Ayla: Always an Alpha

Chapter 12 - Just Enough Ruckus

Saleem hid his reaction, also likely not wanting to stress his family. I was impressed. To him, the intrusion of a well-known assassin onto our property was a much bigger deal.

"Do you need another man?" Emir asked. He had been training to be a fighter before leaving the pack for his mate, and from what I remember, he had been getting to be pretty good.

"We should be able to get it under control," I stated. "Enjoy your time off, Emir. Saleem can contact you if we need you."

It wasn't until we had left the house that Saleem said a word. "You haven't called anyone to meet you here."

During our friendship, I'd gotten used to Saleem's way of expressing disagreement. A non confrontational person, he often worded his questions as statements. I thought it was because he found them less aggressive-sounding.

"The trail leads to the pack house. You and I will be meeting the group that is conducting the tracking."

"He's here for you."

"And he is obviously looking in the wrong place at the moment. It'll be fine if we hurry to the others. I don't want to take any people off the trail right now."

I could tell he wasn't satisfied with my response, but he kept his thoughts to himself as we quickly stripped and transformed. When we reached the group, he became busy tracking the scent. According to the plan, Killian should have been closer to the edge of the property by then. To split up my trackers from people guarding the perimeter, we had planned for him to change paths after reaching the pack house and leave a less distinct trail until he was farther away. As my best tracker, Saleem would likely catch Killian's scent quickly, so hopefully Killian was adhering to the designated time frame.

Only a few minutes had passed when the next search-group-wide mind-link came through from my beta at the border.

West edge! He's making a run for it.

Fuck, someone responded.

Trackers heading your way now, I told them, nodding at the group around me to suggest they leave. I'll notify the surrounding alphas. Don't kill him when you catch him. The council will want answers.

Saleem almost left with the group, but instead, his dark-brown wolf form turned to follow me towards the house. I stopped at the steps of the back porch.

Go, I told him separately. I need to make the phone calls. If they lose his trail, they'll need you.

No one is guarding the house right now, he stated, but really, he meant, 'Why haven't you kept anyone with you?'

Hesitant, Saleem shifted on his paws. I expected Saleem, as lead tracker, to get more caught up in Killian and I's distraction than he was. I needed to go pick up Killian before every pack in the area was on high alert and the pain in the ass that was Alpha Cox got involved. To make this plan foolproof, I couldn't have anyone guarding me.

He's at the border, I stressed. Everyone is needed there.

There could be another one with him this time.

I looked up at the sky. Normally, I would be working under that assumption, so even with the one trail, Saleem's thoughts were perfectly valid. Nevertheless, I tried. There's only one trail.

Saleem didn't budge.

It'd be too suspicious if I commanded him to leave. Instead, hoping he'd drop it and go to the border if I ignored him, I transformed and quickly grabbed clothes from inside the porch bench to change into.

After I'd already entered the house through the back door, I heard his bones cracking into place. Even as he followed behind me, I continued my journey to my office on the main floor.

"You haven't been yourself lately," he stated as I picked up the phone from my desk and began dialing the first number, one for the alpha of the Northern Mississippi pack, our southwestern neighbors.

Alpha Cox would surely give me shit for notifying them when that was a role alphas of the warrior packs often liked to take on themselves, but I liked to be efficient. No one was going to blame me for them not getting notified.

"Hey Ayla, it's after business hours," Noah joked, picking up the phone almost immediately. "What do you need this late in the day?"

"Killian Murray in wolf form has been spotted running for the west edge of our territory. Have your people on the lookout."

Immediately, all humor faded from his tone, and the next response was professional. "On it now. Is he armed?"

I hesitated, wondering what I should say. "That has not been confirmed, but it's highly likely."

The call ended, and with Saleem still staring at me quizzically, I began to dial the next number, the one for Alpha Cox.

When I'd finished the call, which had been lengthy because of Alpha Cox's generally disagreeable attitude, Saleem hadn't budged. If his gray eyes had been lasers, he would have burned two large holes into my face by then.

"You. Border. Now," I stated, flicking my pointer finger towards the door as I dialed the next number. This one I didn't have memorized, however, so I was taking longer to dial. I had to reference the book of contacts on my desk, keeping the book open with my left hand while juggling the phone with my right.

"Ayla..." he began.

"Now is not the time, Saleem."

The beta of the next alpha picked up the line, so I had to pause my argument with Saleem. Stubbornly, he remained in his position in front of me.  

~~~

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I already have the next chapter written! It's an... interesting one, to say the least. 

I don't know why Wattpad insists on indenting some paragraphs and not indenting others when I copy my Word doc into Wattpad, but it does. I try to remove the differences, but alas, they changed it up a lot this chapter. I have given up on fixing it. 

Question of the week: This chapter gave us a little more insight into Saleem's life and background. Do you think that it's revealed (perhaps) anything regarding why him and Ayla are so close?