The Alpha's Lost Mate [Completed]

Chapter Twenty: The Confusion

"As will the Cotleigh pack," Charlie vowed.

"And the Ballyronan pack," Lorcan added darkly.

Everyone in the room held their breath as Zayn stood calmly. The Loughton pack were the reason the peace treaty and allegience had to be drawn all those years ago. They were notoriously against the packs being united, preferring to do things their way. He had fire in his eyes as be stared me down.

"The full force of the Loughton pack's army is yours," he said darkly, bowing his head.

"Alpha Noah is on his way down from Braemar with his warriors as we speak," Osian added.

"This will be the first time in our history that all six packs have stood together," I breathed, and my dad watched in, pride glinting in his eyes.

"Attacking one of our Luna's is to attack us all," Zayn snarled, his voice dripping with fury.

The Alpha's growled in response, our combined power and the strength we gave each other in our alliance bristled through the room. And that's when Finn walked in, Sarah cowering slightly behind him.

"Hey - sorry - I, uh, found Sarah, she -" he stammered, taken aback by the atmosphere in the room, and cut off when Osian rose from the table.

"Mine," he growled as Sarah stepped out from behind Finn, her face painted with surprise and apprehension.

I looked to the floor as he crossed the room to embrace her, my heart aching for Gracie so much it threatened to leap right out of my chest.

"But why are you up here and not with the others downstairs?" I finally heard him ask. He shook with anger as Sarah explained how Cain had taken her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. "I'll kill him."

"Wait," Zayn said, looking around the room. "This can't be a coincidence."

"What do you mean?" I asked, still desperately trying to keep Sable under control as he yearned for our mate.

Zayn stood slowly from the table and came to join me, standing to address the room.

"Cain took Luna Gracie and Luna Sarah long before either of you knew they were your mates," be explained. "And he could have killed Meredith, or knocked her out and left her here. He only would have taken her if taking them both was his plan all along, your warriors found the two rags laced with chloroform, why would he have two if taking your Beta's mate wasn't the plan?"

"There's no way he could have known, they formed the connection literally minutes before it happened," my father said, confused.

"And there's no way he could have known about Sarah, or Gracie for that matter," Osian said darkly.

"Until just last week nobody thought it was possible for someone to see mate's bonds," Lorcan argued. "But Luna Gracie can, and Cain is part witch, after all."

"He's taking the mates of our high ranked wolves before we have the chance to find them," I breathed, a new wave of fury washing over me as the room settled into stunned silence once more.

"But, what about Jen?" Sarah whispered after a long pause.

"Gracie's friend?" I asked.

"Yeah, he took her too, remember? He took her from the cells a few days after he took me, I don't know what he did with her, I thought he might have killed her..." Sarah trailed off, looking around the room at the remaining Alphas without mates.

"Gracie is the first human in recorded history to be an Alpha's mate, and it turns out she's not really even human. It's almost impossible for another human, let alone one that Gracie knew long before all of this happened, to be one of our mates," I explained.

"Human?" Sarah asked. "Jen wasn't human, she was from the Cotleigh pack."

All eyes fell on Charlie, who looked as confused as the rest of us.

"What was her last name?" He asked.

"Stevenson, Jennifer Stevenson," Sarah told him.

"Long black hair, blue eyes, about 5"9, really sweet?" He asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like her."

Charlie pulled out his phone and scrolled through until he found a group photo of teachers from his pack. He zoomed in to the face of a pretty young woman with kind blue eyes. "Her?"

"Yeah, that's her!" Sarah exclaimed.

"You're sure?" Charlie asked, looking more confused than ever.

"We spent 48 hours locked in a cell fighting for our lives," she said sharply, and Osian growled, pulling her even closer. "I am 100% positive that's Jen."

"That's not possible, Jennifer Stevenson is in Cotleigh as we speak. She's a teacher, she was never taken," Charlie argued.

"Yes, she was," Sarah insisted. "She was there for two years."

"No, no, Jen was Gracie's friend before Cain took them, two and a half years ago. They were living in a youth hostel together, Jen helped her get her life back on track after foster care, helped her train," I mumbled, trying to piece everything together.

"Two and a half years ago?" Charlie asked, and I nodded. "Two and a half years ago Jen left the pack to work with Lorcan's outreach programme in South America. She got back a few months ago."

Lorcan recoiled in surprise. "No, she didn't."

"She sent us updates every week, are you accusing me of lying?" Charlie growled.

"Well are you accusing my mate?" Osian snarled in response.
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"And me?" Lorcan snapped.

"Enough," Zayn's voice boomed across the room, authority pouring off him.

"Fighting like this is not going to help us find them," I added harshly, and Zayn nodded to me.

We stood shoulder to shoulder facing the room. The most unlikely in the wolf community.

"Sorry," Osian muttered, backing down first out of loyalty to me.

"I'm not accusing anyone of lying," Lorcan said firmly, his eyes softening slightly. "But no teachers from your pack worked on that programme, and it finished over a year ago."

Charlie shook his head, looking completely lost.

"How fast can you get Jen here?" I asked.

"I already mind linked my Beta, he's getting her to a helicopter now, he'll have her here within the hour," he said.

"Okay, well, uh, why don't I make us all a cup of tea? Calm everyone the Hell down while we wait?" Ashleigh offered meekly. Usually so sure if herself, so passionate, it was the first time I'd seen her unsteady in my whole life, and it made me nervous.