The Bachelorette Ch. 02

He was walking down the hall when he heard the whimpers of another wolf. This female was different, she wasn't a turned wolf. The scent was that of a natural wolf, it was covered under some scent he couldn't name, but the scent was there all the same. He sniffed at the door and chuffed once when he was unable to open it with his shoulder. The whimpering stopped, and silence enveloped him. He shook his head and wandered down the steps to the front door. two legs must have closed it.... and he couldn't open it as he was. He sat there pondering the door when he heard footsteps on the stairs behind him.

"I thought I heard a wolf." The woman stood against the wall, her thick curls pinned against her head. "How did you get in here? You are male." He chuffed at her words and looked back at the steps. She smiled in the low light. "You must be the Alpha. You are bigger than the male wolves I remember." She looked back to the steps, "You felt that too then. I wasn't sure if I should check on her... we were never close before..." She walked over to him, and then opened the front door. Something about her scent was familiar. This was the wolf from upstairs. He turned his head to look at her and tilted it to the side. Something about her was pulling at the back of his mind, but he couldn't seem to recall what it was. He licked her wrist as he headed out the door in thanks. "You are welcome, Alpha." She bowed her head a bit and whispered a "good night" before closing the door. The wolf stood in front of the house a moment more before loping back to his den. There were new pack mates that he needed to meet with tomorrow and two legs needed his sleep.

Sam stretched out her back and glanced around the room quickly. She was alone, for that she was thankful, but there was a warmth that she seemed to be missing. Frowning, she sat up and remembered her strange dream from the night previous. Looking for anything to distract her, she searched the room with her eyes. Little to no attention was paid to the room before she collapsed into the bed last night. Now, in the bright morning sunshine, she could see it clearly. A rich, earthy green coated the walls, the ceiling was a warm golden color that went well with the rich, dark, wooden beams that spanned it. They drew the eye to a rough rock fireplace with a huge dark, oaken mantle. There were pictures on the mantle that drew her attention. Leaving the warmth of her bed, she padded barefoot across the hardwood floor, one picture depicted a beautiful little cabin, tucked back behind some trees. the picture was obviously taken in winter, as the cabin and the ground was coated in a layer of snow. A second picture showed the same cabin, but perhaps just a little further back in the woods. Two girls could be seen running for the cabin, there was no way to gauge their age, but Sam would say they were young. One had straight hair, the other a bouncing riot of curls. The pictures were black and white, there was no way to determine color, but for some reason Sam just knew that the curls were red and that the other little girl had golden brown hair.

A third picture, this one in a much larger frame was a closer shot of the cabin, but in color. There was a woman standing there with beautiful brown hair, lightened from the sun. She wasn't looking at the camera, but at the bundle in her arms. A soft smile played on her face as two tiny hands reached for her face from the blankets. Sam swore she could almost feel the love radiating from the picture. The last picture on the mantle was of a bunch of boys. The ages ranged, quite a bit. The oldest one was tall with a broad smile holding a little one over his head, almost as if he was about to put him on his shoulders. Next there was a brooding boy with dark hair and solemn blue eyes his arm was around another boy with messy brown hair. These boys seemed to be covered in what she hoped was mud and a variety of leaves. The boy with messy hair had a giant smile on his face and what looked like a rabbit in his hands. There were another two boys with their backs turned to the camera, but they too looked covered in mud. She picked up this picture and carried it with her to the bed. The laughter and mischief in this picture drew her. Children were such precious creatures. They could make something out of nothing, adventure out of twigs and rocks, they really knew how to use their imaginations to escape to a world of wonder.

Sam unconsciously ran her finger against the face of the brooding boy in the picture, puzzled as to how he could be so stoic, so unmoving in the light of so much laughter on the other boys face. The sheer joy in the moment seemed lost on him, and she almost needed to know why. Why was there no laughter and joy here, not even in those blue eyes. A knock at the door broke the spell she seemed to be under and she set down the frame beside her bed. Taking a breath, she walked closer to the door and pulled it open to see Valerie standing on the other side. "Hey... I... are you okay?"

Valerie was never the most vocal, in fact she could count on her hands the number of times that Val had included her in conversations that Jake didn't start. "I am okay... As okay as I can be considering... everything." Sam spoke quietly, but she knew that Val could hear her. Her wolf knew that Val also had a wolf.

"I could feel your pain last night, something terrified you..." Sam flinched when Val said the words. "I wanted to come to you, but I didn't know if I would make it better or worse...." Val reached up her hand like she was going to touch her shoulder, but just as quickly dropped it. "The Alpha came by to see you though, he calmed you down I guess."

"The Alpha?" Sam took a step back and thought about that statement. The wolf from her dream, the brown one that she could have sworn was in her bed...

"The leader of the pack? He came to the house last night. He must have felt it too.... I saw him leaving this morning, I let him out of the house." Val took a step back "I am going to start breakfast if you want to help." Sam nodded, and Val smiled and walked down the hall.

The Alpha... was in my bed.... I Snuggled with the Alpha.... Her face, she knew from experience must be all shades of red.... How exactly was she supposed to take that news? She really wished that Jack was there with her, she had so many questions.

Leon sat behind his desk, eyes glazed over in thought. A steaming mug in his hand, his back resting comfortably on the oversized chair, staring off out the window instead of the man sitting in the chair in front of him. "You called Oh Annoying One?" The dark rumble echoed in the quiet room, the slight brogue rife with annoyance. Still, Leon didn't turn to the man.

"We have a problem." Leon stated simply. There was no time to mince words, no time for the eloquence that this man liked. "Last night, as I am sure you have heard, we entered a facility belonging to the Fontenot Pack."

"Fontenot? They were once a part of this clan, long before you were born." The gravely voice came again, but this time more to his left. Leon glanced up at the man, noticing his gaze was also out the window, his hip perched on Leon's desk. "The leader was reckless, barely an Alpha. He had the support of a fair few men, which is why when he asked to leave, your father allowed it. There was much he needed to learn, he needed more time to grow into being an Alpha.... At least that was my thoughts on the matter."

"My father said as much last night before the raid." Leon sipped on his mug before swiveling his chair to really look at his cousin. "The old Alpha passed, his eldest took the mantle, as things usually go, but this time something went wrong. A group of rogue wolves came into the picture."

"A group of them? Do you think they are responsible for the carnage in Robinson?" There was a bite to his cousin's voice. Leon watched the emotions flicker across his face and the glow in his eyes to simmer before he spoke.

"That would make sense, at least to assume that they were, especially after what we found during the raid." Leon paused and watched as his cousin turned to him with his eyebrow raised. "Those animals were kidnapping human women and turning them against their will. We brought so many women back to the compound last night, and I fear there may be more."

"Capturing humans and turning them without consent is a death sentence." there was a bite to his words and a flash of fire in his cousin's eyes. "Who are these monsters?"

"It is something we need to find out, Jacques, the second son is willing to recount what he knows. He wants this stopped, but there are gaps in the story that we are hoping to find more people to fill the gaps. My largest concern at this moment in time, is how do I approach these women? Many of them were human. We have had so few turns, and the few accidentals we have had have been male. None of them were brutalized the way these women were, sure Keith was part of that mess in Robinson, but he was left for dead not raped and tortured, which many of these women looked like they have. I.. I don't even know where to begin..." Leon set his mug down and ran a hand through his hair.

"Perhaps your mother would have a better idea of how to approach them?" His cousin managed, "We have plenty of unmated males, a handful of females before today.... Maybe set up a gathering of some type. Perhaps pull all the females of the pack, these new ones and the older ones, both mated and unmated, and speak to them as a unit. Show the solidarity that they need to see. If there are any women left from the previous pack mixed in, then that would show them that they are not among those that hurt them, plus show your willingness to have these new women as part of your pack. Have them all shift together, being in wolf form is easier for the animal instinct to take over and recognize the comfort in the pack setting. The Animals can convey that love and knowledge that a real pack would never brutalize one another. "

"Charles, this is why we pay you the big bucks." Leon smiled as he picked up his mug.

"I get paid?" Charles lowered him a look.

"Well, you do live here right?" There was a light chuckle. "I just feel like this problem is a little more widespread than what we are seeing at present." Leon looked up to see Charles' Eyebrow again raised in question. "Jacques turned one of the women, and as he found out a bit more about her, and apparently she was kidnapped before his brother went MIA. I am just worried that this has been going on for a long time under our noses, and is spread across the packs." Leon stood and walked over to the window, pressing his hand against the cool glass. "I think I need to reach out and get some feelers from the rest of the packs. Maybe they know something..."

"Very smart Cousin. Start with Halley, he usually has ears to the ground." Charles stepped closer to the window himself, his hand on his chin, "what with all that work he does for his locals."

"I already made that call. He hasn't heard anything that sounds remotely lupine. A few local disappearances but nothing interesting,. A local nurse disappeared after her shift, a male vet tech never made it in for his shift and his boss called that one in. Lastly a chemistry teacher never showed up for the start of term, but that one seems very benign, apparently there was an affair. This is all over a course of 6 months obviously nothing super close together in proximity or time."

"Still, all of them have some sort of brush with the medical side of things, medicine, animal medicine, and chemistry?" Charles looked at the list, "could there be a connection somewhere? Did Blake put his own men on this?"

Leon shook his head, "No, normally his men don't touch a case unless they are specifically asked for by local PD. Nothing in any of these cases warranted lupine looking into, why what are you thinking?" He looked hard at his cousin.

"Something just feels... off"

"You and I both know that we need more than a gut feeling to get Blake to send his men in on something that they don't need to be getting into. We are talking Civilians here, local yokel cops don't like dealing with the lupine population unless it benefits them somehow."

"Let me go. I just want some intell, my gut is telling me that there is something here. The wolf in me is telling me to investigate and get some answers. I want to know."

Leon looked Charles over, ever the older brother figure, he was much older than he looked. "Let me call Blake back, I don't foresee this being a problem, but I want to clear it with him on principle. "

Charles nodded and strode to the door. "The next few weeks will be restless ones. Lines have been drawn and destiny is changing. The visions can show both shadow and light, truth and lies, follow the instincts of the wolf. Something will give in this tide, let us hope it is not us." The deep words were spoken without Charles turning to look at Leon, but he knew that they were heard. A shiver stole down Leon's spine as the door closed. It was always bad news when Charles spoke so cryptically. Leon eyed his phone before grabbing his cup and heading to the kitchen, he needed more coffee for this.

Blake knew something was wrong the moment that he hung up the phone with Leon Comeaux. He and Leon had been friends since they were pups, and he could tell when his friend was worried. He sat back in his chair and looked at his Beta Zeke Briner, "something is up." Zeke raised an eyebrow in question, "He was worried, something big has happened in the last 24 hrs."

"You can tell all that because he asked about some disappearances?" Zeke's eyebrow never wavered, the only emotion showing on his face. As of late, there was very little emotion coming from the man.

"Yes, I thought the disappearances were were strange when they first happened, but nothing concrete enough to warrant one of the boys digging into it." Blake put his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling.

"You were only thinking about that at the time because of Walker. He told you about that bus of ladies that crashed in his territory. All of those missing ladies is what got your hackles up." Zeke shrugged, "but that one had all the markings of a wolf. The gouges in the door, the smell, the blood..."

"Walker has had no luck with that case either. The trail disappeared into the wood. There was no no blood past & no scent pick up 25 miles in all directions. Hell yeah that reeks of wolf." Blake looked down at the paperwork on his desk, a cheerful blue business card stared back at him. "Maybe we should have looked into these disappearances."

"You are only saying that because of that vet." Zeke spat the word Vet out with such disdain that Blake looked up sharply.

"Dr. Reynolds had helped us on many occasions, especially with the dogs. She doesn't ask questions and she has never asked us for help. The disappearance of Lucas Dalley seemed entirely too strange. She knew that we had worked on cases with the Police in the past and that is why she asked if maybe we could look into it." Blake looked his Beta over carefully. Something was off about him recently, he just hadn't figured out what it was.

"Blake, I am not putting noses to the ground because some skirt asked you to." Zeke growled out.

"Who is the Alpha here Zeke?" Blake's eyes flashed fire. "Those are my men. If I asked them to they would, who the hell said I needed your approval?" The alpha command in Blake's voice echoed in the room and he leveled a fierce look at Zeke.

"You always take into account what is best for your men and you ask us to give you opinions. That is what makes you a good leader Blake." Zeke lowered his eyes and tilted his head to the side showing submission but his posture remained stiff.

Blake's phone rang again, cutting through the tense silence between the two men. Zeke looked everywhere but his Alpha until Blake hung up the phone. "Looks like you don't have to worry." Zeke's head snapped over to his Alpha. "Charles Comeaux got that hinky feeling of his and wants permission from me to investigate the disappearances."

"Comeaux got himself a hinky feeling? Nothing ever bodes well when that Celt gets that feeling of his." Zeke murmured, " I can set him up with the paperwork and a space to work. We don't want unnecessary questions. Of curse equipment if he needs it, but all the man power will be on him."

"Fair." Blake rubbed his hand across his face and felt the stubble on his chin. "Maybe you need some time off, go find yourself a woman and Relax a bit." Zeke sniffed at Blake's offer. "What?"

"I don't want to bed some random bitch Blake." Blake stiffened at Zeke's tone. He was never like this. "I can feel her Blake.... my mate." The Alpha's eyes widened in realization, that is what was with the mood swings. The mating pull. Zeke's wolf was right there under the surface of the skin. If you looked close enough you could see the slide of fur against flesh. "Something has changed. I used to see her in my dreams, she would smile for me, we would do mundane things... now now... she is haunted. I can feel the terror, the hurt, she is scared, begging for help and I can't... I can't reach her. I will not settle for another woman when my mate is out there and she needs me."

Blake leaned forward in his chair. "You have seen her in your dreams? Why didn't you tell me? What does she look like?" Blake thought back to the strange dream that he had last night.

"Beautiful..." Zeke's voice got wistful, "She is slight, rather on the petite side. She has this reddish brown hair."

"Anything else stand out specifically? It might help us narrow it down for you." Blake thought back to the woman in his dream. That was definitely not the one Zeke was describing. Blake's wolf huffed.

"She wore a uniform before.... like those things in the hospital... scrubs I think they are called." Zeke looked thoughtful.

"Zeke... could she be a nurse?" There was a nurse that was on that list of disappearances... I think I have a picture here somewhere...." Blake rifled through the mess of paperwork on his desk until he found the manila folder he was looking for, "this one here. Gina Walton." He pulled out the 5x7 he was given by his contact at the local PD. Blake loved to help out the cops, having them look out for you and vice versa was very beneficial. "Greg said that one day she got done with work and never made it to her car. They impounded the vehicle, they searched her place... no signs of a struggle. She was just missing." He handed Zeke the photo and waited.

Zeke tensed as he looked at the picture, his grey-green eyes darting across the features in the glossy photo. She was smiling here in her scrubs. Long, wavy hair cascaded over her shoulder as she knelt down between two boys in the hospital. It was clear that the children were sic, but her smile was infectious, and both boys were looking at her with a sense of wonder. His fingers touched the gloss against her face. "Gina?" He breathed the name out and his gaze jolted up to his alpha. "She is the missing nurse from our area isn't she?"

"Yes. She is the last one that went missing. Only a few weeks ago when you were out with Heath working on that case for the PD. Greg dropped this off for me only a few days ago. He knows how I like to keep on top of things. When did the Dreams change?" Blake leaned back in his chair. It was looking like this was the girl was the one for Zeke.

"You said Charles Comeaux is coming to look into these?" Zeke gestured to the mess on Blake's desk. "I will help where I can." He added softly as he looked over the picture again. "Can I..?"

"Keep it. I will ask Greg for another one. I want to walk down to the station and see if there has been any leads. I will let him know you and Charles will be stopping by." Zeke nodded and exited the room.