The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 20

Zane POV

‘Madison, contacted us that they had come across six rogues, seems they were eating their dinner by the lake, over there.’ Mitch points to the new red marker on the table. I nod.

‘She asked for instructions on what to do. I asked if she could get them back here alive, or at least some of them.’ I let out a growl, I did not mean to, because my wolf did not like what he heard and let his feelings know. This was his mate they were talking about and he hated it.

Mitch continued, as if I did not growl.

‘Madison. She has blow darts with enough sedative to put them asleep for four hours. She said she would get as many as she could back here. The next time we heard back from her, she said she had six unconscious rogues and would be there in half an hour. Now we are waiting, your dad thought he heard you outside and went to see what was going on. Madison will be here soon Zane. She is fine and has achieved something none of us have. Now settle down and wait like the rest of us, it won’t be long.’ Mitch said, his hand on my shoulder. He gave it a squeeze and moved to the coffee pot.

‘Coffee? Anyone?’ Mitch asked as he poured himself one.

‘Might as well.’ I said as I continued to stare at the table and where my mate had been today, she had covered a lot of ground, they must have been running the whole time, to get so much covered. I thought to myself.

‘Please,’ Dad says to Mitch. I am glad he doesn’t brew coffee anymore; he only has to pour it into a cup, he brewed a pot once, and it was like drinking tar. He vowed never to do it again, and he hasn’t, thank the goddess.

Those fifteen minutes were very long and hard. I was sure the clock on the wall had stopped. Every time I looked up it barely moved at all, we all sat in silence, dad on his laptop, doing Alpha stuff. Mitch was on another computer. When I looked over his shoulder, I could see he was entering what happened together on a spreadsheet.

‘Mitch, I have a suggestion.’ I said, trying to take my mind off watching the clock.

‘Go on.’ He says, looking away from the computer.

‘How about we do a new spread sheet, one with what Madison has found so far, and take out all the stuff that the Advisor and the Northern Pack have cleared and see what we have, how different it looks. Also, add in all the places that rogues have been sighted or caught, say over the past six months. Please.’ I suggest

This gets dad to stop what he was doing and he rolls his chair over to the computer and watches Mitch. This spreadsheet is linked to the big screen. The data, he adds, will change on the big screen and i will be able to see what it looks like without the other information that Madison seems to dislike.

Soon. A whole new picture develops, one that is not too pleasing and quite unsettling. If anything, it suggests what Madison had hinted at, might actually be true. The whole cave system has had rogues sighted and a lot of them, and a few kilometres around it, over the past few months, a lot more sightings than what is normal or healthy. How did we not see this? It is a good thing. Madison suggested we detour the other warriors away from the cave system, and those spots are ideal for ambush; we will have to personally check out all those places, and if this is correct, the pass is not where they are going to come from. Glad we had pulled all the warriors away from that area a few weeks ago, and against the advisor’s insistence, we kept them there till the pass was no longer frozen. No wonder he wanted fewer warriors here.

‘Dad, if this is what I think it is, and Madison’s hinted at, we may replace we have a fight on our hands before all the warriors arrive over the next two weeks, we have to get out there and check out the cave system ourselves, and those other places.’ I suggest, still shocked at the new image up on the screen.

‘We will get Madison to check the other places first, and leave the caves last. We need to clear the areas one at a time, and I have a feeling that the cave system will have a lot of rogues in them. Glad we got Madison here and that she was included in the call, we would have no warning of what is coming soon, and sooner than we expected.’ Mitch says casually, as if he had not just suggested sending my mate out into the danger zones.

‘Madison? You can’t send her out there, it is too dangerous.’ I squawked, almost choking on my words.

‘Son, it is her job. She must go out. Our own trackers can head to the cave system. However, we are not going to show this new development to anyone. The old screen will go up and only us and Madison and a few other trusted warriors like Graham will be in the bigger picture. We don’t know who to trust anymore. Madison has shown us, in just one day, that some in our own pack can’t be trusted, or should I say the Northern pack that is housed here, may have poisoned the minds of some and our pack members are giving information out without realising it, so until we know who has been recruited from our own pack we keep it quiet.’ dad says using his Alpha tone, and though it does not work on me, I get the message loud and clear.

‘And if the advisor comes visiting, like he does randomly a lot lately?’ Mitch asks with a face like he just ate a lemon and a disgusted tone in his voice.

‘We treat him the same as we always have, until we can get a full picture, we have to prepare for battle, but keep feeding rubbish to him, we have to keep the six rogues from contacting him and to keep the guards from talking, he does not usually go to the cells, so if he suddenly wants to visit there, we will consider that someone has told him we have some of his men.’ Dad replies

‘Which warriors do we have to guard the cells?’ I asked.

‘Saun, Gunter, Swift and Bruiser.’ Mitch says.

‘Good keep it to them, four of them. If word gets out that we have six rogues in the cells, then it has to be either them or those who went out with Madison and Mitch. Make sure you tell all those who were out with Madison, not to talk about the men in the cells. We shall ask her later if she picked up and signs that any of them acted unusual.’ Dad said to Mitch.

Mitch’s eyes glaze over and he nods back at dad that it is done.

‘They are back, safe.’ Mitch announced the long-awaited news.

I was about to go and hunt for my mate, but dad stopped me.

‘Let me get her and bring her in for briefing.’ I nodded and let him hunt down my mate.

After what seems to be forever, and why does the wait always take so long?

The door opens and I get to pull my stinky mate into my arms and give her a long-needed k**s. I get to where I like it, her mouth soft and so, so, kissable, I start to deepen the k**s and dad coughs, bringing it back to now. I gave her one last small k**s on the lips and moved back.