The Duty of an Alpha (Book 2)

Wards

Chapter 20

Arden POV*

The next two weeks went by quickly. Eva and the small group of witches that had joined Ash River Pack were able to handle helping all of the staff find their voice again. Many of them kept thanking me in their raspy, underused tone, and as nice as it was to hear, I always pointed them to the witches who put in the effort. I didn’t want to take credit for something that I didn’t have much to do with.

Roman and I had met at Benny’s Diner a couple more times to discuss more ideas on how to handle the rogue issue, but there wasn’t much to be done until we had more information about who they were and why they were attacking. Instead, meeting at the diner gave us an excuse to have a date together and push past the awkwardness that always seemed to creep in when we thought of being mates.

Silver Creek Pack was attacked once, but luckily, no one was seriously injured. Unfortunately, all of the rogues got away before they could be captured. They left behind the body of one of their group, but no matter how much we looked into him, we were still no closer to finding any information out about them.

James went to visit Roman’s pack to see if the same scent that he recognized was on the rogue, and he confirmed it was. Unfortunately, he still wasn’t able to decipher what or who the scent reminded him of.

Over all, the rogue problem left us all at a standstill.

I was sitting in my office, looking over the map of the pack boundaries and beyond, when Matt and Ashton made their way in. Both looked like they had seen better days, and Matt had a stressed look on his face.

“What happened?” I asked, my heart beating a little faster in worry.

“Nothing!” Ashton hurried to say. “No one is hurt. We haven’t been attacked.”

“Okay. Then why does Matt look like he is about to panic?” I pointed out.

“Uhh.” Matt said dumbly. “Well. I don’t exactly want to be the one to have to say anything.”

“But!” Ashton but in before I could ask. “Things need to be said. Plus, I made him come with me so I wasn’t alone.”

“What the hell is going on?” I was starting to get frustrated by the evasion of whatever topic they needed to discuss. Not to mention, it was a mixture of hurtful and worrisome that they were acting like they were afraid to talk to me. “Since when do you care about talking to me alone?”

“Uhhh.” Matt said again and the elbowed Ashton in the ribs.

“Ow!” Ashton nudged him back before he finally started explaining why they were there. “Well, boss. I hate to say it, but we are gonna have to do something about the patrol schedule. Everyone who is able to run patrol has been on the schedule, but it’s been nearly a month of doubled patrols.”

“Everyone is exhausted.” Matt chimed in with a sheepish look on his face.

“Even we are exhausted.” Ashton said. “I know you are too. I just don’t know how much longer we can keep this going.”

I sigh audibly, knowing they are right. The entire pack has been working towards making sure we are protected from the pack of rogues that seem to keep making their presence known. Working to the point that the warriors are running themselves down, and tension has been high throughout the grounds.

Even though Roman’s pack had been attacked more than my own, it was hard to shake the feeling that things weren’t ever yet.

“I know, I know.” I agreed with the two men in front of me. “I just can’t help but think that as soon as the patrol schedule goes back to normal, something bad is going to happen again.”

“I hear ya, boss.” Ashton spoke up again. “But if we don’t do something soon about how people are overdoing it, then something bad is definitely going to happen. No one can be fully aware on their route if they aren’t getting enough rest. Not only that, but if there is an attack, at this point, everyone is running at half steam. They wouldn’t be very good at protecting themselves.”

“Also,” Matt said in his deep soothing voice. “I know no one wants to think about it, but usually, you’re our ace. Your abilities only enhance your natural skills, but if what happens the last time you fought one of those rogues wasn’t just a fluke, then even you wouldn’t ben able to take out more than one of them.”

I leaned back in my chair and thought about that. It had definitely crossed my mind a few times since I woke up in the hospital. No one had any answers for why I wasn’t able to use my abilities on the rogue, which meant there was no way to tell if it was that particular rogue or something more.

“I’ll figure something out.” I sighed. “Let everyone know that they only have three more days of doubled patrols. After that, we will go back to regular shifts.”

I waved them out of my office and fought the urge to hit my head against the desk.

Cas. I need you to grab Eva and meet me in my office. I mind linked the young witch.

Will do, Alpha. She answered.

The next ten minutes was spent with me putting the map away and staring off into space. Everything was so overwhelming lately, and I felt like every time I felt like progress could be made, something else would fall into my lap.

Roman and I had a plan nailed down for how we could handle the next attack, but until there was the opportunity to use it, all I could do was sit around twiddling my thumbs.

A knock at the door brought me out of my mindlessness, and I shouted for them to come in.

“Arden dear, what can we do for you?” Eva asked and gave me a kind smile.

“Please sit down.” I gestured at the chairs across form me and waited for the two women to take a seat. “I know you were preparing to leave soon Eva, but I was wondering if you might be able to postpone it for a few days?”

“Of course.” She said simply.

“You’ve already done so much for my pack, and I appreciate it more than you know. So, if I’m asking too much, tell me.”

“Calm down, and ask your question.” Eva chuckled.

“So, I’ve just been confronted about the patrol schedule. Everyone has been running themselves into the ground, and they need a break. I know that eventually, you were going to help my pack’s witches learn some of the concealment and protection wards that you had place in Silver Creek. I’m wondering if there is any chance that we can start doing that now? It doesn’t need to be everything that you have back home. Just some extra protection until we can get this rogue problem dealt with.”

Even though I was asking Eva, I looked back and forth between the two women. To my surprise, Cas chuckled a little. Even though none of the witches were part of the coven back in Silver Creek, they had all banded together in my pack. Cas had quickly been chosen as the leader even though she was the youngest.

“Alpha,” Cas said after she composed herself. “Sorry for laughing. Um, we have all been working with Eva the last couple of weeks to learn as many of the spells we could for the wards. In between healing the staff, we’ve been studying. We were probably going to start it in a few weeks, but if Eva doesn’t mind staying to help guide us, there’s no reason we can’t start tomorrow.” She looked over at Eva for confirmation.

“It looks like we will be starting tomorrow.” Eva beamed. “I won’t be participating, since the wards will be strongest with just your pack witches performing it, but it would be a blessing to be able to guide the young coven through the process.”

I sagged into my chair with relief. For something that seemed so stressful a little while before, knowing it was going to be taken care of with now problems was a huge weight off my shoulders.

I loved being an Alpha, but the rogues were really starting to mess with the joy I found in my job.