Chapter 8: Hidden Clues

All three of us stood frozen in place, not knowing what to say or how to break the awkward silence.

I steeled my nerves, attempting to choke down my blazing embarrassment. This what not the way I had planned on revealing I'd marry Reed. 

I lifted my head slowly, unsure what reactions to expect from the two men standing at the desk with me.

I chanced a glance at Reed first. He still leaned over Joseph's torso with the old key in his grip. His eyes shimmered and a faint pink flushed his cheeks. A breathtaking smile slowly appeared on his beautiful face,  crinkling his eyes triumphantly.  He straightened and laid the key on the desk, taking a step to get closer to me when Ivan suddenly blurted "Well, congratuations to the happy fucking couple!"

My eyes shot over to him in surprise. He glowered at Reed and his lips snarled as he turned on his heel and moodily retreated from the room. That was weird. I could feel the jealousy and putrid disdian roll of him as he left the office, but couldn't fathom why he felt so strongly. Our realtionship had never evolved into anything more than physical.

Reed chuckled, unphased by the Sigma's outburst.

"Don't worry about him. He's just mad that he doesn't get the most gorgeous mate that's ever existed." He closed the space between us and embraced me, his lips reaching to greet mine excitedly.

Before the kiss could happen, I put a hand on his chest and pushed him back lightly, moving my head to the side in order to dodge his advance.

He stepped backwards with a confused look on his face, his hands still on my hips.

"Just...not right now, Reed. We've got more impotant things to deal with." I gestured to the body beside us and softened my voice as to not hurt my Beta's feelings. He had been my rock tonight and I didn't want him to think I was ungrateful.  "Why don't you go sort through videos with the others. I'm really hoping to figure out who did this by sunrise."

He pulled his shoulders back and nodded his head. "Of course. Besides..." he said while stepping around me so we were side by side but facing different directions, "We'll have the rest of our lives for this." I looked up at the towering figure next to me, the same blinding smile had returned to his face. He leaned over, planted a gentle kiss on my cheek and basically skipped out of the office. 

I brought my hands up to cover my face. Fuck....my....life. I spread my fingers, letting them pull my cheeks and lower lids down. I opened my eyes and contemplated how this night had turned to shit so quickly when my gaze fell on the key surrounded by shards of paper.

I had never seen it before. I picked it up and sniffed it, hoping my nose could lend a clue to what the hell it could be to. It smelled heavily of tobacco and rain-soaked earth. Cuban cigars! It must be a key to his cigar box.  

I shuffled about the room with my nose in the air, giggling to myself and thinking about the old man sneaking cigar breaks between meetings. He's always smelled of them, but I figured he'd smoked them at night to unwind and the fragrance just stayed on his clothes.  

The odor became stronger as I neared the backwall, but was barely detectable through the metallic scent of blood used as ink. I sniffed around the lettering and moved farther to the right, where a large painting of my grandfather hung. He was sitting in his office, my office, with a stoic look on his face and a glass of bourbon in his hand.

Everyone had always said I looked like him, and I could understand why they thought so as I stood there looking at the painting. He had the same bright amber eyes and golden hair. 

I leaned closer to the painting and inhaled deeply, noting that the cigar scent was coming from behind it. I reached my arms out wide and grabbed the sides of the frame with both hands, lifting upwards and removing the portrait from it's mount. 

My eyes widened as I saw the small, hidden shelf built into the wall. On the shelf, sat a wooden box the size of briefcase. "These must be some cigars if Jo went through such extremes to keep them out of sight." I said to myself as I picked up the box and slid it from it's hiding spot, moving it the desk and setting it down. 

I eyed the lock on the front of the box, and slid the matching gold key into place. Opening the cigar case, I found twelve cuban stogies setting in individual slats of the velvet lining. Jospeh must've been saving these for something special. Morose washed over me as I thought about him never getting the chance to enjoy these. I'd pass them out to some of the elders as we held a funeral ceremony for the old friend.

I grabbed one in the middle and tried to lift it. It stayed in it's velvet hammock, almost as if it was glued down. I jiggled the cigar and notice the entire lining moved. I grabbed another with my free hand and pulled up hard, removing the cigars and the lining from the box. Underneath sat two pieces of paper.

I placed my fingers around an old piece of parchment and unfolded the letter, instantly recognizing the handwriting as my grandfather's. 

Joseph, dear friend. 

Upon arriving at at our camp on the outskirts of Phantom territory, we were met by a Seer who had escaped enemy custody. She spoke of a prophecy that would come to pass- of a Luna, who would decide the end of the centuries long war.  

Normally I would not pay attention to simple fortune tellers, but this Seer wore a mark that I have only seen in our oldest of scrolls, the mark that I have you researching.

She warned that this Luna would only have one chance to attack, and she would only heed this warning after a Phantom kills one of those closest to her.

I needed to tell you this in case my body turns to dust tomorrow. If this prophet speaks of my precious Briar, you must keep her safe- you must prepare her- for if what this witch says is true, without Briar, we fall into darkness for eternity. 

-Alpha Robert

The letter fell from my weak and shaking fingers. What...the...hell.

I slowly reached out and inspected the other piece of paper. As i carefully unfolded it, i could tell it was older... much older. The parchment had been crumpled many times, and was delicate and brittle to the touch. It looked like a very old hand-drawn map.

Parts of it were faded, but I could make out what looked the the drawing of a tree stump next to the entrance of a cave. Through the cave, a scribbled path weaved back and forth, a maze. Drawn behing that was a large opening and a small circle inside. The circle contained the familiar three vertical dots. 

A few minutes later, I was still shuffling between the hidden letters, trying to make sense of what they could mean and why Joseph had kept them from me. 

If what my Grandfather had written was true, should I be attacking now?

My head was scrambled so much that I didn't even hear Magda and her crew enter the office.

"Luna-" Magda said with hesitation. 

I shreiked and jumped, throwing the pages into the air. Apparently I had startled the small crew also, who instantly moved from their bows into crouched positions, scanning the room for the threat.

They glanced sideways at each other when they realized the room was clear. 

"Our apologies, we didn't mean to...scare you" Magda cautiously said, not wanting to offend me.

"Nope. No. Not at all." I said scrambling to pick up the papers. "I was just checking your response time. Great job, you all passed the test." I cringed. I was the worst liar and I knew they'd pick up on the falsehood in my voice. "Welp, I had better go...check on the others. Yes. That's what I'll do."

I hurridely walked towards the office exit and noticed the black body bag in Magdas arms. I gave my Josheph one last glance. Even though he was in pieces, it was the last time I would ever see him. "Thank you for your service to this pack." I whispered low before making my escape.

Everything seemed hazy as I headed towards Paul's office down the long corridor. Too much had been thrown at me tonight and my brain couldn't process or compute all of the information.

Jospeh was dead. I had to find out who killed him. I also needed to consider how the stolen information from his office could be used against us. At the same time, my thoughts were locked on the secret letters, the warning from the seer and the fact that she for some reason had a vision I could win this war. If I was to win, I would need to attack now and hold off my unity ceremony to Reed.

"...But we can certainly look again." The words came through my brain fog. 

I was sitting in a large plush armchair in the back of Paul's office. I didn't remember walking in or sitting down.

"Huh? What was that?" I said, snapping back to reality.

Paul and Reed exchanged confused glances before Paul repeated himself.

"I was just saying that we looked at every single camera, every single angle. There's no one the tapes, Luna." He braced for my rageful response and hurried to add, "but we plan to check again."

I sighed. I could tell I was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. 

When I didn't respond, Reed took charge, gesturing for Paul to go to the computer screens and get back to work on reviewing. He put his hands on the armrests and crouched down in front of me, whispering "You ok?" scanning me as if to make sure I wasn't falling apart. He spotted the wad of now crumpled papers in my hand a cocked an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"It's nothing. Just some random scrap papers I found in Jo's office." If Joseph meant for this to be a secret, I would keep it that way.

I felt too hot. I was all suddenly claustraphobic inside and needed to get away. I stood from the chair suddenly, surprising Reed and Paul, who swiveled around in his office chair. 

"I-I need to get out of here and clear my head"

Reed brought a strong hand up to my bicep and started rubbing it. "Ok, how about you let me drive you home." He knew me better than anyone and could tell that I was two fries short of a happy meal right now.

"No." I brushed his arm of me. "I'm going to walk. I just, need to be alone to process everything."

"I don't know if that's a good idea after what just happened" Reed said, looking back down at the papers in my hand. He was on to me.

"I'll be fine!" I snapped. "I can take care of myself."

He sighed in defeat and started running his fingers through his hair. "Alright. Call if you need me, ok?"

I made a hasty retreat for the door and nodded on the way out. The walls were closing in on me and I needed some fresh air.

I threw open the doors to the command center and welcomed the cool night air. I found the moon in the sky and noted I had about two hours left before the sunrise. 

I walked back to my house through the forrest, stumbling over tree stumps and rocks on the way. I could not believe what a shit show this night turned out to be. 

As soon as I got to my back porch. I set the shards of paper down and disrobed, folding my sweats and placing them on top so the letters didn't blow away in the night breeze. 

I leapt back towards the forrest and began to shift. A good run was what I needed to sort through the brain fog and begin to process the chaos of the evening. As soon as I was on four legs, I bolted to my favorite spot in the canyon at the confluence of two creeks. The sounds of the rushing water mixed with the moonlight bouncing off the stream always put me at ease.

When I arrived, I went to my usual spot, a large boulder that jetted out over an eddy of water. 

I leaned over the edge to get a drink and stared at myself in my reflection. I gazed into my own fierce  topaz eyes. A rich blonde mane covered my face and body, making me stand out harshly against the darkness of the night. 

Could it really be me? I thought at the reflection. Is this really the wolf that could win a centuries year old war? I was never one to believe in prophecies. We'd had a couple seers wonder onto packland before and they alwasy just seemed like slick travellers that would say any kind of bullshit in order to trade for comfortable place to stay for the night. My grandfather had obvioulsy believed the one he had met that night. Should I trust his judgement? And what the hell did the map have to do with me?

Suddenly, I felt like I was being watched. The hair on my back began to stand at attention and a low, formidable snarl sounded from my chest. No one should be out here watching me.  I scanned the surrounding trees and saw nothing. I strained my ears and nose to pick up on who could be around. I caught on to a foul, rancid scent- almost as if something were decaying. None of my wolves smelled like that.  

I followed my nose and took a step in the direction of the stench when a branch snapped. I darted towards the thick grove of bushes to catch whatever the source of the scent was. Even though it smelled dead, it was moving so it couldn't be. I heard another twig snap from up the hill and charged up it, letting my senses guide me in my hunt.

I hurdled over a log and skidded to a stop as I realized I was back to the clearing in my backyard.  I reached my face to the sky and let out three short howls, an S.O.S call. I needed my pack members to know someone was in our territory. At my house. An Intruder.