Chapter 7

Narrator-

The phone rang endlessly against Miranda's temple. She nibbled on her already shortened fingernails, while the vibrating sound of her unanswered call continued to thrum through the tissue of her eardrum.

Miranda swallowed a gulp while her index finger escaped her lips only to be replaced by the leftmost corner of her ring finger. The taste of faded sweat salt and the slight sour tang of the skin cells filled her tongue, while her anxiety grew with every unanswered ring. The nibbling of her cuticles did not seize until a loud beep indicating the voicemail pierced Miranda's skull. Miranda quickly ended the call then plopped the device on her mattress. Then turning on her back, Miranda laid down.

While staring at the grey tin ceiling of her shed-home, Miranda's mind began slipping along the images stored in her memory box, where sequences of the previous night performed on replay and with each repeat, Miranda seem to gain another piece of the puzzle of the night before. Nonetheless, the more Miranda remembered, the more unbelievable the entire situation appeared. After countless minutes of attempting to retrace her steps from last night, Miranda convinced herself that she must've been dreaming, and truly had no real memories beyond the point of her running around and serving drinks. Miranda reached the resolution that she overworked and passed out from exhaustion.

With this in mind, Miranda laughed faintly and shook her head while telling herself that there was no way she could've been in a car crash, nor could it have been possible for Jamie to carry her and run uphill. Miranda shivered from head to toe while attempting to convince herself that giant wolf-like creatures are not real. But even then, something deep inside Miranda's being thundered with astonishment when she remembered the eyes. His eyes. His voice, and up to this point, his scent.

Miranda hadn't realized it until now, but there was a faint aroma of the forest which clung to her nose hairs and lingered in her nostrils.

This scent was exactly the same aroma she smelled earlier when staring into the woods. Not to mention the swift whiff she caught of it while serving the last rounds of drinks she could remember from last night. Eventually all the recounting rendered Miranda's brain fatigued, and while lying on her back, with soft sleepy blinks, Miranda fell asleep.

While the clueless yet special girl dozed off to sleep in her small shed, deep in the woods her agitated yet mourning Alpha mate had his mind set on finding the late Luna's killer. Alpha Asher sat behind his desk and faced Bennett, while recounting all the details he could remember from the night of the attack, including his chasing of the vampire in the woods. Meanwhile, Ben sat and listened carefully. He made no comment, and only spoke up once he was sure that the Alpha had completed his report.

"And you say that this vampire ran abnormally fast? Even for a creature of it's kind?" Ben interviewed once the Alpha fell quiet.

"His feet barely touched the ground." Asher replied with a firm nod.

At this, Ben took a moment to ponder. His slightly aged brow wrinkled into a focused visage. His fingers were intertwined and provided a resting space for his chin. It was clear that his train of thoughts was running throughout his skull, for Ben's orbs moved about in their sockets, though his gaze targeted nothing in particular.

At the elder's silence, Asher shared a look with Joshua and Deidran but when he heard the hunter draw in a breath, the Alpha returned his gaze on Ben.

"Well Alpha, I am glad to say that I know exactly who the attacker is." Ben declared.

The Alpha released a pleased yet careful breath. Asher could tell that by Ben's tone, the attacker may be an even bigger threat than he initially thought.

"The first detail to know about the attacker is that it's not a man, she's a woman. The best trained tracker this century has ever seen." Ben started on his explanation, and with every description he provided, Asher's shoulders tensed a bit more.

"She is also royalty," Ben continued calmly, "more specifically, she's Damien's daughter." Ben revealed carefully.

"The Mayor's daughter?" Joshua exclaimed in disbelief.

"Precisely." Ben confirmed.

Asher could swear that the sinews of his shoulder blades would pop at any given second due to his stiff posture. The pressure in his ear canal swelled and his wrists tightened. A high-pitched ringing screeched through the cavities of his skull, and for a moment, all the Alpha could focus on was the rage which burned through every cell in his physical frame.

So the Mayor was behind the attack.

"Alpha?" Joshua called upon noticing Asher's rigid form.

"How do we find her?" Asher demanded, his voice low and deadly.

"You don't." Ben replied with a blunt shrug.

"Her reputation precedes her, you don't find her unless she wants you to find her. The best thing I can advise and the closest you can get to her is by finding someone close to her entourage. You know, a guy who knows a guy." Ben suggested.

At this the Alpha paused and nodded pensively.

Meanwhile Ben continued, "I can head out into the hybrid villages to see what I can find out. Rumors, no matter how numerous can sometimes lead to well, a lead." Ben offered, while the Alpha continued listening carefully.

"How long will this trip take?" Questioned Asher.

"If I find something solid, I should have a report by the end of next week." Ben confirmed.

"Good." Asher was quick to dismiss the hunter.

"Thank you for your help Ben, your efforts will not go unrewarded." Asher greeted in finality, then with an extension of his hand towards the door, and a nod of his head, he cued to Bennett that it was time for him to leave.

"The pleasure is mine Alpha." Ben replied then he stood and left without another word.

As soon as the bounty hunter closed the door, Joshua turned to Asher knowing very well that the Alpha already had a plan brewing.

"What are you thinking? Joshua asked, aware that the Alpha wouldn't just sit around for an entire week doing nothing.

"We're going back to the club Sunday night. I'm sure one of those bats will have details on her whereabouts." Asher revealed to his team.

"Why not tonight? Or tomorrow night?" Deidran now asked.

Asher smiled in leaned back in his chair.

"Uh oh." Joshua noted, the Alpha's smile hinting that they'd be busy over the next few nights.

"Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow night, we're gonna pay a visit to a buddy of mine." Asher said with a mischievous yet dangerous grin.

"And the girl?" Deidran pushed further, he was always the most technical out of the three.

Always needing to know the plan to the farthest extent.

At the mention of his human mate, Asher paused, his smile fading.

"Joshua's right, since this attack was not an accident, and the Mayor may be involved, we need to be careful how I handle my human mate. Let's just follow through with the plan for now and move on from there." With those words, Asher dismissed his Beta and Third in Command, unbeknownst to them that tonight he had no intention of resting, but instead he would track down the girl.

#

"Miranda! Miranda!"

Miranda was startled from her mid-day nap at the sound of her aunt's call.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Miranda, you okay in there?" Aunt May called out, while her thick wrist knocked on the wooden door.

Miranda shut her eyelids tightly and released a soft groan before replying "Yes Aunt May, I'm alright."

"Well come on out then. I made you lunch before you head out to Georgie's tonight." Aunt May invited.

Miranda smiled. She knew that coming to her aunt's house meant being spoiled with her cooking. Rubbing her eyes, Miranda lifted her upper body off the bed, and proceeded to stand.

"Coming." Miranda replied, then she stretched and yawned.

"You better hurry." Aunt May said in return.

Miranda hunched over the bed to grab her phone. When she straightened her spine, she headed to the door and found her aunt standing there waiting with a rather impatient expression.

"What were you doing in there?" Her aunt questioned out of curiosity.

"I was taking a nap." Miranda admitted, while closing the door and following after the short, round woman.

"Well, that'll do you some good, but you also have to eat. Tonight is your first official shift, and I don't want you coming home passed out from exhaustion." Her aunt began to rant.

Miranda shook her head knowingly, while her auntie continued on.

"But then again, I don't know what I was expecting. I mean look at you, you're practically a twig. You have to eat and if I have to spoon-feed you myself, I will do it." Aunt May concluded while entering the kitchen with a smiling Miranda in tow.

Miranda sat down at the table and waited for her aunt to join her with the two plates of rice and veggies. Once her aunty was seated, Miranda decided to test her luck and hopefully her aunt would help her discover what happened the night before.

"Aunt May." Miranda spoke up.

"Yes." The aunt replied.

"I want to pick your brain for a bit." Miranda explained.

"Alright, go ahead."

"So I don't have any clear memories of last night. I mean for the most part, I have these brief flashes of events but I'm not sure how real they are." Miranda eased carefully.

"Go on." May encouraged.

"I remember running up and down serving drinks for most of the night. At some point, these three men walked into the club and it was intense, I mean people practically parted so that they could pass, as if they were royalty or something. Anyways, after they sat down, things started going back to normal, but this is where it gets weird." Miranda paused and placed down the spoon she had previously been twirling between her fingers.

"Weird how?" Her aunt inquired.

"Well," Miranda sighed and moved her head from side to side as if she was trying to find the right words, "okay, I keep having these weird images of me having a stare down with one of the men, and each time this happens, it's almost like I keep hearing him say 'Mine'." Miranda stopped, and her orbs took notice of her aunt's posture going tense, but she said nothing.

So Miranda continued.

"Anyway, following that I keep seeing flashes of me being rushed out of the club and into Jamie's car, then there's a car crash, then next thing I know I'm running through the forest. Then while I'm running, I see that I'm being chased by these giant wolves. It's all a mess to be honest." Miranda concluded, though the mind-boggling recollection had her complexion pale with confusion.

Aunt May didn't speak right away. Instead, she made a show of drinking some orange juice from her glass cup. After placing the cup down, Aunt May busied her hands with her cutlery. Miranda waited nervously throughout her aunt's entire stalling performance, but she didn't urge the elderly woman to respond. Her patience was somewhat fueled by the fact that Miranda feared that her aunt may think her crazy.

"That's... quite the dream you've got there." Aunt May finally expressed, and though hesitant and slightly shocked, Miranda felt her shoulders relax.

"Right?" Miranda chuckled, "craziest part, I wasn't even the one running, Jamie carried me on her back after ripping off her car door and my seatbelt. I mean as if right? She's so tiny." Miranda shook her head.

"I think the exhaustion really got to you." Aunt May nodded, causing Miranda to mirror her actions.

"Well, we're going to make sure that you're not exhausted tonight. Now, eat up."

With those words, May ended the conversation. She watched her niece eat across the table and May wanted nothing more than to reveal to Miranda the truths behind what she believed were dreams but May stopped herself. It wasn't time yet. There were secrets in the family that Miranda wasn't aware of but May knew that she couldn't act prematurely.

When aunt May received a call from Miranda asking to house her for a short time, May was somehow less shocked than she ought to be. While her brother-in-law wanted nothing more for Miranda to have a normal life, May feared that sooner or later, Miranda would be drawn back to her roots. May sighed and looked over at Miranda once more. Upon seeing this, Miranda smiled to her aunt, and May returned the gesture, but deep in her heart, May was slightly saddened, her heart beating with cautious optimism. The sweet girl was so oblivious of the supernatural world around her, and this was her home. However, now that she had been claimed by the Alpha no less, May knew that Miranda had forever lost her chance to be normal.