Tracking the Wolves (Madison Joshi and the Wolves series- Book 3)

Chapter 49

It was afternoon, the next day, when Leia sidled up to Maddy. "Hey," she said in a rather cheerful way, and Maddy immediately knew that Leia wanted something from her.

"What do you want?" Maddy asked flatly.

Leia put her hand on her hip. "As a matter of fact, I don't want anything. I just came to talk to my best friend, but clearly, she isn't up for a conversation."

Maddy didn't say anything. She just waited for the—

"Fine. I do want something," Leia said with a pout.

"What?"

"I was thinking that we could go shopping... I heard that there is a nice mall at a little distance."

Maddy groaned. "No way. You know I don't like shopping. Why can't we just order it online?"

"Come on. It will be fun. Alexa's coming along too."

"Only if you carry me around the entire mall. You know I hate unnecessary walking or any exercise, really."

"I can ask Xander to carry you around," Leia said as she waggled her eyebrows. "I'm sure you both will enjoy it."

After a lot of convincing and a promise of stopping at the food court, Maddy agreed. It wasn't that she hated shopping. She just hated the walking that came hand-in-hand with shopping. She loved buying new dresses. It was like gifting herself something new and let's face it, who doesn't like gifts? The walking however, was a pain in the butt especially since Maddy was extremely indecisive when it came to dresses. Online shopping was a blessing. A blessing that Maddy intended to use to its full potential.

When Xander heard about their plans to go shopping, he insisted that he wanted to accompany them too.

"What about me?" he asked. "I want to join too."

Jeremy and Noah voted to stay back. Jeremy was worried that the Boss might have planned a surprise attack and wanted to be ready for the worst.

The four of them got into the car and Leia drove to the mall. Throughout the ride, Alexa blasted Taylor Swift songs and sang along to her songs. She had a sudden obsession with Taylor Swift.

Soon, they reached the mall, and Maddy found her hands occupied by multiple dresses. She took them to the trial room and wore them one by one and showed them to the others. Every time Maddy came out wearing a dress, Xander would come up with some absurd pick-up line to go with that dress like when she wore black, he asked her if she was a blackhole because she was 'pulling him in.'

Soon enough, it became a challenge. Maddy picked out some of the weirdest dresses she came across just so that Xander wouldn't have any pick-up lines to go with the dress. Somehow, Xander always came up with some or the other response. How he had managed to memorize so many pick-up lines, Maddy had no idea.

At the end of their small trip, Maddy was a laughing mess. Her legs were aching, but she had a lot of fun.

"Tell me, what is your ideal idea of a date?" Xander asked Maddy with a smirk.

Maddy smirked back at Xander. "I prefer the date, month, and year format. The American format of month, date, and then year format is confusing. The Indian one is much better."
Xander frowned. "You know that's not what—"

Xander stopped mid-sentence as his eyes glazed over. Maddy watched as the other too stopped in their tracks.

"What happened?" she asked, all playfulness disappearing from her voice, the moment their eyes un-glazed or whatever it was called. Maddy knew that they wouldn't abruptly start talking through their pack-link. If someone was contacting them, something must have gone wrong. Maddy could think of a hundred things that had could have gone wrong.

"Nothing bad has happened," Leia assured Maddy. "We just need to hurry. Bruce decided to arrive a little early. He has already landed in California."

"I bet he did it on purpose. It is a good thing that we planned it all before."

The four of them rushed into the car. This time, Alexa drove. She drove as recklessly as ever but they managed to not kill anyone.

When they reached near Amalthea Pack Headquarters, Maddy saw that the entire place was unusually silent. The usual noises of chattering had completely stopped. Just as they entered the headquarters, Maddy saw Justin waiting at the front with the Beta, Diana, Justin, and Katie. On seeing them, Jeremy who had been standing rather stiff, relaxed.

"Thank gods you've come."

Quickly the four of them were filled in on what to do and where to be. The plan was to ask Bruce to stop, and if he didn't, he would be kept inside the prison until his bloodlust ends. Justin already appealed to the Werewolf Council for the equal rights of rogues. Even Tristan filed an appeal. Once Bruce was captured, Justin would try to rally the other Alphas around the world to appeal to the Werewolf Council. In that case, the Council won't have any choice but to agree. Once that has been settled, Bruce would be released. He would have no reason to harm anyone anymore and everyone gets a happy ending.

All the pack members who weren't guards were asked to stay in their respective houses and keep their door locks no matter what happened. All the guards were at the borders. They had tranquilizers and were asked to shoot and then ask questions. Maddy didn't even bother asking about how they got their hands on tranquilizers.

The Beta, Diana, and the Delta, who turned out to be Nadine, would be hiding in one house nearest to the open courtyard while Jeremy, Leia, Alexa and Katie would be hiding in another house on the opposite direction. Once Bruce was inside the prison, Justin would mind-link them and let them know that they could come out to interrogate Bruce.

Meanwhile, Maddy and Xander would be up in the trees. Since Maddy was one of the only ones who could see the white mist, she needed to be able to see the conversation between Bruce and Justin, just in case Bruce decides to use a spell on Justin. If that does happen, Maddy would have to tell Xander immediately and he would let Justin know through the pack-link.

Everyone went to their positions and waited for the boss to arrive. If everything went according to plan, which it probably won't but anyway, if everything went according to plan, they wouldn't have to worry about the boss in a few hours.