AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The community of Forest Crest was almost impenetrable to strangers, and the only noteworthy discussion or “drama” was brought on by internal squabbling. That was, until Harlow arrived. Something about her stoked discussions and fear as well as whatever he and Atlas were going through when it came to her.
Now there was something else they had to deal with because he received a call from Zachary.
“Just spoke with Jessie at the Cafe. Says a tracker and some hunters have swung into town,” announced Zachary.
“She sure about that?” Colt questioned. If anyone had the latest news about what was happening, it would be her. It was just that she was a pack member’s wife and not a shifter.
“Seems to be. Got some ID details we can run some checks on,” he responded.
“You told her to keep it to herself?” Colt knew the reputation she had.
“I did, but we know Jessie.”
Yeah, Colt knew her alright, and that was what bothered him. For now, though he’d have to give her the benefit of the doubt. She’d done what she was supposed to do by calling Zachary, who’d passed this information onto Atlas and him.
Not even an hour later he realized he probably should have listened to his gut on that one. Jessie had told her husband, and now everybody in the Gravecrest pack knew a band of hunters and a tracker had entered the town.
Most blamed Harlow.
Colt clacked away at the keyboard while Atlas flipped through pages, golden rays casting pink and orange into the ornately decorated room from the open windows of the adjacent abandoned offices.
Colt had often scolded Atlas for his reliance on historical media and wasn’t sure what he hoped to discover in books checked out from the Forest Crest Public Library. But it made Atlas happy, clinging to traditions and keeping the rustic infrastructure of Forest Crest alive, so Colt had learned not to say anything.
In front of Atlas were state maps, sociological texts, town histories, books about migration patterns, genealogical records, and just about anything that could be even vaguely helpful. Atlas was obscured from Colt behind the mountain of books, and he looked lost in managing the stack, flippantly throwing aside book after book. Atlas dominated Colt in nearly everything, but in research, Colt was king.
“I found him,” Colt said with finality, replacing the sounds of buttons and paper with a new soundtrack.
“What? How?”
“Internet,” Colt answered and Atlas glared. “All I had to do was find the county code and the state on the license plate, which the Last Chance generously provided.”
“And?” Atlas was still incredulous.
“Well, we don’t just do things in person anymore. It’s all coded so regular joes don’t stumble into it. But if you know where to look, you can find pack forums, pack histories, and so on.”
Atlas didn’t like the sharing of private pack information in public. He had made that abundantly clear to Colt. On one hand, it might drive up membership, being able to recruit online. But if information needed to be shared, Atlas wanted it written down in tomes and volumes to be bound and kept safe, not in HTML code for everybody in the world to see.
“So, where’s this guy from?” Atlas seemed impatient but Colt was quick to answer.
“That’s the thing. If this county code and state are correct, they’re from Pine County in California.” Colt weighed his words carefully.
“Wait.” Anger boiled in Atlas’s voice. “That’s where Harlow is from.”
“I checked,” Colt said. “There are no other packs on record in the area. If there’s a tracker, the tracker’s also from Hollow Grove.”
“Do you think they’re here because of her?” The question felt leading, as though Atlas already knew what he believed.
“I think the last thing we need to do right now is jump to conclusions,” Colt tried to calm his alpha. “Maybe there’s a connection, and maybe it’s a coincidence.”
“But you heard what Jessie said. They sensed a shifter coming into town with four hunters.”
“I know what Jessie said,’’ Colt replied. “I also know we’re getting our information third-hand.” He looked at Atlas, who was gathering the books for return, moving erratically as if frustrated. “Our system works. Don’t think I’m saying it doesn’t. But our scents linger. Maybe they saw the five strangers entering town, and what they smelled was Harlow? Then they assumed one of the five was also a shifter from Harlow’s scent? We don’t know.”
“So clearly, we go find out for ourselves,” Atlas decided. “If they’re still in town, a group of five outsiders in hunting gear is going to stick out like a sore thumb.”
At that moment, Colt heard the elevator door open, a horde of footsteps echoing through the hallway and across the office space. From the noise, Colt was reminded of a herd of elephants.
As they rounded the hallway, Colt saw several pack members approaching Atlas’s office, Lauren and Zachary at the stampede’s head. “We were hoping to talk to you,” Lauren spoke first. “We heard a tracker from another pack is in town.”
