Outsiders

I was curled up under a pine tree. I could hear a raucous party going on back at the house. Not that I cared. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Over the last two days since I’d run away, it had become clear to me that I didn’t fit in at the mansion. Not with the girls. Not with the guys. I wasn’t part of any group like the warriors, the cooks, the computer nerds, the admin staff. I just existed. And apparently, no one cared that I wasn’t there. The whole settling down with someone and having kids had no appeal. Maybe because there was no one I’d ever been that interested in. I just didn’t belong. I must be what they called a lone wolf. I couldn’t even keep one friendship going, I thought, thinking of Katelyn.

It’s like my parents had known to put me in a paper bag and throw me in a dumpster. Too bad I’d been alive enough to make some racket to be found even as a newborn. Taken to a hospital and treated for the multiple broken bones it was suspected were caused by someone trying to kill me. Sorry world. Survived. Now, I had no idea why. I just didn’t fit in. Anywhere. I was an outsider like everyone said.

Maybe I’d just head off north. Find a little cave and eat rabbits forever. After getting sick on the last one, that doesn’t have much appeal. I could get a job somewhere and just live by myself. Maybe Connor would help me get an ID to do that. That whole thing seems like a Mount Everest since I’ve never cooked or even gone to a grocery store.

I hate that damn garden rabbit. It ruined my life. And I’d scared somebody. Again. My stomach twisted remembering Katelyn’s eyes. I got up and shook myself, trying to avoid the replay. I trotted over to the stream for a drink. Anything to keep from triggering the memories of Katelyn and then, inevitably, little Marcus.

‘Cassie. Conference room.’

I jerked upright, water dripping from my muzzle, electricity tingling my nerves from nose to tail. I had never heard that voice, but I had no doubt. The Alpha had just Called me.

I sneezed as I realized I had snorted water. Then I turned and ran full tilt for the house. I had no idea why he had summoned me, but I couldn’t ignore the Call. It was like my feet obeyed without a thought about not doing so. I had to go.

I leapt over the back fence and careened past the fateful garden. I slid to a halt next to my clothes. They were a tad dew damp, but I knew no one would mess with them. That was considered a major rude. Never knew when someone was just out for a run. Like me. I scrambled into my clothes and rushed through the kitchen and up the back stairs. Something cooking smelled divine, reminding me that I had been skipping eating. But now, I had to see what on Earth the Alpha could possibly want with me. I didn’t know he knew I existed.

The door to the conference room was open and I slowly approached it. I could feel the waves of power echoing from the room. I smelled Connor and several others. I slunk in, eyes down, trembling. Wolf whined and I think I did too. I couldn’t handle the dominance in this room without cowering. I had to fight to keep from getting on the floor, belly up. But the Alpha had called me. I was supposed to be in this room.

“This is Cassie.” I heard Connor say.

I was studying my shoestrings.

“Cassie.”

It was a command. I brought my eyes up. The Alpha was standing at the head of the table, hand on a map. Soren was tall and broad shouldered, and this is where his son got his good looks. Black hair, intense blue eyes, sharp cheek bones. I felt incredibly small.

“I hear you can track.” He said in a deep, rich voice.

I managed a feeble nod. Yeah. I was pretty good at finding game when I went out hunting with the guys.

“Good. I’m setting you on Katelyn.” He said.

I’m sure I looked as stupid as I felt.

“She’s missing.” he said, nearly growling.

Oh, no. Had she run away because I scared her? This was horrible. I was more terrible even than I had been thinking.

“Connor will get you squared away on where she was last seen.” He said as someone pushed past me to go up to him. “Those filthy mutts will regret this. They want war. They’ve got it.” He growled. But it was to another Lieutenant and not to me.

Connor came back down the long table to me. I was ready to confess that I was to blame. I didn’t know what they’d do to me. I was shaking in my tennies. Poor Katelyn. I was the last person who should be looking for her. She’d run screaming from me.

“She’s not the only one.” Connor said.

“Huh?” I said, totes confused.

“Quite a few girls are missing. Soren just figured since you shared a room, you might be more in tune or have her scent memorized. Take this. When you think you’ve located her, don’t do anything. Call us.”

I took the leather saddle pouch from him. I knew what it was for. Wolves didn’t exactly have pockets. Someone had designed these so we could carry a phone or clothes or whatever was needed. There was a phone currently in it.

“Shouldn’t I just bring her home?” I asked.

“Soren is expecting trouble. If any of the Trackers find someone, he wants a backup team to come in to assist.”

“Ok.” I said.

Hey. Who was I to argue with the Alpha over strategy? Yeah. Nobody. I wasn’t even an official Tracker, just someone who had hung out with Katelyn more than the others had. And I definitely wasn’t a fighter who could go to war with another pack.

“Katelyn, Janis, and Marci went out to the waterfall to go swimming yesterday. They didn’t make it home.”

I was relieved and freaked. First. Seeing me post-rabbit hadn’t sent Katelyn screaming out of the house at a dead run two days ago. A good thing. But bad because the waterfall was not on a road. You walked there from the house through the forest to go swimming. It was totally on pack land. How could anyone go missing from there? No wonder the Alpha was sending out Trackers and backup teams.

“You good for this?” Connor asked. “If it makes you nervous, you don’t have to go.”

“What? No.” I said, having been figuring out where to start looking, “I’m going to find Katelyn.”