"Move! All of you get out of the house."

The Alpha rushed inside and ushered Maddy and the others outside.

"No one goes in there. It might be dangerous. Xander and I will shift and try to sniff and find out about whoever took the matefinder," the Alpha commanded.

The Alpha proceeded to talk to some of the pack members. Meanwhile, Xander went behind a tree to shift. Maddy watched with fascination as a midnight black wolf trotted over. Xander's wolf was huge, huger than all the other wolves she had seen and he came up to her waist. The wolf was clearly Xander, as had the same green eyes.

Before she could help herself, Maddy squealed, "You are like the cutest wolf ever!"

For a minute, silence descended over the crowd. Maddy assumed that they were shocked because she, a human had called their future Alpha 'cute.' Xander had stopped walking and he tilted his head to the side as if he was trying to figure her out. Xander's wolf had an amused expression, if that was even possible. Suddenly, laughter bubbled out from behind her. Turning, she saw that it was Alexa.

"That comment has made my day. I have heard people call Xander a lot of things. Hot? Yes. Scary? Yes. But cute? That would be a first."

Maddy grinned, not sure how to react to that comment.

The Alpha raised an eyebrow at her, smiling, but didn't tell anything. It was clear that he was holding back his laughter. Great! The two times the Alpha had been around her, she had managed to do something stupid and embarrass herself. The Alpha then went away from the crowd to shift.

Maddy knelt down on her knees and signaled Xander to come over by crooking her index finger and patted the space beside her.

"You know that Xander can still understand English even in his wolf form, right?" Leia asked Maddy with amusement.

Great! Looked like everyone was having fun at her expense. Grumbling, Maddy asked Xander to come over. He walked over to her, growled at her lightly and then started sniffing her with his nose. Maddy froze, waiting for Xander to finish.

By then the Alpha had come back. He looked at Xander and Xander froze. The way they were looking at each other seemed as though they were communicating in their own language. Maddy assumed that they were communicating via the pack bond. The Alpha cautiously, trotted over to the matefinder's house. After a minute, he came out and called to Xander. Xander nudged Maddy's legs with his snout, nodded towards her and then took off, after his dad.

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them came out and quickly went towards the trees to shift. Xander made his way towards Maddy with a smirk on his face.

"So, you finally admitted it. You think I am cute."

Maddy scowled at him. "I think I like you better in the wolf form. I called your wolf adorable, not you."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Xander replied, winking at her.

Maddy, being an extremely mature adult, stuck her tongue out at him.

The Alpha cleared his throat trying to get everyone's attention. "The smell indicates that the werewolves were rogues. Someone is recruiting these werewolves. This situation is getting graver. The matefinder is an important part of the werewolf community. She has been uniting mates all across the world and we all know how important our mates are.

However, there is no need to panic. I want you all to keep the news of the matefinder's disappearance to yourself. I'll be speaking with the other Alphas and inviting them over here so that we can discuss what our next steps should be. I expect all of you to treat them with the same respect with which you treat me."

Leia grinned when she heard that her father would be coming over. Maddy too was happy that Tristan, the Alpha of the Callisto Pack and Leia's dad was coming over.

Jeremy turned to Maddy. "Now would be a good time to try and talk with the rest of the pack."

Jeremy was right. Since coming to the Amalthea pack, Maddy didn't have time to introduce herself to the rest of the pack. Socializing had never been one of her strong suites and Maddy preferred to stick with her friends instead of meeting new people. Feeling intimidated she started walking towards the rest of the pack. Maddy was relieved to feel Leia's presence. Despite being a human, she could always tell when someone she knew well and was comfortable with was close to her. So far, she could make out her mom, Leia, Tristan, Xander, Alexa, Jeremy and few girls from her school's signatures. Maddy turned to Leia and gave her a grateful smile. Leia mouthed back 'I got you'.

Maddy introduced herself to some of the werewolves in the crowd before moving towards a group of girls and boys who seemed to be of her age. Maddy knew that talking to people of her age would be the hardest as they tend to be extremely judgmental, knowingly or unknowingly. They would either love her or hate her.

"Well well well, if it isn't the infamous human girl."

Maddy cringed the moment she heard the high-pitched voice. Looks like she was already in their bad books. And she hadn't even uttered a word. Feeling the tension rising, Maddy turned and tried to get out of there. Maddy didn't work well in tensed situations. She would either say something that would embarrass herself or she would tell something that would irritate the other person even further. That's when another voice interrupted.

"She is under the protection of the pack and best friends with some influential people. I wouldn't mess with her if I were you. You don't want the Alpha of the Callisto Pack and the future Alpha of the Amalthea Pack gunning for you."

Maddy signaled to Leia with her eyes. Leia tended to get carried away when someone insulted Maddy. Not that Maddy was ungrateful but she wanted to be able to defend herself and not depend on her best friend.

"Why do you hate me so much? I haven't even talked to you."

The girl who had first spoken rolled her eyes. She had extremely straight blonde hair and fringes covered her forehead, making her look like a Barbie. Were werewolves related to Barbie somehow? First Jeremy, then this girl. She was extremely thin and fit like literally every other werewolf. Among the entire pack, Maddy hadn't seen a single fat werewolf. It was as though their genes didn't support fatness. Lucky bastards.

"You are a human who arrived at the pack two days ago, yet Xander spends all his time with you," she sneered.

Maddy raised her eyebrows. The girl hated her over a boy? This was so cliché.

"This about Xander? You can have him. We are just friends." Even though it hurt her, Maddy managed to tell it. She had to remind herself that Xander had a mate out there and that he would dump Maddy the moment his Luna showed up, if he was even interested in her in the first place.

The girl scoffed. "I don't want Xander. If Xander isn't my mate, it means that there is someone better out there waiting for me. Just the way he should wait for his Luna and not pine over a hum-"

"I would stop my sentence over there if I were you," Xander's voice echoed in an authoritative way. He was glaring at the girl and his eyes were a darker shade of greener. This wasn't good. A pissed Alpha was never good news. 

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