Maddox's POV
My head sank into the pillow. A cinder block probably weighed less than my sleep-deprived brain. I reluctantly inched an eye open. A burnt orange glow seeped through the crisp white blinds.
I bolted upright, my eyes darting around the room and my heart pounding hard.
"We're at Cedar Wood," Shadow snapped. "And our mate is missing."
I pressed my hand over my eyes blocking out the bright spring sunrise and yawned. Shadow kept me up most of the night, demanding something terrible had happened to his mate, pleading with me to find her. I relented at 3 am, delirious with exhaustion and scoured the packhouse. Her scent lingered in the kitchen and dining room and along an ominous narrow hallway but there wasn't a single trace of her in the sleeping quarters.
"You don't find that strange." Shadow snapped in my sleep-addled head as I went over my foggy memories from the night before.
"Maybe she has her own place," I shrugged rubbing my temples. My stomach knotted. Wolves live in packs.
"Bull," Shadow barked. "You're as worried as me. Drag your sorry ass out of bed and let's go find her."
I eased out of the bed, the bare cedar wood floor was cold underfoot. Once more we scoured the packhouse and once more we found nothing. Not a single trace.
"Alright," I conceded. "We will go to Alpha Patrick."
"And rip his throat out."
"No!" Shadow shrivelled at my roar. My brain vibrated. "No violence," I said softly. "Not yet. We need evidence, Shadow. We have to lead. As much as would love to tear the entire wacky pack to bits we can't. We can bring them to justice if we have proof they've hurt her and believe me, we will but we cannot go around slaying Alpha's without proof of wrongdoing."
"Fine," he skulked around, pacing back and forth but he accepted my leadership. Much as I wished for the opposite on a daily basis Shadow wasn't in charge, I was and what he wanted would rip what little peace my people had to shreds.
But if they've hurt her... My fists clenched so tight my knuckles whitened.
Blake and Lena agreed to come with us to question Alpha Patrick. as Gamma male and female of my pack they didn't exactly outrank Alpha Patrick but he should show them the same respect he would show me. We strutted through Cedar with our shoulders back, me in front, Blake and Lena behind me.
I reached Alpha's Patrick's door.
"This house is bigger than the packhouse?" I said to Lena and Blake.
"This house used to be the packhouse before Alpha Patrick took over," Blake said.
As a soldier, I never attended multipack meetings and parties like Blake did. Not until I was Alpha. I was always fighting, running peacekeeping missions or training. Since the White Wolf pack were slaughtered my people had been at war. It was the murder of my Alpha, my father, which put an end to my career. A rogue Alpha prowled my territory, killing off the most powerful Alpha's one by one, bringing chaos and war to our world.
My mate's scent permeated the air. It didn't bring me comfort. She shouldn't have been secreted away in the Alpha's house. She should have been where she belonged with her pack.
My fist slammed hard into the door. It shook in its frame. The thunderous hammering of my fist off the heavy cedarwood door echoed through the forest. Birds took flight, screeching in panic. the woodland was silent but for my fist against the door.
The gamma male opened the door. He stunk of blood and of my mate. Shadow bared his fangs. It took every ounce of strength I had to keep him under control.
"I'm here for Alpha Patrick," I snapped. "And bring me the serving girl from last night. She's mine." I barged into the hallway, knocking the gamma aside. Blake and Lena followed me.
"Th-th-the serving girl?" The colour drained from his face, "I-I-I think she's busy."
"I don't give a fuck if she's busy. Bring her."
"Yes, Sir," he turned, head down and scuttled into the belly of the house. I found Alpha Patrick's office and made myself comfortable in his seat, resting my boots on his pristine desk. Not a thing was out of place. The windows and surfaces shone under the morning sun. Fresh flowers filled strategically placed vases. His Luna cared deeply about her house, she must spend every waking minute cleaning. That or they pay a team of cleaners a fortune while their pack can't afford decent clothes. Their priorities were screwed.
Lena tapped her manicured nails off the desk. Blake paced the room sighing. Another minute passed. And another. Tick tock, tick tock, the grandfather clock in the corner teased.
"Should I go and find someone?" Blake asked, eyeing the unmoving door.
"Give them two more minutes and we all will," I said. "Hopefully they're finding my mate."
"So you agree with Shadow?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "There's something about her scent. It fills this place. It's warm, calming, addictive."
"I think she's sweet," Lena offered.
My last girlfriend was tall, curvy and outspoken. The entire pack wanted her as their mate. She left me when she was mated to a Mountain Creek Omega. He actually asked my permission, like I was powerful enough to disobey the Moon Goddess' wishes. She chose our mates and our nature ensured we found them irresistible. A mate bond was like nothing else in the world. A wolf could literally die of heartache if their mate rejected them.
The door swung open. Patrick stumbled in, his face red and clammy.
"Alpha Maddox," he offered me his sweat-soaked hand.
"The serving girl, my mate, where is she?" I snapped ignoring his hand. His shoulders slumped. He kicked his foot against the floor.
"Gone, Sir. We found her room empty this morning, all her belongings gone. My Gamma and Beta are scouring the forest for her as we speak."
I rose to my feet, fists clenched, jaw tight.
"Sir, if I may," he said refusing to meet my eye, "with all due respect to yourself and the Moon Goddess, she's not mate material. There's been a misunderstanding. The girl, she doesn't even have a wolf and the pack is afraid of her. She visits the rouge's territory whenever we take our eyes off her. Sir, she's a traitor. The Moon Goddess wouldn't mate someone as powerful as yourself with a traitor."
"So, you've got a traitor in your midst and you failed to report it to me?" I walked around the desk. Blake and Lena closed in on him. He hugged his chubby arms around his bulging stomach.
"I, We-we, there was never any proof, Sir," his face turned from red to lily-white, his eyes remained on the floor and his shoulders hunched. "And truth be told, I didn't want to believe it. Sir, I raised the wee girl myself, took her into my family as my own, loved her like a daughter. When the pack came to me with their concerns I refused to believe but the signs were all there."
"Why aren't you using her name? She must have a name," I tilted my head, studying his reaction.
"I-I, we call her Lucille, Sir, after my wife."
"Take me to your packhouse. I will question your pack."
"Yes, Sir. I'll make the arrangements."
"NOW!"Blake and Lena followed me to the door. I wasn't giving him time to get his story straight with the rest of the pack. My mate was no traitor. And I would find her if I had to search every state, every country in the world I would find her and I would bring those who wronged her to justice.
Kayla's POV I was gripped in a pair of massive arms. My heart pounded hard against my ribs. Trembles shook through my limbs. The harder I shook the tighter he gripped me. His racing heart echoed in my ears as he pulled me close to his expansive chest. The rogue was real. He tore through the forest taking me far from my pack. Far from everything I knew. Ever giant step he leaped sent waves of agony cascading through my broken body. It was all too much. The terror of what he would do to me, the pain, all of it. I passed out, falling into a nightmare filled sleep. The rogue was real and I was his prisoner. *** I sighed. A blissful warmth enveloped me. Small, soft hands stroked my tattered skin. My frail body rested on soft ground. A fire crackled beside. I struggled to
Alpha Maddox's POVLena stood guard outside the ramshackle packhouse, guarding the entry, preventing anyone but Blake from entering. I've interrogated enough suspects during my military career to know I wanted the Gamma and Beta males nowhere near the rest of the pack. Something about them didn't sit right with me. Shadow didn't trust them. They refused to meet my gaze. Their shoulders hunched when they spoke to me. Alpha Patrick's repulsive flamboyance was toned down tenfold. They knew something and the Hell was I going to let them coach the rest of the pack to fill me with the same lies they were telling me."Warrior Carl," Blake announced as he shoved a sweaty, underweight adult male into Patrick's office.&nb
Many lower-ranking packs think the buck stops with me. I am the ultimate power and if they challenge me it's only my pack they need to face. They're wrong. Just as humans have their governments we have the Elders, a group of well-loved, well respected retired Alphas. They've watched over us since the dawn of time, protected us, loved us and ensured we acted fairly to those who wrong us. Even the White Wolves could have been overruled by the Elders."Thank you," I sighed. A tiny slither of tension flowed from my body. I slipped my cell phone back into my pocket and massaged my temples."The Elders will be here within the hour," I told Blake and Lena, eager to pass off responsibility for this hot mess to someone older and wiser than myself.I blinked, a desperate effort to relieve the migraine threatening to send me crashing to my knees at any moment, and stepped back surveying the dismal scene behind me. Cedar Wood pack huddled on the dusty mess hall floor. Lucil
Kayla's POVSerena sobbed quietly in the corner of the cave. Her Grandfather paced the perimeter mumbling all the ways in which he would make Maddox Mason hurt before he slaughtered him and reclaimed dominion over our people.I sat in silence on the warm, thick sleeping mat, with a heavy wool blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Izzy offered the odd comforting word, promising me it would all work out. That we'd find a new mate, one worthy of us."Mate?" I asked her."That's the connection you felt with Maddox Mason. That's what woke me. But if he's everything Casper says he is, I reject him. I want more. We deserve more."I sighed, pulled the blanket over my head and sank back into the sleeping mat. My head throbbed and my heart ached. A million questions raced through my mind.Why would the Moon Goddess match me with a monster? What connection could a Princess, a powerful White Wolf, have with me?
Maddox's POV "Lock it down," I sighed into the phone. "Lock it all down. Spread the word to other packs. Until the rogue is caught and brought to justice no wolf leaves their pack alone." "Got it," Blake said. I sank to the bed. I'd remained at Cedar Wood, refusing to leave until my mate was found. In the weeks that passed, the rogue grew bolder, upped his killing and stealing. Two of my pack were missing, presumed dead. Some smaller packs were decimated. Slaughtered while they slept and still, we were no closer to finding him. Patrick admitted nothing about his mistreatment of my mate or his pack and even with him locked away they were still too afraid to speak. Graham's testimony helped but the most he could be charged with was assaulting my mate. The elders sentenced him to five years in the dungeons and stripped him of his title. I pinched the bridge of my nose. My mate was missing. My peop
Kayla's POVBarefoot, I wriggled my toes in the soft, warm sand and inhaled letting my gaze roam over the turquoise ocean. Casper was out hunting wild boar. Serena was sleeping and I'd finally heard the words I'd waited all my life for."I'm ready."Izzie, my wolf, was ready.The sun warmed my face. All my life I wanted those words, none more so than when I turned 18 and she still didn't appear. When I was a pup, held prisoner by Alpha Patrick, forced into slavery I used to dream about my wolf rescuing me. The evening of my eighteenth birthday she would come to me. I'd let her out and she'd be the fastest, strongest, most majestic she-wolf to ever roam our lands. My pack would bow down before me in awe and together we would overthrow Alpha Patrick, rescue the missing Princess and I would live in Castle Rock, the whole Kingdom indebted to me. But it never happened. Izzy never showed and I wasn't the strongest wolf ever to liv
Maddox's POVShadow paused, lifted his snout and inhaled a huge lungful of fresh forest air. His pulse quickened. He tore through the trees at breakneck speed, following a scent only he could decipher. Branches snapped under his heavy paws, thorns tore into his skin but he didn't slow, not for a second.He came to a screeching halt at the top of a hill, the last place our mate was seen alive. I followed Shadow's gaze and my heart stopped.Before us, perched on a rock on the top of the hill, naked as the day she was born, was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Her chocolate coloured hair hung in glossy waves down her back. Her body was lithe, muscular with just a hint of womanly curves. Rays of sunlight glittered off the gold specks swirling in her molten honey gaze."Mate," Shadow said inching forwards slowly."Um, Shadow, that's not Mouse," I said.He sniffed the air. "Mate." He repeat
Kayla's POVMaddox's wolf's pained yowling carried on the wind as Izzy raced through the woods, back to the safety of Casper and Serena. The howling stopped. The hammering of heavy black paws on soft, muddy ground echoed behind us."We can't go back," I begged Izzy. "He's following us. Casper will kill him.""Good," Izzy hissed. "He deserves it. We shouldn't have had to live as a slave.""But what if it wasn't him?""Wasn't him?" Izzy laughed, "he installed himself as royalty, lorded over us all like a King. Who else would it be?"I shrugged. It did kinda look like Maddox was responsible for the way we lived. I shuddered at the memory of my former. I lived in terror for as long as I could remember.Izzy careered into the cave. Casper jumped to his feet. Serena's blue eyes widened, her jaw dropped and she inhaled."Kayla," she breathed. "Your wolf...she's...beautiful."Maddox's wolf sn