Another Half

After realizing he wasn’t going to fit through the skylight, Rex went outside the jailhouse to track his mate’s scent. Once he found it, he tracked her scent back to the Pack House to the naked corpse of a male lying in a pool of blood from a puncture wound to the chest.

And her scent was everywhere.

Did she—? Rex asked Nakon.

Likely, Nakon responded. Our mate is strong, he said proudly.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Dylan glanced at the corpse with indifference. The male had not been of any of their packs so neither of them cared who he was.

“A she-wolf.”

Dylan sniffed the air. “The one who did this?”

Rex nodded and started tracking her scent through the dense forest before his uncle could ask any more questions.

It was a while before they reached a small clearing with her scent. Rex looked around. She spent some time here, but why? Hunting? Eating? Hiding?

“Look up,” Uncle Dylan said, pointing toward something among the trees.

About halfway up a white pine tree hung a pair of black women’s boots.

“She shifted,” Dylan said.

“Yes. And those boots are important to her,” Rex said with a smile. “Now how do we get them down?”

“It’s that important to you?”

Rex nodded as he continued to look up at the boots. “But you’re not climbing that fucking tree, Uncle.”

“Hell, no. Do I look like a cat to you?”

Dylan must have mind-linked someone because several minutes later a dark young boy found them. He had a crossbow, and he respectfully bowed his head to them both.

“Eric, shoot the branch that’s holding those boots,” Dylan said. “But don’t damage the boots.”

“Yes, sir.”

The boy aimed and fired. The arrow broke through the branch, barely missing the boots, which fell right into Rex’s hands. They were heavier than Rex imagined, but their scent was unmistakable.

Bourbon with hints of warm vanilla and butterscotch. Brownies right out of the oven.

“Thank you, Eric, for a job well done,” Dylan said.

Eric bowed his head with respect to both of them again and ran off the same way he came.

Rex looked down at the boots in his hands. The dark black leather was thick and well-worn, but it was not in bad shape. The style was feminine, but not gaudy, despite the buckles and the wide fold over each boot. He looked inside and widened his eyes with surprise. Just below the rim of each boot were three black metal rings attached to something long and thin inserted into leather sheaths sewed by hand into each boot. He pulled out a ring, and it was the pummel of a very sharp kunai knife. Three knives per boot.

“Holy shit,” whispered Dylan in awe. “Who the fuck needs six fucking throwing knives in their boots?”

On the outside, the wide folds over each boot concealed knives, too–two large knives per boot. All of her knives had black, flat handles. Two were stiletto daggers and the third was a small bowie. But the fourth was an interesting tanto knife with a black blade and an inscription.

Nunca olvidaremos, Papá. Siempre, EZ

“We’ll never forget, Dad. Always,” Rex murmured.

“Who the hell is EZ?” Dylan said. “Is it that female’s name? EZ?”

Rex shrugged. “I don’t know, but this knife is obviously a personal item.”

“Fuck. Rex, those boots belong to an assassin. Unless you want to bring her in for justice or whatever, I suggest—” Dylan’s stopped. “She’s trying to assassinate you, isn’t she? And you’re tracking her to catch her.”

Rex froze. He hadn’t considered that his mate wanted to assassinate him, although he supposed that could be possible. But his mate wouldn’t kill him, right?

Interesting idea, Nakon said, but she was already in prison when we attacked. Maybe she tried to kill Maverick and got caught?”

“I don’t think so, Uncle,” Rex said. “She was Blue’s prisoner before we attacked them. Her issues were with them, not me.”

No, Nakon. An assassin of this caliber, Rex said, turning the tanto knife in his hands, doesn’t know how to fail. They succeed every single time.

There were other smaller pockets concealed by buckles, but those would have to wait until he was alone. Right now, he had to keep tracking her.

Rex was putting the knives back in their sheaths when he and Dylan got a mind link from one of the sentries at the gate. Two teenagers, a girl and a boy from Cobalt Lake, were urgently requesting asylum in Blue Ponderosa, the sentry said. They looked beaten. They escaped, but they were chased to Blue when discovered missing. Their parents were dead. The alpha of Cobalt was also dead. Murdered, the teenagers claimed.

“Cobalt Lake?” Uncle Dylan said. “Now there’s a name we don’t hear every day.”

Cobalt Lake was about two hours away from Blue, and Azure was even further north, on the mountains themselves and not really part of the Azul Valley.

Rex looked toward the forest where his mysterious mate’s scent led. More than anything, he longed to follow her trail. He imagined her waiting for him, calling him to join her so they could Mark each other. And he couldn’t. Not yet.

Rex shut his eyes with frustration.

Nakon was going to despise the decision he was about to make.

But we are so close! Nakon said with a growl. Her scent will eventually fade or it will wash away if it rains, and we’ve already wasted so much time!

I know, Nakon. I want her as much as you do, but whatever was behind Maverick’s attempts to take over our pack has already taken over Cobalt and most likely Azure Falls, too. We have to know what the fuck we’re dealing with, what’s coming.

Nakon growled. He was even more frustrated than Rex, but being an alpha himself, he understood their predicament.

When Rex and Uncle Dylan reached the Pack House, Rex took the time to stow away his mate’s boots in his personal suite, and then they headed straight to the infirmary.

As soon as Rex entered the cream-colored room with two white wooden hospital beds, two malnourished youths with dirty blonde hair stood up and bowed their heads. Their bodies were alarmingly skinny, with very little muscle on them while their skin was dirty and scabby. The boy, who looked fourteen, wore torn blue jeans and a tattered gray t-shirt that was at least two sizes too small, while the girl wore a dress that barely covered her mid-thighs. It was too tight across the chest and too short for a girl in her late teens.

“I am Rex Essa, Alpha of the Southern Azul Valley Packs,” he said formally. “And this is my uncle, Beta Dylan Essa of the Cerulean River Pack. Welcome to Blue Ponderosa. Tell me your name and what brings you here.” He allowed enough of his alpha’s authority to seep through his voice so as to leave no room for lying or any deception. Their wolves were obliged to Nakon’s authority over them and would not permit untruths, not that either teenager looked like they were in any shape to lie to anyone.

“I’m Lorena and this is my brother, Armando,” the girl said. “We seek asylum in your packs, Alpha, because our pack was invaded two years ago by the same people that invaded Azure Falls about five years ago.”

“Holy fuck,” whispered Dylan. “How did we not know of this?”

“My ma once told me,” Lorena said “that the invaders knew how to use herbs and spices to make people do what they wanted. She said that’s how she got them to not ask for help, but I’m not sure.”

“Who are they, these people you speak of?” Rex crossed his arms.

“We don’t know,” she said. “They only come at night after they make sure everyone is asleep. They used to talk to our alpha, but once he died they only talk to the beta. But we think he’s going to die, too.”

Rex raised his eyebrows. “And how do you know that?”

The boy cleared his throat. “Because he has the sickness, too. The sickness that the alpha and his family died from. Our ma and pa also got it. We think they got it after our ma started saying to people that the sickness was in certain foods.”

“Sounds like witches to me,” Dylan muttered.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Rex looked at both teenagers. “How did you escape?”

They looked at each other. Both were nervous.

“They weren’t giving us very much food, and my brother,” Lorena said near tears, “was hungry. My ma once said that the bread was safe and since I was working in the kitchens, I started stealing extra rations of bread for him. I got caught three days ago.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “It was only two pieces.”

“They were going to punish us both,” Armando said, looking down at the hole from where his right big toe peered. “They were going to make us pay for the rations she got me by working the rest of her life. Since it was two pieces of bread, they said each piece was worth our whole lives.”

Rex had heard enough. “Get rest. Focus on recovering.” He looked at the nurse that was standing nearby. “Get them something more comfortable to wear. Buy it and put it on my tab, if you have to.”

The nurse bowed her head, “Yes, Alpha.”

Lorena cleared her throat. “Sir. Alpha, sir. May we please pledge allegiance to you now?”

Armando quickly nodded.

Rex smiled, impressed. They were smart. Food and clothing were only hospitality, not protection. If their alpha or beta came and demanded their return, Rex would have to oblige. He couldn’t protect them from whatever they were running from until they pledged and he accepted their fealty into his packs.

He nodded, and both knelt immediately.

Well, at least we know they’ll be faithful to us, Nakon said once they left the youths in the infirmary.

Yes, but whatever they’re running away from will soon follow them here.

You mean whomever…

Yes. Whomever. I have a feeling we’ll know more about them soon enough.

And off into the distance, Rex could have sworn he heard thunder.