The Beta's Son

Chapter 16-Jonah

Jonah's Point of View

My mind was spinning as I waiting outside my terminal for Iris, the Alpha of the Trincley pack in Chicago. When I saw her bright blue hair I sighed in relief, I hated this town. The sooner I took care of this, the sooner I could leave, get back to Erin and the rest of my pack.

"Jonah!" She yelled as she skipped to me, grinning wildly.

"Hey," I said, pulling her in for a hug.

"I've missed you! I thought Erin was coming, too?" She said after she pulled away.

"Nope, prom is this weekend. I was surprised she even let me out of it."

"Well, thank God she did. Peter's losing his mind, we sure could use your help."

"It's Peter's?" She nodded, then turned. Peter Blackweild was the Alpha of the smallest pack in North America, the Tyee's. His pack was located somewhere in Northern Michigan, but he kept close contact with every pack we knew of. I remember his visits as a kid, he was a dark-skinned man who I only ever saw smiling. She didn't say anything else until we were in her car.

"Opal Blackweild, she's fourteen and Peter's only daughter. She's been gone a week and a half."

"Has he checked in with everyone? All the packs?"

"He could only get in contact with about eighteen of us, that's including you. Jecoba and Indra haven't responded. Not that we'd expect them to, you know them, live off the land packs. It's inhumane if you ask me, but Jonah, I don't think she ran," she said the last part quietly, like she was telling me a secret. I looked over at her, my skin crawling at what she was implying.

"Rogues?" She didn't answer.

"Opal worships her father. Despite her typical teenage werewolf melodrama, she still would never run. She knows how much the pack means to him, she would never willingly abandon her responsibilities."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. She spent spring break with my pack last month. She was devoted, spent every waking moment with me or in training. She asked a million questions about leadership. Never left my side. She was so ready to be Alpha, to make her dad proud."

"Damn," I breathed. She sounded like Lynn. For as long as I could remember, Lynn was the perfect Alpha-in- training. Poised, powerful, ambitious. Not that any of those traits were very evident now. I pushed Lynn and all the trouble she had gotten herself into out of my mind and focused back on what Iris was saying.

"Peter won't hear it, though. He's convinced she ran away."

"He doesn't trust her?"

"No, he's in denial. He refuses to let himself believe it was the rogues. I'm sure he's afraid he'll never see her again."

"He might not," I said. I didn't mean to. She just nodded.

"Which is why I need you here. You're level headed, he trusts you. We all do," she said, looking over at me and giving me a half-smile before focusing back on the road.

"So how's Erin?" I couldn't help the smile the stretched across my face. How was Erin? Perfect. Everything about her was perfect.

"She's good. Really good. She wants a wedding," I laughed.

"A wedding? Seriously?" She rolled her eyes playfully.

"Yeah, you know I had never really thought of it before, having a wedding. But she wants one, and now all of a sudden I do, too." She was grinning but I watched it falter.