Page 24 of The Alpha

“Thank you. He and the other boys are playing in Vyn’s room.” Cari said nothing more and led them down a hall to Lany’s study. Cari knocked, opened the door, then ushered them inside.

Lany looked up from some papers he was going over and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“You’ve already heard?” Cari asked. She turned to Dallan. “What happened by the way?”

Dallan approached the desk. “Melvale and his mate have been taken.”

Cari gasped. “What? What do you mean, taken?”

“We think it might have been the doctor from Hawaii,” Shona said. “They used tranquilizer darts similar to the ones used on Melvale then.”

Lany paled as he slowly stood. “What? Are you sure?”

“The drug used is still being tested,” Dallan said. “But Kwaku believes them to be the same or verra similar.”

Lany looked like he was going to be ill. “Living stars…”

“Lany…” Cari went around the desk. “Are you all right?”

“No, I’m not.” He looked at her, then pulled her into his arms. “How, where?”

“New York, in the year, 2024,” Dallan said.

Lany blanched. “But… we ran into those people in Hawaii in 1996!”

“That’s twenty-eight years apart,” Cari said in alarm. “How are they doing this? How are they traveling through time without a Time Master?”

“Perhaps they have one,” Dallan said. “One others think dead.”

Lany shook his head. “That can be easily found out. Ask Jaireth or Mel… oh, I guess you can’t ask Melvale.” He let go of Cari and leaned against the desk. “I can do some checking…”

“We need ye to come with us,” Dallan said.

Lany backed away from the desk. “What?”

“We need Tylahs, not to mention another human to help with Pari,” Shona explained. “We’ll have Maida, but my guess is, Markhel isn’t going to let her anywhere near the danger. He’ll tuck her away someplace safe while we rescue them. Once we find them, that is.”

Lany sat down hard in his chair and ran a hand through his premature gray hair. “Oh, boy.” He looked at them. “Tylahs is playing with the boys.”

“I can get him,” Cari offered.

Lany held up a hand. “No, not yet.” He took a deep breath and looked Dallan in the eyes. “What do you want Tylahs to do?”

“Take out the enemy holding Melvale.”

Lany’s eyes widened. “As in, do away with them?”

“Knock them out,” Dallan said. “He no has to kill them. In fact, I’d like to take one prisoner and find out a few things. Like how they found Pari, Melvale’s mate, and how did they ken Melvale would be looking for her? They had to have known they were a pair.”

Shona wrapped an arm around him. “It’s like they were waiting for Pari and took her to trap Melvale.”

Lany stared at them with wide eyes. “That’s impossible. How could they know…” He went even paler.

“What?” Dallan asked.

Lany blanched. “Camera footage. Cameras were everywhere by 2024. The law of the time used to catch criminals using street cameras, the cameras on buildings, that sort of thing.”

“Okay, I can understand that,” Shona said. “But how did they know Melvale was… oh… I know.”

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