Filed To Story: Secret with Betas Daughter: Skylar Story Series
Alpha Reggie looks at Jena. “And I need you and Mina tonight with Xander and Oscar. Claws have come back out since your presence hasn’t been seen for a while and we need to remind a few people that being mated to Xander is not the spectacle it is becoming.”
He swings his gaze to me.
“What do you mean you know a lot about me? That doesn’t sound like a good thing. And do I even have a pack anymore?” Jena grabs my hand under the table and squeezes.
“You do have a few pack members that made it down to the states, and I am sure there are more scattered around. I have been in touch with the Alpha King of that territory and he was very familiar with your pack’s story and was glad to hear that you did, in fact survive. That is a story for drinks when we are done here though. What we found out about you though is that you are pretty savvy with all things computer and I have a job for you while you are here. Are you interested?”
“Without any idea what you want me to do? That sounds a bit sketchy and at the same time a lot of fun. What exactly is the job?”
“We have many people who are top notch with finding people using security cameras and tech in the slow and legal way. What I think you bring to the table is the more black hat side of things, if reports are correct.”
He tilts an eyebrow up at her and to Jena’s credit her face doesn’t change, just looks politely interested in the conversation. “Everything we have done to track the Rogue King thus far has been above board and completely legal. All paperwork is accounted for and ‘i’s’ dotted and ‘t’s’ crossed. After what we found in the trackers that were implanted in you both and the way you were both held captive and treated I am done playing by certain rules. If you are anything like my Sky here, you are already planning revenge and retribution for everything that has happened to you and your pack. We would like to help you and help keep your head level in the situation since it is close to home, but we are pulling out the stops and want to give you the tools and access you need to nail these f*ckers to the wall. What do you think?”
“Why didn’t you start with that proposal? Hell, yes! When can I start?” Jena sits up straight in her seat, close to bouncing out and gripping the armrests hard enough to leave permanent finger indentations. “Soon. There are a couple more evaluations we want you to do first, but everything looks good so far.”
Alpha Reggie laughs at her excitement. I would be excited too if I found out that there might be a silver lining to this whole situation.
It’s exciting to know that there are some of her pack members out there, meaning some were able to get away and she has a family of sorts to go back to when all of this is over. That thought makes me a little sad all of a sudden. I don’t want her to leave. We haven’t known each other very long, but our time together has done something to bond us and I feel just as close to her as I do Sierra.
“Little One, your job is two-fold tonight. Obviously, stick close to Xander and Oscar. The four of you should not be alone, ever, do you hear me? The threat from your last attack has not been neutralized yet and we still don’t know if it’s connected to your situation at UMaine or not. We have also not been able to flush out your friend’s story about the attack from the Shadow Pack. Keep an ear on all conversations, I want to know anything that might sound suspicious.”
“Excuse me sir.”
Jena asks. “Would it be possible for me to mic up Sky and the others and if you have the equipment I can set her up with a micro camera and try to get some background going with facial recognition, that might help whatever search you are trying to do.”
Both Osiston and Alpha Reggie tried to hide their surprise at how fast she is willing to work, but if it helps her get closer to bringing justice for her pack then she is willing to do it. And she is just as smart as they implied since she is offering to ‘set me up’ with equipment.
“Let us know what you need and we will get it to you, but you will only have about an hour to assemble. Do you need to be on sight to use your tech?” Osiston asks.
“The closer the better, and maybe have a warrior with me so I have mindlink access with everyone. Maybe Nathaniel,” She looks at me, “He the friend I met today that does some of your tech stuff, right? Then if something happens, we can appear to be a couple at the party as well, and he can help me set things up more quickly. It would also help to know what happened before and who you suspect so I know what am looking for.”
“On it.”
Osiston states. “And this is probably a good time to exchange stories anyway. Can you talk and make me a list at the same time?”
“Of course. Tell me about this first attack and what it has to do with tonight.”
I start with the story of Oscar, Mina and I getting attacked by the lake and then move into the story that Tyler told me about his pack being attacked and being taken over by the Shadow Pack which happens to be the pack we get the most trouble from their Elder here at the castle during negotiations and other territory meetings. His daughter is also a problem for Xander regularly and has doubled her efforts since Mina and I have been gone.
“Well, I agree at this point that is sounds like too much of a coincidence that all of these things have been happening suddenly and the mostly seem to center around Xander and Sky.”
She looks down at the paper she was writing on, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and looks like she might be talking to herself or her wolf for a minute. When she opens her eyes she pushed the list to Osiston saying, “This is what I will need and if Nathaniel is as good as he sounds, he will know what I am trying to do and catch anything I might have missed making the list in a hurry. We’ll need to get started right away, but I should give you my history, just in case it’s wrapped in all of the bullsh*t you have been dealing with too.”
“We were attacked in the fall, it was my parents’ anniversary and we would celebrate every year as a pack. It was a whole week of parties and games and dances. On Saturday, the final day of the celebration, my parents would reseal their blood bond in front of the whole pack. It was beautiful and special. On the night of the attack though, someone must have been very familiar with our rituals, because during the speech dn toast that my father made we all had glasses of mead and the kids all had juice, no one was without a drink. He finished his speech we all toasted and drank, then both my parents performed the blood ritual slicing their palms and clasping them together thetting a few drops of combined blood hit the earth as they said some incantation. We could feel the pack bond ripple the minute it his the ground and as soon as the ripple started rogue wolves started running at us from every direction. Something was wrong, there’s no way that all of those wolves would have gone unnoticed, but we couldn’t smell them. We all went into attack formations, my parents, myself, all of our warriors. Our Omegas did their best to shield the children, but we couldn’t fight. Everything was fuzzy for me and I had a hard time focusing, it was the most horrific chaos. My arms didn’t work and I couldn’t make my legs move fast enough when five wolves attacked my mom first. I felt it the minute her neck was broken and our link was severed. My dad was screaming in pain at the loss of his mate. A warrior tried to get me to safety, but I fought him, I didn’t want to leave my parents to this fate. If I had listened to the warrior, I don’t even know who it was, I would never have been captured and maybe more people would have been spared.”
She wipes the tears from her eyes, takes a shuddering breath, and looks at each of us in turn. “The last thing I remember clearly is a gray-brown wolf barrelling at us and knocking the warrior and I over. I hit my head on something, making my head throb even more. I don’t remember being taken or how long I was out for and I was always kept in a dark cell with one light and now windows. I do know we moved locations twice based on the smell of my cell and the temperature changes. Michael made it very clear why he wanted me and what my ‘role’ in his plans were.”
She rolled her eyes at the thought. “I was an Alpha female and he was an Alpha male so I would produce an heir for him that was strong and able to be trained to rule the right way, as he put it. What he didn’t know was that I had an IUD put in when I was 18. I hadn’t found my mate right away and I didn’t want any issues, but I also wasn’t going to wait around for Mr. Right either.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “When I didn’t get pregnant right away, that was when the beatings started, in his head sex was going to be a punishment if I was going to be too stubborn to give him the heir he wanted. I did learn that he liked the more aggressive side of BDSM, which sucked, but made him finish more quickly and I could play off being exhausted for longer. Until Sky, he had never brought another female in my cell. I knew there were others, I could hear them screaming, so I’m not actually sure why he changed up the way he did things.”
She looked at me confused, like I might know the answer. “Other than the guards that fed you and this Micheal, did you have contact with anyone else?” Alpha Reggie asked.
“Not that I know of, but there were a few times that I refused to eat when I figured out they were poisoning my food with belladonna and wolfsbane, and someone put me on an IV that was really strong. I remember voices and the outlines of people, but nothing concrete or specific enough to use to track anyone.”
“Speaking of your IUD. I know that Doc Sylvia removed it, she said something about damage, but didn’t get specific since it wouldn’t make sense to me anyway.”
Alpha Reggie shrugged. I loved his honest modesty. “But I think that may have saved your life. If you would have produced a child, you might have been kept around to make a spare, but from the sounds of it this Micheal kid doesn’t sound like the smartest, most thought out person, and he probably would have killed you when he was done with you. My next thought is, I don’t think he is working alone or the top guy anyway, not the way you both described him. He sounds more like the spoiled son who is along for the ride.”
“That’s frightening.”
Jena says dryly. “I agree he isn’t the smartest, or I guess it would be the most thought out person, but I did hear him talk to the guards a lot and he for sure knows how to use his words to his advantage.”
“I noticed that too, when I was taken. He didn’t enter the fight at all, but was close enough to egg people on and that didn’t take a lot of effort. Tyler was the same when the guards were giving him a hard time about taking a long time to bring me in.”
“Well ladies, I think we have enough for now. We need to leave in about thirty minutes for the castle so you all can get ready with Anne. Don’t worry about dinner, she will make sure you are all well fed.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.