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“He… uh… hasn’t been having heats, for a while now. I don’t know how long it’s been.”
Shit.
Axel stood. “I’ll take that info to the nurse’s station.” Then he left the three of us, Dakota, still standing, in the too-small room. The air quickly became stifling with tension.
“So you’re the alpha, then?” Dakota asked me, his eyes boring into mine.
“I am. I didn’t mean for Kade to come to any harm,” my wolf howled at the idea of anyone, especially us, harming Kade, “but I had to investigate why a wolf in my territory that should be an omega is suddenly smelling like a beta, especially one that is unbonded.”
The bear, I was sure that was what he was, thought little of my reasoning, clearly looking for someone to blame for Kade’s condition.
“I imagine the stress just got to him,” Chase tried to reason. “If he’s been hiding from an ex.”
Dakota scoffed.
“Is there a problem?” I asked coolly.
“There’s no ex.” He gave a humorless chuckle. “Well, not a recent one based around here.” He explained, “Kade’s like a ghost. It seems like he’s got all these friends, but he barely socializes. He certainly hasn’t had a boyfriend, let alone an ex, since I’ve known him.” I heard the possessiveness in his tone, as did Chase, who rolled his eyes from behind the big man.
“How long have you known him?” I asked, curious about their relationship. I did not doubt that Dakota wanted to be something more to Kade, but were they actually friends?
“Two years, give or take. Ever since he started working for Mercury. He’s a great worker, never late, never taking a sick day. Just turns up and does his job. Everything about how he runs his life is designed to avoid notice.”
“But Kade attracts attention,” I said simply.
Dakota made an approving sound. “Got my attention the second I met him, but I’ve never noticed the scent of anyone else on him for any length of time. So if there’s an ex, this is someone from his past, but I get the feeling that there’s more to this whole thing. Something spooked Kade about working in Sweetwater.”
My mind returned to the rogue alpha I’d let into my pack. He’d been looking for an omega. Could he have been looking for Kade? I didn’t owe the alpha anything, and my gut told me he wasn’t to be trusted. I felt my brothers agree with where my thoughts were going. “So Kade lives alone?”
“Yeah, just him. He’s got a house near to our depot, halfway between here in Northarbor and Sweetwater.” Dakota confirmed my thinking. Maybe Rincoln was his dad, but Kade had gone to great lengths to go undetected. He did not want to be found by someone, likely this alpha that had come looking for someone like him.
The pieces all started to fall into place for me. How Rincoln hadn’t asked for any assistance. Hadn’t even offered any sort of description, or any information about this missing son, had all sorts of red flags waving. Had I become too comfortable in my office that I’d neglected to use my wolf senses? I relied far too heavily on Chase’s extra senses, I knew that much. They weren’t infallible and could be fooled.
I’d lapsed into silence, thinking about the whole situation. I vowed to talk to Kade when he was feeling better so that I could check if I needed to remove Rincoln from my territory. Making sure that Kade was safe was a priority to both me and my wolf.
Realizing I wouldn’t ask any more questions, Dakota finally took a seat to wait on the news. He tapped away on his phone, probably updating those at Mercury about what had happened.
“Chase, could you contact the pack and have someone return the van to Mercury, please?” I asked my brother.
Why aren’t you using the link?
I didn’t reply to Chase, keeping my thoughts locked down tight. I didn’t want anyone, even my brothers, to see how conflicted I was about this whole situation. How Kade had entered my territory was cause for punishment, but my wolf, and my heart, believed that Kade needed our protection.
“Sure thing, Alpha.” He wasn’t usually so formal with me, but with strangers present, he would fall into the proper etiquette required for our roles. Chase flashed me a look about having to speak aloud, but I ignored it.
“Thank you,” Dakota said, albeit ungratefully. Part of me thought that his animosity was because he didn’t want me to be a decent person, sensing a threat. I wasn’t sure if I was. Kade might fascinate me in his current state, but there might be nothing there. It was probably just because of the magic and his illness, my wolf sensing a pack member in distress. Not that Kade was pack, he was an independent but he must have asked for permission to settle in the area. As the closest alpha, he was my responsibility.
Not wanting to arouse suspicion or hint at any sort of weakness in my pack, I sent Axel a message:
Blake: Find out who signed off on Kade staying in the area. I’ve heard nothing about him. Someone obviously checked him properly at the gates since they had the correct designation. I want whatever history we have on him.
Although I knew he was discussing Kade’s use of blockers and magic with the staff, he wouldn’t ignore a message from me. His reply took seconds to arrive.
Axel: Understood. I’ll have that for you when we return to the pack-house. Chase is worried that you aren’t using the link.
I decided to side-step that last part. My brother coddled his younger twin.
Axel handled a lot of duties in the pack as my brother and second. He also had his own assistant, who was likely going through transcripts now to find the information that I needed.
