My wolf stood at attention, keening for their Alpha.
Kade was my uncle, our Alpha, and a man that I truly loved. I loved our huge family, the way that we took care of one another, and were always there for each other no matter what.
I did not want to leave the den.
Only, I knew I was running out of time, and so were the rogues taking over the country.
Parker needed me to find our Packmate, to ensure that they weren’t one of the rogues out there. I knew that once I met with Kade, I would be under an Alpha’s orders, and there would be no going back.
I killed two rogues this month alone, and nearly had to kill a third. If the man unconscious in the truck in front of me didn’t wake sane, our Pack would have to kill him too.
A darkness was coming. I could feel it in my bones.
My Pack had been through hell and back, and all I wanted was peace, only I didn’t think it was coming.
My wolf was antsy, tired of staying here, needing to be free, needing to find a resolution that I was afraid would never come.
So I stood on the precipice of two choices, both paths I wasn’t ready to take.
Yet, I knew one would be laid before me, and I wouldn’t have a choice. I was the Tracker of the Redwood Pack, and it was my turn to protect those I loved.
No matter the cost.
Chapter 2
Kaylee
I stood in front of my Alpha, my Uncle Kade, who was shaking his head. My wolf bowed, my gaze not directly meeting Kade’s. It wasn’t out of anger or fear. It was because, while I was a dominant wolf, Kade’s dominance was out of this world. It was why he was Alpha, and I didn’t even have a title within the Pack hierarchy. Oh yes, I was a dominant, and I was an enforcer, but I wasn’t the Enforcer. I wasn’t the Beta, or Heir, or Healer. Those went to my other cousins, the ones the Moon Goddess had blessed with their powers.
I was a Tracker, though, and while most Packs had more than one Tracker, my place had been given to me not because of the Moon Goddess, but because of my genetic disposition. While I understood that, it was always odd not to be the blessed one from the Moon Goddess herself.
“We can’t find Spencer. It’s been nearly a week since we’ve heard from him,” Kade growled, and the others in the room nodded along. “We need to search for him, though, because something’s wrong. I can still feel his connection to the Pack, so he’s alive, but he’s not returning to us. That means something has him. I’m afraid he’ll go rogue if he’s out of touch for too long.”
I stood between Conner and Parker and nodded along, worry in my gut over our Packmate.
Spencer had lost the woman who should have been his mate during the battles. They hadn’t completed the bond, and therefore he hadn’t had the full blowback of magic from losing a mate, but he had lost the potential.
It was a horrible feeling that stretched within one’s soul and scratched beneath the surface for eons, a feeling I never wanted to even think about.
He had been close to going rogue since, though our family and Pack had done our best to keep Spencer sane. To help him feel as if he had a reason for being.
I thought it’d been working. Our Healer, Mark, had been doing his best to help, and the Omega, Drake, was healing any emotional wounds he could. However, it was hard for both of them to do their job when Spencer kept pulling away.
He had gone on a trip for his work in the human world and he hadn’t returned. His boss had said that he had up and quit, leaving them hanging, and it worried all of us.
Only, for now, Spencer didn’t feel like a rogue with the Pack bonds, and that’s what confused all of us.
“I’m going to send out two of my Trackers, though on separate paths,” Kade began.
Gina nodded. “Yes, Nick will go out east, to where he was supposed to have his business meeting, but Kaylee? You’re going to use your power to find him.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, the Pack bonds tugging on me. My power as a Tracker didn’t work the same way as my dad’s did. Nor did it work like any other Tracker. It was off and on and had more to do with my wolf’s mood than it did me.
“You’ll need to meet with the Packs where you go, as you’re going to be on their territory,” Parker explained. He was the Voice of the Wolves, the one that had slowly allowed us to all come together in the new century rather than fighting amongst ourselves. At least he had gotten us on the right path. Parker, although he was my cousin, was no longer even a Redwood. He had mated into a triad of his own with the Talons. As one of his mates was part of the hierarchy, it had made sense for his wolf to choose to go to the Talons. And yet, part of me could still feel him along the Redwood bonds, as if our two Packs were truly becoming one conglomerate over time.
I knew some of the wolves in both Packs were uneasy about it, as change always brought new circumstances we weren’t always ready for, but if it meant that my family could be with me, those that went to the Talons and those that stayed, I was happy.
“When do you want me to leave?” I asked, ignoring Conner’s warning growl beside me.
Kade glared at Conner, and my twin shut right up. My brother did not want me to have anything to do with what was going to happen, and while I understood that, he would have to deal.
“Tomorrow morning’s fine. We can get you out on a flight there. One of our own will fly you on our plane.”
I grinned at that, as did Kade. We had always had small planes to get us where we were going, but now that we were out in the open, we didn’t have to hide exactly who we were and where we got our money.
That meant we had our own private airfield for the Packs and could fly without dealing with identification issues.
After all, some of my family members were well into their three-hundreds. As shifters lived very long lives, having to constantly change their identification for the humans got a little cumbersome. We could use our passports that said the age that we wanted them to know, or we could fly on our own airline.
The world was changing, but we were making do.
“Are you going alone?” Conner asked.
Our Alpha sighed. “She’s a Tracker, a dominant wolf, and my niece. I wouldn’t send her out alone if she couldn’t handle it. You’re needed here, Conner. You know why.”
My twin lowered his head, submitting to his Alpha, and to his uncle’s chiding. I knew why Conner needed to stay. He just didn’t want to.
Though we were in a time of peace, the rogues meant that that peace might break soon. Tension was on the horizon, and that meant all of us needed to be at our best. Conner needed to stop fighting with everybody around him.
I got my orders, I knew when I needed to fly out, but instead of heading to my small home on the other side of the den, I headed to the first home that I’d had within these walls.
My parents were inside, the smell of hearth and home and their three scents wrapped around me. My mother hugged me tight and she kissed the top of my head, her dark curly hair a little wild as she had been outside working.
“I hear you’re going on a trip,” Mom said as she led me in.
“Do you need me to go with you?” Dad asked, and I shot Conner a look.
My twin held up both hands. “I didn’t ask. It has nothing to do with me.”