Eva couldn’t believe the panic she was in. The first thing she did was run toward the river. It was at the base of a cliff or eroded embankment praying she wouldn’t find Penny broken at the bottom. She couldn’t have gone this far so quickly. She’s just six years old. That didn’t mean nothing when you spoke about Penny. Hours later, there still wasn’t any sign of her having wandered off. No trail or scent led from the lobby of the resort that matched Penny’s. There were still people looking, and Eva was beside herself. “My dear, if she was injured or dead, we’d have found her by now. I’m sure as soon as she gets hungry that she will appear out of nowhere.” Janine assured Eva, but it didn’t ease either woman’s worry. “There are still lots of places to look. Lots of rooms and many locations still to search. This isn’t a small place.” “I’m aware of that and you’ve made it larger somehow.” Eva would swear on her life there were rooms now that never existed when
“You left a message hon to come see you when I could. What’s up? Your message said it was urgent.” Thomas entered Asia’s office and came to her. “One of your pack’s pups has gone missing. Now they’re looking for them right now.” “Asia, which pup is missing?” “Oh right. Damon’s pup, Penny, is missing. I got a call from Eva almost an hour ago. They made it to the resort and promptly lost Penny before they could check in properly.” “Why didn’t Damon contact me?” “You were in a meeting with you Gammas. I was the first person they could reach. She said Penny’s been missing for over five hours now. The entire resort and James’ pack are searching. So far, there’s no trace of her. They have tracker searching, but it’s near impossible before of the foot traffic through the lobby.” “That pup could be anywhere. She’s tiny and fast for her size. She’s also afraid of nothing that I know of.” “I only met her the once, and she seemed adorable.
“Thanks for keeping me updated, Janine. I’ll have someone at the airport waiting to pick them up. I hope this doesn’t turn into a PR problem for us. It’s the last thing we need and to be a pup of a close friend, too. How’s Eva handling this and Damon?” “I have Eva with the on call healer right now, making sure she doesn’t need to be sedated and Damon’s just beside himself. He’s running himself ragged. It’s been nearly twelve hours now and none of our trackers here have found any sign of her. We’re looking bad, Emily, and I just feel horrible for Damon and Eva. I just finished going through this with James, but he was a grown adult.” Janine sounded like it was getting to her as well. “Then I have the resort pulling my attention away just like pack business.” “Well, let me deal with pack business here this time. I have plenty of sitters for the pups here. So that’s not part of the problem. You can put a skeleton staff in place to run the day-to-day issues. Is Haden
Janine hurried moved through the lobby. There behind one of the square ornamental columns was a half door leading into the wall. A faint light filtered through the doorway. “It connected the lights here to the main power. We think if the lights are on in the lobby, then the lights are on down here.” “Great and no one caught the wiring irregularities?” “They were afraid to cut anything in case they had to fix it again because it was a necessary wire to some obscure location. Someone also didn’t follow up on where it led. So we have a few lights down there. I’d recommend taking light with you because we don’t know how long the bulbs have before they die down there. Also, be careful that electrical is old and quite possibly a fire hazard.” It was one of the maintenance staff saying this to Haden and herself. Either way, the pup entered here. The secret passage went on for some time. It turned corners and steep stairs finally came into view. “I can see w
Eva and Damon were so relieved that Penny was found confused, but healthy and whole. The staff were trying to identify the things found hidden within a sealed off mine shaft and the remains of two people. This wasn’t death by misadventure, that much was true. They found the adult corpse still wearing shackles and, by the feel of them, the person would have never left that place without help. With no light and the adult hobbled to the wall, the pup must have tried to escape to get help and failed. It was all a very sad thing. The pup died only twenty minutes from the exit. Many packs followed Thomas’ pack and inventoried their weapons stores. James planned to start after his surprise mating ceremony. Now they found that their work was far greater. “I don’t know about Emily or James, but Damon, this isn’t a normal stash of weapons. I think they may have been stolen and hidden here. The marking on the crates isn’t a pack symbol I recognize.” Eva lay in bed with Damon
“Hey, I’m so glad you could come. It feels like it’s been forever since we last saw each other.” Eva smiled at Emily before she hugged her. “Are these your two? They’re so tiny!” They stood in the resort’s lobby, greeting each other. Emily’s pups were in their stroller because Janine begged to have time with them. “Yes, finally we can see each and caught up. Yeah, these two are mine. It’s still hard to realize what miracles these two are. Hey, not all of us got the readymade family. How is Penny after that adventure of hers?” James was here looking at the things hidden in the caves or old mines. They had a story here that no one understood. But there were plenty of people looking into and there was no rush to solve it. “She appears no worse for wear, but with her, looks can be deceiving. I’ll explain later. Oh, now grandma wants these two to add to the collection of pups she has in the garden right now. That’s where Penny is. They’re enjoying the day there, learni
Emily was enjoying her afternoon with Eva. It was better than the past. They were adults with their responsibilities lifted just for the day. Emily felt relaxed and pampered, which was a new sensation for her. Another great thing was when Eva told her flatly that she wouldn’t talk about the planning of Emily’s mating ceremony until tomorrow. They were going to let it go for now and not drag the day down with all that planning and decision making. No Beta or Luna talk either. It was just them and having a good time. Emily lost her suspicions about a plot against her as the hours went on. They got massages, ate lunch, and later got facials. Eating lunch was a little odd. Everything was her favourite, but then Janine knew her and ran the place for the pack. After lunch, it was on to manicures and pedicures, followed by hair and makeup. This was around the time Emily had a sneaky feeling someone was pulling the wool over her eyes. Everyone was up to something. She co
“I can’t believe your daughter found this, Damon. Well, I’m glad we found her safe and sound. With the remains gone from the tunnel and the room, we’ll be able to work better at removing the crates and such to a more secure location as they’re recorded.” James was walking with Thomas and Damon through the tunnel, which now boasted fresh lightbulbs and updated wall lamps. They deemed the space secure, though there were repairs set out by the pack to ensure any staff or guests that might wander into it in the future would be safe. “Yes, Asia is with her and Janine right now, and I believe I heard your pups were joining them this afternoon?” Damon walked behind the two alphas as he said this. “That’s the plan. Now I can get Emily settled into life here again in all the ways she’s been hoping for, and I’ll know that she won’t be wandering off looking for better options.” “I made sure that nothing was going on between the two of you before we signed that