Enyo goes back to where she can still smell the scent and says, ‘I’m telling you, Athena! It’s our mate!’

‘I’ve told you before, Enyo! We don’t have time for a mate!’

‘You don’t get to decide that! Just because you’re having issues with the Moon Goddess doesn’t mean I am!’ she growls, still sniffing around, trying to find the scent again.

Donny whimpers and shifts, and Nick walks over to us. “What’s happening? Why did you take off like that?” He asks with worry in his voice.

I force the shift and look around the area to see if anyone else is around, but it’s definitely just the two of us. “Enyo thinks we caught the scent of our mate,” I explain.

“All the way out here? I think we’re close to the edge of the packs’ territory,” he says, looking around.

Enyo whimpers. ‘I’m sure it was our mate, Athena. You can’t deny us our mate. You know what that does to a wolf,’ she says sadly.

“She’s sure,” I say, a pang of guilt washing over me.

“This concerns me, Athena. Why would someone be all the way out here? What if it’s an intruder on the packs’ territory? Someone looking for us,” he says, looking around again. “We should return to the pack house.”

I nod, and we both shift and head back in the direction of the pack house.

“We should tell the Alpha about this. That there was someone on the packs’ border, Athena,” Nick says as he comes out from behind the tree he was dressing behind.

“We can tell him after the meeting. It’s nearly seven, and I want to have a quick shower,” I say, putting my shoes on.

“Okay. Meet me downstairs in 15 minutes, and we’ll head over to the meeting together.”

We head inside, and I go upstairs to my room to shower.

I quickly go through my suitcase after my shower to find something to wear, and the piece of paper with the strangers’ number on it falls out of the pocket of my suitcase.

“I completely forgot about this,” I say as I bend down and pick it up.

‘Maybe we should ring it. It could be someone that could help us,’ Enyo suggests.

‘Or someone who is trying to kill us,’ I murmur.

I pull on some jeans and a tank top and place the number in my pocket. ‘I think Jason is right. We should probably get someone to check the number,’ I tell Enyo as I put my sandals on and quickly dry my hair. I grab my phone and then run out of my room and down the stairs to meet Nick.

“Ready to go?” Nick asks.

“Sure am.”

I follow Nick out the front door, and we walk the few minutes up the road to the large hall where the pack meetings are held. We’re the two last people to arrive, and when he sees us, Jason waves for us to join him and the Alpha up at the front of the hall.

“Good morning, everyone,” Alpha Peter’s voice carries over the room, and it goes silent.

“I’ve called this meeting today to let everybody know we are going into lockdown until further notice,” he advises the pack. There are a few murmurs of confusion, but Alpha Peter continues. “Unfortunately, we have been betrayed by two of our own. And until I deem it safe, no one is to leave the compound.”

The pack yells out questions to the Alpha, and he raises his hand to silence them again.

“We have reason to believe that Doctor Shields has been conspiring with outsiders to murder members of other lycan packs and has been working with werewolves and hunters to have these murders carried out. He is currently in our cells, along with Gamma Richard,” he explains.

“NO!!” There’s a scream from the back of the hall. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS! MY FATHER HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!”

I follow the voice to the back of the crowd to see Catherine pushing her way to the front of the room.

“Unfortunately, he has confessed to conspiring with Doctor Shields to kill both Miss Argos and Mr. Teresi,” Alpha Peter says, but Catherine interrupts him.

“BULLSHIT! THIS IS ALL HER FAULT!” she screams and points at me.

“I can assure you, Catherine, that Miss Argos is not to blame here. After I leave this meeting, your father will be questioned to find out exactly what he was planning,” Alpha Peter states.

“YOU BITCH!” She screams as she pushes her way through the crowd towards us and shifts. She lunges for me but is stopped by Alpha Peter, who also shifts.

He growls loudly, making Catherine cower low to the ground and bare her neck to him.

“Everyone is to stay inside our compound walls until this mess is sorted out,” Jason instructs the pack. “We will call another pack meeting over the next few days to apprise everyone of the situation. Until then, you are to stay away from the cells, Doctor Shields, and Gamma Alex. Is that clear?” Jason asks everyone.

“Yes, Beta,” everyone says, and they leave the hall.

Alpha Peter’s wolf turns from Catherine and walks out the side door.

Catherine shifts back as well. “I want to see my father!” She demands.

Jason growls at her, making her take a step back. “You will see him when Alpha Peter says you can,” he tells her, then follows Alpha Peter out the door.

Catherine turns to me and says, “You haven’t seen the last of me, bitch,” then walks out behind Jason.

“So, you’re great at making friends, I see,” Nick says with a smirk.

“Shut up,” I say as I push past him, and we go out the door to find Jason.

We find him a few moments later talking with some older pack members. He excuses himself and comes over to us.

“Alpha Peter is going to the cells to question the Doc and Gamma Richard. Are you guys ready to go over there?” He asks.

We both nod and follow Jason up the road.

“Hey Jason, while I remember, I found that number that was left for me at the motel. When do you think we’ll be able to get it checked?” I ask him.

“I can check it now if you have it on you,” he says, getting out his phone.

I hand him the piece of paper, and he makes a call. “Hey Joe, can you run a number for me? Yeah, I want to see who it’s registered to.” he gives Joe the number and waits silently for a few moments.

“Okay, great. Thanks, Joe,” he says and hangs up. “The number isn’t registered, probably a burner, so we can’t trace it,” he tells me as he hands me back the piece of paper.

“Great, so I have no idea who is trying to find me then,” I sigh with frustration, saving the number into my phone.

“You could always just call it,” Nick suggests.

“Not now. We’re at the cells,” Jason says as we walk up to an older stone building.

Jason leads us through the building and down a back stairwell. We can hear voices as we reach the bottom of the stairs, but Jason leads us into an empty room. He turns on a TV, and an image of Doctor Shields sitting at a table fills the screen.

“You need to tell me who you’re working with, Doc. Innocent lives are at stake here.” Alpha Peter’s voice fills the room.

“This is bigger than any of you can imagine,” Doctor Shields says. “And they’re not innocent. They will be the end of our kind. They will kill us all,” he claims.

“So Leo was going to kill us all? He was fifteen, James!”

“It’s what he would have become when he got older. These lycans are freaks of nature, with a power and a bloodlust that will drive them to kill anyone who doesn’t submit to them. And they won’t stop there. They will kill anything that stands in their way. Werewolves, witches, vampires and any other supernatural being that threatens their power. They will wipe out the humans as well.”

“That’s fear talking. Leo was a sweet boy. He would have gained control over his wolf with time.”

“They will never have control. Their wolves will eventually take over, and anything human about them will be lost.”

“Enough of this. Tell me who you’re working with, James. Tell me who leads the rogue pack,” Alpha Peter demands.

A flicker of shock crosses the doctor’s face, but disappears just as quickly. “I will not betray our kind by talking, my old friend.” He settles back into the chair and crosses his arms.

‘We’ll see,’ Enyo says.

Alpha Peter shakes his head and leaves the cell, locking it behind him. Jason then changes the channel, and an image of Gamma Richard fills the screen. A moment later, we see Alpha Peter enter the cell, and he sits across from Gamma Richard.

“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Gamma Richard sobs and places his head in his hands on the table.

“You need to tell me everything, Richard. Someone tried to kill Athena yesterday. Were you involved?”

“No, Alpha. I was still visiting with my son. Doctor Shields called me yesterday and told me I needed to return. I only got back this morning just before the meeting. We were going to meet to plan how to kill them both after the meeting.”

“I’m going to have to banish you for this, Richard. Why would you do this?”

“Please don’t banish me, Alpha! What about my family?!” He cries out.

“You’ve left me no choice. I can’t trust you anymore.” Alpha Peter gets up from the table as the Gamma sobs and pleads with him to be allowed to stay, but Alpha Peter just leaves the room.

A moment later, he comes into the room we’re in, looking defeated.

“You need to let us talk to the doctor,” Enyo says.

“I don’t need to do anything, Enyo. I will continue to question him over the next few days.”

“Are you really going to banish him?” Nick asks.

“He’s betrayed me and our pack. I have no choice.”