The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 101

Madison POV

Standing up with the laptop in my hand, I activate an app and the hologram pops up over the diorama. I love the way this has developed and am glad I have continued to work with it. When time permits.

‘Alpha, do you know a man named Clarence Peterson?’ a picture of him appeared on the hologram, and Alpha went pale and a look of confusion crossed his face.

‘He is my stepbrother. My mum was my dad’s second chance mate. She already had a son who was eleven or twelve by her first mate, who died during a rogue attack. Why? I have not seen his face in a very long time.’ Alpha says, looking confused and worried.

‘His name is on every traitor’s computer.’ The spreadsheet pops up showing a list of names and how often they were contacted in the last three years. I did not have time to go further.

‘What have they discussed? Did you get any clues on why his name is around again?’ Alpha asks.

‘What I have read so far, I believe he is the head of this band of rogues and traitors. That is, if what I have read so far is correct, and I have no reason to believe it is not. He is working on ridding himself of you. He seems to believe that, as the eldest, he should have been king and he is fighting to remove you and put his son in his place.’ I answered with what information I had gleaned so far from the computers.

‘Who is his son?’ Zane asked.

‘A fellow called, Sebastian Gildbrath, in the Dark River pack, I believe.’ And a picture of the lad flicks up and Zane sucks in a breath.

‘Tell us about him?’ Alpha asked softly.

‘Dad, he was in my class at school, he was a bully, always giving the girls grief and hitting and picking on fights, even those he knew he would lose in a fight, he would taunt until they fought him. I often wondered if there was more to him. I stayed away from him; just thought he was a useless loser.’ Zane says, scratching his chin in thought.

‘Is he on the list that is coming to the ball? I suggest, if he is, we allow him to come and is Clarence on the list, too? Madison.’ Alpha looks closer at the hologram and is conflicted that he never knew his half-brother felt the way he did.

‘They are both on the list, though their plans may have needed to change, as he was informed by Alpha Frederick of the advisors and rogue deaths.’ I said, flicking up a copy of the email he had been sent only days ago.

‘This ball has changed a lot of things, it is not going to be just mates being found, but traitors too. We have to get as many warriors ready for the fight. We have warriors sent for the rogue attack. They have not left, as I had not dismissed them to return to their packs, I thought we could keep them till after the ball, as added security.’ Alpha says, looking back at the list I had put on the hologram.

‘I see in that list a few that I did not expect. We have some of their warriors here as part of your call. Do we allow them to stay and continue as if all is well? Or do we place them in the dungeons?’ dad queries with a disappointed look. I think dad had considered some to be allies, though not close ones, from what I remember of other meetings in my old pack.

‘We can let them appear as if they are going to be part of the protection, assign them to do a patrol around the outer perimeter. It normally takes two days to do the round trip. Madison, can you sneak a tracker on at least one of them, if not more, and we can see if they do the perimeter or if they double back when the guests start to arrive?’ Jonathon suggests.

‘Yes, I can do that, we can give them communicators again, they won’t think anything of it. They only know they can talk to us if need be. Even if they turn the communicators off, the location will still be activated.’ I replied as I took in the new information and what I needed to do with it.

‘We have one week before the first start to arrive for the ball, Mitch, can you organise a few training sessions? Let’s see how strong they are. We might have to put some sleeping potion in their food the night of the ball. The meal before they are to go on duty, gives us a chance to reduce the losses.’ Alpha Daniel suggests.

‘We have something to go on. Finally, we can make sure that Clarence and Sebastian are housed away from trouble and close to the stairs, so we can monitor them. If they leave by the stairs at all, we shall know. I might see if we can put a tracker on them too?’

‘We can give all the guests an identification card. That allows them to go upstairs, to the second floor, no card, no access. That way they need to have the card on them and we can put something on the card to track them.’ I suggest, knowing we were already making up a welcome gift box.