Unbound (Bound To You sequel)

TWO - A Man With A Silver Bullet

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"There hasn't been that many sightings in the area," James was saying as I entered his office.

Most of the pack was in there too, seven big guys crowding around the large map of the small town of Tenebri. There were pins in the map showing the areas were they had sighted and killed the most wraiths. Tommy wasn't there and Robin was to the side of the cluster.

"It's there," Tio said. "In the warehouse district. I've said so for months and last night we saw it, just before dawn."

"Alright. Tonight we'll go, scout, confirm numbers," James said, sounding a little doubtful yet there was some hope in his voice. Exciment for the hunt to come. "How many did you say you counted?"

He turned to Tio and Owen who begun giving him intel.

I glanced over to Robin who was focused on his phone rather than the conversation. His sandy slightly curly hair looked less stylish than normal, his gold earring was missing and his T-shirt was on backward. I mean, he still looked drop-dead gorgeous, but it was easy to tell he was distracted.

"Alright, that's a start," James said to Tio. "We'll figure it out as we go. Maybe take some down before we actually go in. Doc? You go medical all stocked up."

The older white haired wolf who was in charge of all medical care for the pack nodded.

"What about St. Clare?" Robin said, drawing all eyes to him. "We should head down there and see what he wants."

"One cryptic phone message means nothing to me," James said, focusing back on the map, back to Robin.

"Who is St. Clare?" I asked Robin, mildly intrigued and also more annoyed with James. Yet another thing he'd failed to tell me about that everyone else clearly knew about.

"The Montreal alpha," Robin said, glancing my way and holding out his phone. "He sent me a text."

I glanced down at the screen. There was one text bubble. It read "What do you call a man with silver bullets?"

Frowning I looked up at Robin, "What does that mean?"

"Think about it," he said. So I did. But what I came up with couldn't be right. I mean, any old bullet would kill a werewolf even if the lore spoke of silver.

"It means St. Clare thinks he has a werewolf hunter on his hands," James said, almost growling at Robin and by association me. "Or he's just trying to trick us away from our territory."

"Because this cold wraith infested place is such a desirable piece of land?" Robin said, turning to James.

We all knew that it was, even if just then Robin had made it seem not so. The Cold Hunt pack held one of the largest territories in North America and most of it was forest and perfect for hunting. If not for the wraiths it would have been like werewolf heaven...except no shopping malls. And could anywhere really be heaven without at least one good mall?

"I'm not saying we all go," Robin continued. "Just a couple of us. If we have a hunter and St. Clare is worried enough to reach out we have a problem."

"Is it even a likely possibility?" I asked, having never heard of a werewolf hunter before. There were some rogue werewolves, some that committed crimes and fled their packs to escape punishment (and death most often). Some of those developed strange hungers, desires. Killing other werewolves amongst them. But humans hunting werewolves? "I've never heard of it."

"It's rare but some humans know about," Robin said, half turning to me. "Some of them don't like the idea of us. Some just want to hunt down something big and bad and figure a werewolf would fit that description."

"But it's unlikely," James counted.

"But still a possibility," Robin growled at his alpha. His shoulders were tense and his eyes a bit more yellow than brown. James' shoulders were tense too. His eyes weren't quite as wolf touched as Robin's though.

This sometimes happened when two dominant wolves, close in rank were at odds. Normally it was two alphas or two betas but sometimes like this. A beta was in many like an alpha wolf only without the power of a pack, and so it wasn't so very strange. Still, I wondered if there was something more than James' refusal to go Montreal triggering Robin.

"And if not...well, I would prefer making sure it's St. Clare messing with us rather than the real thing," Robin said, his voice harder as he glared at James. "With today's digital and social media there is a lot more to worry about than before."

James frowned. Despite some of the pack embracing technology and even helping to set up the wifi room for me, James still didn't understand, didn't want to understand, a lot of modern things. Social media being one of them.

"That's true," I agreed, wishing Tommy was in the room to agree with us. I glanced to Markus, but he was studying the map trying to look very busy. "My dad was worried about that too. Exposure is a big problem in the bigger cities."

I remembered an overheard conversation my father had had with the Boston pack's alpha, Jordan. He claimed most of the government already knew, that it was just a matter of time. That we should take the werewolves public before someone else. My father disagreed.

Not sure what I thought about the whole going public thing but I did think that a possible werewolf hunter might be a problem, especially if another pack was asking for help. So I agreed with Robin that we should check it out.

Besides, maybe if me and James went somewhere else, somewhere away from the pack and Tenebri, he'd open up a little to me. Maybe? It would be a chance to spend time together and a way to show I was useful.

Because my father was the Alpha of Alphas and I knew a little bit about making deals. About smoothing things out and also putting my foot down. I could be an asset when dealing with a wolf pack James and Robin didn't quite trust.

"You want us to got to Montreal?" James asked me directly, clearly sensing that I did.

"I think we should," I said, nodding. Robin smiled a little 'ha, see I'm right smile' that should have made him look like an asshole but just made him look hotter.

James should take smiling lessons from Robin. Or just smile a little more overall.

"Fine," James said with a slightly exasperated tone. Like we were children and he was letting us have our way. "You two go down to Montreal. See if Dante is in town and use him as your go-between."

James wasn't coming? I glanced to Robin who was still looking pleased. Only his smiled dropped as he met my eyes. 

"You're not coming?" Robin asked James. "Don't you think you should?"

"No," was James only reply.

Robin took me in again, a sympathetic expression on his face. I tried to school my own sure to be crestfallen face. I tried to not feel sad.  A road trip with Robin wouldn't be half bad. And he'd tell James I was useful, if I was, with St. Clare. Only it wouldn't be the same as James actually seeing it. Being there with us. With me.

He should want to come. He should be upset I was leaving the pack's territory. Going somewhere possibly dangerous. Even if it was with Robin. Whom he trusted. More than he trusted me clearly. Possibly he trusted him more than he trusted anyone. At least about some things.

I wondered why he didn't trust him about the possibility of a hunter? Or was it just that James wasn't concerned with what happened beyond his borders? Maybe he felt if it didn't have to do with wraiths, it wasn't his problem?

Robin wasn't like that though, I realized and smiled at him. I wondered what that meant, Robin thinking, caring, about another pack. The rest of the world. The possibility of the werewolves being exposed. If it was good or bad. 

I had no clear answer. All I knew was that it suddenly made me like him a whole lot more than James.

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