Zayn was close to losing the patience he recovered from his last freak out. Liam was missing, but he smelt him, and nobody wanted to speak up about where he had gone, and not even the threat of violence could convince Rogues to talk.
He gripped the front of his hair and stormed from the cave, leaving Thea's wolves to stand awkwardly with the Rogues. His Omega's followed, wanting to calm Zayn down. His eyes pulsed red and he breathed gruffly, trying to keep his wolf down.
Zayn knew he would lose control if he shifted to his wolf, so he paced the rocks near the steep route, listening to the rhythmic gushing of the waves a metre below.
"They must know something." Reena sighed, slumping against the sandy rock, glaring out to sea.
"They have to. Liam was here."
Zayn rubbed his chest. "He still feels close... ish. Phone the Pack and tell them to guard the bunker in case they're going back North."
Reena phoned them, and the other werewolves plucked up the courage to ask, "Why is Thea's Beta not doing anything? She's just standing there."
"I don't trust her" Zayn muttered. "I don't trust any of them."
"I wish we brought more of our Omegas."
Zayn stood tall and surprised the Omega by resting a heavy hand on his shoulder. "We'll stay focused and we'll stay together. We haven't spent the past year and nine months training hard for nothing. If this goes sour, we can handle it." His Pack members nodded with wide and inspired eyes.
"Three of you should stay in your wolf forms."
Three of the largest Omega's shifted. Zayn wanted to be in his wolf too, but he had to ask questions and demand that the Rogues told him the truth.
"Right, let's go back for another interrogation." He wouldn't stop, not until Liam was back in his arms.
Before Zayn could enter the cave, someone hissed between two rocks. His wolves sniffed out a Rogue, hiding by the long climb up to the top of the cliffs.
"Z- Zayn Malik, isn't it?" the man asked, nervously eyeing the wolves.
"What is it?" Zayn snapped.
"My name is Leo, um-"
"If this is not about Liam, fuck off!" Zayn clenched his fingers. If Liam were with him, he would've made Zayn apologise for his tone, or curled his lips unhappily until Zayn noticed.
"It is about Liam." Leo glanced to the mouth of the cave. Thea's wolves were deep inside, far enough away for him to whisper in confidence.
After all, whispers cost lives if they fell on the wrong ears. "I can't say this in front of that Beta wolf, but you can't trust her. You can't trust any of Thea's pack."
Zayn loosened up, now very interested in what he had to say. "Why?"
"The Beta has known about Mira for months. The last time she was here, they talked about Mira being the Southern Alpha. Mira promised the Beta wolf leadership in her Pack for when they take over the North. In return, the Beta promised to keep Mira a secret."
"Not another fucking betrayal," Zayn hissed. The turned wolves growled lowly and stood behind Zayn, so they could watch the foot of the cave.
"Does Thea know?"
"I don't think so."
"If she does I'll kill her myself." Zayn's eyes pulsed red again. He had walked into yet another trap, but maybe Mira didn't expect her Rogues to spill her secrets. "Where the fuck is Liam?"
Leo dropped his gaze. "He's here," he whispered.
"H- He offered me a position on your pack if I helped him escape, but-"
Zayn grabbed the front of his t-shirt and slammed the Rogue into the cliff. "Where?Tell me now, or-"
"Alpha," his Omega soothed, reaching out towards his clawed hands. Nobody wanted a repeat of the last Rogue encounter. Zayn had to listen, not terrorise until he got what he wanted.
"L- L- Liam is in a place where nobody gets out," Leo stammered, trembling from the pain in his back and the storm in Zayn's blood red eyes. "It's in the caves, but if you enter, she will kill Liam on the spot. We were told to say that Mira wanted to kill Liam in front of you, to lure you from your Packhouse." Leo then dared to connect their gaze.
"It was a distraction."
"A distraction? From what?"
"An invasion."
Zayn snapped his head in Reena's direction. She already watched him, shaking her head. "Nobody is answering."
"Mira stayed in the North for one reason," Leo whispered, "to keep the werewolf rumours alive."
Zayn was so mad, he could barely breathe. "It's a human invasion, isn't it? That's why Mira made those Rogues attack at the town. She wanted the locals to see, so they would attack. Am I right?"
Leo nodded, and Zayn, in a fit of rage, punched the wall next to Leo's head. The Rogue quickly shrank to the floor and Zayn dropped his bloody knuckles by his side. The punch had hurt, but somewhat stabilised the rampant Alpha.
"T- They think you abducted Mira. She made sure she was the heart of the town. Everyone loved her, and- and everyone will fight for her." Now that Leo was on the ground, he didn't get up, he was too weak.
*******
Bethan had killed the Rogues right in front of Ethdellin Library. She had killed two people in her wolf form, right in front of librarians, and the Town locals. The witnesses shrieked and soon, police officers were after her.
Bethan lost them after slipping through the alley between the library and a shop, jumping the fence, and sprinting full speed through the woods. She planned to go the long way around, and hoped to reach the Packhouse in one piece. Soon into her risky journey, Bethan smelt werewolf blood. She feared that one of the Rogues hadn't died and followed her instead. She lowered her
nose to the ground, quickly realising that she was following the blood.
Her hackles spiked as she stalked through the trees, trying not to make a sound. She didn't know how Alpha Zayn stayed so quiet when the floor was covered in crunchy dead leaves. For such a big wolf, Zayn gave the illusion of weightlessness, a skill she hoped he would teach his wolves one day.
Bethan peered through dying bushes and to a body on the floor, moaning quietly in pain. She saw dark skin, wild black curls, and a hoodie with a white wolf's head embroidered into the left chest.
Lynx!
She leapt over the bush and Lynx screeched, quickly curling into a ball and begging her not to eat him. Bethan would have taunted him if there wasn't so much blood everywhere. She frantically sniffed his legs, both had been stabbed just above
the knees. Lynx had somehow managed to drag himself away, and not pass out in the process.
Bethan shifted as fast as she could and cupped Lynx' paling face.
"It's me!" she yelled and he stopped muttering about her sparing his life. She pulled at the holes in his blood soaked jeans, desperate to see the severity of his injuries.
Lynx grabbed her hands to stop her fretting.
"Bethan!" He exhaled with such relief, he coughed. "Are you alright?"
"Are you alright?" Bethan's red hair was like a wildfire around her freckled face. She tried to look at Lynx' injuries again, but he weakly slapped her hands away.
"I'm alive. You have to help me get back! It'll take me all night in this state."
Bethan pulled twigs from Lynx' dark curls,
shaking her head with a sad smile. "I thought you were dead."
"I will be if I don't get back soon. I'm weakening fast."
Bethan was strong and didn't struggle too much to haul Lynx onto his feet. He took one step and collapsed into the mud. "Maybe I should shift back, so you can ride on my wolf."
Walking home would still take hours, even with her help.
"Wait, before you shift, what happened? Is Liam okay?"
"I don't know," Bethan said truthfully. "Baela, Liam and Liam's friend Mira escaped. They probably made it back to the Packhouse."
"I hope so." Lynx winced and gripped his thigh.
"Let me shift before you bleed out here," Bethan mumbled, shuffling away to bring her wolf out. Transforming for her took a little longer than a minute. She distracted herself from the searing pain by looking at all the autumn colours scattered around the woods.
Her eyes flicked back to a leaf that had all the colours, purple, red, brown, orange, yellow, and green. She would have liked to take it back to stick in her scrapbook.
Lynx knew her well enough to scoop up the
leaf and shove it into his jeans pocket. They were family, and knew each other as though they were linked by blood. All the Omegas felt that way, and just like family, they argued about small things, only to laugh together moments later.
Lynx and Bethan hadn't always seen eye to eye. Bethan disliked Liam, and Lynx thought he was a good addition to the Pack. Recently, Bethan had finally come to her senses, and they were back to watching films in each other's rooms, and training
together, and being friends.
Bethan nudged him lightly in the shoulder and laid her belly flat in the mud. Lynx hauled himself onto her back and gripped the fur around her neck.
Bethan was careful and slow to stand, but Lynx winced and slipped from her back, landing heavily on his legs.
The pain was enough to make his eyes water.
"S-Sorry" He scrunched them shut and waited for the worst of the pain to settle.
Bethan sniffed the air and pricked her ears. The sound was faint, but consistent enough to seem like fast footsteps.
Lynx paused, hearing it too. "Let's try again."
He tensed and held on as tightly as he could. He didn't fall this time, so Bethan set off through the woods, hoping to not only outrun Rogues, but the police officers who had seen her kill in the streets of Ethdellin Town.