ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Ten | Part II

Chapter Notes : Caleb's POV

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- '. . .hallucinate the tables are turning. . .' -

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"Yes, Chase?" I was more irritated than angry, though I'm sure my greeting to my beta didn't do much to convey the former.

"Ouch! That sounded like a 'you-interrupted-something-important' greeting. Sorry, brother. Just wanted to let you know that I followed up on that thing you asked me to check out. You good to talk?"

I stared down the hallway at the closed bedroom door, knowing now more than ever my mate needed me. But Ava-Rain was pushing me away. I should have stormed over there and demanded she talk to me so that we could finish the conversation we had started. I should have barged in there and made it perfectly clear that she was the only girl for me. That I was not pushing her away intentionally. That her suspicions were correct and there was a girl that I had lost. That I couldn't save. But if I were to reopen that scar, I knew for certain that no good would come from it. So, instead of going back to the bedroom, I walked away just as the shower turned on.

"Yeah, I'm good," I answered as I made my way through the living room. "Go ahead." I opened the sliding door that also acted as a ceiling to floor window, stepped out onto the spacious balcony and slid the door behind me. It couldn't have been earlier than seven in the morning, but it already looked like it was going to be a crappy day. The clouds were in abundance in the sky, keeping the sun heavily confined, I assumed, so that it couldn't interfere with their plans of gifting us with rain.

"Well, for starters, your instincts were dead on, man. She's definitely been in the company of a few pure bloods. Rickon was pretty positive that she had no idea about us or our world the whole time that they were together, which means they found her, which means—"

"They've been watching us." I sighed and shook my head, not so much out of anger but out of disappointment and hurt. Hurt for my mate and what this could possibly mean for her. "Damn."

"Roger that. From what I've gathered so far, there's only a few of them, but I don't like the sound of it, Caleb. There are still some details to be worked out, but I don't think it's too far fetched to say that she's definitely been tailing Ava-Rain. I don't think there was anything coincidental about that run-in they had at your place."

"Great, so her friend—a friend that she's known for years and has been nothing but loyal to—is selling her out? To goddamned werewolves, no less. And for what possible reason?"

I was pissed. Completely and undeniably pissed. My wolf stirred as the anger deep within rose to the surface, ready and willing to come forth as soon as I uttered the command. How anybody could betray Ava-Rain was beyond me. Her kindness, her kind heart and soul, was something to be cherished and praised. Respected, not taken advantage of. How the hell was I going to explain to my mate that her best friend, Jennifer, was possibly in cahoots with the pure bloods?

But all anger against Jennifer put aside, what the hell were the pure bloods doing enlisting humans to aid in their missions? Were they getting that desperate? Angelie had warned this would happen, that it wouldn't have been long before they found out about Ava-Rain as easily as she had. This whole time they've been sitting in the shadows, watching and waiting. Now, it was only a matter of time before they decided to step out of the dark and play.

In that moment, a thought—or, rather, an image, a memory—flashed inside of my mind, conjured by the yellow. The rogue pup that attacked her, whose throat I had ripped out and granted the gift of death for daring to go after my mate. Had it been more than a mere coincidence that Ava-Rain had been attacked that night? Or had it been planned? An execution? A test? If so, just how long had the pure bloods been watching us? Watching me?