Chapter 6

Present Day

The plane ride to Texas was about 5 hours long, but for me it felt like a f*cking eternity.

I couldn't get to her fast enough, my wolf was pacing in my mind. The only positive out of the plane ride was that my wolf finally spoke to me.

Must get mate. That was all he said, in a gravely-deep voice.

It wasn't much, but it meant that even the thought of going to her was helping him. I felt myself slowly coming out of my sadness. I had some hope that I would see her and be able to hold her. She would finally recognize me as her mate.

She will make the perfect Luna. Allison has always been kind-hearted and fair to others. She always put people before herself. She was born to lead our pack alongside me.

I feel selfish about holding my position as Alpha as I was spiraling downwards mentally. Chad would be the much better option as he is an amazing leader and is Alpha-blooded. But I think that he holds too much respect for me and our friendship to challenge me, or officially claim the position as his own.

I couldn't even enjoy the sight of the Canadian Rocky Mountains as we passed over them. Normally it was a breathtaking view, but I was too worried for my mate to take it all in.

I can picture it already, my sweet Allison sitting by her oak tree, once again reading her book and drinking her coffee. She loved to read, was always more interested in that than anything else. I think that was part of the reason we grew apart. I was always busy learning more, constantly preparing to become Alpha, and training in my free time. Being strong and a skilled fighter is also an important part of being Alpha. You need to be able to protect your pack from all harm.

Pulling me from my thoughts, I heard the sound of a throat clearing and then Chad spoke, " Alpha. I know you didn't want to talk about it earlier, but if there is a chance that Allison left on her own, we should prepare for that outcome."

Scoffing at him,"That won't be necessary. I know Allison, and she would never abandon her family and pack this way."

Chad then stared into my eyes, something that most Alphas take as a challenge when it's from another Alpha male. But his look was not that of a challenge. It was full of concern.

"I'm saying this as your friend, I am worried about you. I know the Allison that left, but we don't know her now, it's been three years. What if she is a completely different person? What if she doesn't want to come back? I know I am way out of line saying this, but it needs to be said and I'm the only person that has the balls to speak to you. You've been in an emotional lockdown since she left or she was taken away, you haven't been taking care of yourself. Your pack is worried about you, I am worried about you. You shut everyone out and I'm worried that you won't recover if she doesn't come back. So yes, Alpha. I think we should prepare for that possibility. For your own well-being and that of the packs."

All I could do was a short nod in response.

I understood exactly everything he was saying to me. But the mere thought of her rejecting me was trying to drag me back into the deep, darkest parts of my brain. I couldn't go back to that dark place ever again. With or without her. I knew I needed to do better by my pack. In her absence, I have become cold and distant.

Apollo started to become alert in my mind. We must be getting close.

"Chad, I need you to prime me something if this doesn't go the way we hope."

"Yes Alpha, what is it?"

"You need to promise that if I start going to that dark place again, if I neglect my duties and stop taking care of myself to the point of no return, if you can't pull me out of that place, I need you to put my wolf and I out of our misery. I need you to take over as Alpha." My wolf, Apollo, was whining at the thought of going back to that mindset. But he too understood we needed to have something in place, if it happened again.

"I promise, Alpha. But I will not let you get to that point again. I blame myself for ever letting it get as bad as it did. I'm sorry I failed you." Remorse and guilt filled his tone.

"You never failed me, you were the leader the pack needed." I genuinely meant every word I was saying. If Chad hadn't stepped in and was acting Alpha for me, I am afraid the whole pack would have fallen apart. We could have been more susceptible to rouge attacks, or challenges from other Alphas if they realized we were weakening.

But thanks to Chad stepping up, no other pack knew of our struggles, and border patrol was always organized by him to make rouge attacks less likely.

Feeling a change in pressure inside the plane, I looked out the window and saw we were coming down onto a landing strip. Finally, we are here.

I felt a wave of nervousness as I realized that this could go one of two ways. The first is she will scent me out and accept me as her mate. Or she will reject me and carry on with her new life.

I pushed this thought away.

Chad and I brought 4 of our best warriors with us as a precaution. I was still an Alpha and the particular area we were in was unclaimed land, meaning not anyone's pack territory. Which poses a huge threat because it is riddled with rouges. If a rouge sees that I am in a weakened state, he may try to challenge me for my title. If he succeeds, he will get everything that came with being Alpha.

I couldn't take anymore chances with my pack, and they could be useful backup in case there are any threats around Allison.

The plane rolled to a stop on the tarmac.

Going down the steps of the plane, I shielded my eyes from the hot Texas sun beating down on our skin. Just a few seconds in the heat and I was sweating profusely. Texas weather was way different from the Canadian weather that I'm used to. It doesn't help that werewolves naturally run warmer than normal body temperatures.

I feel like I am standing inside an oven, being baked by the sun.

The two spies that had found Allison, Rory and Greg, were already waiting in a sleek black Suburban for our arrival. Three warriors got into the far seats in the back, Chad, myself and another warrior got into the middle row, with my two spies occupying the front seats.

Pulling out of the private landing strip, Rory, the spy driving, broke the silence, " Alpha, Greg has been following Allison from a distance today while she attended school. While he did that, I placed multiple bugs in their home. I have set up all of the equipment in our motelroom. She was just getting home when we came here to get you."

"We can go to the hotel and listen in, we don't want to barge in there without a plan." I replied.

He nodded at me through the rearview mirror.

5 minutes later, we pulled up to a crumby, rundown-looking motel. The grass around it was brown, the steel and white paint on the bricks was chipped and peeling off. But it was the perfect place to stay so as to not draw attention to ourselves, which was hard to begin with being werewolves in a human-populated town.

Werewolves were extremely attractive creatures, and humans were naturally drawn to our looks and our auras. It's how we get business so easily in the human world. Other than that, we try to stick to our own kind for the most part. In ancient times, a treaty was signed by the Wolfen council to never let humans see or know of our true identity, unless if a human was your mate, but a human being your mate, was almost unheard of. To avoid humans finding out about our kind, most packs are located in remote areas where there are no human populations nearby. The Wolfen council is made up of older werewolves that were once Alpha's. They are handpicked by current Wolfen council members when a member's reign is coming to an end. They are basically the Alpha's of all Alpha's. Their decisions are law. For the most part, they let Alpha's run their own packs the way they choose unless there is a more pressing matter, like packs trying to go to war.

Everyone piled out of the Suburban, and followed Rory and Greg to the room. Rory pulled out a small rusty key and placed it into the doorknob, unlocking our door. Walking in, it was a small room with a tacky red carpet, peeling yellow wallpaper and two single beds. The room smelt of stale cigarettes. I wouldn't be surprised if this place had been a crime scene a few times. The small brown desk in the corner had a large, grey bug transmitter that had a tuning knob, a volume knob and a speaker . Stalking over to it, I immediately turned the volume knob up, needing to hear her voice as soon as possible. I couldn't hear anything at first. Just as I was about to tune it, the most angelic voice came through the speaker.