Greyson, Hank's wolf above

Kyle POV

I wonder whether that day can become more messed up than it already is. When Mikkeli heard it was Celia who cooked the stew, he lost it. I doubt he wanted to kill her, but for sure, he wanted answers and demanded them in a very brutal way, and Hank, of course, couldn't have any of it.

Alphas and Betas' clashes usually end with death.

Almost three hours after the incident, we all gather in Mikkeli's office. He sits behind his desk with Hannah on his lap. Hank is sitting in front of them in the Beta chair. Hayden, Gideon, Dalton, and Marc are also here.

"I checked, and as ridiculous as it sounds, everyone could be alone with this stew today," Hayden says." But honestly, I doubt it was Celia or David. He is under very close surveillance and is never left unguarded. And how would they get their hands on silver? Why would Celia do that after so long? Plus, what would she gain from killing an Alpha's child except for a broken neck? She isn't that stupid. Personally, I think that she could be the target; maybe someone wanted to set her up and force her out of our land."

"Or it was an attempt on my child's life. My pregnancy isn't common knowledge yet, but I'm sure it isn't difficult to figure it out."

Hannah puts her hand on her stomach; she seems very concerned.

"The amount of silver you consumed would end any werewolf's pregnancy, but I checked the results three times. It's unheard of, but I'm sure," says Gideon" That silver saved your baby. I was sure you will lose this pregnancy within days, and after you consumed silver, all your vitals and the fetus's vitals went up. Luna, I will be checking on you every two hours for the next two days, and if I'm right, your vitals should go down soon after the silver will leave your system. We will give you silver then again, small amounts again, and see how it will go."

"So, I may carry a child which is not affected by silver but is in need of it. Has it ever happened before?"

"No," Mikkeli says. "That's why it's important for all of you not to speak about it, no matter what. I have no idea how my allies and my enemies will react; it may make our child a target. That's a command."

His Alphas voice makes Skyler crawl in fear as all presented, including me, bow our heads with submission. Silence, the dead silence, comes into the room. I don't feel offended that my brother decided to use his Alpha's Command on us. A werewolf not affected by silver, I can't even imagine what that means for the future. What would the Werewolf Council do if they heard about it? So no matter what, nobody can know; only this way the baby can be safe.

"You have our word, you know that," Marc says in a stern voice. "But coming back to today's incident, no matter if the target was Celia or Hannah, one thing is certain, it was someone from the pack. We have a traitor, and we don't know if the same person was responsible for both poisoning and letting Terry Nightingale on pack lands."

"I haven't recognized the wolf that was with them in the woods, and I didn't get to memorize his scent," I say, and they all look at me.

I don't know why, but they all seem to be extremely angry that I endangered my life today.

"So, Gideon, you will check the body which Kyle found and confirm how he died. Marc, check if David Nightingale can identify him. Dalton, take the tracker's unit and search through that part of the territory hunters have been in today. We need to know what their cargo was. Hank, we have to reorganize warriors' units again and tighten the security." Mikkeli says.

Alpha and Beta look at each other, and they don't seem too happy; I sigh, but it's Hannah who decides to speak:

"And both Alpha and Beta of Black Moon will never again, no matter what, behave the way they behaved today. Am. I. Clear?"

Both Alpha and Beta nod eagerly, still not looking at each other.

I sigh again, go to take Carson from Rose, and slowly go with him into my room. I'm not even surprised to see Rob waiting there for me. I let him in, put my son in his bassinet, and turn around to face him.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"I saved you today; shouldn't I get at least some gratitude?"

Honestly, I don't know what to think. What does he want from me? In the forest, he was full of care and kindness, probably because of our wolves, but for a small moment, I almost believed he cared about me. Now when he stands in front of me, once again looking at me coldly, I am not so sure.

He comes closer, takes hold of my chin, and makes me look up. He smashes my lips with his, but not in a brutal way. It's almost pleasant when he licks my lips trying to part them. I feel tingles, and desire runs through me, but at the same time, there is a cold sensation in my chest. He doesn't want me. It's just lust caused by bond, not love; he just wants to fuck me and later toss me away. I want to kiss him back, wrap my arms around him and never let go. But I can't; I just can't let him step on me again.

He growls angrily because he gets no reaction from me and pushes me onto the bed. He straddles me, his lips are all over my face, and his hands roam under my shirt. I want to moan, I want to warp my legs around his waist, and I want not to feel so cold in his arms.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asks, irritated,  and sits looking down at me.

"Nothing, I'm just not interested. You should leave unless you intend to force me," I say, even though it takes all my strength to stop myself from crying.

He smirks mockingly and steps away; his eyes are again so cold it almost makes me flinch.

"I don't have to force you. I haven't rejected you yet, so your  mating heat will come sooner or later, and then you will be more than eager to spread your legs for me."

He smashes the door behind him, which makes my son cry. That's when I understand how furious he was and that his stone-cold face was nothing more than a façade. I'm happy I made him at least once feel rejected the same way he did to me. But he's right; my heat will come, and then my body will be my biggest enemy, and then he will be there to break me once again into millions of small pieces. And I'm not sure if I have the strength to pick up those pieces again.

Rob POV

I look at him from a distance as he talks with Luna. He's so gorgeous. Blake howls in my mind begging me to go to him, to let him be close to us again. But I can't do it; he is Renan's murderer, the reason my family is broken, and my mum cries every evening.

I don't go home too often recently; I know my mother doesn't appreciate it. My father doesn't care too much, and Roseanne seems busy, busy with her training, busy with helping the Gamma, and busy with her own life.

Mating heat... When you meet your mate, the bond pushes you to complete the mating process, which means, basically, you want to have sex unless you reject your mate. But if you don't, after some time, one of you will go into mating heat which means that your wolf will try to take charge and force you into sealing the bond. That is the situation Kyle and I are in right now. Females and omegas go into heat, and males into a rut; both are very painful.  But heat will come first. If I will be close enough to smell Kyle at that moment, Blake will also push me to have sex. Will I be able to control him? Do I want to control him?

I see Kyle going back inside the house, and I follow him; I'm not sure what I want besides the quick moment to be alone with him. I get lucky; he sits in the greenhouse alone, holding Carson toward his chest. The baby sucks eagerly,  and I just look from a distance at how innocent they both look. Every time I see this baby, it makes me feel touched.

Kyle is humming something busy with his son, and I take my time looking at him, but not too long because he raises his eyes and sees me. Instantly his face gets darkened, and his eyes show hurt and fear. It makes me angry, it triggers me every time, and it makes me feel like I'm guilty in this, not him. Like I am the one who was whoring around, not him.

"What do you want?" he says, standing up. "Can I have a moment of privacy?"

"So you can screw Caleb again; I saw you talking with him this morning?" I put as much venom in my voice as I can possibly muster.

"He came to apologize again for the last time. I'm not screwing him. You would feel that don't you think?" he says,  trying to pass me, but I block his way.

He takes a step back, cradling his son to his chest.

"Well, I understand why Caleb keeps apologizing; knowing your big mouth, he's probably scared he will die like my brother," I say.

"Just leave me alone, you fucking asshole!" Kyle shouts, and that makes me growl.

"Any problems here?"

I hear the voice behind my back and turn around to see Lionel. I am not surprised; I've known he was in the next exchanged group. He should be on this territory for around two weeks already, but I haven't had any time for him. I am now the patrol leader, and because of the tight patrol schedule, I don't have much free time. That's also the reason I don't see Kyle often because he changed the patrol team too.

"I saw you and thought I would at least say hello; you were so busy you haven't spared me a single look since I came here. Will you not introduce me to your friend?" Lionel says joyfully, but for some reason, he seems nervous.

I take a look at my mate and... what the fuck is going on?

Kyle is pale as a ghost and trembles as if he was cold. I can hear how rapidly his heart is hammering in his chest. Lionel reaches his hand and takes a small step in front, and Kyle whimpers and jumps behind me. Carson starts crying loudly as I feel Kyle's small hand grabbing the shirt on my back. Blake growls in my mind, and my protective instincts start to surface. Lionel looks at me, confused, but my stance shows him it's better to leave now.

"Maybe it will be better if we talk next time. We clearly make the little one nervous," he says and leaves.

"What the fuck was that?" I ask angrily, turning around to face Kyle.

My heart sinks when I see him. I don't know why, but he looks frightened as hell, Carson keeps crying in his arms, but Kyle seems not to know where he is. He looks somewhere in the distance, still clutching my shirt, as small drops of tears go down his face. I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention, but he flinches so hard that he almost loses balance and falls.

"Stay away from me, Rob, just stay away from me. I've had enough," he whispers before he runs away. leaving me alone.

Hank POV

Greyson is slowly trotting through the forest. He is so relaxed, so happy; he hasn't been so cheerful since Goddess knows when. 

The idea came from Hannah. She suggested that if I wanted to get closer to Celia, I should use Greyson. She told me that if my wolf and my mate get connected, it would be easier for her to stay in my presence. And then she told Kathy how Mikkeli has been taking her and Rosie for a trip in the woods on his wolf back. Kathy immediately took the bite and started begging Celia and me to do that too. And both I and Celia couldn't find it in ourselves to say no.

I haven't been that nervous in a long time, so I decided to trust Greyson. I released all the control and let him be in charge, and Hannah was right. He definitely knew better what to do. When he was running among the trees, I manage to hear not only Kathy's laugh but also her mother's; when he was playing with Kathy in the meadow, Celia was looking at us with a warm smile. When the rain caught us, Greyson found shelter in a small cave but wrapped himself around both of them to keep them warm. I could hear Celia's heartbeat, finally not scared and nervous but calm and relaxed.

Now they are on my back, both of them. Kathy sleeps, so I have to move slowly. Greyson did a great job, but I... I feel only more shame because of everything I managed to fuck up in the past.

I stop in front of the packhouse and lie down; Celia gets off my back with Kathy in her arms.

"Thank you, Greyson, it was very nice," she says, and Greyson starts wagging his tail.

Still in my wolf form, I go after her to our quarters. I ignore not such a happy look from David Nightingale, who plays with Danny and one of the warriors on PlayStation, and go to my room to shift and change. Mikkeli has mindlinked me that he wanted to talk with me as quickly as possible.

As I go outside, I also spot Danny's quite a sad face, so I say:

"Next time, we will take you too, but your wrist must heal first."

He gives me the brightest smile I've ever seen on him as David gives me a glare.

Mikkeli waits for me in his office, tapping his fingers on his desk. I know him long enough to know that that's not a good sign. I sit in front of him and wait.

"The body in the forest was identified. David Nightingale confirmed he was one from his clan; he was also one of the people involved in punishing Celia for treason."

I clench my fist, and Greyson howls in anger in my mind.

"He died from a knife, I doubt from werewolves'. Dalton also found something hidden at the edge of the second territory, very close to the place Kyle saw Terry Nightingale. It looked like small storage located underground; judging from the smell, wolfbane was kept there. Hank, do you think Ryan knew about it?"

"Ryan didn't know about his own daughter purchasing Red Venom, I doubt he would've known about this, but still, I can't be sure."

"We need to check it very cautiously; we can't alert the traitor. Also, Hayden informed me about the results of his audit of your pack's budget."

I tense, somehow I'm sure I won't be happy with what he is about to tell me.

"According to records, Full Moon started to have an unstable financial situation very quickly because Ryan was spending too much and made a couple of bad investments; his debts accumulated, and about eight years ago, he was at risk of losing a very big part of his lands. Then suddenly, the big portion of debts was paid off, and the pack budget was somehow balanced, but at the same time, Ryan kept spending more and more."

"On what exactly?" I ask.

"Showing off mostly, but he kept his pack in good condition for almost three years, then again suddenly that changed."

What he says to me makes sense; I remember more or less when all the problems with a steady supply started.

"Full Moon started to have problems. One month the budget was balanced, and the next not; there were no investments in any type of business on your land, but problems weren't that big, and the situation wasn't as serious as previously. But Ryan clearly was spending much less than before, and still, a regular sum of money was disappearing without any records."

"If we take pack budget under consideration, Ryan wasn't good with numbers, so for sure, someone must've helped him with it," I say slowly.

"Do you know who that can be?"

"He had many close friends, but among them, I don't know for sure who was the most trusted. But if I should have my pick, it would be Rob's father."

"Hank, all this missing money was really well hidden, or I should say it was well hidden that they kept disappearing. It took Hayden over a month to establish the pattern, and we still don't know where the money went. And now this hidden magazine at your land. If I ask Ryan bluntly, do you think he will tell me the truth?"

I think for a moment, Ryan wasn't a cruel man, but he was greedy and irresponsible and not very smart.

"If we ask, he may tell us what he knows, but he will try to make himself innocent. But my biggest concern is that he may not be aware of most of what was going on. There is a chance that somebody pulled him into something,  and he just followed that person's lead without thinking or understanding what he really got himself into. He wouldn't care as long as he could live the life he liked".

Mikkeli keeps tapping with his fingers; I think we both think the same.

"If we ask directly, we may provoke the person we are after to escape," he says. "I think it will be better to do it quietly until we will get more intel. Since Hannah is feeling better next week, I will take the tracking teams to the second territory to train officially. You will stay here and keep the pack safe."

I smirk ironically, it makes sense, but I just can't stop doubting.

"You don't want me to go because you don't trust me?" I ask.

"No, because that was your home, and the people you trust live there. I think my head will be fresh to look into it. I will leave you here with Hannah and my child. You really can't accuse me of not trusting you."

He gives me a stern look, and I can't deny his logic. Mikkeli pulls something from his desk and puts it on the display. I give him a questioning look.

"This is another reason for you to want to stay. This was found with the dead hunter's body."

A small piece of paper contains only a couple of sentences:

"Give me back my sister, and I walk away. Terry Nightingale"