Chapter 69

Elliot’s POV

Claws dug into the back of my shoulder blade, and I hissed in pain as I whipped around, canines extended. I ripped out the throat of the rogue attacking me, blood splattered everywhere, coating my wolf’s fur. My wolf was huge and was no match for these rogues. My warriors and Beta were also fighting; they were the strongest bunch of warriors in the world, and I was proud of them.

Though we lost some, I was determined not to lose any more of my men.

“Alpha!” Leo shouted through the mindlink. I whipped around to see him being surrounded. There were so many rogues that my mind was spinning.

Where did they all come from and what did they want?

I leaped in the middle of the circle surrounding my Beta and clawed at them, using my Alpha strength to tear them apart. Once I got a good leverage on them, my Beta helped wipe the rest of them out.

Leo’s wolf was also large, but I was much bigger. We both had razor-sharp teeth and piercing yellow eyes. My wolf was all black and his wolf was dark grey. Most of my pack were black or grey wolves. Omegas typically had light grey wolves and Alpha’s typically had black ones. All the others usually had dark grey, but sometimes they had brown or orange as well.

My mind shifted to Silver, and I wondered what her wolf would look like if she were to have one. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of our wolves running together. I wished more than anything that I did the official Luna ceremony for her and marked her so that I could mindlink her and figure out if she was okay. I’m sure she was worried about me just as I was worried about her.

“Is that all of them?” I asked after what felt like an eternity. We’ve been fighting for the past hour and the fight has been ongoing since before I arrived.

“I can’t tell,” Leo said, stepping beside me and searching the perimeter of the forest.

“Alpha! We found something north of the border!” One of my gammas mindlinked.

He sent the mindlink to both Leo and I; we both looked at one another and took off in that direction. When we got there, a bunch of my gammas were already there; most of them in wolf form, and some had shifted into their human forms. They stood naked, though it wasn’t a big deal because nudity was common amongst shifters. However, for reasons like this, we kept a bunch of chests around our territory with different-sized clothes so we could change into them if we had to shift.

The gamma that had mindlinked us had already shifted into its human form and was crouching down in front of a piece of fabric. I paused when I saw the familiar symbol on the fabric; it was part of a shirt that must have been shredded when a shifter shifted into their wolf form without removing their clothes first.

I smelled it deeply and a growl escaped my snout.

“It’s a rogue,” I said through the link for them all to hear.

“But look at the symbol, Alpha,” the gamma holding the fabric pointed out; I had already noticed the symbol on the fabric, but it didn’t make any sense.

“It’s the symbol of the Darknight pack,” I murmured through the link, still not sure exactly how it was possible. “Why would a rogue steal the clothes of someone in Shirley’s pack?”

“Or perhaps the rogue was from her pack,” Leo suggested.

I shook my head.

“It’s possible, but they wouldn’t be allowed to wear this article of clothing with the Darknight symbol. Shirley would have made sure they were stripped of everything that had to do with her pack,” I said simply.

“Or maybe she was the one who sent them,” Luca muttered; he was still in his wolf form, and I could see his piercing yellow eyes and the scowl on his wolf’s face as he spoke those words through the mindlink.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I replied.

“You broke the ties with the Darknight pack. Perhaps this is their way of starting a war,” Leo said.

“By using rogues?”

“Are we sure they are rogues?” Another gamma asked. “Maybe we just thought they were because they attacked us. They could just be part of Shirley’s pack.”

“No, I know the scent of her pack vs. the scent of rogues,” I said in a growl. “Something is off… something we aren’t aware of…”

Before anyone could say anything else, a new voice appeared in my mind; it was a mindlink from a packmate.

“A…Alpha…” a female voice stammered in my head.

I frowned; I channeled my Alpha power to see the face of the woman speaking in my mind. Emma came into view; I don’t talk to Emma often; she’s a quiet one. She hangs out with Cara and Alison, and Silver has come to know her as a friend over this past month. Emma works in one of our pack clothing stores and I know she aspires to be a designer. She kind of just does her own thing and I never really had a reason to engage with her. She’s never mindlinked me out of the blue like this and I immediately grew worried.

“Emma,” I greeted. “What is it?”

“I think Silver is in trouble,” she whimpered, her tone even though the mindlink was quivering.

“What do you mean Silveri s in trouble??” I asked, my tone raising and growling. I knew I was scaring her, but I didn’t care. If my wife was in trouble, I needed to get to her now.

“She… she came here to check on everyone and there was a doctor who gave me medication. She subtly told me not to take the medication, so I only pretended to take it and spit it out once the doctor left…”

“Back up, what doctor?” I asked through my teeth.

“Doctor Kyle Laurence—”

“He’s away at the conference for the next week,” I hissed. “There’s no possible way he’s here right now.”

“That’s what he told us his name was…” Emma cried. “Silver was skeptical of it too, which is why she told me not to take the medication. The doctor… or whoever he was… asked to speak with her outside. I knew something was wrong, so I went to the door and that’s when I heard screaming in the other rooms. I think they gave medication to everyone here and now there’s a ton of screaming like they are all in pain.”

I cursed loudly, feeling furious that this was happening to my pack. What the fuck was Silver doing at the pack hospital anyways? She was supposed to be safe at the packhouse.

“What happened with Silver?” I asked, trying not to lose my patience.

“I saw them stab her with something, a syringe. She screamed in pain and then she passed out…” she whimpered. “They carried her away and then I hid and mindlinked you.”

My heart started to race at a rapid speed.

“Did you hear them saying anything? Like where they were taking her?”

“No, sir,” she sniffled. “I didn’t hear anything. I was too afraid, and I ran back into my room. I’m hiding right now. I’m afraid they are going to come back… I don’t get why they would do this. They smelled like pack doctors, but they are acting like….” Her voice trailed off and I knew it troubled her to say what was on her mind.

“Like rogues,” I finished for her, staring at the fabric my gamma still held.

“Yes,” she whispered. “How is it possible that rogues could smell like pack?”

The same way Shirley’s packmates could smell like rogues, I thought to myself. Their scent had changed.

But how was that possible?

I looked at Beta Leo who was watching me carefully in his wolf form. He knew from the look in my eyes that I was mindlinking with someone.

“Just stay there, Emma. Keep yourself hidden no matter what. I’ll be there shortly,” I assured her.

“Alpha… please hurry. I’m so scared and I think Silver is in serious trouble,” she croaked.

I ended the mindlink without another word and turned to face my warriors.

“We need to get to the pack hospital,” I said through the mindlink to them each. They all turned to look at me.

“What’s going on?” Leo asked.

“They took Silver,” I said, the words coming out like vomit. “I think I know how the rogues keep getting into our lands and I think I can explain why these rogues have the clothes of Shirley’s pack.”

“Why?” Luca asked.

“Because not all of them here are rogue,” I said through my teeth.

“But they smell like rogues,” Luca reminded me.

I nodded my big wolf head.

“Yes, which brings me to my next point,” I said, fury rising in me as I turned away from them, intent on getting to the hospital and finding my wife as soon as possible.

“Which is….?” Leo urged.

“They are somehow changing their scents.”