Chapter four - Cain

I was summoned to my father's office early this morning to meet with a visiting Alpha from a nearby pack.

He's given me the lecture about being polite and respectful, as if I'm five years old again and likely to embarrass him by saying something stupid.

A knock comes at the door, and Gene bows to my father before showing in a man around my father's age and a blonde girl who shares his almost translucent blue eyes.

"Get out, now." Kade, my wolf growls angrily in my head when the girl smiles shyly at me. 

I've got a terrible feeling about this and am about to get up when my father's hand clamps down on my arm.

"Sit down boy." His voice bellows in my mind, clearly feeling confident that I'm not going to lose my temper in front of the visitors. I'm not so sure, Kade's desperate to get as far away from whatever this is as possible.

My father's hand grips harder and when I look at him, he has a smile fixed on his face, greeting the visitor warmly, as though they're great friends.

"Alpha Godwin, so good of you to visit us. I trust your journey went well." My father's voice is smooth, calm and friendly, the perfect image of an Alpha. "Young Cateline, you get more beautiful every time we meet. I was so sorry to hear about your mate's passing."

"We need to leave." Kade is almost snarling at this point and it's taking everything in me to stop him taking control and running from the room.

"Cain, why don't you show Cateline around the pack while Alpha Godwin and I talk business." He gives my arm a firm squeeze, letting me know this isn't a request.

"Sure." I stand, striding from the room with Cateline surprisingly able to keep pace beside me.

We pass the training fields, the east woods and head towards the lake in relative silence, the only conversation is when I point out landmarks and she replies politely.

"I'm sorry about taking up your time." She says suddenly, her back to me while she stares out across the water. "Our father's have an idea that we could become a couple, since we have both lost our mates. I'm guessing from your reaction to me that you had no idea and to be honest I'm glad. It's far too soon for me to even contemplate being with someone else. I heard you'd known one another your whole lives?"

"Yes." My voice comes out hoarse and I have no desire to open up about Tegwen to anyone, let alone this woman I've never met before. 

"My Harry was from my pack, but I barely knew him more than thinking he was attractive for years." She turns to look at me, tears in her eyes but a small smile on her face. "He was a bit older than me. Popular. Kind. Handsome. All the girl's fancied him so, even though I'm an Alpha's daughter, I never expected him to notice me. I didn't know but he was hovering outside my birthday party, waiting for midnight to come, hoping he would be my mate. He was killed four months ago in an attack on our borders. My father suspects it may be the same wolves that killed your mate, that they're targeting Alpha mates, but I've not heard of any others being killed, so I think it's just a coincidence."

"She talks too much." Kade grumbles in my mind and although I agree with him, at least she's talking about herself and not about Tegwen.

"My mark disappearing was like losing him twice. I know that must sound ridiculous." She rubs her neck, then looks up at me as though seeking reassurance but I don't know what to say, my mark's still there, as fresh as the night Tegwen put it there. "I thought your mate was killed nearly a year ago?"

"Nine months, or so my father tells me." I can't help staring at her neck, it's completely clear, as though there was never a mark in the first place. When I finally drag my eyes from her neck to her face, her mouth is open, her hand over it and her eyes wide in shock. "When did your mark go?"

"The first full moon after he died." Her voice is barely a whisper. I think back to my father, trying to visualise the mark on his neck, but I can't. I've avoided everyone except for my father and Darius ever since it happened, and no one's ever mentioned that my mark should be long gone by now, so there's only one possible explanation.

Tegwen is still alive! I need to find her!

"Thank you." I don't wait for Cateline to respond, I just shift and start running towards the border where she supposedly died, as if there might be some clue still there after all this time.

There's nothing around, but now I know she's alive, nothing will stop me finding her, so I keep going, past the border and towards the next pack.

"Single Rogue sighted on the Moors. Tracked scent to a house nearby but recently vacated. Human scents also present." The alert comes through while I'm running, but Kade is no longer interested in that, he's on a mission. An ill thought through one, but he needs this and he might find something, so I'll let him run until he exhausts himself, then figure out our next steps.

"Darius, can you deal with the rogue?" I connect with him and then remember Cateline, who's probably still trying to figure out how to get back to the packhouse. "Also, can you send someone to get Alpha Godwin's daughter, Cateline, from the lake. Don't tell my father where I am."

"Already walking her back. She told me what happened. I didn't know about the mark thing either. Are you ok? Where are you?" He's so reliable, he'll be a brilliant Beta when my father finally hands over control of the pack. And he'll have to, as soon as I find Tegwen, he'll have no excuse not to.

"Looking for Tegwen. Kade needs to run, I'll try to be back by tomorrow. Monday at the latest." I can feel the connection getting fainter, so I close it off, settling in and trying to map out our route so that we can pause at the next pack's borders and request permission to cross without causing too much of a scene.

~*~

We ran for hours with only a few brief stops to speak to wolves in the packs we needed to cross. Thankfully, our reputation precedes us and they were more than willing to let us pass through with only a small escort to ensure continued favourable pack relations.

Kade doesn't seem to be running out of steam yet and I'm concerned about how far we've gone without a plan.

"We need to go back and investigate the border more thoroughly." I tell him, but he ignores me, his pace steady, as though I've not even spoken. "Kade, turn around, this won't find her."

"You don't know that. We might pick up her scent." He sniffs the air to demonstrate, but there's nothing, obviously. "We should have been questioning the Rogue's, not just killing them."

"Then turn back, we'll find some nearby and see what they know." He skids to a stop, mud flying through the air and the wolf escorting us flips around in confusion before following us back the way we've just come.

As though he's got an abundance of energy, Kade sprints back towards home, ignoring my father calling us as we get closer and instead sniffing the air for Rogue's.

He finds a scent nearby, following it to a cave about a mile outside of our border and this time he's methodical when he sees the three males, sleeping in their human forms beside a fire.

Injuring them quickly, just enough to immobilise them, but leaving their vocal cords unharmed.

Once he's satisfied that they're going nowhere, he allows us to shift so I can talk to them.

"What the fuck? We're outside your borders." The largest one spits, cradling his shattered legs into place while he heals.

"A red headed woman was attacked on our borders around nine months ago, taken. Where is she?" The man shakes his head, flinching back, his face contorting in pain when I move closer and push on his knee. "Fuck. Stop. Please. We don't know anything." He breathes heavily through his teeth as I slowly increase the pressure. The sharp bone showing against skin. "We only moved down here two months ago. There aren't any others in this area, it was meant to be safe. We don't want to cross your territory, we just want to live here freely. No trouble. I swear. Please, stop."

"He's telling the truth." Kade growls. I reluctantly remove my hand, his instinct is to kill the man, to kill all of them, but the knowledge that Tegwen's still alive has me thinking more clearly.

"I'll let you live on one condition." I tell him, looking at the other two who are holding their legs carefully in the same way as the first. They look at me, waiting, knowing they have very little choice. "Find out where the red headed woman is. I want her back. Immediately."

"There ain't no one left in the area. You killed them all." One of the men pipes up. He's the smallest of the three, dark blonde hair and a scar running down his cheek which surprises me, it must have been a horrific wound to have left a scar, but then, it's well known rogue's live a difficult life. It's unnatural to live outside a pack, our wolves need the company of others, so those that choose to do so must have a very good reason. They're not welcomed by many packs, if any, which means they struggle for food on the outskirts, fighting amongst themselves and with border patrols for any good piece of land.

"You find the redhead anyway you can. Tegwen Leila Farr. You find her for me and I'll ensure you can live here for however long you choose." All three of them perk up, nodding their heads in unison.

"We're going to find her." I tell Kade as I make my way back to my room.

I haven't slept here in months, but I keep the clothes she was wearing the day she disappeared there. 

Disappeared not died!

I'm relieved but frustrated, I should have known this before, I shouldn't have just accepted she was gone. Anything could be happening to her and I've done nothing to try to find her. For months I've just assumed she's dead.

"Your father is furious." Darius appears in the doorway of my room and I shrug my shoulders, knowing he won't do anything to me now, especially without Gene there to stop me from killing him.

"You didn't tell him she was still alive, did you?" I snap my head in his direction and he shakes his head, slowly. He won't meet my eye, there's something he's not telling me that he thinks he should. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. I don't think, anyway. Give me until tomorrow to work it out and I'll tell you. I just wanted to check in and see that you're ok." He rolls his lips into a thin line, letting me know that whatever he's hiding, it's big. But, I trust him, so I'll give him the day if that's what he wants. I'm more interested in finding Tegwen anyway. "Did you eat?"

"No. I'm not hungry." He scoffs, leaving the room and returning with two plates piled high with food. 

"Eat. Talk. We'll plan." I nod, grabbing the box of her clothes and spreading them out on the floor, going over every inch of them to see if I missed anything at all, while telling him about what happened with Cateline and the Rogues.

He nods, but he's distracted and yet again, I'm wondering what he's thinking about, but he just tells me to give him another day to figure it all out.

I'm wondering if he's found his mate. Perhaps the rogue he dealt with today, or one of the humans in the house. It's unusual but not unheard of to have a human mate. It certainly complicates the process because while they're affected by the bond, they don't feel it like we do, and the knowledge of werewolves can frighten them away.

The more I think about it, the more this makes sense and I feel bad for him, so I won't push it, instead, I focus on Tegwen, but the only scents that still linger on her clothes are hers and my father's, which only further enrages Kade.

"Why don't you go find those rogue's again tomorrow, see if they know anything? I bet they'll be searching the minute they heal enough to move with the promise of a permanent home." Darius suggests and I nod, boxing up Tegwen's clothes before Kade goes after my father again.