Thank you Maya_2011 for the picture!

 ---

It took a long time for the party to settle down. At home, the thick insulated walls had spoiled me when there was noise outside of my door.

I wasn't spoiled here. I couldn't sleep until the music finally stopped. I wouldn't last long before snapping if I had to go through that every night. 

I wasn't happy when I went into the kitchen.  The place was dead at nine a.m.  At home, I would've slept in late! I started the coffee before turning my attention to breakfast. By the time I had everything prepped, the coffee was done. 

Mason came in when I was halfway through the pancake batter. He ran his hands through his wet hair and looked around confused. "Where is everyone?"

I shrugged my shoulders and put more finished pancakes on the platter I had set inside of the stove to keep warm. "This place is dead. I'm not used to this."

He nodded and stood beside me, ripping open the bacon and starting to cook that. Bacon was, by far, his favorite thing to eat. 

---

We had to meet with the alpha to get up to speed on what he knew... at two in the afternoon. It was ridiculous. How were we supposed to find these guys if the alpha wouldn't even act like a responsible adult? This was his problem. We were here to solve it because he wouldn't. 

"We could be doing something productive," I complained as I sat down on one of the chairs in the room. I finally gave up waiting for the alpha.

Mason shrugged as he kept looking at the books on the shelves. "We have to wait. You don't barge in on an alpha without a few bruises."

"You walk in on Grayson all the time."

He turned and gave me a look that said 'this is different', before turning his attention back to the books. "We just have to wait. It probably won't be long."

So we waited and waited. It was almost three in the afternoon when the alpha decided to grace us with his presence. 

By the smell of him, he hadn't even showered. He reeked of alcohol as he passed by. It was hard for werewolves to get drunk. He would have had to have drunken gallons of alcohol to have the smell still coming from his pores.

It was everything I could do to hold my breath so I didn't have to smell him. He stood over by his desk, but didn't say a word before he looked over at Mason.

Mason kept his eyes on me as he came over to a chair and sat down. He wasn't afraid of the alpha and didn't wait for the offering.

I was done waiting for one of them to speak, so I did. "We're here to help you and you keep us waiting for an hour? That's rude and disrespectful. I wouldn't keep our guests waiting, especially when we're here to solve your problem."

The alpha's wolf was very much in his gaze when his eyes lightened as he sat down at his desk. His wolf was slowly coming to the surface, he wasn't happy with something. "This is my pack to rule as I see fit."

I scoffed. "This pack is sick." Even this office was littered with paperwork. Paint chipped from the ceiling and the air smelled stale. This room wasn't used much.

The alpha wolf surged to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. I took a step back, towards Mason. The alpha's eyes lightened completely into gold. 

With a sigh, Mason pushed himself off of his chair. "You're just angry because you know she's right. You've let your pack get out of control, that's why you can't find these guys. You don't have the strength for it."

"I could kill you right here and now," he threatened Mason. 

Mason shook his head and walked towards the enraged wolf. "I'm not here to take over. I'm here to help you. Your pack needs discipline and order. They need to lead normal lives and contribute to their pack. Right now this pack is a bunch of freeloaders living off of Finn's thinning kindness."

The alpha wolf didn't speak, but his eyes darkened back to their normal color as we waited. We didn't want to get into a fight with the alpha of the territory. That would make our job much harder. 

"What makes you think these are werewolf murders?" Mason asked as he sat down again. 

"The bodies found were only partial. We think there's someone eating them."

"And the police don't know what's happened?" I noted neither of the men found partial bodies to be something odd… werewolves were more prone to ripping apart bodies because of their strength and violent tendencies.

He shook his head once, fractionally relaxing. "No. We keep the police in the dark about these things. The humans have no need to know."

"Are they looking for the missing girls?" I asked. Pretty girls usually get search teams that will go out and look for them. This could cause problems with tracking the murderers. 

"There are a couple of groups that go out looking for the girls. The humans are starting to realize that this might be a serial killer or something." Dean finally sat down behind his desk, where he felt most in control. This office was his room of power. Which was a shame since this room was such a disaster.

It made sense to me that the human community thought it was a serial killer. Hopefully that meant that they would keep inside and no go out alone. The lesser the amount of people wondering the area meant less chance of victims.

"How many victims have there been so far?" I could see the wheels turning in Mason's head as he solved this puzzle. 

"There have been 10 bodies and 8 missing girls," Dean replied. If he were mad at me, he probably wouldn't have spoken to me at all.

"All from this area?" I asked in disbelief. I had expected the missing girls to be spread out and from different towns. That was too many girls. This would bring too much attention to us. 

Dean nodded in response. 

"This will attract every agency with an acronym," I muttered as I looked to Mason.  "We might have to dodge some Feds."

The alpha grumbled behind his desk, not saying anything coherent. We didn't need the Feds looking in our direction. If they started looking into our secrets, we'd be in a whole other world of trouble. 

"We need this solved and the humans satisfied with finding their killer before they get here." Mason's fingers tapped against the arm of the chair. "One more body found by the cops and they'll swarm this place eventually."

"These kinds of places don't have very many problems like this," Dean added. 

"Which means they'll look towards this house. I'm sure this place has a reputation for attracting women and ruining them," I blurted before I could stop myself. 

Mason looked at me with widened eyes while Dean's were narrowed. Some things weren't meant to be said out loud and I wasn't supposed to go around offending alphas.

"Sorry," I added for good measure. Maybe it would have helped my case if it had been a genuine apology. "I'm just saying that this place has a reputation."

Mason nodded and looked at Dean. "They'll come here first and probably keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. A pack can't live under a microscope."

"These wolves can't do that," Dean agreed. "It isn't going to be easy to change them."

"Looks like it's time to start cracking the whip." Mason's voice held undertones of an order; I felt them flow past me with his voice. I wasn't sure that Mason outranked Dean. Dean was an alpha, and from what I understood, had been for a long time. He wouldn't appreciate an order from a wolf that wasn't an alpha. 

"I suppose it is." Dean’s tone suggested that he felt the order, but couldn't do anything about it. There wasn't a much scarier creature than an enraged alpha wolf. 

"Have there been any areas searched by your wolves?" I asked nicely since the mood in the room was so unpredictable.

He angrily shook his head. "I can't send wolves out. There are hunters in this area. My wolves are more likely to eat the hunters who fire upon them. There has never been a need for patrols."

"We need to run patrols." I could tell that this frustrated Mason to no end. Mason needed to be in control. Knowing what was happening on pack lands was part of being in control. "Knowing how they are getting onto pack lands is vital. We can find them that way."

Dean shrugged his shoulders. "We can't."

"These lands are owned by you. Put up signs and fences where they are needed. We need the humans off of this land so we can control it. These rogues are going to rip apart this town and it'll be your fault."

The alpha kept his eyes on Mason, staring at each other for minutes before either blinked or spoke.

Finally, the alpha nodded. "I'll put up notices so they know. There will be consequences for hunting on my land."

The alpha was quick to retreat and leave us alone in the room.

"What was that?" I asked confused.

Mason slowly stood up, blinking his eyes several times. Not blinking could be painful if held open too long. "Just a little pissing contest."

Annoyed, I put my hands on my hips, a fraction away from tapping my foot. "And did you win said contest?"

He smirked. "Of course I did. I'm me."

I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the door. "Luck runs out Mason."

---

It took us a few days to teach the few competent werewolves how to use their noses correctly. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. 

It took another two days to teach them how run silently and memorize the routes for the patrols. They had to be silent when they ran in case they came across the local hunters. 

A week was a lot of time to spend, but it was necessary. If they ran across a trail they didn't recognize as pack, we'd have a starting point. 

Mason was more stressed than I had ever seen him. He was practically running this pack while the alpha supervised. It was frustrating, and Mason was never good at hiding his frustrations. 

---

"Let's go for a run," I suggested hopefully to Mason.

He shrugged, but kept his eyes on the files. He wasn't listening to me and I understood why.

It wasn't exactly surprising that he was in a bad mood. He usually was. It was just worse this time. We had no leads. There was no way we could find these guys until they killed again. Another death was a failure in Mason's eyes, and I could understand that.

I walked behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He needed a break and I needed him. Only when I nibbled his ear did I get any reaction. He sighed and closed the files.

"What Lex?" He turned, forcing me to let go. "I'm busy here."

I nodded and sat on his lap since it was now available. "Lex," he sighed again. "I don't have time for this."

He couldn't scare me away or hurt my feelings. I knew he was worried. He wanted to find this rogue and go home. I wasn't supposed to be here, unmated and without our pack to back us up. Anything could happen, so he was on edge.

I rubbed my nose along his jaw line, feeling a reaction from his lap.

I smiled and tried my best to be seductive, which wasn't always as smooth as I hoped. "How about you and me go for a little exercise and some fun? I know you need it."

"There's a killer out there." He was right about that, but he was also losing his resolve to deny me.

I slowly ran my fingers up the back of his head. "There's no one I'm safer with than you."

I saw the internal struggle he had with himself. He wanted me to be safe and he knew he needed a break.

He slowly nodded once, giving in. "Go Change in the room. I'll come get you in ten."

I nodded and gave him a long, wet kiss before getting off of his lap and leaving him alone in the room.

I heard him groan as I shut the door. It was getting easier and easier to work the stubborn old werewolf.

I was a wolf and waiting when the door to the room opened.

I had been expecting Mason, so I didn't bother to open my eyes. Not until the scent of the new arrival wafted over to me. I was up on all fours when I realized it wasn't Mason.

It was Jamison, Jenna's husband and mate. I didn't like him much, my wolf even less. There was something profoundly wrong with a man who didn't wholly claim his mate as his alone. He wasn't much of a man to let his woman have whomever she wanted.

He smiled, earning a growl when he took a step into the room I was sharing with Mason. Where was he?

He held his hands up in surrender. "Easy there girl," he sounded nonthreatening, but I wouldn't get close to this guy. "I just wanted to have a little chat."

He took another step into the room and shut the door. I readied myself to pounce and bared my sharp teeth in a warning. Werewolf teeth were impressive and always intimidating. There wouldn't be any chatting right now.

Not while I was alone and secluded from my only pack member in the house. I didn't know this guy and I didn't trust him.

He took another two steps into the room. I wasn't comfortable with him being here. I had an advantage by being a wolf. I had sharp teeth and deadly claws.

Mason decided to show his face when I was a hair away from attacking the intruder. Jamison didn't even notice his arrival over my growling.

The door to our room opened slowly, he had to have heard my growling through the door. These rooms weren't soundproof.

Mason's face immediately went from stressed and concerned to angry then to calm. I could feel through the pack bonds that Mason was more than willing to bring Jamison some pain, because I was threatened by Jamison.

"What are you doing in here?" Mason's voice thundered through the room, easily louder and more intimidating than my growls had been.

At the sound of Mason's voice, Jamison jumped and whirled around on him. I stopped growling and stood up, he wouldn't get any closer to me with Mason in the room. He wasn't that stupid.

"I-I just thought I'd keep her company while you were busy," he replied pathetically. He was an obvious liar, so obvious that I could smell the lie.

"Uh huh," Mason mused as he walked over to me. I immediately nudged his hand when he held it out for me. "You should stay away from Alexia when she's growling. You might give me the wrong impression, earning you a beat down."

I felt infinitely better when in contact with Mason. All the pent up aggression from my wolf disappeared. There was nothing to attack because Mason was there, I was safe with him.

Jamison nodded. "Well, we was just talking, so no threat."

Mason nodded and pointed towards the door. "You should stay out of this room so long as we're in this territory." It wasn't a suggestion, but knowing this guy, he would probably try to go against Mason.

There was obvious history here. Why would Jamison try coming at me when Mason wasn't around? Was it because his mate batted her eyes at Mason every time she saw him?