Page 8 of Wolf Bound

“Yeah, but how long is eventually?” I murmur to Alaric and Wes, keeping my voice low as I approach them. “Bullshit like the animosity from some of the pack is why one of our own got taken off our property with no one seeing.”

Wes nods his agreement, his long, brown hair that’s pulled back in a haphazard bun on the back of his head coming loose with the movement. Alaric still has a half smirk on his face, the amusement dancing in his eyes more sinister looking by the second.

"I'll change that," Alaric growls, his eyes giving away the predator he is as he watches the young wolf as if he's the prey."It won't take long for me to remind them where their allegiance lies."

"Right," Wes scoffs out, humour undertoning his voice. "All you'll do is knock some heads together and threaten them that if they get out of line you'll kill them happily."

"Exactly." Alaric grins, like Wes is laying out his perfect plan in awe. Wes shakes his head in response, the eye roll that accompanies it a trademark of his.

"All you're going to do is incite Marcus to make the late alpha more of a martyr. This isn't the kind of situation you can come at with force and expect to fix. These packmates think Dray killed the previous alpha, with your help, to take over the pack because that's what Marcus spread. Violence is going to make the divide worse," Wes explains to Alaric, making sure to emphasiseworseto drive the point home. Alaric huffs, finally releasing his prey from his gaze, and turns to face me completely.

Wes' light brown eyes meet mine, the exasperation he feels for Alaric shining clear as day. There's also brotherly love there, that he tries so hard to hide in these moments. They got on each other's nerves often, the two of them. Like real brothers. Like Forrester and, well, not me, but Penn.

"You called me here because you had news," I snap accidentally, pinching the bridge of my nose to hold back the irritation I feel towards myself. They don't need me taking my shit out on them. "Please tell me it's good news."

"It's news," Wes says, shrugging his shoulders and scratching his beard that’s become a little unruly in the past couple days. "We haven't figured out if it's good, bad, or somewhere in between."

Nodding my head in understanding, I release a deep breath. "Okay, lay it on me."

Wes takes the lead, walking over to the tree line about twenty feet to my left. "The biggest things bothering us have been howdid the people that took Penn get on the property and why did their scent, including Penn's, disappear --"

"I'd say number one iswhothey are, but go on," Alaric throws out, anger darkening his blue eyes.

"No shit, I meant the mysteries that will lead us to that, dumbass," Wes snaps, throwing his shoulder against Alaric's arm, causing him to stagger back a step from the surprise. Alaric cocks his jaw to the side, giving him a devilish look about him. He looks like he’s about two seconds away from going after Wes.

"Enough!" I bark out, making both of them drop their eyes in understanding. "We need to deal with this shit and bring Penn home. I know you both are using these moments to cope with the reality of what happened, but for right now, I need you to stay focused. Go on, Wes."

"Right, like I was saying," Wes continues on while Alaric and I listen and scout the forest. "We think we found how they entered the property and stayed hidden until a lone wolf approached them. They used a form of nightshade poison, on their shoes, clothes, and aerosolized it in the air, enough that we would smell it and avoid the area, but not so much that we would become concerned. Remember how a lot of the patrols kept coming back and saying they weren’t feeling well? I think that’s the same time they must have entered to wait.”

“That started about two weeks ago, didn’t it? They couldn’t have been lying in wait that long?” I ask, walking forward and stopping just inside the trees. The air smells clean to me, but when I crouch down, I see what Wes is talking about. There’s the faintest hint of nightshade with a stronger aroma masking it. “Is that sea salt and brine on top of it?”

“It is.” Wes grins, his wolfish side coming through strongly. “They used ocean water to mix with the nightshade. If you take note of the briny smell, it has a very distinct musty odor from thealgae in the water. That means they took the water directly from the ocean to mix this concoction.”

Wes looks extremely excited, but I have to admit, I’m lost on how this helps us in any way. We aren’t directly on the coast, yet we’re close enough that it doesn’t seem like enough evidence to point to anything.

“Lay it out for me like I’m five. You look really excited about this, but I’m failing to understand how this can help us out.” Standing up, I lean my back onto one of the trees, barely noticing the rough bark scratching against my bare skin. Wes steps further into the trees before bending down and grabbing a handful of dirt.

“This is dirt,” Wes explains, releasing the dirt slowly from his grip. My brow furrows, my eyes looking over at Alaric who’s holding back a laugh. He shrugs at me and nods his head towards Wes to indicate I should listen. “While most people think dirt is just dirt, it’s actually a lot more complex than that. The composition of it changes based on the location and environment. I think we can use the algae and brine smell to narrow down where the people are located and then cross reference that with our security watch list and see if we can come up with a match.”

“We find the algae, we find the culprits, we find Penn,” I say it all slowly, connecting the dots in my head and pulling up a mental to-do list of what needs to be done. “Do you think you can narrow down the algae quickly?”

“I do,” Wes confirms confidently, his eyes already glowing to show his wolf form. “My wolf and I can use our powers to test and track the source of the algae. It should only take us about twelve hours, give or take.”

“Good. I want you to take at least two wolves with you, I don’t care who. None of us go out alone until this is dealt with. Alaric, I need you with me though. We need to start narrowing down thelist of the threats on the coast so that when Wes and his team get back, we can narrow it down and go immediately.”

“Got it.” Alaric gives a nod, all signs of the joking man from before gone and all that’s left is the enforcer of the Forntida pack.

“I’m going with you, Wes.” A voice says from behind us, the sound both relieving and painful at the same time. Forrester steps up to the group, his dark hair wet with sweat from the run here, his light green eyes cold and hard as he looks between all of us.

“Forrester,” I say, a slight nod to my head. “I agree. Now that you are here, you should accompany Wes as he tracks. Your powers should be able to help speed up the process some.”

“No, shit,” he snaps at me, his face turning in disgust. “I wasn’t asking for permission from you,Alpha. I don’t take orders from people like you.”

“People like me?” I step forward, my teeth bared to hide the pain his words caused. The word that comes out of his mouth next is one he’s thrown at me a hundred times, yet the apparently masochistic part of me wants to hear him say it again. My heart needs a reminder of what he thinks of me.

“Murderers.”

Chapter Five

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