Chapter 28: Her Second Chance Alpha

The discussion about finding a witch was quickly tabled, as none of us were able to come up with a way to even find one who would be willing to help. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts now as the discussion slowly ended. Holly reached over to Sara, taking her hands in her own.

"We will do everything we can to find someone to help prove Liam was under a spell." Holly says with full conviction in her voice. She meant every word she had said. She would not stop until she had exhausted all options.

As dinner began finishing up, I received a mindlink from one of my warriors that was on border patrol tonight.

"Alpha, I think you need to come see this," he says. You can hear a tinge of nervousness in his voice through the link.

"Okay, Eric and I will be on our way shortly. Where are you at?" I asked.

"Northwest end of the territory." Comes his reply as he cuts the link.

"Is everything okay?" Holly asked. I can see the worry in her eyes as she tries to hide it behind a sweet smile.

Placing a smile on my own face, I lifted her hand from the table, bringing it to my lips, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

"Yes, everything is fine, Eric and I just need to check on something. We should be back in a little bit." I told her as I rose to my feet.

Eric, following my lead, also stands placing a kiss on his mate's lips. The two of us exit the dining room. Walk down the hallway, we stay silent until we reach the doors leading outside.

"What's going on?" Eric asked as we walked through the doors and out into the fresh night air, down the cobbled brick path of the garden that leads to the edge of the forest.

"The warriors seem to have found something and they said I needed to see it." I said as we stripped out of our clothes, placing them on one of the low hanging tree branches.

I give Knight full control and I can feel my bones start to snap as they begin to break, elongate and rearrange themselves. I watch as jet black tufts of fur begin to sprout all over my body until there is no more of my human skin to be seen. Leaning forward as I finish shifting, I landed on all fours, my paws digging into the soft ground beneath me. Knight shakes out his fur as he stands at his full height.

Jax steps forward once he finishes shifting as well, his dark grey fur shines in the moonlight as he gives it a good shake.

"Where to Alpha?" Jax asked through our mindlink.

"The Northwest border," Knight replies, and the two take off into the forest, making their way through the trees to the border.

It took us about twenty minutes to finally reach the area that the warriors were in. Jax and Knight come to a stop as the trees start to thin out into an open area of the forest. The warriors are searching for what looks to be some kind of make-shift camp site that has been set up.

There are the remains of a burned out campfire with logs placed around it. There are several smaller areas around the fire that are cleared of any debris, indicating that whoever was there stayed overnight. Because of the number of similar spots, there had to be at least ten to fifteen people that were there.

"It looks as if they did not stay long. Do you think it could have been just some humans that took a wrong trail and got lost?" I asked my Wolf.

"Maybe, but why would our patrols not have noticed them sooner? With the way this looks, it seems that several people were staying here." Knight replies. "How is it that they were missed?"

He lifts his snout and sniffs the air, trying to pick up on any scent that may still linger around the area, but he can not seem to find anything.

"They must have left a few days ago," Knight adds as he continues to circle the area, examining it thoroughly for any sign of who had been there.

Knight gives me back control and I shift back, taking a pair of basketball shorts from Eric and slipping them on.

"Alpha" Riley says as he steps out from a group of warriors motioning for Eric and I to both follow him. "Patrol came across this about an hour ago" he says as he continues to lead us through the trees.

"Do we have any idea who this was?" Eric asked.

Riley, shaking his head, "No Sir, at first we thought it was just a group of humans that lost their way and wandered through the territory, stopping to camp for the night, but this made us think otherwise." He adds and motions for Eric and I to follow him. He leads us about thirty yards deeper into the forest away from the campsite. As the trees begin to thin out some, I see it. There in the center of the opening is a pile of animal remains.

Deer, hogs and rabbit pieces are all piled together in a mound of decomposing courses. On the edge of the remains you can see that there are paw prints all around this area.

"Wolves" Knight growls in my head.

"This isn't humans, this is wolves." I stated matter of factly as I looked at both Eric and Riley.

"But how are they getting in undetected? And how are they evading our patrols all together? It just doesn't make sense, our guys should have picked up on their scents." Eric adds as he surveys the area.

"Have there been other sites found like this one close by?" I asked my warrior.

"If it is, we have not come across them yet. I have sent scouts out already to search this area thoroughly and another team was sent past the border to see if there are any more signs that way as well." Riley says.

"Good, I want extra patrols here in case they try to return."

"Yes Alpha." Riley says, bowing his head, he returns to the campsite to give out the orders.

"Do you think this could be from the last attack?" Eric asked as he walked around the pile of animal remains, his nose scrunched up at the putrid odor that was beginning to fill the air.

Shaking my head, "No, most of this is still too fresh for it to be from then. This has to be over the past few days."

Not finding anything else besides the dead animal carcasses, the two of us return to the campsite. All the warriors are now huddled around one another in a circle looking at the ground. I step into the center of the warriors to see what has gathered their attention.

Laying amongst the fallen leaves and dirt is a necklace. It was made of three straps of leather that were braided together, carrying a single black stone in the center. Picking it up, I dust it off, the black color shining in the moonlight.

"Let me see that" Eric asked, quickly taking the necklace from my hands. A troubled look now on his face as he studied it, turning the stone over in his hands. "I think I have seen this before."

"Where?" I asked, watching my Betas face morph into a shocked expression.

"I need to check the library again to be sure first." He says, his eyes rising to meet mine.

Turning my attention back to the warriors that are still watching us, "I want the area combed thoroughly for anything else that may have been left behind that can tell us who may have been here."

"Yes Alpha", they all say at once.

Turning back to my beta, "Come on then, let's see if we can find out what this is." I said.

I quickly shift back into Knight. He takes the necklace in his mouth while Eric also shifts into Jax. The two then take off, running back to the pack house as fast as possible. I think we made it back in half the time it took us to originally get to the campsite. We both shift back into our human forms, quickly dressing and making our way back up to the pack house.

Eric rushes into the house and down the hall into the massive library. I quicken my pace to keep up with him as he threw open the double-wooden doors. The handles slam against the walls behind the doors, causing a loud bang to sound throughout the room.

"Sh*t man, what has got into you?" I said as I watched Eric begin to rummage through the stacks of books that were covering the table. He doesn't even acknowledge me at all as he pushes the books around combing through the pages quickly.

Joining him at the table, I began flipping through the pages of one of the books. Every book I notice happens to be about witches, witchcraft and black magic.

"What exactly are you looking for?" I asked as I picked up another book and flipped through the pages. Information on herbs and ingredients that are used for spells and their meanings fill the little leather book.

I noticed he had stopped on a particular book. Scanning a page, he turned to the next one and there was a photo of a necklace with the same braided leather chain and black stone in the center of it.

"I knew it." Eric says as he pushes the book over to me for a better look.

I pulled the necklace out of my pocket, laying it next to the picture. It is identical.

"According to this, it is a masking pendent. When worn, the wearer can go completely unnoticed by any supernatural by masking their scent and making them appear as if they were a human." Eric says.

"That explains why our warriors were not able to pick up the scent of wolves in the area. But if it makes them smell like a human, then they should still have noticed the scent at some point during their patrols." I say as I scan the page myself. "If they all had similar pendents, then we would not have noticed anything out of the ordinary until now.

Looking back at the book, I flipped the page back over and read the description:

OBSIDIAN MASKING PENDENT

USE WHEN ONE WISHES TO GO UNDETECTED BY OTHER SUPERNATURALS.

HARNESSES THE SHADOWS TO HIDE ONES IDENTITY FROM OTHERS.

MOSTLY USED BY BLACK MAGIC USERS

A growl leaves my chest. Looking back at my Beta, I can see that he is now unsettled by this finding. He takes the book back and continues to read more about the pendent and what it does.

"She was right" he mumbled under his breath.

"Who was right?" I asked, confused as to who he was referring to.

"Sara, she was right." He says, looking up from the book. "Whoever was out there does not have good intentions and if I have to place any bets on who it is I would say it was whoever Silver Bow is using to get to Holly."

A low growl rumbles in my chest again. Knight is livid at the thought of Alexander using magic to get to Holly. He wants to hunt him down and tear him to pieces immediately.

"If this is him again, then we need to be prepared for anything he could do. We don't know if they are just using things like this that are just enchanted or if the witches are with them and activity casting spells to make us vulnerable." I tell my Beta my eyes not leaving the pendent in his hands.