Among the Trees

Chapter 29 - William pt1

"Who's Alannah?" I was flicking through numbers on Laura's phone trying to find someone capable of helping us.

"Oh shes Laura's twin sister. She's not much use when talking about Adam and Tyler. She hates them both, and besides, she lives up in the highlands of Scotland now." Well that's always good to know. I wonders if my brother knew about his girlfriend's twin sister. I continued to flick through contact numbers.

"What about William?" Lee looked like someone had shoved an iron rod down his back. "Lee? What's wrong?"

"I haven't heard that name in a very long time Lily." He paused and relaxed a little, clearly sensing that his tension was causing me not only confusion, but discomfort too. "He went missing about six years ago Lily. He just disappeared one day without a trace. He was thirteen. His parents searched high and low for their son, to no avail. No one has seen or heard from him since."

"Not according to this." I handed him the phone. "Unless that's a different William to whom you speak of." Lee rose an eyebrow and smirked as he looked momentarily up from the phone.

"Look whose getting all posh in our state of emergency." I shrugged. It was just how I dealt with dilemmas, always had done. I also became very 'proper' you might say, when I was unbelievably irate. Besides it was good to see him smile. He hadn't smiled in days. He was still annoyed that I'd derailed our initial plan momentarily.

"Looking at these messages? No, it's the same Will, and by the looks of things they've been having regular meetings while your brother's been out for the count. She has another meeting with him planned for tomorrow."

"Then we're gate crashing."

I could see my own breath in front of me as we stood in the mid December cold. I pulled my coat sleeves down over my hands and began to step from one foot to another, trying to stop myself from getting beyond cold. Was dark enough that the streetlights shone but light enough to say the sun hadn't completely set yet.

Laura and William had planned to meet shortly after five be the entrance to the nature reserve.

"You sure you wanna go through with this? We can always go back and get warmed up again." Lee's opinion on this whole endeavour was already beyond clear. He had no desire to see his old friend again. He had abandoned him to deal with the worst pack leaders history had ever seen.

"Shh." I waved my hand over my shoulder at him as footsteps approached. In the dim light of the streetlights, I saw a glimpse of emerald green eyes and my breath hitched in my throat. He entire build resembled Adam p, yet somehow he seemed different. His shoulders were broader and his stance was far more worthy of a place in power.

"You're okay, little Luna, he won't hurt. He's not like his brother." Lee's whispers tickled my ear but soothed me all the same. I had never heard of Adam's brother before, but I didn't have time to contemplate why as a second figure appeared. Waves of auburn hair glinted in the streetlights and a slender, feminine shadow was thrown on the ground.

I watched in silence from 100 yards away as she threw her arms around Adam's brother's neck. My heart broke. This was a girl I'd watched countless times tell my brother she loved him and that she'd always be faithful. Yet here she was with her arms around another man. Lee put his hand on my arm, as if sensing I wanted to move.

"Just watch. We need to know what exactly it is they're hiding baby girl." He kissed my head and then rested his chin on my head.

"William, this is wrong." Laura let go of William and reached into one of her pockets. I couldn't quite see what she took out of her pocket but it glinted in the light. "I can't marry you Will. When I said yes to you, I barely knew if Mitchell was ever going to wake up. And now he's awake and I know that I can't be in love with you both. I love you William, but right now this is wrong."

"Laura. Please."

"No William this is how it has to be. Your brother has become power thirsty and still you do nothing. Your pack are waiting for you to return, while you squander your talents lurking in the dark. Be the the Alpha I know you to be." She stretched up onto her tiptoes, placed a single hand on William's cheek and kissed him before walking away.