Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“We split up. Landon and Carter, you go toward the university. Valerian, Trevor and Noah, you go to the east. Riley, you can come with me. We can meet up after we find where the trails end. Make a note of anything important, and call if anything happens.” I divided us up and explained what it was that they needed to do.
“And what should we do when we find out where these people are hiding?” There was a malicious look in Trevor’s eyes, a look that I understood but could not condone.
“You make a note and head back to the park to rendezvous with the rest of us.” They all needed to know that they couldn’t engage these people right now. They had to know that we were going to be doing reconnaissance only. There was to be no fighting with them tonight.
“Joaquin?”
“Come on, that isn’t fair!”
“We need to stop them.”
There were several who protested to the words that I had for them, but they weren’t going to sway me. I was in agreement with my Little Bunny. These people thought that we were monsters, it was best not to prove them right.
“You heard me. We are not to attack or fight them at all.”
鈥榃hy not? Am I allowed to ask that?” Trevor, who was a passionate man that didn’t like to see people get hurt, didn’t understand why I was doing this. Hopefully he would understand what I had to say about it.
“Think about it, Trevor. All of you think about it. What do they think that we are?”
“Monsters.” Riley’s response was instant. Clearly, he understood what I was getting at here.
“That’s right.” I nodded at him, feeling pride in his quick thinking. “And if we just attack them the moment that we find them, what will that make them think that we are? Even more so than they already do?”
“Monsters.” This time, the word was said by almost all of them.
“Precisely. I agree with Riviana. We will not give them the satisfaction of being what they think that we are. As you all know, in the last several years, there has been fewer punishments that resulted in death. That is because we have seen the error of our ways. And Riviana and I think that we need to take a more human approach to these things.”
“I understand.” Riley put a hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly in support of my stance on this situation. “You are an amazing king, Joaquin, don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.”
“Thank you. Though with all these people that have died, I don’t feel very good at it right now.”
“Don’t worry, Joaquin. You are.” Trevor gripped my other shoulder. “And we understand what you mean. We won’t attack them. Just track them down and find where they are staying at the moment. Knowing where their hideout is will help us immensely.”
“Thank you.”
With them all on board, it was time for us to split up. I knew that I didn’t need to micromanage them all since they were all strong and capable men. I knew that they would all be good on their own.
Carter and Landon headed off toward the dorms at the university. Trevor, Valerian, and Noah headed toward the outside of the city, in the general direction of where that battle with Edmond and his monsters had happened all those years ago. To think that he had turned into a good guy while he was in Hell. It really tainted the memories that I had of the past.
“Come on, Riley.” I beckoned him toward me as I headed in the opposite direction from the others.
“Sure thing.” He nodded and followed me out of the park. “Lead the way. Or I can lead, either is good for me.”
“Just follow your nose, dummy.” I shook my head. I needed something to break the tension that had settled in over the last few minutes.
“Oh, come on, Fifi. Are you really going to be an asshole right now?” He joked right back to let me know that the tension was gone.
“Shut up, Spike, we have work to do.”
“Ha ha ha. You made me a more manly dog.”
“That is because you were a dick and called me a girl dog. And I was choosing to ignore your comment.” I shook my head and focused on my nose. “Come on, they went this way.”
Riley and I tracked the scent as it weaved through the city. It was clear that these people knew that we could track them with their scent. And they knew enough to try and confuse our noses by moving all over the city in an erratic pattern. The problem is, they underestimated us. It was not all that hard for us to follow the trail that they left behind.
Now, if they had been like other humans, without that added smell, they would have blended in too much with the other people. However, that pungent stench was hard to miss. And that made them even easier to follow.
In the end, we tracked them to a cheap looking motel that was in one of those really old buildings. It was like an apartment complex that was turned into a fleabag, rent by the hour type of place. I didn’t like the idea of going into that place at all. I was afraid that I would actually get fleas. Or maybe bedbugs. Cooties? I would definitely catch something from that hellhole.
“They aren’t living in the lap of luxury, are they?” Riley asked as he looked up at the windows in the distance. “I don’t know what room is theirs, or how many that they even have, but they are in there.”
“Yeah, I know they are. And I think that they are trying to house as many as they can for as cheap as they can. This just tells me that there might be more of them than we expected. We need to be ready for when the battle actually starts.”
“Agreed.” He and I nodded and started to head back toward the park.
The others were already waiting for us when we got back to the park. I had been right about the one trail heading to the dorms at the university. The other trail apparently ended at the side of one of the streets. They must have gotten into a car and driven away. If they had smelled the car, or seen it before it left, then we could have tracked it. Now though, there was no hope.
“We have enough for now.” I told them as I assessed the information. “We will reconvene in the morning and continue from there.”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright.”
“Understood.”