Behind The Alpha Book 2 WES

WES

“Ok…Fuck.” Luke stands with two of his friends, Cass Raven and Deacon Riley.

Cass is an Ok guy. Brown hair, brown eyes and just a bit bigger than me. He’s recently took on this tough guy look. I’m not sure if it’s him though. He’s always been the level headed type. He’s a trainer, but lately, he's been subbing as a tracker. Deacon Riley is also a tracker. His dark hair, hazel eyes and ink covered arms also give him the though guy look, but he’s a super cool guy. He transferred to Phoenix to train trackers there, but came back for this.

Luke is our best tracker. When he’s not drunk, he can track anything except his mate for some reason. He never sees her coming.

Luke runs his fingers through his chocolate brown hair and kicks at the blackened dirt. “Shit, dude. Was it a fire?” He looks at me with his hazel eyes.

I cross my arms. “Does it smell like a fire?”

“Well, no, but…” He looks out to the dead clearing. “A ghost did this?”

“It’s not a ghost! This is something else and I need you guys to hunt it down.” I eye them all.

Cass looks around the area. “We can do that, but we need to know what we’re tracking, Wes.”

“I don’t know. It’s weird, but it’s here somewhere.” I say as I also kick at the dirt.

Deacon rubs his head. “We should analyze this stuff. Maybe we can find out what killed the trees.”

I rub my neck. “Yeah, ok. I'll get River down here to take samples. Maybe it’s another Shaman.”

Deacon twists his lips. “I’m not sure. I can call Faith and see if Miranda has moved anywhere, but this doesn’t feel like magic to me. This feels like something darker.”

Luke was squatted down with a bunch of leaf debris in his hand. He sniffed it and through it down. He stands up. “Well, let’s search the place and see if Wes' ghost left a scent.”

“It’s not a ghost!” I growl.

“What’s not a ghost?”

I turn and Grey is walking up with Mia and Thea.

“What happened?” Mia says with hurt on her face. She loved this place.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” I tell them.

“Oh no…” Thea walks slowly into the black circle. “This is…why?” She looks like she’s about to cry.

I walk over to her as she feels the crumbling bark of a trunk.

I lean down to face. “I’m going to find out, baby. I promise.”

“It was so beautiful…I can’t believe this. It’s pain…” I see the tears in her eyes.

“Pain? The tree?” I tilt my head.

She presses her lips together. A tear falls. “All of them. They’re crying. I can hear them. I feel it, Wes. Why?” She looks up at me as she gets more upset.

I grab her and hug her. “You can feel them, Thea?”

She nods on my chest as she squeezes me harder. “Yes, I can.” She chokes.

I swear the longer I’m around Thea, the more questions I have.

I look to Luke. “Find it.” I grit.

He nods and him, Cass and Deacon start the search for my stalker.

“Wes, this isn’t a ghost.” Grey says.

“I told you. There’s something after me, Grey and I think it’s after Thea now, too. We need to hunt this bastard down.”

Thea pushes off me and wipes her face. “No, Wes. You can’t. If it can do this, it’s dangerous.”

I turn to her and hold her cheek. Her face is puffy with the hurt she’s feeling and it fucking burns me and my wolf bad to see it. “Thea. We can beat this thing. Just trust me.”

“You don’t know what it…” She starts.

“I don’t care. This thing has been a pain in my ass for years.” I Interrupt. “I’m catching it and killing it.”

“No, Wes. You don’t understand…” She holds my arm and seems to be panicked about me hunting this thing. She doesn’t know the Alphas.

I hold my hand up to her. “Thea. I know what I’m doing, ok. We have a lot of muscle. We can do this.”

“You don’t even know what it is! It could be anything!” She protests.

I hold her head and lean to her. “I’m not arguing about this. It made its move by destroying this. As far as im concerned it’s a threat to you and I’m not leaving this alone. Now, please. Go with Mia and I’ll see you later.” I kiss her head and hand her off to Mia.

“Wes, please…” She pleads.

“Come on, Thea. It’ll be ok. We can wait inside. It’s just an investigation.” Mia tries to calm her down.

Thea turns her head to me as they walk to the unit. I wave her off. “I’ll see you later. It’s fine.”

“Hey! I found something!” Cass calls from beyond the trees at the opposite side of the clearing. We all jog over to him. I slow to a stop when I see him holding up a pair of jeans.

“What?” I arch a brow.

Luke bends over and picks up a dark green t shirt. He holds it to nose. “Fuck!” He scrunches his face and pushes it away.

“What? It stinks?” I ask.

“No.” Deacon says holding a leg. “There’s like hundreds of scents on it. It’s fucking weird.” He scents the leg again. “Like a hundred different people wore these jeans.”

“What’s that mean?” I cross my arms and look them over.

Luke sniffs the shirt again. “Well, either this guy loves sharing his clothes or were dealing with a shape shifter.”

“A shape shifter.” I say with immense doubt.

Cass nods. “It makes sense. They can change to a lot of people. They’d have to mimic scent too. If they store those for later, it’s possible their original form would smell like everyone they’ve used their power on.”

“Great. So how do we track that?” I ask.

“Well, dudes running bare ass out here somewhere. We take a piece each and see what matches out there.” Luke pops a switch blade and cuts a piece off the t shirt. He throws the knife to Cass. Cass cuts the jeans and gives Deacon a piece. They all put the pieces in their wolf packs.

“Ok. If it is a shifter, we shouldn’t separate. We don’t need him grabbing our bodies out there.” I suggests.

“Agreed here, man. I don’t want a shifter wearing my fucking face.” Deacon says.

“Me either.” Cass agrees.

“Let’s do this.” I growl.

Luke checks his weapons clip and slams it back into his gun. “Let’s bag us a shifter.” He smirks as he holster it in his wolf pack.

We all shift and run into the woods. The trackers up front looking for something concrete to follow.

We followed the scent through the trees. Luke’s chocolate brown wolf sniffing the ground and the brush.

After a few hours of trotting through the woods, we cross into Caledons woods. ‘Anything?’ I’m exhausted and hungry.

‘There’s a trail. It’s just confusing.’ Cass links back.

‘He’s throwing fucking scent.’ Luke responds. ‘He thinks he’s being smart. The dick doesn’t know who he has on his ass.’ Luke links in a cocky tone.

We follow trail after trail. Deacon comes up from behind. ‘Maybe we need to give up.’

‘What? We can’t. Guys, this is big. We can’t walk away.’ I stop and look at their wolves.

‘Not give up, Wes. Regroup. Think of another plan. He’s everywhere and nowhere. A shifter could literally be anything.’ Deacon says.

‘Or anyone.’ Luke’s wolf dramatically looks at us all with shifty eyes.

My wolf tilts his head. ‘Don’t start that shit, Luke.’

‘What? It’s true. If there’s a shifter here, no one can be trusted. I can’t even trust myself.’ His wolf shakes his head.

My wolf looks at him curiously. ‘I think you’d know if you were a shifter, Luke.’

‘Would I really or would I only think I’m not the shifter?’ He narrows his eyes and growls.

We all shake our pounding heads at his dumbfuckery. ‘Anyway, keep tracking. We have to be sure it’s not here.’

‘Ok. Only a few more hours. We’re fucking tired, dude.’ Deacon whines.

‘Just go.’ I order.

They resume the track.

We enter an area of Caledons forest that’s a little darker then the rest of the woods. It’s a long time myth that this place is haunted. Mostly local kids who want to scare each other. I will admit, this area gave me bad vibes the moment I entered it.

Grey stops. ‘Anyone else feel…icky?’

Cass's light brown wolf stops. He puts his nose to the air. A crow caws off in the distance. The dark green trees seem to whisper as the wind blows through their leaves.

‘There’s something here.’ His wolf growls low.

‘Where?’ I link him.

Luke trots ahead. He sniffs the air too. ‘Hard to pin. This is his definite hang out. He’s all over it.’ He walks in circles sniffing trunks. ‘Fuck, he’s shifty.’ He chuckles.

‘Luke. Focus.’ Deacon says.

His wolf perks his head up and turns to him. ‘I haven’t been laid in 12 hours. You’re lucky I remember your name.’

Cass and Grey snicker in the link. ‘Jesus, Luke.’ I groan.

‘What? I perform better when I’m regularly banged. There’s no shame in that. You should look into it, Double mint.’ I can heat the smirk in his voice.

‘Ugh. Whatever! Just find the shifter!’ My irritation hit the link loud and clear.

Grey joined Luke’s side. ‘I think we need to turn back. My gut isn’t feeling this.’

I look around the dark area. ‘I guess we could walk around this area. See if he left it.’

We all turn when the sky fills with the loud screech of a bird and it was big.

Our wolves look between the trees to the sky. An extremely large shadow flies over the forest. We were in black until its body allowed the sun to shine again.

‘OK. What the fuck was that?’ Luke’s wolf backs up and bumps into Cass.

‘That? That’s a fucking reason to run!’ Grey says.

We all turn and break into a run through the trees. The bird screeches again as it circles around. It’s following us.

I look up as it flies past us. ‘Shit! Turn now!’ I link out. We all bank right through the trunks. The bird is flawlessly tracking us from the air.

It calls out again.

‘DEACON, CASS. RUN FASTER! THAT BITCH SOUNDS HUNGRY!’ Luke yells through the link as he looks back. Deacon and Cass have fallen behind a bit.

They dig in and catch up. Our wolves are running full bore down the path. Grey leads the pack with the four of us right behind him. I catch sight of the bird as it glides just above the treetops.

‘It’s a fucking eagle!’ Grey yells.

‘It’s the shifter! Eagles aren’t the size of jumbo jets!’ Cass yells back. ‘Fucking book it!”