IV

Dylan

Five Years Later

I go over the prison reports in front of me for the third time today. Something isn’t adding up. I saw Kaiya’s wolf, so I know she has one. But reports say she has no evidence of even having a wolf spirit. Her healing is decent, better than human healing, but not up to par with a typical werewolf whose wolf spirit is healthy. She never shifts, even when forced into a fighting ring. There is definitely something wrong. 

I’m jittery and nervous. I’m also more than just tempted to storm out of here and go to her. I want to ask her questions and see for myself what has happened to her, but the other side of me tells me I am a fool for trusting her or anyone, mate bond or not. It’s five minutes until three o'clock.  She will be released at three on the dot. 

I close my eyes and inhale deeply. 

I remember that fateful day five years ago. Kaiya’s sixteenth birthday. We didn’t expect her to get her wolf or transform that early. Which leaves another mystery for us. Is she truly an Omega? Her tiny stature would suggest she is, but no one knows who her parents are. My father told me to drop it and never speak of her again, which makes me suspect he knows things he isn't divulging.

I was stunned with how adorable Kaiya’s wolf was and how much I wanted to touch her fur and nuzzle my face against her softness and even more stunned to learn she is our Fated Mate. I acted so poorly when I tried insisting on rejecting her, but ever since mom died and dad turned bitter, I have been afraid to be like him. In retrospect, he is exactly what I have been turning into…a cold, bitter man who shows little emotions. 

So much that happened that day, just doesn’t add up. I blame myself for some of it and Ace’s stupid knack for thinking with the wrong head, certainly didn’t help anything. If he hadn’t fallen for Rebecca’s charms and just smartly stayed single until we found our Fated Mate…Had I not given Kaiya a hard time for being an Omega and just accepted our bond…I am sure we would not be in the same position we are in now.

I am not certain Kaiya didn’t push Rebecca down the stairs, but I know Rebecca well enough not to trust her to be as innocent as she pretends to be. There must be some way to discern the truth.

A knock at my office door rouses me.

“Come in!” I call out looking at the clock…two minutes to three. “You are early, Octavius! You aren't due for twelve more minutes!”

“Some Alpha, sir! I have found the literature you requested, sorry it has taken many years to track it down, it is a rare piece of our pack’s history. But if you don’t mind me asking, why would you want a practically ancient book of prophecies?” Octavious asks with furrowed brows. “I had to go deep into the archives and even then it was misfiled under a totally different category and I only happened upon it by accident while assisting another pack historian in search of old nursery rhymes.”

“I have been doing some research into an odd phenomenon and swore my great grandmother told me a story about one of these prophecies. I am not at liberty to say which one, just yet,” I explain.

“It is quite curious. No Alpha typically concerns themselves with such things, but you are unique. If that is all, I will leave this with you and you can summon me when you are done with it,” Octavius says.

I nod and Octavius gets up to leave then softly hums, “I hope the next mating ball brings you your Luna, sir.” 

“I wouldn’t bet on it, “ I sigh, knowing exactly where my Luna is walking out of at this very moment.

I turn to Prophecy 3,224, by a seer named Agess Moorehouse. She is denoted as a hybrid werewolf-witch.

“The true Alpha will return when two shadows rule over the pack as one. The Alpha shall rise and truths will prevail. The pack will return to peace and prosperity only when the Red Shadow Wolf is born,” I read out loud. I mutter, “I know this prophecy and several others named The Red Shadow Wolf, but this one is the one calling to something inside me…what does it mean?” 

I find a scrap with vaguely familiar handwriting on it…my mother’s handwriting. 

I read the notes, “Who is the Red Shadow Wolf? Who is True Alpha? ‘Ashcroft’ could be a shadowy landscape, but does that make Dylan and Ace the two Shadows? Only time will tell, but I think this could be important.”

“Mom was researching this too?” I ask the empty room.

‘It seems that way,’ my wolf, Tamesis, says in my mind. ‘I'm certain we are getting closer to the truth.’

Another knock disturbs me, but I am not expecting any other visitors. I have a lot of paperwork to do. I suspect from the heady floral scent oozing under my door who this visitor is and quickly stow away the ancient book of prophecies and mom’s notes on the prophecy.

“Come in!” I call out.

A maid opens the door and bows out of the way for Rebecca who dismisses her by saying, “That will be all for the moment, Flossy.”

“Hello, Rebecca. What brings you to my office today?” I ask, not bothering to mask my displeasure. “I have a lot of work to get done.”

“I know, but I thought you would like to have some company,” she says, wheeling herself further into my office. “You work too much! You hardly socialize. At least, your brother finds time for me, but you don’t find time for anyone. How will you find a Luna? You could choose me.”

“I’m not interested. I’m not Ace. Getting laid is not my priority,” I huff.

“You could probably use the stress relief,” Rebecca sighs and then pouts. “I heard the wench who did this to me is a free woman now and yet I remain bound to this wheelchair and unable to remember why.”

“I’m certain that is frustrating,” I reply, feeling a sense of sympathy, even if I am torn and confused over what I should be feeling and what really happened.

I lean back in my office chair and tap my pen on the surface of my large oak desk, while I assess the scene before me. I know how Ace responds to Rebecca pouting, does she pout hoping I will fall over her the same way? Or does she pout because she is experiencing a genuine emotion? I never can tell.

“I’m sorry, Rebecca, but I really must finish this paperwork and I am expecting an important call,” I say, getting up and opening the door for her to leave.

She pouts again but requests that I sit next to her at dinner tonight and I agree, and then she rolls herself out the door. She is paralyzed from the waist down, which is rare to happen with werewolves, but I am no doctor.

Before I even return all the way to my desk my cell phone rings and I smile when I see Damien’s name flash across the screen.

“What’s the news?” I say as I answer the call.

“She was picked up by another Omega in a beat up old car,” Damien replies through the phone. “Should I bring her in, boss?”

“No! Not yet! Trail her for me,” I reply before cutting the line.