One Bite

Chapter 4-2

I groaned at the opportunity wasted because of miscommunication.

Ugh, and I was in his office alone before we left.

"So, to inform you," his voice spoke up behind me, poking razor sharp words into the back of my neck. "Instead of whatever deal you dissolved, we have a side mission for Alpha Faelon while we're in the Western territory. Kind of a... favor to make up for your, uhh, yeah."

"What kind of mission?" I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes.

"Not as exciting as it sounds." Cole flexed his annoying ability to turn every conversation topic anticlimactic, like he doused a bucket of water onto a fire pit. "The West installed underground landmines along their border with the Northern Territory. They shoot out silver shrapnel if crossed over. So, we're going to detect and remove them."

"Hmm," I hummed since that sounded a lot more interesting than making political connections. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yeah." He shrugged, releasing a crack between his shoulders and groaning. "If you're not careful. But we'll be clearing those out for Alpha Faelon, under permission from Alpha Fenris."

My eyebrows arched. "Alpha Fenris?"

"Jeez, Elena was right." He rolled his eyes, then nodded at a bag that sat at my feet, unopened so far. "You don't like doing your homework, do you?"

"I don't want to deny her the joy she gets from doing research." I reached down and retrieved a large folder, then clicked on the overhead light. Cole grunted under the light change as I placed the folder on my lap. My mouth split into a grin when I saw that she prepared West cliff notes for me.

Proves my point right there.

"Go easier on her," his warning tone hit my ears as my eyes skimmed the pack summary. "She's pretty spent. I tried to convince her to stay behind in the East but she wanted to come here to help you."

I flipped through a few pages, my eyes searching for any hint of Alpha Faelon.

Nothing in here about North-West agreements.

"So... this side mission thingy, is that why Raina and Idris are coming?" I glanced up and he nodded.

I chewed on my thoughts for a moment, then realized Cole needed to tie up one more loose end for me. "What about the rogue?" I set the folder flat on my lap. "What do you know about him?"

"You'd know more than me." He shrugged. "But uhh... I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him again. Rogues are everywhere, hence the decoy attempt."

I grumbled under my breath, "This is pointless."

"Yep..." He frowned at the closed folder on my lap. "We both won't hear the end of it from Elena if you don't study up on that stuff."

"Ugh fine." I flipped down the overhead visor and opened the mirror for a more reading light. My index finger opened the folder and a sense of disinterest spread through me as my eyes again read over the first page.

"Western territory, the Gray Mountain pack... Yellow Sun, Gray Mountain, Red Valley." I paused and frowned at Cole. "These are really uncreative pack names."

"Silverback was already taken," Cole grumbled. "So Silver Mountain would've sounded silly. Elena already explained the lack of creativity on the Eastern territory, I'll give you that."

"And Red Valley?" I lifted one eyebrow at him.

"You'll have to see once we get there," was all he said. "West first. Back to your homework."