Welcome Home Mate
Chapter 50

LEX

I stared at Roxie, never taking my eyes off her.

I was in awe and not even listening to Alpha Dean talk.

She was stunning, but how she killed that man was something else. I never knew you could do that to kill someone.

I have to ask her what book it was from; maybe teaching it to the pack members might help us in future attacks.

"Did you hear what I said?" called Alpha Dean.

I shook my head. "Sorry," I said as I glanced back at my friend. He had a knowing smirk on his face. "I can see you were distracted."

I sighed, which made him laugh. Once he calmed down, he looked at me. "You know you have one impressive mate," he said. "She knows what she is doing."

My eyes went to Luna Stephanie and Roxie as they came closer. Roxie's eyes racked over me.

I cleared my throat. "We need a change of clothes," I said, ignoring the smirk on Alpha Dean's face.

"I will send someone to get some for you all," Luna Stephanie said as she stopped in front of Alpha Dean.

I looked at Roxie, who was looking around the pack. "Are there any casualties?" she asked.

"Not many, a few were injured, but we haven't assessed the whole situation yet," said Alpha Dean.

Roxie looked at him and smiled.

After a few minutes of small talk, someone came to us with some clothes. Alpha Dean handed me a pair of sports shorts, while Roxie was given a dress to wear. It was slightly too big, but she made it look good. I looked at Alpha Dean. "We need to leave," I said. "My father is waiting for us."

Alpha Dean nodded.

Roxie and I left while Alpha Dean and Luna Stephanie walked toward some of their pack members.

We headed toward the car and climbed in. Tim climbed in the back while Roxie went to the passenger side.

My heart fluttered in my chest at her being so close, but I had to control myself. I needed to get back home.

I started the engine and pulled away from Alpha Dean. The drive was short back to the pack. While I drove, I glanced over to Roxie, who was staring out of the window.

I looked back to the road when a mind link opened up from Tim. "She is worried about returning to the pack," he said. "I can feel her anxiety."

"Mate worried about what other pack members," Blaze burst out.

I was about to say something when an idea came to mind.

I closed the mind link to Tim and opened one to my father. "Dad, are all pack members in training?" I asked through the mind link.

"Yes," he said. "Why?"

"Roxie is worried about being back," I said. "I want to make it as painless as possible for her."

"Okay," he said. "Jason and I are waiting for you all to arrive. What happened with Alpha Dean's pack? Alpha Gareth phoned me telling me there was an attack."

"Rogues attacked the pack," I said. "I'll explain more when I get back; we should be there in five minutes."

I closed the mind link down, and five minutes later, we arrived at the pack. No one was around as we pulled up at the pack house; only my father and Jason were standing outside waiting for us.

I stopped, and we all climbed out of the car.

I smiled at Jason and my father.

I glanced at Roxie; she was smiling as she walked over to her brother and pulled him into a hug.

She pulled back and looked at my father.

My father beamed and pulled her into a hug. "Welcome back," he whispered as he pulled back, letting her go.

Roxie nodded but didn't say anything.

I cleared my throat. "Shall we go into the office?" I asked.

Roxie turned around and looked at me. "I think I will go home," she said as she looked between us. "I need to shower and change."

I smiled but felt slightly disappointed.

"I will go with you," Tim said, and looked at me with a knowing look.

Roxie and Tim said goodbye to us, but Roxie never came near me. She smiled and turned away, heading in the direction of their house.

I watched Roxie leave. I was willing for her to turn around, and just before she was out of sight, she looked over her shoulder and stared right at me. She was shocked to see me staring back, but she smiled. I smiled back.

Blaze whimpers as she goes. "Mate," he mutters.

I knew how he felt, but we needed to be an alpha.

I looked at my father and Jason, who were wearing stupid smirks.

"Come on, loverboy," called my father as he turned away.

I groaned as we all walked into the pack house. We headed into the office, Jason closed the door behind him, and we all settled down.

As soon as I sat at my desk, I told them everything that happened in Alpha Dean's pack, even mentioning what Roxie did to the rogue who tried to take Luna Stephaine.

After I explained, my father and Jason looked stunned, but I think it was more about what Roxie did.

"Wow," said Jason. "She just ripped the guy's heart out of his chest."

I nodded.

"What I don't get is why he wanted Luna Stephanie?" I said, glancing at my father. He was in his own thoughts as I was talking.

Jason pounded but sighed. "We need to dig more into that," he said and looked at me.

I nodded, but how can we dig into it if we don't know what the hell is going on? We need to get around this.

"We will have to think about how we can get around it and replace out who is behind all these attacks," I said.

Jason nodded.

I glanced at my father and frowned. He hasn't said a word since he got into the office. His face looked blank when I told him about the attack on Alpha Dean's pack; he must have had some bad news to be this quiet. "Dad, what's wrong?" I asked. "You have been quiet since we got in here."

My father shook his head and looked at me. He sighed. "Remember, I asked a trusted guard to follow Naomi around to see where she was," he said.

I nodded.

"Well, I just had a mind link telling me they found his body just outside the territory," he said, sounding pissed. "His throat was ripped out."

A low growl escaped. "Did Naomi do it?" I asked.

My father shrugged. "The guard that found his body told me that there was no scent there, and it looks like he was killed somewhere else," he said. f**k, that's not good.

"What about Naomi?" asked Jason. "Did he tell you anything? What has she been doing?"

My father nodded. "Yeah, he followed her to an abandoned cabin north of here, and he noticed a few rogues that were there," he said with scrunched-up eyebrows. "That was the second day you were in Alpha Gareth's pack. He never heard what was said, but he said he would check the cabin to see if there was anything he could replace."

"Did he replace anything?" I asked, but my father shook his head. "He was supposed to come here today. He was gone for two days; I didn't think he would get killed."

"He found out something," Jason said, looking between us. "Why k!ll him?"

That was a good point.

We stayed quiet for a while, but Jason sighed. "I had best get back to the house and see Sofia," he said. "We have been talking. Well, more like fighting about things. I need to sort things out with her."

I nodded.

I stared at my friend; he looked defeated. I knew he did wrong back in the day, but we don't know what has been happening around this pack regarding gossip. We were both a.ssholes back in the day. Jason says goodbye and leaves my father and me.

I looked at my father. "You should go and get some rest," I said. "I can do the paperwork tonight."

My father looked at me. He was clearly thinking about the guard that had died.

"Papa's upset," whispered Blaze. We both could feel the grief and shock running through him.

My father didn't say a thing but nodded. He got up and left the office.

I stared at the clock and looked at the time.

I knew I needed food, so I picked up the phone and asked the omegas to bring me something to eat in the office.

Once I got off the phone, I got started on the paperwork.

Blaze was snoring in my head; he hates this part of the job as alpha.

I worked through it, even when the omega dropped off the food.

I moved my head to each side and looked up. I groaned as I looked at the time. It was getting late. I guess time runs away with you when you are busy, I thought.

I stretched my arms up and decided to call it a night.

I got up and went to leave when a mind link came through.

"Lex," groaned Tim.

He didn't sound right. Blaze was up like a shot; something about his voice made him on edge.

"Tim, what's wrong?" I asked.

"You need to come..." he groaned. "I don't know...Rox is gone......" he mumbled, but he was gone.

What the hell?

I didn't think about it.

I left the office, running straight to Roxie's house. I mind-linked Jason, my father, and Sofia, telling them what I knew and to meet me at the house.

Blaze was worried.

As I got there, the house was all in darkness; and I walked in, there was a faint smell of something in the air, but I had no clue what.

I headed inside and looked around, someone groaned from the kitchen, and I ran in to replace Tim with blood spilling from his head. He was sitting, leaning against the counter.

I ran over to him. "What happened?" I asked.

Tim was going in and out. "I don't know," he muttered. "I was cooking, but something hit me from behind."

I stared at him but glanced around.

The table was over, but there was blood on the floor too. I couldn't tell whether it was Tim's or someone else's.

I hope it wasn't Roxie's.

My mind was racing.

What the hell happened here?

And where's my mate?