The Alpha's Kitten

     Chapter 1

Nick tried to watch his target closely from across the crowded lobby. Through the throngs of people it was damn near impossible to see. This stupid convention was making his job much harder than it needed to be. Pushing away from the bar he started for the door. He had been here for 5 hours already and no sign of trouble yet. He was expecting it though. There was a charge in the air that was palpable. He had been hunting this sleeze bag for almost a month now. Once the reports started coming in about mangled bodies found near convention sights. The victim was always a young adult and usually alone in the city. Coupled with the piles of missing people reports from the area, he knew something was amiss.

Of course the police were no help, telling the families they were trying when all the while another victim goes missing or is found mangled. They say it's all isolated incidents and there was nothing tying the crime scenes together. So no case has been opened no matter how much evidence has been brought to them.

This is where I came in. One of the victims' families didn't like the answers the police had been given so they found a Hound. That's us. I own and operate a P.I. and Security company called 'HoundSec.' It seemed fitting at the time since it is my last name and my pack name. My family have been here for a long time, some would say since the beginning. We founded the town we lived in and we don't plan on going anywhere. The land was still ripe and fertile and with the city just 30 miles away; no one really visited. Not that it mattered any, most folks steer clear of Hunters Bay. Local legends say there's a monster that lives in the bog. A witch haunts the lighthouse and werewolves stalk the forest at night. It's amazing how truth can get turned into myth real quick. Especially when it's unexplainable.

Hunters Bay was host to many different legends and myths. This brings in tourists of course which is how the town stays afloat and each visit brings with it new tales. Locals however have a much different perspective on Hunters Bay. It's a cursed place. Anyone who lives there suffers great tragedies. There are monsters that lurk in the night, and most locals (save for the few teenagers dared to visit after dark) stay away. They don't know why, but our humble little town scared the crap out of them. For good reason too.

Most of the rumors were true to an extent. We did have wolves running the ground at all hours of the day and night, most of them on patrol and staying well out of sight to any human that may wander into our lands. But they aren't werewolves, they were shifters. There is a witch that lives in the lighthouse and without her the lighthouse won't work. It runs on her magic. There is also a Shaman who lives near the pack house on the edge of town. A few Fae lived near the water and ran the local bakery and dress shop. To the human eye our town is creepy, to us however it was homely.

I was a shifter. The next Alpha in line to be exact. The Night Hounds is a formidable pack with over 200 members. Normally the pack would have been handed down to me by my twenty-first birthday, however my father wanted me to live my life before I took over the pack. Meaning he wanted me to find my mate before he would even consider handing the pack over to me. Lets just say I had a bit of a wild streak about me and we tend to butt heads a lot. He calls me stubborn, I call it standing for my beliefs. My father worried about what that would mean for the pack so the council was called in. The council over the last few years has been more progressive and contemporary than ever before. So after taking my testimony and my fathers, they decreed that my father didn't have to hand down his title until I found my mate.

Once I found my mate he had 60 days or the council would intervene on his behalf. I'm almost ashamed to admit I was relieved by their ruling. Running a pack was and still is a huge responsibility, one that I wasn't even close to ready for at that age... hardly even now. Which was fine by me. I wasn't interested in running the pack anyway then or now. And as far as my mate goes, meh, I could take it or leave it. It's not that I don't want a mate, it's just that I can't see myself tied down. I was already tied down to my work, I liked being paid to hunt. All these extra senses needed to be put to work somehow or they would drive me insane.