Ashley's POV.
I made sure to finish my report quickly and jog down a dirt trail towards Mr McClang's hut in the forest, making sure to watch my phone and the timer I had set for myself, Mr McClang did love his punctuality.
I reached his porch steps with a minute and 34 seconds to spare, he looked pleased as I walked up to him standing at attention.
His subtle smile was infectious as I smiled back at him, though he was strict I loved him dearly, it was just a part of him that we all loved despite how blunt he could be at times.
"There you are, my little ghost, now, come inside, the coffees are getting cold, and I like it hot, I need to warm this old cold heart" he said heading inside.
I chuckled and followed inside, taking my shoes off at the door and followed close behind.
"Yes sir, I promise if it goes cold I'll make you a new one" I said smiling at the old man.
"Damn right little missy, now, tell me about your mission, these old eyes don't read like they used to, what kept you up?" He asked, grabbing his coffee from an old stump turned coffee table, we both liked it black so we had different coloured mugs.
He liked green, I liked blue.
He sat in his old recliner seat, it was made of a very faded fabric with just as many wrinkles as him.
He had been using this chair since we got here, honestly I'm not sure where he got it but he made it very clear no one else was allowed to sit on his chair, well except the little ginger and white cat he had adopted.
The name was something I'm honestly not surprised that he chose, he named the friendly feline commander.
An odd name but it made him happy, he doesn't admit it but he spoils commander more than anyone, that cat was going to live a long long life, and not a single person was allowed to disrespect the little commander.
"Well sir, I got a little caught up with a mutt, nothing serious on my end, I left him as a nice little present tied up in the security room" I said taking my mug to my soft rose pink lips.
I had a scar on the left top side of my lip, split from the impact car crash which inevitably killed my mother.
I was pretty self conscious about it but I didn't say so, I didn't want to seem weak and bothered by a little scar. We all had scars in some way or another, but something deep in my mind was worried how a future partner might view it.
I couldn't explain why though, I didn't plan on getting married.
"I assume that's a sharp bow you left, you seem to be one blade short" he said not moving his eyes from his dark coffee, bouncing one leg.
"As sharp as ever sir, yes, I did lose a blade, but I couldn't risk a mess, don't worry I wear gloves all the time" I said confidently holding up my black cotton gloves.
A smile graced his lips with a subtle but proud smile towards me, he put his cup down letting a chuckle rumble on his chest as he leaned back in his chair, “wonderful my dear, I’ll get you a new blade don’t you worry your pretty little head” he said cheerfully, I had learned plenty of techniques from him.
I suppose he was pretty happy to have me as such a dedicated apprentice, a lot of younger rebels thought he was too harsh.
I think they just need thicker skin, he’s a lovely old man, just don’t annoy him.
“Won’t Mr Marshall be annoyed? He told me last time I needed to stop losing blades, I’ve been on my best behaviour but I’ve lost 3 these last 2 months, admittedly it was for a good reason, I normally steal them back…..after a few months” I mumbled the last part sheepishly with a smile.
“Oh that grumpy old fart can kiss my wrinkled ass, if I say he needs to make you a new blade, then he’s making you a new blade, I’ll handle the cost and materials as always” he said confidently.
Picking up his mug and taking a sip again, he was a stubborn man, and he didn’t like having his decisions questioned, it was his way or no way.
I smiled and continued to drink the coffee and chuckled a bit “ok, thank you, I promise I swear I’ll stop losing so many blades. One of these days it’s gonna get me in trouble” I said with a bit of a laugh, though I wore gloves it was still risky to leave silver coated blades around.
“From what I heard over our radios that almost everyone got back safely, we were missing a few people that weren’t there” he said as his smile fell.
I felt my stomach sink a little bit at the thought of those people being dead or taken by the wolves permanently, despite my efforts to save them all, we had to accept the reality that not everyone is going to survive, that was just life, sometimes we had to endure losses to ensure our success and survival.
"I know sir" I say calmly, doing my best to not seem bothered by it, feeling a pit of guilt start to grow in my stomach, I couldn't help feel guilty I didn't get them all out even Though I only played one part of all this, finally lifting my eyes when he cleared his scratchy throat.
"Listen sugar cube, you've got nothing to feel guilty over, I can see it in those pretty blue eyes of yours, you're too young and nice to be blaming yourself"
He spoke pointing a sagging large bony hand at me like he was telling a small child off for acting silly.
It caught me off guard but then I smiled at him, he cared about me and my silly thoughts, he didn't like it when I minimise my own accomplishments, or stack on guilt that wasn't mine to carry.
"Ok, I'll try not to sir, thank you"
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Back at the prison strong hold.
3rd person POV
After that whole fiasco with the prison being broken into and the most high security prisoners they had been planning to transfer to the maximum supreme council prison in the world, held on one of the Cuban islands as it was quite remote, had broken out, things had been very chaotic.
unfortunately for them, their visit from 'ghost' yet again caused them a multitude of problems.
Especially for their arrogant supreme alpha Michael Oaks, who was currently scolding his guards in the mess hall, absolutely furious after getting the call of the escape.
“How in the goddess’s name did you manage to let that stupid pesky ghost sneak in here!? Not only that but they killed a security guard, messed with our systems and freed almost every one of the damn rebels we had collected!!” Micheal roared with anger in his voice.
Booming it across the hall echoing back on everyone there, only increasing their fear and nervousness.
Everyone, even alphas who helped run the place, bearing their necks in submission hoping he’d calm his anger if they showed no talk back. It was horrifying for a wolf of any rank to have a supreme alpha yell at them, he could snap their bodies without much trouble, tear them limb from limb and almost no consequences would fall on them.
“This is supposed to be the most secure prison in Europe! My prison! And you all let some hot shot over-confident pest ghost get inside?!” He yelled more, throwing a table over out of anger.
He’d have to report this to the supreme council and admit his failures which he hated.
He stared at the table he had thrown, its contents spilling onto the floor and discarded as if worth nothing at all, he sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
"Call the meeting, have the victim's body examined and cleaned up, I'll tell the family myself while I wait for a response...I want this area searched! And if I find anyone slacking I will skin you myself!"
He yelled furiously to get his point across, the vein in his forehead bulging from high blood pressure.
"Do not push my patience...I want to save that treatment for that damned ghost" he said with a deadly snarl before storming out, heading to his car to drive back to his pack home and cool off.
There was a dust cloud left behind on the gravel trail caused by the speeding tires of supreme alpha Michaels car, leaving the prison workers in a silence heavier than anyone would have liked to be experiencing.
It wasn't long for a meeting to be arranged, normally it would take a few days for the entire council to assemble.
but because of the urgency of the matter they would have to settle for a digital meeting tonight until everyone could meet in person, a chosen secure location had to be picked first, along with giving ample notice to their teams to continue their work while gone on business.
The large wooden door to Alpha Michaels door swung open hard, hitting the wall and knocking down a few picture frames.
"Goddess damn it!" He screamed angrily.
The fury rolling off of him in massive waves, everyone in his pack house could feel it, this type of anger was rarely seen by them.
Supreme alphas were supposed to be prime leaders, cool and collected, mature, level headed, unaffected by any problems they face.
At least that's what they tell themselves and try to appear.
Making his way to his modern wooden desk, painted grey and white, he prepared his computer screens, two monitors, often helpful for his work; it didn't take long before their meeting notification popped up.
Alpha Michael had to swallow his pride as he clicked accept.
His screen split into a grid displaying six screens, names displayed at the bottom of each screen for each supreme alpha sat in their offices, some of them having clear late night skies, others ranging from mid day to early morning.
Supreme Alpha Michael, early forties, supreme alpha of the European continent, fifth in ranking
Supreme Alpha Nia, late forties, Supreme Alpha of the African continent, third in ranking.
Supreme Alpha Harrison, late twenties, supreme Alpha of the Australian continent, sixth in ranking.
Supreme Alpha Julia, late thirties, supreme Alpha of the South American continent, forth in ranking.
Supreme Alpha Nicholas, mid thirties, supreme Alpha of the Asian continent, second in ranking.
And finally.
Supreme Alpha Damien Steele, late twenties, supreme Alpha of the North American continent, number one in ranking.
None of them looked all too pleased about being called away from their duties so suddenly, there was a silence at first before Damien decided to speak up.
"You better have a reason for calling us all to this meeting so abruptly...I'm sure you're aware some of us are incredibly busy during the day"
His voice was deep, rumbling across the speakers, matching his chiselled to perfection handsome face, a small bit of stubble on his chin and jawline, bright leaf green eyes and a firm sombre expression on his face.
"In Fact I do have good reason Alpha Damien, because one of my high security prisons was broken into and almost all the rebel human scum I had collected were released" he said with anger lacing his voice.
That meer statement had the others raising their eyebrows or furrowing them into looks of confusion and frustration.
"Let me guess....it was that blasted little ghost we've been dealing with" Nicholas stated as he leaned into his elbows.
Michael pulled out the silver coated dagger and stabbed it into his desk angrily.
"Precisely....they killed one of my guards, a mix of a silver coated dagger and wolfs-bane...his death was quick at least, but we still have no visual appearance for this little ghostly infestation" Michael stated with a growl.
The mention of wolfs-bane had the council on edge, the Rebels having access to such a drug could have devastating effects for the wolves and their people.
"Then we'll need to increase patrols and raids on human settlements, we can't let them mass produce wolfs-bane, who knows how they may use it...target our forces, our alpha's, our young" Julia said with venom in her voice at the idea of humans harming innocent children.
"We shall meet to discuss our actions, let's not let this get out and cause a panic, we've been making progress with humans to live more peacefully, if we squander their trust by attacking without reason it could prolong this conflict further" Damien stated as he looked into the camera and sat up straight.
"I propose we do so here, in my pack territories, not only do I possess some of the strongest warriors, but there are plenty of human settlements here...I will discuss it more once you are here, I have an idea in mind"
He got up from his chair and fixed his messy dark hair with his tattooed hand "I will have my men come escort you here" he stated before leaving the call.
Though there wasn't any disagreement amongst them at his actions, leading to the emergency meeting ending quickly, they'd have plenty of time to discuss this more in person.
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Damiens POV
Once I had finished the call I walked back over to my window overlooking my pack territories surrounding the pack house and took a deep breath letting my chest rumble with frustration.
This 'ghost' problem of ours had been ramping up ever since they showed their mysterious head around 5 years ago, taking out an unmated alpha in Supreme Alpha Nicholas lands, leaving that pack in complete chaos for years, distributing patrols in that area till a new alpha could take the lead.
For some reason I felt drawn to finding and punishing this 'ghost' ever since they first made trouble in my pack, I knew it was the same person, the patterns were the same, one figure was seen, the blades were the same style, the same techniques used.
As well, being my most solid piece of evidence, there had been just a few very blurry images of this 'ghost' and they all had the same distinct silver coloured necklace, they only ever showed up alone in areas, meaning they had to be somehow travelling to each continent.
I glanced my vibrant green eyes towards my cork board, pictures, written statements, items such as pieces of cloth and leather and notes all pinned to it, strung together with bright red string.
Ironic I know, but oddly effective for what I was doing, slowly building a file on this 'ghost', slowly but surely my information was growing.
They felt just out of reach to me.
'They're good...I'll give them that, stealthy, careful, well prepared...they'd make a fine hunter' my wolf Raphael, or raph for short, fitting as he had quite the temper, spoke in my mind as he started pacing.
"Do not praise them so much, you may be forgetting something here but they use those skills to attack us and harm our packs...they will be caught, tried and executed for their crimes" I stated firmly, only being frustrated more by Raphs smirk I could see on his face.
'i don't know dami.....there's something different about this human I can feel it, something intriguing'
I rolled my eyes at his statement, he'd been like this since getting the faintest scent from a piece of torn leather, but it faded so quickly I couldn't make it properly.
But it seemed to have my wolf in an iron grip of intrigue and curiosity, and dare I say admiration and desire.
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Hey guys!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's slightly shorter than the last but I still hope you enjoyed this! I had a lot of fun with this one and properly introduced some new characters!
I've got a lot planned for this story and I'll be working on chapter four very soon!
Let me know if you find any mistakes! Please comment or vote or just let me know your opinions so far! 💖