Page 33 of The Alpha King's Fate

“All of them?” Dylan asked.

“Some of them went into the woods when you permitted us to leave.”

“I didn’t permit you to leave your territory. I said you could send some people out to search.”

Erik’s shoulders tensed, and a frisson of fear radiated from him.

“My Beta Jude went out to search. The others didn’t want to take any chances in case the Hunters got our scouts. They went into the woods.”

He looked around at the faces in the windows again, and it all made sense. They abandoned their kids. No other adults were on the territory; no one could shift and defend them if anything happened.

What the hell was wrong with these people? Did they not know what it meant to be in a pack?

“Are you still linked to the missing scouts?” he asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty. They’re alive. I don’t sense anything else other than that.”

If Ryker’s scouts hadn’t gone missing, too, he would have assumed the Crimson Valley scouts were tired of living the way they did. Out of the whole pack, they travelled far enough to know how everyone else lived. But then again, Ryker lived in an unpleasant place, too, so that reason applied to his scouts as well.

But there would have been no way scouts from two different packs would have gone missing at the same time.

“Where’s your witch?”

“She and her coven moved away after the hunting party came into town last year.”

A year? Had they been unprotected for a year?

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to your birthday celebrations and pay my respects at the memorial,” Erik continued. “As you can see, I have my hands full here.”

He looked over at Dylan and then at his men, who were already securing the area. It wouldn’t do much good withouta witch’s protective spell. Anyone could stumble onto the territory, even humans, if they decided to brave the walk through the forest.

‘Bring some trucks over and help them move. We can’t leave the children here,’ he said, linking Dylan.

But something Erik said struck him. He frowned and turned back to the old Alpha.

“You mean they have been missing since before my birthday? Why the fuck didn’t you report this?”

When Hailey hexed the wolves, she chose rogues for a reason. There would have been no one to report that they were missing. And when she’d gone for the packs, she’d got the Alphas on her side either by hexing them or promising they would take his place as king. Erik sat on this shit for over a week. They probably wouldn’t have known what was happening if Dylan hadn't come after the memorial.

“We thought they went into town. The younger ones like to do that often because there aren’t many women of age left in our pack.”

“I’ll need a list of all the places they could have gone. My warriors will take over the search. I’ve asked for transport to take you and the children to my territory; you’ll be safe there.”

Erik’s eyes widened but he didn’t look up.

“We are safe here, Your Majesty. We’re not in the way or visible from any angle until you reach the gates.”

Whereas his place was huge. The implication that he was an easy target was not lost on him.

“My territory isn’t visible, either, and it’s warded. It’s the safest place to be right now.”

“When their parents come back—”

“They should never have left the children in the first place,” he growled.

He was all for living wild or whatever they did in that pack, but how could a parent leave their child’s survival to fate? He couldn’t imagine doing that to Hope.

“It’s not a discussion, Erik. Pack what you need; I don’t know how long you’ll have to stay.”

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