Chapter 18 Darren's POV

The sharp, unnerving ringing of the telephone pulled me from the depths of sleep, slicing through the serene atmosphere. 

My first instinct was to ignore it, to bury myself under the blanket and let whoever it was rot in impatience. But the ringing persisted, relentless and demanding.

Heck, who the fuck was it?

I growled, the sound rumbling deep in my chest as I sat up, my muscles stiffening in anger.

Running a hand through my hair, I reached for the phone, the object pressing against my ear as I barked, 

“What?”

The voice on the other end was familiar a twinge of urgency laced in her feminine voice. Seline. The pack's informant. 

“Alpha,” she began, her voice trembling. “Someone at the pack house… has been poisoned. Wolf’s bane.”

Her words hit me like a million punches in my groin.

 I froze, the words dragging me out of the hade of sleep.

“Poisoned?” I repeated, my voice low and dangerous.

“Yes, Alpha. The pack is in chaos. People are scared. They’re saying it could happen to anyone.”

I leaned back against the wall, my mind racing with a million thoughts. Wolf’s bane. The one substance capable of weakening or killing even the strongest of us. Even me. 

“Who?” I demanded.

“One of the warriors,” Seline replied. “He’s dead, but the pack… they’re unsettled.”

I closed my eyes, raking a hand through my hair. 

“I’ll handle it. Keep things under control until I get there.”

“Yes, Alpha,” she said before the line went dead.

For a moment, I sat there in the silence, the weight of responsibility pressing down on my shoulders. 

“Kyle!” I thundered, my voice echoing across the room.

I was livid!

I heard his footsteps grow louder, as he walked into the room, he leaned against the wall, folding his hand. 

“What’s the emergency?” he asked, rubbing this eyes. I had woken him up. 

I stood on my feet, pacing the room, the air thick with tension. 

“Someone poisoned one of the pack members with wolf’s bane,” I said through gritted teeth. 

“The pack is falling apart, and we’re here in Los Angeles.”

Kyle rolled his eyeballs, watching me pace. 

“Calm down, Darren. What’s the plan? And can you please stop walking up and down. You are making concentrating hard. ”

I stopped, glaring at him. 

“The plan? The plan is to figure out how the hell someone smuggled wolf’s bane past the borders. No stranger gets into my territory without my permission. This shouldn’t have happened.”

Kyle sighed, running a hand over his face. 

“The Gamma is there. Let him handle it. We don’t need to rush back just because the pack’s feeling unsettled. Take a breath, man.”

But I couldn’t. The thought of my pack in chaos, of my people being vulnerable, gnawed at me. I slammed my fist against the wall, the impact reverberating through the room.

“I’m going,” I said firmly.

Kyle groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Fine. But don’t expect me to be thrilled about cutting our trip short.”

I marched into Heather’s room without knocking, the door swinging open to reveal her sitting on the bed, her back turned to me. She startled, her hand instinctively reaching for something on the nightstand—a vibrator. My lips curled into a smirk.

“Nice choice,” I muttered, leaning against the doorframe.

Her face flushed a deep red as she shoved the object aside, her hands trembling slightly. 

“What do you want?” she snapped, clearly trying to mask her embarrassment with anger.

“Get dressed,” I ordered, my voice leaving no room for argument.

She hesitated, her eyes narrowing. 

“Where are we going?”

Didn't I tell her that she was in no position to question me? Well, I'd deal with that later. 

I didn’t answer, turning on my heel and stepping out of the room. She could either comply or face the consequences. Her choice. 

When she emerged a few minutes later, she looked flawless. But I didn’t have time to admire her stubborn beauty. I grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the stairs, ignoring her protests.

“Darren, what’s going on?” she demanded as I shoved her into the car.

“Silence,” I snapped, slamming the door behind her.

“You don't shut me out like that. Where the fuck…” before she could finish, we had already gotten into the parking lot and I shoved her into car. 

The drive back to the pack was filled with an unbearable tendiny, the silence in the car punctuated only by the occasional hum of the engine. 

Heather sat stiffly beside me, her arms crossed as she glared out the window. Kyle, seated in the back, kept his usual smirk in place, as though he found the entire situation amusing.

Well, that was Kyle, he was just an asshole. 

When we reached the pack’s territory, the howls started almost immediately. Heather’s eyes widened as she glanced at me. “What’s happening?”

I clenched my jaw, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “They’ve caught your scent,” I said simply.

“My scent?” she echoed, panic creeping into her voice. “Why do they sound so… angry?”

“They’re not angry,” I said. She didn't look like she bought what I said. “They’re excited.”

Kyle huffed from the back seat. “Excited? That’s one way to put it,” he teased, his tongue effortlessly rolling out a chuckle. 

The car came to a stop, and I stepped out, the weight of my pack’s gaze pressing down on me. Heather hesitated, her hand on the door handle

. “Do I have to get out?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

The moment we stepped out, the wolves emerged from the woods, their eyes glowing. They snarled and snapped their jaws, their presence both a warning and a welcome.

“Is this… normal?” Heather asked, her voice barely audible.

I ignored her, my focus on the wolves. Then, a voice rang out, loud and clear.

“Is this our Luna?”

All eyes shifted to Heather, their gazes curious, scrunitizing her features. My chest tightened, but I kept my expression neutral. Heather who was terrified stepped behind me, grabbing my clothes. 

“Get inside,” I ordered Heather, my voice low but commanding.

She hesitated, her eyes wide with fear, her body trembling. 

“Now,” I growled, and she finally moved, stepping toward the pack house as the wolves parted to let her through.

I could hear her heart pounding as she walked through them. I would have commanded them to stop growling, but I enjoyed watching her shake in fear. 

Well, my wolf did too.

My gaze shifted to the pack, my eyes scanning the crowd. 

“We’ll address everything soon,” I said firmly. “For now, keep calm.”

I sniffed the air around and I could notice a weird energy dominating the atmosphere. I raised my hand in the mid air, commanding the wolves to keep shut. 

Immediately,my eyes darted towards the woods and I saw them. The balls to walk into my territory and hide in the woods. 

I clenched my jaw, my eyes blazing with fury. I took a deep breath, my pupils dilating. My bones snapped and I groaned in pain. 

I didn't know why my wolf didn't delay to come out when he saw Heather. But now she was out of sight, he decided to make morphing difficult.

“Ray, you are such a dick you know that?” I muttered to my wolf before leaping and transforming into a wolf. 

The howling of other wolves filled the air. 

I didn't know what laid in the woods, but all these called for one thing; hunting.