Beta Henry

This story has been edited by m and not a professional. British English. I will, maybe, never edit one day. Not today.

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POV – Henry

“Come in,” Alpha Neven says after I knock. I walk in and smile, taking a seat next to Luno Armani, or Mani as we call him, Neven’s mate.

“Hey Mani, how are you?” I ask our Luno. Mani is a quiet man; with brown eyes and jet-black hair he likes to keep in a short crew-cut. When our Alpha introduced him to the pack, it sent shockwaves through the local packs, but as time’s passed, people have become more accepting of them, and our pack has grown to become one of the biggest in the south.

“Great. We’ve been busy organising the Winter Solstice Ball which is in a few months. Maybe you’ll find your mate?” Luno asks me, wiggling his eyebrows. I give a small smile. The Winter Solstice Ball is an annual event we hold down south that is hosted every year by a different pack. We are hosting this year. The purpose of the Winter Solstice ball is to celebrate the winter solstice and coincidently is a good excuse for unmated wolves to find their mates. I’m twenty-six and haven’t found my mate yet.

“I don’t know,” I reply. I’ve been to many Solstice Balls and some Changing Balls held in the north, but I’ve had no luck. I’m sure Mother Selene will grant me a mate when the time is right.

“Any reports?” Neven asks me, getting back to business.

“Not really. Benoit says our warriors are making great improvements, and they’re getting better at weapon use. He did ask if we could purchase more daggers and throwing knives for training. Audrey has provided Mani some extra funds for the Solstice Ball, and we are building some more accommodations for potential visitors. Audrey says the invitations were sent out last week and we’re already getting replies from some of the smaller packs.”

Neven smiles at me.

“Good. Sounds like Audrey and you are doing an excellent job,” Neven says to his mate. Mani smiles and I can see them exchange loving looks.

“I have some news…” he begins, looking grimly at me. I don’t say anything and wait for him to continue.

“There’s been a fatality with the silver traps,” he begins. I look at him and try to stop my mouth from staying open.

“Shit. Where? Who?” I ask.

“Campestria Montem Pack, in East Coast state. This pack is isolated with just under a thousand members. Apparently, some of their young pups went for a hike, and one got caught in a trap near the top of Mount Magna. All the pups are around sixteen, so it took them a few days to hike back down and find help. Once they returned to their friend, he died from blood loss.”

“How come one of them didn’t stay to help him?” I ask. Neven looks dark.

“One did, unfortunately she got caught in a different trap, she has a broken ankle and torn muscles. Alpha Jonas says their warriors found six more traps located and hidden around their mountain ranges. I’ve asked him to take photos of the traps and locations, and as we’re not allied with them, I will be going to see them after you come back from your next job,” he says.

“What’s the job?” I ask.

“I want you to visit Little Rock pack for a few days and meet with the Alpha, she’s personally requested a visit,” he begins.

I sigh. The south is a bit more progressive than the other states, and the alpha of Little Rock pack is female. Not being sexist, but until she met her chosen mate, she had been a thorn in my side since I turned eighteen, wanting me to join her, and her pack.

“You should be back in a few days,” he continues. I nod, we were the first to report finding silver traps in our territory, since then, other packs have slowly admitted to finding traps as well. We’re now leading the investigation, well I am.

“When do I go and with who?” I ask. Neven smiles.

“Is tomorrow, okay? We thought you may like to go with Kane.”

“I’ll talk to Kane and then we’ll head out,” I agree. We say our goodbyes and I leave Neven and Mani to find Kane.

- - -

The trip to Little Rock pack is only two-and-a-half hours away, but Kane and I wanted to leave early so we can get to work as soon as possible.

Kane is blonde with blue eyes, and he wears his hair in a mullet (I know- so last century). Like me, his body is adorned with a lot of tattoos, his most prominent one being his eagle tattoo that flanks his right shoulder and pec. We both have similar tastes (except the hair), and we both love motorcycles, both owning Breakouts, his is silver and mine is black.

As we’ve decided to ride our Harley’s to Little Rock, we added saddlebags to our bikes to carry our extra gear. Neven told me we’d be gone a few days, so we figure we might as well bring a couple of changes of clothes with us.

Our pack, Silva Luporum, flanks large forests and farmland, and one of our exits goes through Little Vallis National Park, near the neutral town of Little Vallis. From the pack house, it’s a forty-minute drive to the town of Little Vallis, so we decide to head that way first and get breakfast. I follow Kane as our bikes rumble through the park and town of Little Vallis. As we travel, people stop to look at us, one of the perks of owning a Harley, and we continue our journey.

Just out of Little Vallis we stop off at a highway diner. It’s a small mum and pop looking shop, with some shops and houses around it, but from the smell as we walk inside, I can tell it’s owned by witches. We walk in and take a seat at a booth.

“Good morning,” a young female human greets as she walks up to us. She has short thick blonde hair that hangs just past her ears, brown eyes, and thin lips. She’s pretty.

“Here are your menus, just call for me and I’ll take your orders, I’m Amy,” she says with extra sweetness. I look over at Kane who just smiles. We look at the menu and when we both look up for the waitress, who’s next to us before we can blink.

“What can I get for you fine fellas this morning?” she asks suggestively, leaning over to touch my shoulder. I shirk away from her hand.

“Big breakfast. Black coffee,” Kane gruffs.

“One big breakfast and black coffee. And you sugar?” she flirts. It takes all I can to not roll my eyes and keep the look of disgust off my face.

“The same,” I say. She asks how we would like our eggs before walking away, swinging her hips more noticeably as she walks.

“Is Alpha Bridie expecting us?” Kane asks. I nod. Kane chuckles. He knows my history with her, thank goddess she met someone else who she deemed suitable to take the role of Luno. Her Luno is the brother of a beta from one of the northern packs, apparently she couldn’t wait for her true mate, and being still mate less at thirty, chose her mate when she turned thirty-one. She’s now thirty-five.

“Hi, I’m Lucinda and I’ll be taking over for y’all today. Would you like some water?” the older witch asks. We nod and the witch leaves us before coming back.

“Thank you,” we reply. The rest of our time at the diner is pleasant. The waitress, Amy, keeps boring holes into us, but stays behind the counter and works there. When we’re finished, we pay for our meals through Lucinda and tell her to keep the change, which she thanks us for.

- - -

“When did you find your traps?” Alpha Bridie asks.

“November last year. We found thirteen on our territory,” Kane offers. Alpha Bridie nods and adds this to the timeline. We then look back over at the map to see which packs have had traps placed on their land.

“The interesting thing though,” I state, looking at the packs targeted, pointing to each pack.

“Each of these packs are either located near fairy, witch or vampire colonies, and open to mixed pairings, such as half-breeds or hybrids,” I continue.

Alpha Bridie looks at me and thinks.

“We should write this all down- each pack, which colonies they are near, and what hybrids they have. We don’t have an alliance with River Falls Pack though,” she says, pointing to the pack on the map.

“We do. Kane and I can write the basics, and Kane or I can get in touch with Alpha Alex.”

“What’s also interesting is that these traps have been set in four different states,” Luno Paul muses. I agree.

“Almost as if they’re checking the strength of the supers in these states,” Kane offers.

Kane and I spend the next two hours calling and interviewing the alphas and the betas of the six packs we have heard from who have reported finding silver bear traps on their land. Alpha Bridie has printed off maps of our territories, as well as the other three packs she has alliances with, and we’re jotting down where the traps were located and when they were discovered on each territory. It’s a lengthy process and all the packs targeted have had casualties. And now there’s been a death.

I sigh as I lean back into my chair, taking it all in. Questions keep popping into my head. Who would plan something like this? It must have been a wolf, and not any rogue wolf either, they would have been noticed. If that’s the case, then it would have to be a displaced wolf, a wolf trespassing onto pack lands, or there’s a mole.

But how can so many different packs have a mole targeting them the same way? If so, this would have been planned years in advance. Not knowing how long the traps were there before they were found is also an issue. I know our pack is guilty of not doing a thorough job of scanning our forests before our attack, but our security is now pretty tight. I’d have to look at our border logs again just to refresh my memory.

“How are you going?” Kane chuckles, looking at me. I groan.

“Too many questions, too many possibilities,” I state, “it feels like we’re just scratching the surface.”

“Whoever it is seems to have it out for us,” he comments. I agree.

“Not just us, I think packs with close ties to other supers are being targeted,” I add.

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Campestria Montem: (Latin) the plains of the mountain

Vallis: (Latin) Valley/ Vale

A/N – I don’t think Breakouts rumble as they go, unless you rev them, but for the sake of this story, they do!