ALPHA MARCELLUS STORM

"Alpha Marcellus?" Mohammed, one of his guards and warriors called out to him a questioning tone. "Are you ready to head back to the pack?"

Despite it being late and them having found absolutely nothing the whole day, he couldn't help but feel like there was something obvious that they were somehow missing.

Instead of sticking around as he knew it would prove to be fruitless, Marcellus sighed and nodded, feeling tried and haggard after suffering through such a long day.

The fact that they had virtually nothing to show for it made it so much more worse.

Perhaps they'd be able to find something out with a fresh pair of eyes in the morning. Or maybe they would be doing the exact same thing they had been doing this past couple of days which was absolutely nothing. Either way, there wasn't anything that him or any of his pack could do so instead of wasting time, he would rather everyone head home so they can be well rested for tomorrow.

"Yes, that's probably best, Mo." He sighed and ran a tired hand up the side of his face only to tug on the ends of his hair gently, needing something to take all of his frustrations out of. "Do me a favour. Round everyone up. We'll leave in ten minutes, okay?"

"Yes, Alpha." He nodded and turned around as he was told, taking Zion with him to do just that.

Marcellus watched as they walked away from him and back into the pack house where all of his wolves were currently enjoying a nice hot meal with the Red Howler pack. While he had been prompted to join them and while he probably could have done with some food after a long, hard day of searching through the forest for any leads on the recent kidnappings, Marcellus just wasn't ready to give up.

He couldn't give up. Not when there was imminent danger out there that threatened the safety of him and all werewolf kind. Not yet, at least.

While his heart for poor little Amy who far from deserved the horrific fate that she had been dealt with, these kidnappings – which they all now feared had begun to escalate – this was really starting to hit home now.

As well as the Red Howler pack, there had been a few more kidnappings in some other packs and together, wolves from each pack were trying to investigate and keep their people as safe as possible but at the end of the day, at the end of every day, they kept coming back with nothing.

More than just puzzling them, it was immensely frustrating. Other than the fact that Amy had been pregnant, there was no other difference between her and the other females that had been taken and then returned shortly after.

After some thorough investigating on the pack doctor's part, he had confirmed that Amy had been pregnant with a wolf pup, only a few weeks into her pregnancy. It had also been confirmed that it had been the baby that had eventually torn her up from the insides, her body unable to house the supernatural creature.

While it wasn't the first time that a human hadn't survived a supernatural pregnancy, the fact that her roommate had insisted that Amy hadn't been seeing anyone at all, let alone enough for her to get pregnant raised a few more eyebrows. In fact, it raised so many questions that absolutely nothing was adding up and once again, they all found themselves back at square one.

The fact that his own mate was only part wolf just worried him all that much more; more than any other wolf would ever understand. If they didn't find out who was behind all of this and soon, Marcellus genuinely feared for the safety of his mate and with all of this distance between them – entirely his fault, of course – that just heightened his fear all that much more.

Whipping out his phone, he punched in the first number on his speed dial and pressed the device against his ear, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground, already annoyed that Dalton hadn't picked up on the first ring.

"Talk to me, Mars."

"Who do you think you are? James Bond?" He snorted and rolled his eyes, though his lips tugged up into an amused grin.

"Please." Dalton huffed. "James Bond has nothing on me."

"Okay, okay." Marcellus paused to chuckle. "If we're done stroking your ego, I actually called you to say that today was another shit show."

Dalton sighed, suddenly growing very serious; the situation all but demanding it.

"No luck?"

"I think we're more lost now than we were before we started." Marcellus snorted. "No one saw anything, none of the women remember anything and we have exactly zero leads."

"Well, that doesn't sound promising."

"Far from it, actually."

"Alpha Marcellus?" A familiar voice called out to him from behind.

"I'll speak to you when we get back, Dalton. Not that there's anything to tell, really." He informed his Beta wolf before hanging up and turning around to face his guards and all the warriors, everyone ready to head back home.

"Come on, everyone. Let's go home!" Marcellus sounded aloud as he began stripping off his shirt and slipping his phone into the pocket before leaning down to tie the material around his ankles so it would remain intact when he shifted into his wolf form.

Being the first one to shift, Marcellus spied Alpha Gabriel step out of the pack house to see them off and he nodded his head in mutual respect before rearing his head back to release a loud howl. As his wolves shifted and joined their Alpha in the run home, they all howled and sped after their Alpha wolf into the forest, Marcellus opting to take the shortcut through the hidden trail.

While he was somewhat doing it because it had been a long day and he knew his wolves were tired, but the other part of him, the selfish and dominant part of him thought couldn't stop thinking about their mate. The sooner they got back to the pack house, the sooner he would be able to sneak away to sleep outside her house just as he had been doing every night since she had all but thrown him out. Not that he didn't deserve it for all his fuck ups.

While she had ordered for him to never step foot back into her house, she had never mentioned anything about sleeping outside it. However, since he didn't wish to face any more of her wrath and risk upsetting her or worsening the situation further, he made a point of leaving before she woke up to discover him.

Unfortunately, that thought very quickly vanished from his mind as he came to an abrupt stop, able to sense that something was not quite right. Despite having reached the border of their pack, Marcellus stilled and mind linked all the wolves to follow his lead as the scent of rogues wafted through the air toward them.

"We're going to get caught." The first voice sounded quietly as he whispered harshly.

"Why are you so fucking negative all the time?" A second, gruffer and harsher voice sounded as the crunching of twigs and branches from under them sounded louder as they got closer.

Marcellus pressed his index finger against his lips as he glanced over his shoulder.

If any of you make a sound, I'll personally see to it that you do a hundred laps around the perimeter of the forest. He growled through the mind link, making sure to emphasise on every word so all of them would understand just how serious he was.

Luke, Arnold and Amir. He called out the first three names that came to mind. Go around the back but don't get caught.

Yes, Alpha! All three of them responded almost instantly, more than willing to help out the Alpha.

The rest of the wolves followed his lead as they hunched low to keep out of sight, waiting for their prey to make their way into their vision and direct line of attack. It was evident that whatever these rogues were doing, they were clearly not paying attention or they would have been able to scent out that they weren't the only wolves on the other side of the border.

The seconds stretched out as they passed and the previously muffled voices now got louder as the two rogues continued bickering until finally, they came into view.

Marcellus' eyebrows rose in surprise and confusion as what he had previously assumed to be two simple rogues turned out to be two kidnappers; the latter evident as one of them carried an unconscious female over his shoulder, not even bothering to be gentle with her as they ran through the trees, the branches scratching over her bare arms and legs.

Finally rising to full height, Marcellus crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a questioning brow as he moved to stand in front of the two wolves, silently daring them to continue trespassing so close to his pack borders.

Both of their eyes widened but before either of them could try and escape, the three wolves from earlier already had them covered from behind. Before either of the rogues could even question what was going on, they were detained by Luke and Arnold, twisting the rogue's arms behind their backs.

"And what's going on here?" Marcellus whistled lowly as he clasped his hands together behind his back with a mock thoughtful expression on his face, glancing between both of the rogues who were clearly trying to get away with a kidnap attempt; their hostage currently unconscious.

Both of the rogues gulped and turned their heads to face each other, almost as if mind linking each other which couldn't be possible as they were rogues and not pack wolves.

Marcellus' frown deepened as he continued to watch them silently communicate with each other and without warning, he growled loudly, not the least bit pleased or appreciative of the fact that they had just ignored him. As if he wasn't worthy of their time.

"What should we do with them, Alpha Marcellus?" Amir asked as he held the unconscious female in his arms asked, a concerned look on his face as he awaited further instruction

Marcellus frowned as he appraised the situation, unable to comprehend exactly what they had just walked in on.

The way that had coincidentally stumbled across these rogues in the process of kidnapping a she-wolf whom none of them recognised – making it clear that she wasn't from the Lupum Griseo pack – almost seemed easy. Too easy.

His frown deepened as he struggled to wrap his mind around the situation, none of it truly making sense. As well as being caught, neither of them had put up much of a fight but rather, threw around weak punches and blows which caused minimum damage; Almost as if they wanted to be caught.

"Put them in the dungeon." He instructed in a loud, firm voice, making sure to make eye contact with both of the rogue, a dark, promising look in his eyes.

He still didn't quite understand what had happened or what was going on, or even what these wolves were trying to pull as it was clear this wasn't the typical kidnapping attempt, but he was determined to get to the bottom of it, even if it was the last thing they did.

-

Please remember to like, comment, review and follow me if you haven't already! Also, support me on Patreon to get read the COMPLETED book and get EARLY ACCESS to all my other books, including book 2 in this series:

https://www.patreon.com/LaylaKnight

Layla Knight

14.11.2020