3. Two

~ Harper’s POV ~

I snuggled deep into the duvet, grateful for the short amount of sleep I was getting at the moment. With everything happening with Zara, my dad, the pack, Katelyn, and the rogues, I have been on my toes for the longest time. Any little rest I could get, I was going to take it. No questions asked.

My wolf felt relaxed too, as the faint smell of Zara surrounded us. My wolf took a deep whiff of her scent, hoping to wrap it around himself permanently. 

I shifted and turned my body around in sleep. I was stuck in the sweet limbo between sleep and conscious awakening. It was a sweet place to be.

Last night, after my father had woken up and after the blasted meeting, I had let my wolf let off some steam. He had run for hours and was still surprisingly still feeling restless and ready to fight. I wasn't surprised when he had come to stop at the familiar house, after exhausting his muscles. 

I had resisted going to Zara's house to sleep for some time now. I had my reasons, one of the main being that it was creepy beyond hell. I was turning to a stalker werewolf mate, who slept in his mate's bed and jokes apart, it wasn't good for my mental state. I couldn't afford to act like this when the pack was depending on me, especially after my dad was bedridden. The pack didn't deserve a half-assed and lost alpha, who wasn't right in the head. I wanted to be as responsible for them as I could be and sleeping in my AWOL mate's bed wasn't one of them.

But after the fight with Rafael, Aiden's dad, my wolf was feeling antsy so, I had relented and decided to give my wolf a little peace by agreeing to sleep in Zara's home, in her bed.

I felt a gentle hand caress over my head and I subconsciously leaned into the touch. I knew it was happening in my dream but I couldn't help but feel relaxed. No one had ever really caressed me or made me feel loved after my grandparents died. My parents were pretty much busy with their drama and the pack duties to care for and love me. I didn't think my mother had ever told me a single bedtime story, so I knew it was my lonely childhood being manifested into my dreams. 

"I know you love her." The lovely whispered in my head and I immediately knew this female voice was talking about Zara. She had to talk about Zara because there was no one else I loved or wanted to be with. "She will come back soon. You are a good man and you deserve her." The voice continued to whisper in my head and I felt good knowing that this voice believed that I was good enough for Zara. If anything, she was too good for me and me. This voice was reassuring me that Zara would give me a chance in the future and that was all I wanted, a chance, with her, with my mate, to set everything right and explain myself. I didn't strain to recognize the voice or wonder who this woman was but I was content with her caress and the wonderful promise of being given a chance.

The voice continued speaking but sleep pulled me into its deep recesses and I let myself drift away. 

I groaned as I felt the shrill ringtone of my phone. I immediately jumped up on the bed, afraid the noise would alert Zara's family. Sunlight was filtering in through the blinds on the window and by the time on the phone, I knew I had got my much-needed sleep. I rubbed my eyes to wake myself up and swiped the screen to accept the call, without seeing who was calling.

Aiden's frantic voice swept away the remaining vestiges of sleep from my system. "Harper, you need to get to the police station near Clove Street." 

"Wait, hold on." I closed my eyes to clear away the blurriness in them. "Clove Street? You mean the one closest to our old elementary school?"

"Yeah, that's the one." 

I immediately got up, cranked my muscles, and started wearing my shoes. "What happened? Why are you acting like this?" 

"I will tell you once you get here. You need to see this." With that, he hung up the phone, leaving me irritated and in suspense. 

I quickly laced my boots and made-up Zara's bed, just like I found it last night. I opened the window of her bedroom and jumped out of it. Landing on my feet, I looked around to see if anyone had noticed me acting unlike a human. Satisfied, I started running towards the police station, cursing my wolf because I couldn't bring my car to Zara's street, in case of being accused of a creepy stalker.

I arrived at the police station in record time and entered the building. I was immediately greeted by Peter, a werewolf Deputy, who had been asked to blend in with the humans and look after the town. He bowed to me in respect and I stiffly nodded at him. It was so weird, being bowed down to, by the people who were far older than me. But I guess, that's what happens when you have such a big responsibility on your shoulders.

Peter led me to a room, where Aiden and Fred, another werewolf police officer, were present, standing in front of a table, scattered with pictures and what looked like evidence.

"Why am I here?" I asked the men in the room, looking at their graves and somber faces, waiting for bad news.

"The rogues," Aiden said and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Rogues? But this is human territory." I wondered out loud, dread settling in my stomach.

"But they did. Take a look." Aiden said and pointed to the pictures displayed on the table.

I moved forward to take in the pictures displayed before me and was shocked. The pictures were of a crime scene, a murder to be exact. The murder of three children, who looked to be around seven or eight years old. Two boys and a girl were brutally murdered and their bodies were photographed as evidence. Their necks were slit open and their hands and legs are bent unnaturally. Dry blood was around the bodies which meant that the bodies were discovered much later than the actual murder. 

I picked up several pictures to look closely at the victims. The young faces were rusted in pain and I tried my best not to overlook the horrendous aftermath but rather focused on their identities. After staring for a few minutes, I realized that these children didn't belong to the pack, which meant that they were humans.

The rogues attacked a bunch of human children?

"This happened last night. Their bodies were discovered early in the morning. These children must have been going to school and we're abducted in the way. The school called their parents and told them that their children didn't come to school and that's when the parents called the police. Two hours later, the bodies of these children were found in the woods closest to here."

My mind was spinning with the information Fred was giving to me. It just didn't make any sense. The rogues knew that they had the packs' attention, so why go to these lengths to send a message or whatever? 

My throat was parched now. All the bliss I had felt while sleeping was long gone now. My mind was spinning in different directions, trying to put all the pieces together.

"What makes you think that this murder was committed by the rogues?" I asked and put the pictures back on the table. I moved the other pictures around but they were snapshots of the crime scene, in the woods where the bodies were discovered. Blood was splattered on the trees; the grass and it looked like a set of a horror movie. 

I looked at Fred, who took out a plastic bag out of his back pocket. He handed me the piece of evidence, which turned out to be a piece of paper. "This was found on the scene. This piece of paper made me sure that the rogues were tied up in this mass murder."

I fingered the paper and found a message, a clear handwritten note. So, Papa Alpha is still alive!

My eyebrows shot up in surprise when I read the message on the note. Dad's waking up from a coma had been kept a secret from the pack because of security reasons. Only a selective hospital staff knew he was up and they were compelled by me to not say a word to anyone. It was purely a protective measure to throw off the rogues for a while and keep him protected in his vulnerable state. How the hell did they come to know about it, I had no idea, and that was a big problem.

"This note is kept out of the evidence. The human cops don't know about it. I knew what it looked like, so I immediately called Beta Aiden as soon as I could." Fred said, and I internally applauded his presence of mind.

I kept the plastic bag containing the note in the pocket of my jeans. These rogues weren't some normal run-of-the-mill, group of crazy wolves who killed without motive. It looked like these wolves had some sort of personal vendetta against the pack and they were tactfully and strategically planning revenge. 

Harper, how did they know the alpha had woken up, Aiden mind-linked me.

I have no idea, I replied and that frustrated me to no end. If I wanted to bear these rogues and keep my pack safe, I needed to know these things. 

"I don't understand. Why would these rogues attack human children?" Peter asked and I looked at him with a grim expression.

"It's a power move," I said, the note feeling like a heavy one in my pocket. 

"They want to tell us that they're not only targeting the pack now. They will target anyone and everyone who is under our care, which includes the humans in the town." Aiden remarked.

"They want us to be afraid. They want us to know they could be anywhere and everywhere and lash out at us when we least expect it." I wondered out loud. "Aiden, get our best trackers to track the rogues. Give them incentives. I want their location found as soon as possible."

Aiden nodded and rushed out of the room. I nodded to the two cops and walked out of the station, feeling frustrated about the three children who had their whole lives ahead of them. They were put in the crossfire because of the pack. I couldn't even begin to imagine how their parents must be feeling. Us wolves had vowed to protect this town's people and this was probably the first time we had failed.