Hybrid Twins

New Pool (7)

Friend Note: Wolves that are in the same pack can mind link each other. Meaning, they can telepathically communicate. I know, they're damn legends. Thanks and continue.
****************
Josh's POV
"Curtis grab a body, we need to get them out of here." I commanded as I began to pick up one of the dead wolves, "call a few of the border patrol to get the others."  Curtis nodded and I began running back to my territory with the heavy wolf on my shoulders. The gears in my mind were turning quickly. It was all making sense: the note and the rogues. The note was from the king: "bow down." It was a warning, for what? I didn't know. Hell, the more I thought about it, the less I knew. I knew the king was here; five of his soldiers were branded with his crest and were found dead by my land. I didn't know who killed them; I didn't know how long ago it happened; I didn't know anything. I let out a frustrated scream and ran harder in the woods. I needed to get back to my pack and get rid of the bodies; I needed to call other alphas; I needed allies in my situation.
The second I entered my pack lands, I dropped the heavy wolf and mind linked a pack member to get the corpse and drop him into our mass grave site for rogues.
I ran into my office and immediately called my pack's greatest ally. His name was Brian Ruin and he was the alpha of a large pack to our north.
"Josh," he answered the phone.
"Brian, I'm going to be short. I need your help," I told him.
"Why? What's happening?" He asked quickly.
"Rogues; the king's rogues. We found some of their bodies near my borders; we don't know who killed them, but they had the king's tattoos," I paused to let the information sink in. "And a couple days ago, we were at a party when this human got attacked. She's still alive, but she was left with a note. It said 'bow down.' Brian, I don't know what they want." I finished. Brian sighed, he was too quiet; I could tell he knew something I didn't.
"Josh, you know I've been allied with your pack for years," he sighed, but continued. "I respected your father greatly. He was a great alpha, but even in the memory of your father, I can't send my men to you. They'll die; you and I both know the power of the king." I wanted to yell in anger at the alpha, but I couldn't. I knew he was right, this war would result in slaughter if I didn't find a way to end it before it's break.
"Josh," Brian spoke in wake of my silence, "I do think you should go to Virginia. There's a coven by the Appalachians. They're strong witches that I've know them for a very long time. They'll help you."
"Will you tell them I'm coming?" I asked Brian, knowing this was my only option to get more information.
"Yes, I owed your father a favor before he passed; take this as me repaying it," Brian said with a little bit of sorrow in his voice.
"Thank you, tell them I'll be there in three days." I finished before I hung up the phone. I set it back in its reciever and ran my hands through my hair; I hated talking Brian, he just reminded me of Dad and I hated thinking about him. He was a great alpha and I was just trying to uphold his legacy, something I was currently failing to do.
Nate walked in a couple minutes later.
"We got rid of all the bodies," he told me as he took a seat on the chair across from my desk.
"Nate, I need you to double border patrol. We need to make sure the rogues or whatever killed the rogues stays out."  I paused, "and, Nate, I'm leaving in a couple days. I'm going to need you to run the pack while I'm gone."  Nate was my beta, so I trusted him with the power.
"Where you going?" He, naturally, asked.
"Virginia, there's a coven a couple hours away. I need answers and Brian told me the witches could help."  I answered him in all honesty.
"Well, that's wild," Nate commented. "I've never meet a witch before."
"Yeah, I bet they're charming," I spoke with sarcasm, everyone knew that witches were rude and isolated. They only gave information to werewolves if there was something in it for them; Brian must have helped the witches awhile ago if they were willing to aide me now.
"Yeah, they're just rays of sunshine," Nate said with a chuckle. "When do you leave?" He asked.
"Tuesday, someone told me Malea should wake up tomorrow, so I'm going to see her after school then leave the next day."  Nate nodded in response.
"I should be back by Wednesday, though, Thursday at the latest," I added.
"Well, I hope you find what you're looking for. Our pack could use a break," Nate said as he began to walk off.
"Where are you going?"  I asked before he could leave the room.
"The Banalli's house. They're having some people over to swim in their pool. Want to come?"  I knew I should've said no, there were things I had to do: papers to sign, taxes to manage, but I didn't want to do any of those things. I wanted to go swimming and I wanted to see Ian and Julie; I could only imagine how shaken they were after the events of the party. They needed to know this wasn't common, even if they didn't know the attack was by werewolves, I wanted them to feel safe in town. I broke my thoughts and replied to Nate, "yeah I'll meet you downstairs in a couple minutes."

When we arrived at the Banalli's there were around 15 people already there. Everyone was outside; some were in the pool, others in the hot tub, and a couple chatting on the deck.
"Josh! Nate!" I heard a voice say, "I'm so glad you could come."  I turned and saw Julie making her way over to us; when she was close enough, she pulled both of us into a tight hug. It was hard to focus on anything except that Julie was only in a swimsuit, looking smoking hot.
"Oh sorry," she said looking us up and down. "I got you guys all wet." I didn't care, not in slightest; I knew Nate didn't either, he had an even bigger crush on her than I did.
"Come on there's food in the kitchen," Julie said as she lead us through her house. When we got to her fridge, she pulled out a gallon of milk, then reached into a cupboard and pulled out a box of Fruity Pebbles; she then poured both contents into a nearby bowl.
"This is your food?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Julie laughed and responded, "yeah this and chicken legs." Nate and I both laughed at her response.
This was good, this was fun; we needed this. I stayed at the Banalli's house for over an hour and hadn't even thought about the rogues. I was in the pool with Julie and a couple other people when I saw Nate motioning for me from the side of the deck. I got out and stood besides him. "What's up?" I asked him as I grabbed a towel and ran it through my hair. Nate just said, "follow me," as he lead me inside and into the grand hallways of the Banalli house.
"So I was going to use the restroom," Nate began. "But then I saw this picture and I stopped in my tracks; there was just something, I don't know, familiar about it. I looked at it and nothing came to me. I didn't know why this photo was fascinating, but-," I cut Nate off.
"What does this have to do with anything?" I asked Nate as we turned down another hall.
"Well," Nate suddenly stopped in front of a framed family portrait of Ian, Julie and two other people I assumed were their parents. "Look at it," Nate directed.
"It's just their family; why are you being so weird about this?" I asked Nate, thinking the boy was going crazy.
"Josh, look at their dad. Doesn't he look familiar to you?" I looked closer at the muscular middle aged man. Nate was right, he did look familiar, but I couldn't place why.
"Yeah, why does he?" I voicing my thoughts aloud to Nate.
"See, that's what I thought. I was going to leave it, but then I remembered," Nate spoke quickly. "He's in a photo with your dad; the one he took his first year as alpha at the Pack Conference." I remembered the photo clearly now; it sat in the living room of my house, above the fireplace. It was taken almost 40 years ago, when my dad first took over our pack from his father. Every year all alphas meet at a conference in Kansas, and that's where the photo was taken. In it, my dad had his arm thrown across the shoulders of another man, another alpha. The man in the photo with my dad was the exact man standing in the Banalli family portrait.
"Does that mean they're living with an alpha?" Nate asked referring to Ian and Julie. I thought about this before I finally spoke,
"Nate, this means, there's a lot about these twins we don't know."
I gave one last stare at the werewolf in the photo. His eyes were the same shade of green as Ian's and Julie's. I found myself lost in looking at them; lost in hoping that his captured stare could reveal the secrets behind his eyes and the mysteries now plaguing my life.