“She’s impure,” Nicoletta replied with a look of disgust. “Besides she’s not as attractive as you are either,” she added, giving him a fanged grin.
“I don’t know. I happen to like the way the hyb-Lily looks,” Alpha Sanders said as he joined them.
Irritation with a dash of possessiveness ran through James as he gave the alpha a brief glare. “What are you doing here?”
Nick gave him an apologetic grimace as he followed behind the other alpha. “Lucas happens to be the best tracker amongst us,” he explained.
James pressed his lips together, letting out a slow breath through his nose. Now he not only had to deal with a hungry vampire but the damn werewolf that wanted to steal his mate from him. This was going to be a long night, James thought and trying his best now to scowl. “Well we’re all here now so let’s get started,” he said, looking in the direction they would begin.
“Before you go. James, can I have a word with you,” Nick asked, surprising him.
The others eyed him with obvious suspicion but Nick said nothing more. “Alright. Sure. No problem,” he said and followed Nick several feet away from the others. James’ curiosity grew more as the alpha was making it obvious he didn’t want the others to overhear them. “What’s wrong Nick?” He asked when they stopped.
“I need to ask you for a favor. You know Bonnie’s son, Zander?” He asked and James nodded. “I think he’s in trouble but before I tell you more I want to know if I can count on you.”
James frowned, eyeing Nick suspiciously. “I’m not going to like this am I?” he asked then sighed when Nick just gave him a look. “Fine. Yes, you can count on me.”
Nick gave him an appreciative look. “You remember, back when we were hunting Xavier? We found out his mom was working with the psycho,” he asked and James again nodded.
“After the children were rescued, Zander didn’t quite seem himself. He became isolated, pulling away from the pack; especially on full moons. I’ve suspected for a while that Xavier did something to him. I wasn’t worried. He’s a good kid and whatever it was, he seemed to be handling it pretty well. However, about a year ago he started disappearing. Sometimes it’d be a couple of hours and then sometimes it was a couple of days.”
“So why didn’t you have your trackers follow him. See where he’s going,” James asked, still wondering why Nick was telling him this now.
“I put my best and most loyal trackers on it but every single one of them ended up losing him, every time. After reading several of the reports about the vamp attack on my pack, I’m convinced they had help from the inside. Ever since that attack, Zander has been acting even stranger and he’s been lying to me. I have no doubt that he’s the one who helped the vampires,” Nick continued.
Shock ran through James as he stared at the alpha. “What? Why are you telling us this now! God, Nick! Thanks to Bonnie, he could get in close with Tristan,” he argued.
Nick held up his hands and gave him a cross look. “I told you Zander is a good kid. If he’s helping them then it’s not because he wants to. You, of all people, know how being different or misunderstood can mark you. Zander’s been through enough shit. He doesn’t need to go through more!”
James crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the alpha, unsure if he wanted to help him or not. If he was right, the boy had betrayed his pack and James wasn’t sure there could be an excuse good enough for that. But then again, as the first subjected to Xavier’s experiments he understood how that messed with you. “So what, you want me to keep an eye out for his scent while I’m out tonight?”
Nick nodded then said, “And see if you can identify any scents that may be in the area with his. I don’t know how deep he’s in or what those leeches have over him but I need to find out so I can put a stop to it!”
James sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll have to tell her. She’ll kill me, like seriously kill me not foreplay kill me, if I don’t.”
Nick jerked back with a look of disgust. “I didn’t need to know that,” he complained.
James grinned and was about give him a witty reply when Dorin shouted over at them. “Can you hurry up? We have to finish before the sun rises!”
“Alright, tell Lily but keep this between just you two,” Nick insisted.
“I’ll tell you what I find out,” James told him then joined the others.
“What was that about,” Dorin asked when he came up to them.
“Lycan business,” James told him, a matter of fact.
“Then why wasn’t I included,” Lucas asked, looking like the nerdy kid who didn’t get invited to a party.
“Because I don’t like you,” James shot back. “Now, let’s get started!”
Lucas looked like he wanted to argue but James walked off, searching for the scents, leaving the werewolf with the choice to shut up and follow or not. The vamps caught up and Lucas wasn’t far behind. Not being an actual trained tracker, James sniffed the air periodically.
Nicoletta bent low to the ground, looking and smelling a variety of things. Lucas was was looking at the grass and branches for any signs of passage. At least that’s what James assumed he was doing. He caught Zander’s scent off towards the right. “I’m going to check out something in this direction,” James called out and started to follow it.