Page 7 of Wolf Bound

Alaric crosses his arms in front of his chest, making him look extra intimidating. It’s one of the reasons I picked him to be the enforcer when I became alpha. At six foot four with two hundred and eighty pounds of mostly muscle, he’s an absolute powerhouse with a black wolf form to match. Alaric Maguire is also one of the most level-headed and loyal wolves I’ve ever met. There was no competition for him as my enforcer. The guy looks like he stepped off a Nordic Viking ship and decided to live the modern life.

Moving my head side to side, I crack my neck in an attempt to release some of the tension and stiffness from my body. It’s really no use, not when it is caused by anger and anxiety over Penn.

“They made the biggest fucking mistake they could have made,” I spit out between clenched teeth. “They fucked with the Forntida pack and nobody survives that.”

“Damn fucking straight, brother.” Alaric cracks his knuckles, the bloodlust he’s famous for dancing in his eyes. “I’m goingto head back out to the scene of the kidnapping and find the missing link. Have you called Forrester yet?”

Grimacing, I glance at my cell phone, shaking my head silently. “I don’t know what the fuck to say. He’s going to fucking lose it when he hears Penn is gone.”

“He still deserves to know,” Alaric says, rapping his knuckles against the wood of the desk before turning to walk out. “Pick up that phone and call him. He’ll want to be here when we go after Penn.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

This is a conversation I really don’t want to have. Forrester hates me enough as is, he’s going to despise me after this. He blames me for our father’s death, and now, he’ll blame me for Penn’s disappearance. One has nothing to do with me, but the second is my fault.

Penn never should have been patrolling on his own, it’s one of our rules in the pack. It’s one I also haven’t been enforcing lately. I let the fact that it’s been quiet lull me into a false sense of security, and Penn is paying the price for that mistake.

Picking up my phone, I turn it around and around in my hands, putting off the inevitable call. Alaric is right, he deserves to know. It doesn’t matter what this will do to our already fragile relationship. Penn is the brother he wishes he had, I can’t leave him in the dark longer than I already have.

My mind is numb as I unlock the phone and pull up his name. It’s time to set my wounded brother hat aside and be the alpha of this pack. Even though Forrester left to see what else is out there, he’s still a part of this pack and that means he needs to be informed. This isn’t a brother to brother call, it’s an alpha to packmate call. If I compartmentalise my roles, maybe I can get through this without snapping and making things worse.

The phone rings twice before going to voicemail, the bastard declined my call. Am I surprised? No. Am I pissed? Hell fuckingyes, I am. Hitting his name again, I immediately call him back. It takes two more tries until he answers the fucking phone, and by this point, I’m angry as fuck.

“What?” Forrester barks into the phone, his disobedience pissing my wolf off on top of me already being ready to wring his neck.

“You will answer the first fucking time I call,” I snap into the phone, my alpha growl coming out. “I’ve kept my word about giving you space while you find yourself or whatever hippy dippy bullshit you’re spewing. That means when I’m calling, I have a damn good reason for it, so you. Will. Answer. My. Call.”

“Then spit it out already,” Forrester growls back, his tone practically oozing disrespect. If he was in front of me, I just know his eyes would be rolling because he knows it pisses me off.

“We’ve had an incident with the pack,” I speak slowly, containing as much of my rage as I can. This next part will be hard enough without me practically screaming it at him. “It’s Penn.”

“WHAT?” Forrester yells into the phone, his breathing growing erratic and uneven. “What kind of incident? Is he okay?!”

“We don’t know,” I admit, the anxiety and frustration over how little we know eating away the rest of my anger towards Forrester. “He’s been kidnapped from pack property. We found his blood and the remnants of nightshade poison. We believe he’s still alive, but we’re still trying to find a lead. Whoever took him covered their tracks better than we’ve ever seen.”

The line is silent for a while, his heavy breathing the only indication I have that he’s still there. While he’s processing, I turn to the security wall, tracing my eyes over the cameras for the millionth time since we discovered the breach. They still look the same as they did every moment since Penn went missing.

“I’m coming back,” Forrester says softly, his voice startling me after the silence. “Get my room ready.” The line goes dead after that, the heaviness of the moment still hanging on.

“It’s always been ready,” I say out loud, staring at the black screen of my phone. There’s so many things I want to say to my brother, but both,I’m sorryandcome homeare definitely top of the list. If I thought he would actually listen, I’d say it in a heartbeat. He doesn’t want anything from me, least of all words he can’t trust, so instead I stay silent, giving him the only thing he does want, distance.

Running in wolf form is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. It’s like stripping everything down to the most basic needs and wants, no extra emotions weighing you down. Wolves don’t understand the complexity of human emotions, they run on instincts and the simplicity of their needs.

It’s been six hours since the call with Forrester.

It’s been twenty five hours since Penn went missing.

It’s only been a matter of minutes since Alaric called me and told me I needed to get down to the west property line.

Finally, we have something.

The pack has been up in arms since Penn went missing. Everyone is desperate for any information we can give them. We all feel uneasy, scared even, about the breach of our packlands. Wes hasn't left the scene of the kidnapping since he got there thirty minutes after it happened. Alaric has been back and forth, informing me of anything found, or more likely not found, and helping Wes investigate. I've wanted so badly to be there withthem, scouring the forest for clues or hunting down the fuckers who did this. As alpha, I'm needed with the pack, though. I'm needed to soothe everyone's fears. I'm needed to keep the pack running in the midst of chaos. There's no one that can do my job, so I need to delegate the investigation to the two men, three when Forrester gets here, that I trust more than anyone else.

The smell of my packmates hits my nose, the stale metallic scent of Penn's blood mixed in with it. I haven't been back here since we first discovered he went missing, and the rage and worry that filled me then, is still strong now. We need to bring him home and we need to do it soon. My wolf huffs his agreement just before we jump over a bush, into the small clearing where the others are.

Shifting back to my human form, I see one of the younger wolves standing guard glare at me from his post. Standing still, I make direct eye contact with him, my face stone-cold and serious. He quickly darts his eyes down, his shoulders moving more erratically with his heavy breathing.

Alaric chuckles, his eyes on the young wolf as he shakes his head. “They’ll learn, eventually,” he comments loud enough for the wolf to hear. The young wolf hunches over, trying to make himself smaller in order to disappear.

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