Chapter 4

Callan

I woke up today hoping for a quieter day than yesterday. After Harlow’s disappearing act and my mother’s overreacting, it was an endless night. I was hoping for a day without hearing a single word about the witches. I had breakfast with my parents and my sister before I went to work in my office with Brett. The guard I had assigned to Harlow told me she was in the library, so I concentrated on this ball in the coming months.

“Alpha,” my guard Mitch called through the mind link. He sounded extremely nervous, so immediately I was worried. “Harlow is missing again, I’m at the library and she’s gone,”

“I’m on my way,” I told him, sighing, as I let the office with Brett on my heels. “We should get her chipped,” my wolf jokes, although at this point it’s looking like a good idea.

“Alpha, I think someone has stolen your car,” another of my guards told me.

“You think?” I asked.

“Well, it drove off, but there was no one driving it,”

“Meet me at the library.” I closed the mind link and rubbed my head. Brett asked what was up and I explained it to him. He was slightly amused at the thought of Harlow stealing my car. I, on the other hand, was more worried that she had been kidnapped. I tried to calm myself as she had wandered off last night and turned up fine.

By the time we got to the library, my mom was already there pacing around. Damn to hell whoever called my mom.

“Alpha,” Mitch spoke as I approached. “Harlow was in the library all morning, then went to your office to leave you a note, went to the kitchen for snacks, then came back to the library. Your mother went in to see if she wanted lunch and found that she was gone.”

I nodded. “She didn’t leave me a note. I think she stole my car keys.”

“What?” my mother snapped. “Why would you think that?”

“My car has gone missing,” I told her, looking at Gerard, who appeared at the top of the stairs. “What happened?” 

“Your car drove off the pack a little under an hour ago. At first we assumed it was you until we heard Harlow was missing. The weird thing is when we checked the security cameras, it looked like no one was inside it.”

“Damit, she’s with the girl from the coven again,” Brett murmured.

“They could have forced her to go,” my mom murmured, holding back tears.

“We don’t know that, mom. She went to the office to get the keys. She had plenty of opportunities to alert someone,”

“Maybe she was scared,” my mom was now full on sobbing.

“If I may, ma’am,” Mitch spoke softly to my mother. “Harlow was very excited when she came out of the office and back to the library. I think wherever they went, she’s a willing participant.”

My mom still didn’t look convinced and was now clinging to me. I asked Brett to phone around the closest packs and ask if they could keep an eye out for her, assuming they could see her of course, also to send someone to town in case she snuck off to see her boyfriend while I took my mom back to her suite.

By the time I got there, my dad was already there with both of Brett’s parents.

My mom retold the story, with me jumping in to remind her that Mitch said she was excited. Keira thought if the girl was from the coven, then Harlow had to have been kidnapped. Both of the dads were ready to march to the coven to bring her back even though we had no clue if she was even there, not to mention neither of them have any powers, so would be no match for the witches. I was glad when Brett arrived back, as he was always the voice of reason. He got both our mothers to stop crying and stop our dads from thinking of starting another war. Maybe the witches wanted us to think Harlow was in danger to force our hand. We sat around discussing our next move when we heard from the Cold River pack someone had spotted my car outside a roadside diner. By the time they had realised what was going on and the Alpha had sent one of his warriors back, the car was gone. According to the server, the two girls had lunch. They seemed happy and told her they were on a day trip and may pop in on their way home. That calmed the parents down, but it still didn’t answer the crucial question: what the hell are they up to?. 

An hour later I got my answer when I received a phone call from Alpha Mark from Blue Moon to inform me my sister and her friend Cali McGowan had been there and, as far as he was aware, they were headed home.

“Who was that? What’s going on?” my mom shouted, verging on hysteria again.

I sat down across from my mom and Keira. “Alpha Mark from Blue Moon called as the girls had been there and they were now heading home.”

“Why did they go there?” My dad asked.

I explained to them what I had been told about Cali’s background and what they were looking for. “Did he describe this Cali girl to you, seeing as no one here has seen her apart from Harlow.” Brett asked from the kitchen while making us all sandwiches.

“He can do one better.” I grinned at him. “He has video surveillance outside his pack and he’s going to send me a screenshot of her.”

“Nice.” Brett laughed just as my phone dinged.

I opened the picture to see Harlow standing next to a tall girl with long wavy dark brown hair, enormous emerald coloured eyes, a button nose and a beautiful full mouth. Damn, she was gorgeous, but also strangely familiar. I had barely finished looking at the photograph when Brett yanked the phone out of my hand.

“Karina,” he whispered softly, his eyes filling with tears as he looked towards his mother, who jumped up and grabbed the phone.

“That’s Karina,” Keira sobbed into Derek’s shoulder as he stared at the phone in shock. “She’s alive, all this time she’s alive,”

“Are you sure?” I asked, looking at all the crying adults.

It was my dad who eventually answered me. “She’s nearly sixteen years older than the last time we saw her, but it’s definitely Karina.”

“Cali,” Keira whispered with a smile on her face. “When Karina was born, Brett couldn’t say her name properly and pronounced it Kalina and when she was older, she would say Cali.” She smiled at Derek and Brett before turning to me. “What do we do? How do we get her home?”

“We go to the coven and drag her back,” Derek snapped.

Brett shook his head. “We wait for them to return and tell Harlow who she really is.”

“What if Karina isn’t with her?” Keira asked, her lip trembling.

Brett laughed. “I doubt she will be with her. They will have guessed we know about them taking the car and will expect us to be waiting for them, but Harlow will probably be able to get in contact with her. It’ll be ok Mom, she’ll be home soon.”

Brett and I left while Brett’s parents were discussing redecorating Karina’s bedroom to have it ready for her homecoming. I didn’t have the heart to bring up the fact that she may not want to come home. We don’t know how much she has been brainwashed by the coven, who is the only family she has ever really known.

“Brett” I asked cautiously.

“I know,” he smiled sadly. As he locked eyes with me, I could feel his sadness as if it was my own. “I know it won’t be as easy as my parents think it will be, but we have to try.”

“We don’t know what the witches have told them.”

“I understand Callan, but Alpha Mark says that she’s looking for her family, so that has to mean something.”

I opened my mouth to reply when I received a mind link from the warrior I had stationed at the gate to let me know Harlow had driven through the gate. I relayed the information to Brett, and we ran behind the pack house to where I usually parked my car to wait for Harlow. The longest two minutes of my life as Brett was practically bouncing on his toes impatiently and he had the door yanked open before Harlow had the car in park.

“Where’s Karina? Is she here? Is she cloaked?”

“Who’s Karina?” Harlow asked, obviously confused, looking between me and Brett.

“Karina, if you can hear me, you’re safe. You don’t have to hide,” Brett said, looking around, hoping to see his sister.

“There’s no one there,” Harlow said quietly, turning to face me. “What’s going on?”

“Alpha Mark sent us a photo of you and your friend Cali, only she’s Karina, Brett’s sister.”

Harlow’s mouth dropped open as she looked between us. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Brett nodded. “Do you have her number or something, any way to contact her?”

“No, but she’s coming here tomorrow morning to meet me. Let me tell her first Brett, she’s confused enough without this being dropped on her.”

“Surely this is good news?” I asked. “We were led to believe that she was looking for her family and now she’s found them.”

“Yeah, they were less than five miles away from her living in the pack that she’s always believed killed her family. It’s going to be a lot to get her head around. The coven has been telling her we are getting ready to attack and even asked her to break our protection spell.” She suddenly gasped. “Oh my god, this makes so much sense.”

“What does?” Brett snapped, causing me to growl when Harlow jumped.

“Cali could get into the pack, even with the protection spell, so it makes sense she’s a pack member. I should have known. I’ll meet her tomorrow and bring her to your parents once I’ve told her.”

“Is there no way we can meet her tonight?”

“Not unless we go to the coven, and I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Harlow’s right, Brett, let’s just wait until tomorrow.”

Brett nodded, then walked off toward his house, looking deflated. I just hoped Evie was home, as she always calms him down in the way that only a mate can. I said goodnight to Harlow to go to bed, as it had been a long day. Harlow told me she was off to bed too, but I had a mind link before I had reached my room, informing me that Harlow had snuck out of the pack again. I wasn’t worried, as I assumed she’d snuck off to see her boyfriend.

A loud banging woke me up early the next morning and I knew even before he spoke, it was Brett.

“Cal, you better be decent. I’m coming in.” Brett shouted before barging in. “Harlow didn’t come home last night. Her bed has not been slept in.”

“She’s probably with her boyfriend. Don’t worry, she’ll be back before Karina comes around.” I saw Brett didn’t look convinced as he paced around. “Come on, let’s go for a run and if she’s still not back, then we can go hunt her down.” While getting dressed, I sent a mind link to my warriors to let me know as soon as Harlow returned. She would be back soon as I knew she wouldn’t let Brett or his parents down and I also knew she cared for Karina and would be glad to give her the answers she was looking for. The witches were still a problem, and I wasn’t sure what would happen once Karina realised she was a member of our pack and we are not her enemy instead the only family she has ever known that raised her actually kidnapped her and her real family were only a few miles away.

We must have run for over an hour before we made our way back to the pack house, both agreeing to go for a shower and change and meeting in my parents’ suite where Harlow would hopefully be waiting for us.

“Thank god you’re here.” My dad said when we arrived at the suite. “Harlow didn’t come home and both your moms are at the library. They think Karina is there. They said something about feeling her magic. Come on.” We followed my dad out of the suite and ran up the stairs to the library.

Stepping into the library, the first thing I noticed was my mom’s crystals all around the floor and the second thing I noticed was Aunt Keira shaking and crying.

“What’s going on?” I asked my mom who was standing back, giving Keira the room.

“She’s here,” my mom whispered back. “We’ve told her, but I don’t think she believes us. Where’s Harlow?”

“I don’t know.” I whispered back.

Brett stepped forward and told Karina, if she’s really here, everything that happened when she was four and what we had learned in the last few days from Harlow. “We only want to talk to you to see if you really are our Karina, and if you’re not, then you are free to leave. No one is going to stop you. I give you my word, and that’s Alpha Callan, and he gives his word, too.” Brett promised, pointing me out, and I readily nodded. If the girl wasn’t Karina, we would let her go as she had done nothing wrong other than trespassing, but she was only meeting up with Harlow, so I’d let it pass. “I’m your brother Brett,”

“Brett.” she whispered “One of my only memories is of my brother Brett.” Suddenly Karina was in front of us even more beautiful than in her picture. The scent of strawberries filled my nose before I heard a small gasp and when I looked at Karina, I realised she was my mate and I knew she realised it too. Karina immediately stepped back, looking scared as she looked around, clearly looking for a way out. “Where’s Harlow?” she asked. “Why isn’t she here?”

When no one answered, she threw her hand up, knocking the crystals out of the way, and disappeared before anyone could do anything.

“Order her to say Callan.” Keira shouted.

“It won’t work.” I told her, trying desperately to ignore my wolfs whining. He wanted nothing more than to chase after her, but I knew that would only scare her even more, not to mention that she had cloaked herself again.

“You didn’t even try,” Brett snapped. “She was born into this pack. The Alpha command might still work.”

I shook my head. “She’s my mate. My Alpha command won’t work on her.”

“Did she know?” my dad asked softly, squeezing my shoulder.

“That’s why she ran.” I admitted, before telling them I was going to go for a run, needing to get out of there and get my head together. I had finally found my mate, and she had run from me the first chance she got.