Chapter 20 - Carter
1310 Words
Draven prowled through the trees the way he loved to when he was given the freedom of our runs. This was his playtime. The forest became his playground once he had pushed himself to his fullest in his running. Pushing his body to it's limits. Now he was toying with the small animals that were doing their damned hardest to flee from him. I knew he enjoyed the teasing… toying with them. The pleasure of the hunt… He was a wolf after all. This was his was to relax after over-exerting.
I had dropped back within his mind to allow him the liberty to enjoy himself. I enjoyed our runs. The space. That chance to be free. And feeling my wolf at his strongest. That reminder just how powerful he was. With the generally peaceful world we lived within at present it was rare my wolf had to fully flex his dominance, so other than training, it was rare he got to show his strength. And strength was something he held in abundance.
A true Alpha wolf. Powerful. Ruthless. Intimidating. Maybe more so since I had lost Gabrielle. But Draven, despite his pain of our loss had powered through. When I was so close to falling apart, he held it together for us both. I could never repay him for that.
So many wolves crumble upon the loss of their fated mate. And while losing mine had admittedly made me colder. More brutal at times. Isolated within my own world. I was still able to function successfully as an Alpha, and that was solely down to the strength of that wolf within me. He made up so much of my inner power. Yes, he had an unpredictable temper, but so did I. But he also had a strength that stepped up when mine waivered. When I struggled, he was there.
I became aware of Draven’s feet slowing as he approached the treeline that we begun at, before he shook out his dark fur, in a bid to cool himself down. He had worked his body hard today, especially within the heat of the midday sun. ‘That us done for the day?’ I questioned him, always allowing him the freedom to decide how long he wanted to run when we had that spare time to allow us that option.
‘Figured Hudson would be napping by now, and if not him, then Sonny will be online shopping instead of working if you don’t be headed back soon.’ He joked. ‘But yeah, I am good.’
I chuckled at his joke. He was likely not wrong. My Beta and Gamma, while both being my best friends since childhood did have a tendency to be easily distracted. ‘That man will have more than enough sneakers to provide for the entire pack pretty soon if he continues with his shopping.’ I agreed, and heard my wolf chuckle as he dropped back, allowing me to push forward, my body twisting. Bones dislocating as my wolf’s fur receeded, revealing my skin beneath. A seamless transition now after many years of shifting between forms.
Once I was shifted, I reached down to the bag upon the floor where I had left my clothes earlier so I did not have to walk back through the pack naked. The downside to shifting, you did not shift with clothes. Despite our existence as werewolves having been a very long term thing, they had yet to find an upgrade to that simple function much to my frustration. And as much as I liked my pack to know me, as their Alpha, there was a limit as to how well I was comfortable with them knowing me…
I threw on the sweatpants and t-shirt, before grabbing my phone from the bag too, ready to drop it into my pocket. Only as I did, do I notice a notification of an email from the lying fucker of an Alpha of Eldermoon Pack. Seemingly they had completed their investigation. That had not taken long…
Though, when Hudson and I had discussed this, we had said we thought they may rush it through to prove to us they were thorough, and swift in their working. Doing as much as they could to try to encourage us to reconsider our decision upon working with them. I slipped on my sneakers, and begun to walk as I opened the email, allowing my eyes to drift over the attachment where the report lay. Grimacing at the details of the damage done to my warrior. The attacker had done some serious harm to Rafe, with no real explanation for a cause. This guy had been there for training and nothing more, yet had been maimed beyond all recognition from what this said... I shook my head in disgust. Even for the suspected rogue the pack had mentioned, that seemed brutal.
However, just as they had mentioned on the day, as I continued to read, there it was in black and white, offical reports of the borders being broken by a rogue… hmm. And, soon after that had been brought to their attention the attack occurred. All their men did not recognise the attacker. From what my men had said, to their knowledge, there had been not been men around when Rafe was attacked, but I can only assume that the rogue was spotted by their men if this was being reported, or else, how would they know this? Because this report would have to be forwarded to the werewolf council if requested. It was an official document. Surely, despite their previous tendency to lie to me, I would like to think they would not be foolish enough not to do so now...
A sound somewhere between a sigh and a snarl slipped from my lips as I stepped onto the path close to our packhouse. There was something about that Alpha. No, that pack, that put me on edge. I did not trust them. But I continued to read the report. Cause of death, injuries sustained through attack from an unknown rogue. Exactly as they had suspected on the day. We were none the wiser, and I hadn’t expected anything more. I told Rafe’s family the same the day we had returned, as their hearts broke hearing he had passed.
Sadly, this was the downside of rogue attacks. We would rarely get cause or reason, unless they were caught, and this one had so clearly not been. If of course this was even the truth. Again that niggling doubt was there at the back of my mind. That uncertainty when it came to the Alpha and his pack as a whole. Would they cover up something as big as this in a bid to protect themselves if they were at fault or someone within their pack if they were the attacker?
‘Well do our own investigation then?’ Draven suggested with attitude.
I chuckled, a dry, sarcastic laughter. ‘Oh yeah, because that fucker is going to allow me onto their pack to do that if they are covering something up.’
A grunt of derision form my wolf was the response. He may be my strength, but at times he was also the greatest pain in my ass too. He could have the attitude of a teenage girl on occasions if I did not see things the way he wanted me to.
‘True. But, he would happily let you on pack if he believed you were there to conclude this business deal he was so desperate to seal, would he not? If anything I would imagine he would welcome you with opened arms.’ He offered, and I felt a smile spreading upon my face. My wolf could be a sly little bastard when he wanted to be, but with this, he could well be onto something…
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