An Alpha's Claim

Ice

Leah wasn't wrong. Both Cassidy and Jake had bitched at J from the moment she'd arrived, but J knew that they did understand, they just had to make their point. J wasn't exactly helping the current diplomatic crisis. They'd quickly got over it, but then Liam, the traitor, had told them about Dexter and that queued another round of 'lets blame J for everything'.

At this point, J was tired and pissed off, plus she had a headache forming above her right eye. They sat in the diner, a bunch of tables pulled together and, to Cassidy's credit, they had fed them all some of the best burgers J had ever eaten.

But now, they were discussing strategy, and honestly, J was bored. By the glazed look in Callie's eyes, she wasn't the only one either. Ever since they'd got here, Callie had been like J's shadow, never leaving her side. Rayna, on the other hand, had done everything in her power to avoid her. She sat at the opposite end of the table with Lee and Lorna flanking her. J couldn't help but smile as her eyes ghosted over them, she'd make a good alpha for them.

Rayna caught her look and glared, which only made J smile wider. As she looked away, she noticed the Black Oath pack watching her closely. She raised an eyebrow in question and they quickly looked away.

"J?" J looked up from her half-eaten burger at Cassidy, who sat opposite the Black Oath pack with Jake and Liam either side. It was clear by the look everyone was giving her that they'd been calling her name for a while. "Black Oath have been looking for their alpha for three years, go ahead guys..."

J twisted her body around in the seat, glad she was sat on the end of the table so that she could have a little space. Only Callie sat beside her, the chair in front of her, empty. Saf's seat.

The Beta, Trevor, pinned her with his gaze, before slowly locking eyes with everyone in the room. "Our Alpha left 3 years ago. We woke up one morning and he was gone. We think it's something to do with his sickness. His father had it, so did his father and so on. We think he left before he became worse, we knew he was struggling with his wolf and we knew that him going rogue was a possibility, but we never thought- I don't know. We'd hoped maybe it wouldn't get him... Logan was-"

J froze, ice trickling through her veins. It couldn't be. No way. It couldn't be.

J looked away from Trevor, worried he'd see something in her eyes, but caught Cassidy's shocked look. She had the same thought J did. So did Kelsey, judging by the startled look in her eyes, and as J turned to Leah, she already knew what she'd see.

The four friends shared a silent look. It couldn't be him, right?

J released a shaky breath. The movement did not go unnoticed.

"You know our Alpha?" Will, the quiet, shy wolf asked softly. "You know Logan." He accused, his voice strengthening.

All conversation stopped as everyone's attention turned to J. Pinned beneath their gazes, she sent a helpless look to Cassidy, but she didn't know what to do either. J couldn't bring herself to meet the Black Oath pack member's eyes, couldn't bring herself to admit who Logan was to her beneath the weight of their hope.

"I-I-I think so," J stammered, cursing the weakness in her voice, but she just didn't know what to do.

All of the Black Oath wolves' eyes narrowed on her. J's throat tightened and her skin flushed, was it hot in here? It felt really hot in here. Her fingers curled at the base of her throat, digging into the skin, willing her lungs to breathe.

"I met a wolf. Named Logan." All true, "he followed my pack to the mountains where we settled. I-I don't know what happened after that though." There. Technically, all true. No lies. Just, an abridged version of the truth.

"Why did he follow you?" Trevor's voice was sharp as a whip as it cut through the silence, his eyes narrowed.

J looked away and shifted in her seat, "I-I don't know. He just did, but he left years ago. Maybe two years ago."

"How did you lose your wolf?" Trevor demanded, but Rayna's snarl silenced him.

The tension in the room threatened to suffocate them all as Rayna's wolf danced in her eyes.

"That's none of your concern. If it was your alpha I saw, then he was last seen in the mountains."

As though debating with himself to push harder, but well aware of the deadly predator who'd pinned him with her gaze, Trevor changed tack, "take us there. Take us to your packlands and we'll see for ourselves. Maybe we've been looking in the wrong place."

Something inside J knew that they wouldn't find him there. She was sure of it. She also refused to go looking for him, herself, because to know he was dead for sure...that would probably kill her on the spot.

"No. I won't take you," the Black Oath wolves went to protest, but she held up her hand, "Rayna will. So will Lee, Lorna if she wants to, but I'm not going."

Rayna and Lee shared a confused look, the Black Oath pack doing the same, but Cassidy's gaze remained on J. "I promised I'd help protect the Rootbridge pack from the rogue, now that there's two of them, there's even more reason to stay. You, go, find your alpha, but I'm staying here to help."

"I'm not goin-" Rayna started, but J interrupted.

"Go, Rayna. Help them find him." Just in case.

Rayna caught the meaning in her words and so nodded tightly.

J took a deep breath and shook her shoulders out, placing her palms on the cooling table, "good. It's settled. You said you've got research about the rogues? I want to see it. Even if you haven't been tracking your alpha, you have been tracking someone."

Trevor shot a look to Will and nodded, Will pushed his glasses up his nose and folded his hands in a neat pile in front of him. "I've been through all of the packs in this area and have lists of all of their members. Likelihood is, it's one of their wolves who have gone rogue. We've been travelling pack to pack to check if they have any members missing. I have documents I can show you..."

He blushed, as though just realising he had the whole room's attention. He cleared his throat, "I can plot nearly every pack member in the surrounding area. We've got a list of about 20 wolves that are missing, plus a few of packs who've disappeared."

J swallowed a lump in her throat. She could have a guess as to where they'd gone. How many had challenged her before she left?

"If you can all have a look and see if you know anything about the list, then we can maybe cross some more off. If we know who it is, then maybe we'll know why they're coming this way." Will shrugged and leant back into his seat, as though trying to hide from the room.

Trevor looked to J, "We've set up in one of the spare pack houses, come by tomorrow and we can go through the lists."

J nodded, meeting Cassidy's gaze as she nodded too.

Tired, J pushed her chair backwards and stood up, Callie already on her feet. "We'll meet in the morning, 9am."

Without another word she walked out of the diner and headed towards her old house. Halfway there, she stopped. She didn't want to go back there, not yet. Too many memories. So, instead, she turned and headed for Saf's, figuring it would be empty.

The door wasn't locked, so she walked straight in and frowned at how bare it was. It was like she barely lived here. There was a sofa, a coffee table and the kitchen looked fully equipped, but that's how all the houses came. There was no...personality, nothing that said Saf had been, or would ever be, here.

J pulled her jumper off and walked around the sofa, sinking into its cushions. Callie silently changed into her wolf and curled up in a ball on the floor. J was going to offer her some cushions, or a blanket, but her eyes drifted closed before she got the chance.