Page 90 of The Alpha and His Childhood Sweetheart

I asked, “But what?” Nick admitted, “In the other shootings it’s clear there’s some anger, but we’ve argued the sniper wantsus to live. This sniper seemed to not care either way.” Cameron grumbled, “Like I said I want the A team back.” Nick chuckled, “No, you want the trigger happy angry one that has a strong desire for us to live back.” Didn’t we all? Was the trigger happy sniper ok?

We needed to get our own snipers if the other side was coming with them now. I ran my hands through my hair. We’d been trying for quite some time to get a name for this group and the sniper. We’d put it out there we wanted to meet with them every way we could. Could the trigger happy sniper have been caught?

Brutus said, “They would’ve advertised that.” He was right. The Ring hated the circle group almost more than us. Which was quite a feat. I knew that Cayden had been working on something, but he couldn’t get a lock on it. He started hitting on the drugs last year. We knew he had a source, but no one was sharing with us who it was. Which meant the source didn’t want us to know.

None of us were getting anywhere on the circle group. Not even Cayden, but his frustration with it seemed different than mine. Like he knew something but had no proof. I’d offered to help but he’d shrugged me off. I knew that meant he couldn’t tell me but wanted to.

Our pack had tracked buyers of equipment down for the Blue Circle group to where it had been bought. It was different people every time. A mix of male and female. They never showed their faces on the cameras. Heads down, always in cash, and wearing gloves. They were insanely and annoyingly smart.

This was a group fighting the Ring. I growled, “I want a damn name! It’s been two years! This is obviously an organization! They HAVE to have a damn name! They are helping us all the time! So, why the FUCK won’t they reach out to us?”

My mom answered, “They don’t think they need to. They have our six when we need them to. I don’t think we will hear fromthese people until they run into something they can’t handle.” I asked her, “Why wouldn’t they want help? If we combined forces, we could shut this down.”

My mom patiently explained, “Some people don’t feel safe taking their information to those they don’t know or trust. This could be someone who either escaped the Ring or knows about it. Maybe their family is involved, and they are rebelling in the only way they can.”

“This is someone who is very fucking smart and is doing what they feel is right. They want us to know they are there, but they don’t want us to know who they are. Until they want us to, I don’t think we will. They are clearly good at avoiding us and we can't pop to them.”

She paused then said, “Then the ONE chance we had, we didn’t have a Fairy with the group. That seems intentional. It’s always the same sniper usually, but this time it was different. We are going to have to have Fairies at these meets now. If it’s more than one sniper, maybe we can pop to the others.”

Alexander said, “Our sniper is never out when it’s me though, but I don’t think it was the one who was there today.” I agreed with that. My mom muttered, “Maybe you make the sniper nervous, remind them of someone, or they have assignments.” Wait, what? Alexander tilted his head.

My dad and several others rubbed their heads. I linked my dad, “Is there a theory you want to share?” Because that was a valid point. He said, “We’ve discussed theories because the shootings when Alexander is there don’t match the pattern. Things have been strange there though.” What did that mean?

Brutus said, “I don’t know. We can figure it out later.” We made more plans with our allies. I’d have to tell Uncle Bjourn we’d burned more aliases. I should just run a credit with Gunner and Micah at this point. Not that they’d charge me, but I felt I was taking up a lot of their time creating identities for us.

I rubbed my face in annoyance. Why didn’t this group want our help? What were they so afraid of? Alexander sat by me. I frowned, “Mom has a point. They don’t want us specifically to know them. Or even just one of them.”

Alexander sighed, “I want a goddamn fucking name. I want to know what this symbol means to them. You’ve made the inquiries before, brother. I’ll try this time. We need to know.” Something prickled at the back of my mind. He had a different sniper. What if mom was right and he made our sniper nervous? Did they like him? Brutus snorted, “If he makes inquiries and gets answers I’d say that a massive sign that they do like him.” He was right.

I nodded saying out loud, “You might as well. I’m getting nowhere. I feel like a failure.” Elise rubbed my arm, “You’re not a failure. No one can figure this out.” I shrugged. Alexander agreed, “She’s right and you know it.” I nodded and took Elise to bed.

She started giving me a backrub. Elise whispered, “EJ, talk to me.” I groaned, “I feel like my dad would’ve had this figured out already.” Elise kissed my shoulder, “In case you hadn’t noticed, your dad doesn’t know either. I think it’s actually driving him crazy.” She was right.

The bond told me how frustrated he was. We’d all been working all our contacts. This group was hard to get in with. Anytime we thought we’d found a member, they’d turn out to be a red herring who had no idea what we were even talking about.

The Ring and my allies were the only ones who’d seen this symbol. The Ring was a guess but since they left it there at sites they hit, it stood to reason they saw it. So, we were in an exclusive group. This group wanted those two groups of people to know they were working against the Ring.

This group wanted the Ring to know they were out there and coming for them. The strange thing was they wanted us toknow too. Not everyone though. Outside our allies this was not common information. What the HELL was going on?

I sighed, “I know that it’s driving my dad crazy too. I just feel like the answer is right there, and I can’t grasp it. Like there’s something staring at me, and I’m not seeing it.” Elise kissed me, a welcome distraction. We lost ourselves in each other for hours. We fell asleep well after the sun had risen.

The next two weeks were crazy. The regular sniper was still missing in action. I was actually beginning to get worried about someone I’d never met. My thoughts spiraled again. Was the sniper hurt? The other snipers weren’t as good, but they could pull a disappearing act just as fast.

We couldn’t pop to them either, but we could get closer to them than our “personal” sniper. Alexander seemed to have a dedicated sniper that was better than the other snipers we now had at other meets. They all had their own style. It was weird. Brutus said, “What’s weird is I want the trigger happy sniper back.” It wasn’t weird, we all did. It just wasn’t something we’d thought we’d be saying.

Toby burst into my office cutting off our conversation. My dad, Elise, Alexander, Preston, Genevieve and Caleb looked up at him. He smiled but didn’t say anything. Finally, I asked, “What’s up, Toby?” He shrugged, “Phil linked me jazzed about some news he had. We are waiting for him. Whatever it is I’d advise you all to be excited about it.”

I snorted, “Alexander, he’s your Beta. That means you have to be excited no matter what. I do not have to be.” Alexander rolled his eyes. Caleb laughed then raised an eyebrow when my uncles walked in. I laughed, “Did Phil tell you guys to come in here too?” Max and Micah popped in next.

My Uncle Jackson answered, “Yes, he did. I’ve literally never heard him so excited about anything.” Phil literally hopped into the room, “You guys WILL NOT believe this!” Alexander asked,“We won’t believe what?” Phil smiled, “That Black Path Pack has a new Female Lead Warrior.” I looked at Elise in surprise.

My dad actually looked intrigued. The bond told me he was excited and hoped they were becoming more progressive, but that was a small hope he held. Their current Female Lead Warrior was a figurehead that did nothing.

We didn’t have a relationship with them since Black Path Pack had caused a few problems when Lexi Daniels came into the picture with Alpha Chase. He’d killed their Gamma over something involving her.

The Gamma’s sister’s son, Booker, took over when he was quite young.

Alpha Davis, the Alpha at the time, was now retired. His son was the Alpha now and he just as gutless as his dad has been. They only started having Female Lead Warriors when the Werewolf Council mandated that all packs had to have one. Nashville was full of sexist shitheads that we avoided wherever possible.

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