he sees or does. You know he’s good at his job, so let him do it.”
I knew he was right, but I hated the sitting around and waiting part. I want to be out there with the team, active and helping. “She was just a child. Why did someone want her dead?”
“Alpha Warren led a peaceful pack, maybe someone thought they would be an easy target… take out the Alpha’s only child, and that would make him even weaker before an attack?”
I was about to respond when my phone rang.
“Grayson…. Report,”
“Nate, we’ve got a problem”
The urgency in Grayson’s voice immediately has my full attention
“What happened? I have you on speaker in my office, it’s just Matt and me”
“I don’t think the child was the target.”
Silence fills the office. Matt slowly lowers the glass he had been holding.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“The nanny.”
I frown and look at Matt, who has the same confused look on his face.
“What about her?”
“I searched her quarters.”
That gets my attention. Grayson wasn’t the type to invade someone’s privacy without a reason.
“And?”
“And Crystal Rock says she arrived six years ago from River Stone Pack.”
“So what? Changing packs is not a crime.”
“River Stone has no record of her ever existing.”
The room falls silent again. Every instinct screamed that this wasn’t a coincidence.
Matt replied while my brain is still processing, “What are you saying Gray?”
There is a hesitation before he replies, “I’m saying someone lied about who she was,” he pauses, then adds, “And I think someone killed her before she could tell us why.”
The room fell silent. Rogues didn’t create fake identities. Rogues didn’t spend years hiding from the world. And they certainly didn’t hunt down a woman for secrets they carried.
No.
This was something else.
I looked at Matt, and he nodded, knowing what I was going to say next.
“I’ll be there shortly after dawn. Inform the Alpha that I will be coming, but for now keep this information between us; we don’t know how deep the lies go.”
“Yes, Alpha, we will await your arrival.”
We disconnected the call. I looked at Matt, who had swallowed the last of his drink and was standing near the bar.
“Pack light, you’re coming with me, I’m leaving Sophia in charge. We leave in under an hour, just the two of us. Choose two warriors to join us, I don’t want to bring an army…. Yet.”
“As you wish, boss,” Matt left the office to attend to matters, and I sat back in my chair and tried to slow down my racing thoughts.
I left the office, went to my bedroom, and pulled out my to-go bag that I always kept ready. Kyro had woken up and was pacing in my mind. He didn’t like what he had heard on the call and was anxious to get to Crystal Rock soon to start his own investigation.
I walked into the kitchen with my bag and found my mother, Gabrielle, already making tea.
“Mom, why are you up so early? It’s still dark out,” I went to her and kissed her cheek.
She turned to face me and placed her hand on my cheek lovingly.
“You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question.
I sighed, “Word travels fast.”
“No.” She smiled sadly. “You just have the same look your father used to get.”
That stopped me.
“What look?”
“The one that meant he’d already made up his mind and wasn’t going to listen to a word I said.”
I laughed softly and placed my own hand over hers on my face. “That might sound familiar.”
“It should.” Her smile widened briefly before fading. “Crystal Rock?”
I nodded. The kitchen fell quiet. She turned back to her tea, and I watched her shoulders stiffen. Most people saw Gabrielle Greene, the former Luna of Silver Falls. I saw the woman who buried her mate and son on the same day.
“You think it’s connected,” she stated in barely a whisper. Again, not a question.
“I don’t know.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Yes, you do”
I looked away first. That was answer enough.
Mom sighed and poured hot water into two mugs.
“I have spent years praying to the Moon Goddess that you wouldn’t go chasing ghosts.”
“I’m not chasing ghosts.”
“No?”
She handed me a mug. “Then why haven’t you slept?”
I stared down into the tea because she was right. Because every report from Crystal Rock felt too familiar. Because for the first time in eight years, I had a feeling. And feelings got people killed.
“You have your father’s heart,” Mom said quietly.
I looked up.
“I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a compliment.”
A sad smile touched her lips.
“Neither do I.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then she reached up and straightened the collar of my jacket like she had done a thousand times before.
“Just make sure you come home, Nathanial.”
The use of my full name hit harder than anything else she could have said.
I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
“I always do.”
But as I walked towards the door, I couldn’t ignore the feeling in my gut.
Because eight years ago, my father had said the same thing.
*****************************
The drive was quiet. Matt had fallen asleep about an hour into the drive, his head resting against the window while I focused on the road ahead as one of our warriors drove the black SUV.
Crystal Rock was still two hours away.
My phone vibrated. Grayson. I answered immediately.
“Tell me you’ve got something.”
“I do.”
The exhaustion in his voice had vanished. That got my attention.
“What is it?”
“We found a hidden compartment beneath a loose floorboard in the nanny’s room.”
My grip on the phone tightened.
“And?”
There was a pause.
“Nate…. I think she knew she was being hunted.”
Every muscle in my body tensed.
“What did you find?”
“Not over the phone.”
My jaw clenched.
“Grayson.”
Another pause, then he said, “Just get here.”
The line went dead. For several seconds, I just stared at the phone. Then back out the window at the road ahead. Because Grayson wasn’t easily rattled.
And for the first time since this investigation began, I had the distinct feeling we weren’t chasing a rogue anymore.
We were uncovering something that somebody had spent years trying to bury.
- Writer
