The Hunter's Alpha

48 Advance

Devon

We had set up a warded base of operations about ten minutes away from the hunters' centre. As planned, Dan and Kain along with a pair of vampires set off together, Dan and the vampires rendered nearly undetectable by their own nature, and Kain using unknown skills to keep himself from being discovered.

A huge part of me wanted to go with them to search for my sister myself, but part of being a good leader was knowing when to let others take the lead. I would only be a liability if I went running in the way I had when I had first found Amber. I would never regret saving her, but we had not achieved our goal that day.

The situation was different now. Although they had not retaliated, the hunters may have reasoned that a pack had tried to infiltrate their other base so they could be more wary. They certainly would have discovered Jasper's corpse and Amber's disappearance and likely put it together with werewolves, if nothing else.

But we were in a better position this time. We had support from other packs and from the vampires and it was time to take back our people. Unfortunately, it wasn't my place to play the hero. I would have my turn when it came to leading the forces after our missing people were safely extracted.

While we waited for the return of the stealth team, I and the other alphas who had joined went over battle plans. We were interrupted when a small female vampire flanked by a pair of glowering male vampiric guards pushed aside the flap of the tent we were using to strategize for the attack. She was wearing cargo pants, a black tank top, and sturdy boots. Her brown hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail. She met my eyes in a challenging way that aggravated my wolf's pride before moving on to do the same to the others.

"Sorry, am I late?"

"No, since you weren't invited," said the Goldhollow alpha briskly.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Now now, don't be rude, Smithson. I knew your grandfather and he'd be very unimpressed with that attitude right there. Now there was a man with class." She somehow managed to look down on him even though he was nearly as tall seated as she was standing.

He folded his arms across his chest. "And you are?"

"Katrina, and you might have heard of me since I lent some of my forces to this little venture," she said silkily. "Queen of the Vampires, does that ring a bell? Probably brings to mind dresses, jewels, crowns, and so forth, so I'll forgive your rude slowness, but finery wouldn't be very practical before a fight, now would it? Now, let's see what you're planning here."

I shifted over to make her room at the table. I wasn't going to turn away a valuable ally, even if some of the other alphas were clearly uncomfortable about the interruption. She had a bit of a reputation amongst the Alpha Assembly as a warmonger, but she had also been correct about the malice of the hunters, and it was about time the other packs started figuring it out. My sister had not been a Dangerous feral, and yet they had dared to take her.

We spoke of the coming battle, until we were interrupted by the return of the infiltrators. I hurried out to find that all four had made it back, and they were not alone. Kain had his arm under Silvia's and was supporting her weight. I let out the breath I had unknowingly been holding at the sight.

She really was alive.

Kain was also carrying another female I did not recognize unceremoniously over his shoulder.

Dan's eyes were flashing red as he held an unconscious Megan in his arms carefully, while a filthy werewolf child clung to his back like she would drown if she released him. The other vampires were carrying my unconscious brother-in-law, a pair of unknown wolves, and a pair of children—likely fae if their green-streaked hair was anything to go by. A couple of other prisoners struggled behind them.