Brian Shaw is the future Alpha of the Silver Ravine pack. Thanks to his unwavering conviction that his mate should be the only person who shares his bed and body, he's been staying away from women his whole life. The importance of one's mate has bee...
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Our pack was on full alert. After the phone call with my father, everything got moving in a matter of minutes. He didn't even listen to the whole story before hanging up on me with a clear command to come back.
By the time I got home, which didn't take more than ten minutes, the executive board was already in my father's office, waiting for me to start an emergency meeting. I was shocked at how fast they managed to gather everyone in there. The executive board consisted of wolves who were fighting in front lines whenever an attack happened. Since the peace treaty that was signed by all of the species hundreds of years ago, there weren't many of us. There was no need to train warriors these days, but as a precaution, each pack formed the executive board in case someting unexpected happened. Being completely unguarded was dangerous, and even though no one wanted a war, there were always dissatisfied individuals that wanted to cause trouble.
Members of these boards trained since their early teenage years to be able to fight and defend themselves and others as best as they could. They were appointed a job appropriate to their abilities and were highly acclaimed among other members of a pack. The training was, of course, compulsory for future alphas and betas, and other members were either chosen based on their abilities or their family lineage and enthusiasm. Each training usually lasted ten years and more before the members got their first official job, and every year, there was a Training Camp held where two and more executive boards from packs all over the world met and fought against each other in a co-joined training. It was a good way to tighten our relationships and practice fighting with people whose fighting style we didn't now.
Looking over the room one more time, checking if all the members were really present, I came to a sudden halt. Most of the wolves in the executive board were scattered around the pack lands, some even out of them, and getting everyone together in such short notice seemed almost impossible. And while staring at a face that didn't really fit in with the rest of the group, I realized just how impossible it was.
"What happened?" I asked, looking at my father for answers. Yes, getting everyone in there in ten minutes was impossible. They were all called to come here much earlier. Or at least that was the conclusion I came up with when I saw Councilman Richard's face among others. No one from the council would come just because there was a suspicion a werewolf attacked a human. That wasn't how it worked. There had to be proof for them to show up and get involved. Something bad had to happen even before I called my father. And it had to be something serious.
"Sit down, son." His solemn expression and tone of the voice told me enough to know that whatever happened, it was bad.
Taking a seat, I stared at my father, waiting for an explanation. With Karen missing and the fact I smelled another werewolf as my mate's scent disappeared, I was on edge. The sense of dread slowly creeping in the back of my mind got bigger with each second of silence that remained in the room. I couldn't get rid of the thoughts that whatever was happening here had something to do with Karen missing. And with the Council getting involved, it had to be something horrible. Something threatening. The idea of Karen's life being in danger was almost too much to endure. All I wanted to do was shift into my wolf form and run, searching every damn place on this planet until I found my mate. Sitting here and trying to pay attention to whatever was happening was one of the hardest things I had to go through in my entire life.
