A Secret Alpha Mate
Chapter 49

(Isla)

You

are gorgeous, Adrastea.

We are gorgeous.

She lets out a howl.

Abigail shifts slowly into a dark brown wolf with her same kind eyes and we take off running.

This is nothing like I've ever experienced before, complete adrenaline floods my body. We are going so fast but I'm not worried about hitting anything, Adrastea perfectly maneuvers anything in our path. The crisp wind runs through our fur and my senses are heightened. The smell of damp earth fills my nose.

I wish we could run forever.

How are you feeling? - Abigail mindlinks me

This is incredible. Can we do this every single day?

I hear her laughing in my mind.

Of course, we can.

Adrastea? Are you okay?

Never better, I'm loving this.

We run for a while longer until I hear another set of paws that don't belong to Lilac or Adrastea.

I get the sense that we are being followed, or watched, Adrastea is on edge and I feel a pit form in my stomach similar to when I saw the rogues.

Oh no, rogues. Please no.

They wouldn't be this close to the pack, would they? Or were we far out, I couldn't tell how long or far we've run.

Abigail

I sense it too

What do we do-

We're cut off by a large black wolf, bigger than any I've seen before.

Well we're f****d.

Mate mate mate mate mate

The wolf looks at us with familiar striking blue eyes that seem to almost glow in the moonlight.

Jackson? I ask Adrastea

Yes! Mate! Flint!

Adrastea can't help herself finally meeting her mate, she nuzzles him and they lick each other and play. I don't have any say in it and it's nice to see them together. Abigail stands at a distance but doesn't leave us. I let them connect to each other for a while. I think it's time to head back

Fine

Adrastea lets out a sad howl that Jackson's wolf, Flint, mimics.

We run back to the little clearing where we left our clothes with Jackson in tow. I go behind a tree to shift and quickly pull my clothes on and Abigail does the same.

Jackson shifts back but doesn't have anything to wear so I throw him my jacket to tie around his waist, temporarily stunned again by his carved statuesque body in the moonlight.

"So, what was that?" I ask him walking over to him in the clearing. He looks so guilty.

"I'm so so sorry. Flint took over and I had no idea why. He was yelling for you and I thought you were in trouble so we took off. It turns out that i***t just sensed his mate and wanted to get to her as soon as he could." He smiles sheepishly, "I really am sorry, I had no idea, I didn't want to ruin this for you."

"No, Jackson. You didn't ruin it, it was such an amazing experience." I smile at him, "It's not your fault, I'm glad Adrastea got to meet her mate at least once." Pain flashes across Jackson's face when he realized what I was saying, he quickly composes himself. "Can I walk you, ladies, somewhere?"

"We're heading back to Jim's if you don't mind." Abigail pipes up and starts walking a bit ahead of us.

"Isla, I have never seen a wolf with that color. A few gray ones sure, but you are actually silver, it's incredible."

"Don't act so surprised." I tease him.

We make it back to the Doctor's house, the walk was longer than I remembered, I guess my panicking made it seem shorter heading out. The doctor opens the door and the familiar warmth and smell of chocolate wafts out of the house, I immediately felt comforted. "Ah, Alpha, can I interest you in a cup of hot chocolate? I made some for our girls here." He looks at me for a moment before agreeing.

"Do you have some clothes I might borrow?" The doctor looks him up and down, "Nothing that would fit you too well but feel free to raid my closet. What's mine is yours."

Jackson comes back out wearing sweatpants that show off his calves, he's a few inches taller than the doctor and he looks a bit ridiculous. I fight back a laugh.

His shirt on the other hand barely contains his muscles. It's straining against his chest and I can't help gawking at him. Jackson watched me and gives me a wink, I avert my gaze but the blood rushing to my cheeks give me away.

"We were about to start another puzzle." Abigail and I groan, even though we had so much fun doing the first one.

"Hey, hey, hey, this one is exotic birds of the Bahamas, complete with bird facts. So you have fun while you're learning." He looks so serious we can't help but laugh at him.

"I'm in, I'm always down to learn about some new birds," Jackson says flashing me a smile.

We resume our spots next to the fire and talk, laugh, and complete the next puzzle in no time at all.

(Benjamin)

"We would like to get a statement from you." The Elder's skinny dog asks me for the third time.

"You'll get it during the trial," I reply cooly.

"We want one now to make the trial go easier."

"For who? You or me?" His silence speaks volumes.

"We just want to understand." I roll my eyes, "We won't even talk about you, we want to talk about your predecessor." I stiffen in my seat,

"Why do you care about him?"

"We want to see how he treated the omegas, where they were living, things like that. This will help us determine when the problem started." He pauses, "Many times in situations such as these it's not the current Alpha's fault. It was something that was set up earlier on, something that was already in place. Something that the current Alpha thought was normal and had no way of knowing." I might be able to make this work in my favor after all. "Is that what happened here?" Skinny glasses guy asked me.

I take a deep breath trying to buy time to figure out this story.

"Yes." The guy nods and writes something down, "When I took over the pack this is how it was, since I'm from this pack this is all I knew. Things kept going on the same as before." "When did you take over the pack, we can't seem to replace it in our records."

"Almost twenty years ago."

"Ah, and your predecessor? What happened to him?"

"Died of natural causes. We weren't expecting it so the hand-off was a little messy."

"I see, well that makes sense then." This i***t was buying it all. I could continue to pretend to comply and not give too much detail so I could pin it on the mysterious Alpha before me.

"You never moved the omegas? They were there in the packhouse before?" I nod, I already told him this.

"Interesting. And what do you know about an abandoned omega village a mile or so away?" I freeze in my seat.

"What are you talking about?" I try to sound nonchalant and maybe even a little curious.

"We uncovered an abandoned village, we haven't been able to obtain access though, for some reason it seems like there is a barrier."

"An abandoned village?" I scoff, "In my parklands? Do you know how crazy you sound?" That usually works on Meghan and Julianna, pinning it back on them.

"I've seen it myself, very overgrown, seems like it was abandoned years ago, decades, maybe even a century ago even by the amount of overgrowth and decay."

"A hundred years? You discovered a hidden group of houses you think belonged to omegas a hundred years ago?" He just nods,

"So," I could make this work, "You think the omegas were moved into the packhouse almost hundred years ago?"

"That is one theory." He muses, taking off his glasses to clean them.

"Okay, so that is settled then, you know the time frame of when they were moved in, generations even before I took over. Case closed. Is there anything else I can do for you?" I ask standing up indicating this conversation was most certainly over. "Actually, yes, thanks for asking." He motions for me to sit but I don't, "Very well then. We want your help accessing the village."

"How? I just learned of its existence, if your men can't get in there's no way that I can." I wave him off, "Even if I could somehow magically gain access what would you replace there? Decaying houses?"

I walk to the door to open it, "Besides, you're supposed to be here to "protect" the omegas or some bullshit your Elders made up, not snoop around my pack lands." The man stands but doesn't leave.

"We will gain access to them, with or without you."

"Good luck." I slam the door in his face. (Unknown POV)

"I won't be able to come for a while."

"Why not." I pouted, I was getting bored here always alone, except for the stupid sounds of my dying victims, more like grunts or moans, if they could just die a little less loudly it would be much appreciated.

I used to be able to come and go as I pleased, only stopping by every few months to make sure everything was attended to, but the past few years there have been some complications. The spell has taken on a life of its own and seemed to require constant attention to keep it working.

At least I didn't have to care for prisoners anymore, although that did give me something to do, like keeping farm animals.

They were a lot louder and more vocal, "Where is my mate?" "Let us go." "Where are we? Why have you kept us here?" The same questions over and over.

I had to admit I did love their screams when I came to take one away never to be seen again, I smile thinking about it. Maybe I should ask for some more prisoners, that would give me something to do. Gosh, I was bored.

I know he said he couldn't afford to take more than one every few months but I'm sure he could stage a little accident, then I could maybe get four or five to play with. I'm sure there's a soundproofing spell I can figure out so I don't have to hear their incessant whining when I'm in my hut.

So much to do, and all the damn time in the world.

"I can't risk it." His voice tears me away from my thoughts.

"I'm f*****g bored out here." I kick some dirt, I guess I could try out some new spells with the limited supplies I have left. Again.

"I know, my pet, but we will be together soon."

"You better bring me something good. I want a few of them this time."

"You know that is impossible, it's been hard to get away with the ones I've been giving you." He huffs.

"The last one was old, there was barely any life left in her," I complain, she was barely useful anyways and is already almost done, "You promised me a young one to take her place and I'm still waiting."

"There were some, uh, complications." He sighs, "You said that the prisoners you took the first night would have been more than enough for this lifetime anyway."

"I was wrong. This spell requires a lot more than I thought it would." A door opens on his end and he hangs up the phone.

He can always reach me whenever he f*****g wants but I can rarely get a hold of him "It's safer this way" If I didn't love him so damn much I would leave this entire operation here and let him deal with the aftermath. He needed me, and I wasn't going to let him forget it.