“What do you think you are doing, Gabrielle? Our baby sister is in pain and you are trying to make a move on her mate?”
Gabrielle hadn’t always been like this. She had been soft and compassionate once upon a time. It would seem like that time was so far gone that he couldn’t trace it.
Gabrielle looked like she was considering denying his accusations but then pushed right through like she couldn’t have cared less about his opinion.
“And so what? I have been in pain for years and no one cared about it. She definitely didn’t care about my pain when she went off to mark my mate.”
She shrugged off his grip and walked on. She hadn’t gone far when he spoke.
“She is going through all this for you, you know.”
Gabrielle paused, realizing that he knew everything. She turned to look at him, a question in her eyes.
He had asked himself the same question over and over again. Could he let Ava suffer for Gabrielle who didn’t seem in the least bit remorseful?
In the end, he had to honour the promise he had made to Ava. It was her secret to divulge not his.
He looked away confirming that he would stick with Ava’s decision to not turn her in.
Gabrielle turned front.
“Maybe she shouldn’t bother so much. It’s not like she is going to get sainted for this.” Gabrielle stalked away.
Alex came back to himself and began to make notes on the side that Adrian could refer to once he returned to work and Ava was feeling better.
He flipped over the page when the door to the office opened. He opened his mouth to greet Alex when he scented his mate. She stood at the door-side, her dark hair tucked behind her ears as she looked everywhere in the room but him, her cheeks aflame.
Alex stood up, papers forgotten and crossed the distance between them hugging his mate tightly.
“Goddess, Zinora, I missed you so much.”
He felt her tuck her head into his chest as though embarrassed. For a Primo pack member, she was exceedingly shy when it came to romantic interludes.
“I missed you too.” She mumbled quietly.
They parted and Alex looked down at her. She was so beautiful with her dark defined unruly curls that seemed to have a mind of their own. Her hazel eyes watched him almost shyly before looking away again.
He wanted to kiss her but knew that it was too soon for that. He wanted her to be more relaxed around him before he took that step.
He grasped for a topic to allay the awkward silence.
“Why did you take so long? I almost thought I would need to move to the Primo pack lands and demand they return my mate.”
She had gone for Shawn’s burial and had extended her stay at her former pack without calling to tell him why. He had been bothered and the volatile situation in his pack hadn’t helped.
“Oh.” Zinora laughed lightly and Alex was captivated. She sounded like an angel.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that some things came up that demanded that I stayed back to help. That’s why I am here actually.” She looked around. “Where is Alpha Adrian? I have urgent information from Alpha Adelaide for him.”
He almost joked about how she had come looking for another wolf instead of her mate immediately after she got back but the expression on her face and the urgency in her tone stopped him. Alex found that he wasn’t eager to hear the kind of news that would put her in that sort of mood.
“He won’t be coming in for now. Ava is in heat.”
“Oh.” Zinora’s cheeks turned a beautiful pink. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was also wondering when and how her own heat would turn out.
“Don’t worry. You can tell me about it. As the Beta, I can handle whatever issue that comes up.”
This was the reason he had been recalled after all.
She looked at him and nodded, her demeanour becoming serious again.
“The Midnight Pack has fallen to rogues.”
Alex paused. “Rogues? But we killed all the ones that were at your pack house and the rest have disappeared.”
“To appear right at the Midnight Pack’s doorsteps. Their numbers were massive according to a survivor currently receiving treatment in our pack.”
It was baffling. The Midnight Pack was far from the biggest pack on this side. But they had a decent fighting force that should have easily repelled the rogues. What exactly had happened that they couldn’t have easily gotten a hold of?
“How bad was the damage?”
“There are less than twenty survivors that we have found so far. Their Alpha died of injuries at our doorstep. We had to take in the survivors, they had nowhere left to go.”
Less than twenty? In a pack that had numbered well over a thousand? Alex felt a chill come over him even though it was at the peak of summer.
“And how are the efforts to build your walls?”
Her former pack wasn’t so far off from the Midnight Pack. They had been attacked first although not with the same numbers that she was describing had gone for the Midnight pack. They could prove an easy target to the rogues. The Mountain Coast pack was some distance away but it wasn’t far enough, but not by a long shot.
Fuck, they needed Adrian. Emergency procedures needed to be undergone. They could be the next targets. They needed to inform the other packs as well.
“We have raised them, even put some silver traps and we are growing wolf’s bane on the walls. Everyone had to pitch in because of how large our boundaries are. The walls are complete now. It feels like defeat anytime I look at them but defeat is better than death anyway and now I can be sure that my family will be safe while I am here.” Her eyes sparkled with contentment reminiscing.
Alex released an inaudible sigh. She was safe, her people were safe, and the Primo pack at the very least would no longer need Zinora to go back there and help them out with anything else.
“That’s good. I will need to talk to this survivor and get the details of all that happened.” Maybe the number of assailants had been fabricated. It wouldn’t be the first time that fear and pain altered someone’s perception of an event.
“She’s… a little fragile.” Zinora sounded more than a little hesitant telling him about all the details on the woman. “She is still injured and in shock. She refuses to leave the hospital and you know we don’t really have cellphones so you can’t speak to her unless you go to my pack.”
Alex shook his head. He couldn’t leave the pack as it was with Adrian out of commission. He was needed here. He mind-linked Calvin and told him to haul his ass to the office right that minute, they had work to do.
He pushed out a seat for Zinora and she sat.
“Alright, I want you to tell me everything she told you. No matter how small or inconsequential, I want to hear about it.” Alex said as he sat back down, trying to stop his leg from bouncing nervously.
Zinora nodded.
There was a lot to be done.