Marks POV
I am shocked by what I have just heard, I hope that it is her for the family's sake and not that bastard who took her messing with them.
I noticed while I was examining the letters that there was something strange about them that had been overlooked.
"Zavier can I have a look at the letters again? Something is not right with them."
"Sure! You do like a good puzzle to solve." He says while handing them all to me.
I opened the same letter as before and noticed a very small line on the bottom right corner of the letter and also on the envelope. The next letter and envelope are the same, they all have different lines on them.
"I think there is a secret code on them," I tell the guys excitedly.
"What do you need to crack it?" Zavier asked me with excitement in his voice for the first time in ages.
"Paper, pens, sticky notes, a map, strings, and tacks, and a big flat surface, for now."
Zavier grabs everything as I call them out, and we pick them up, and head to the conference room.
"We need to find out what order they came in first, there are two letters per year."
Zavier pins the world map on the wall while Conner and I put the letters in their order.
"Conner I want you to put numbers on the sticky notes and attach them to the letters and envelopes and then put them in their chronological piles."
Zavier starts with the first one and marks it on the map where it was sent from using the string to end at our pack and continues with the rest.
There is no alpha, beta, and Gamma at the moment, but three friends trying to find Zinnia.
While they are doing that I place the letter above the top of the envelope to match the lines at the bottom, but it doesn't match, so I try the other way around.
"Guys the envelopes have to be placed on top of the letters at the bottom right corner, to match up the lines."
They both looked impressed and shocked that I was able to crack it so fast.
"Number one and two spell the letter R when number one is up the right way and number two is upside down!" I excitedly tell them.
We managed to crack the code after many hours and a lot of coffee.
"Your dad didn't open the latest letter, you should open it." Conner hands it to Zavier.
Zavier nervously takes the letter from Conner and opens it.
"This one is different guys!"
"It said THIS IS THE ONLY PHOTO YOU WILL SEE OF YOUR DAUGHTER."
We can not believe it, there is a picture of a very beautiful young lady standing in front of a forest, with a massive smile on her face. With amazing long flowing strawberry blond hair and blue eyes, she looks like a female version of Zavier.
I see him get excited when he sees the picture of his sister and then flop down on a chair with a strange look on his face.
We have been there from the beginning when she went missing and saw first-hand how devastated the family was trying to find her and failing all the time. We don't say anything, we don't have to, and we all feel her loss.
"Right let's get back to finding her," I say to the others trying to bring our focus back to the search.
Most of the lines go right through the Rock's area on the map and the letters spell.
"REVENGE IS SWEET TWIT"
"Do you know who calls your dad a twit?" I ask Zavier.
"No" he has a blank puzzled look on his face.
"At least we know she is alive and happy," he says while staring at his sister.
I see Zavier take a photo of the sentence. My wolf is pacing back and forth and huffing, it is driving me mad.
What is your problem, Titan?
That photo, I can't explain it, but seeing it has me all wound up.
I know, me too.
"Mark you did it, you cracked the code!" Conner exclaimed.
"You will make a fantastic beta! Mark I would like to officially offer you the position, to be my Beta." Zavier said to me.
"I would be honored to be your Beta," I say to him trying to contain my excitement and not jump up and down like a madman.
"Conner I would like to officially offer you the position, to be my Gamma." Zavier looks at Conner.
"I would be honored to be your Gamma." He says it looks like he is trying to contain himself as well.
"I have just asked my parents to come and see what we have found and to introduce our new beta and gamma to them."
There is a knock on the door. "Come in," Zavier says to his parents.
You can see the shock on their faces when they see the map on the wall with all the strings on it.
Then they spot all the envelopes sitting on top of the letters spelling out the sentence.
"Revenge is sweet twit?!" Zander says with a menacing growl before slumping into a chair, his mate goes to comfort him.
"Do you know anyone who calls you twit Dad?" Zavier asks.
"No one has ever said it to my face, so I don't know who it might be." He says defeated.
Bugger, we were all hoping he might know who calls him that.
"The last note is different." He picks it up and hands it to his dad along with the photo of Zinnia.
We are not prepared for his parents' reactions, they both stare at the photo, crying hysterically while embracing each other.
"I will find her Dad/Mum if it is the last thing I do, we know she is alive and well, that is a good start." Zavier seems extremely motivated.
"And don't forget to mention she is so beautiful". Titan says.
Oh! Shit, he said that out loud.
"You sound like you are drooling titan."
"I want to find her right now!"
"No."
"I want the photo then."
"No that belongs to them not us, it's not like she is our mate."
Titan huffs at me. They all look at me. "What? She is beautiful, my wolf went nuts when he saw the photo and won't stop pacing and whining in my head, now he is clawing to get out."
Zander and Emerald's face have a mixture of emotions on them that is hard to decipher.
"Would you like to look at the photo again?"
"Yes please, Alpha Zander!" Titan yells out, jumping up in my head and wagging his tail excitedly.
Zander passes me the photo with a strange look on his face like he knows what is going on and then Titan lets out a low purr when he looks at her.
"What the hell is going on titan?"
"Down boy," Conner says, I just give him a bugger-off look.
The others chuckle, I see Zander and Emerald have a private conversation through the link, I would love to know what they are saying about me.
"Can I have the photo back now?" he asks after a few minutes of me staring at Zinnia.
I was not expecting Titan's response, he growls at our alpha.
I am shocked and embarrassed by his behavior, I hand him the photo with my head down.
What the hell titan, do you want to get us killed?!
Sorry
"Sorry Alpha," I say to him, with my head lowered in submission.
"I will let it slide this time, but if you do it again, you will be spending a very long time in the dungeon." he threatens me. I know he doesn't go back on his word.
The next couple of days are rough for me. I wake up to the sound of my alarm going off and slam my hand down on it, I am so tired, and I only managed to get a couple of hours of sleep. I don't remember getting dressed, and stagger to Zavier's office, I slump down in a chair feeling half dead.
"Shit Mark! Are you OK?" Zavier looks concerned.
"No. I feel like shit, Titan hasn't let me sleep in two days, I can't eat. He is constantly trying to get control and keeps clawing trying to get loose and wants to run around the country to find Zinnia." What does this mean? I don't understand any of this, and I am so tired that I don't have the energy to ask.
"Morning Mark." I hear Zander say, shit I didn't know he was in the office.
I look around and am surprised to see Zander and Conner there, were they there the whole time?
"Morning Alpha, Conner, sorry I didn't see you both there."
"I have something for you Zavier." Zander hands him a parcel.
Zavier opens it and I can see a larger photo of Zinnia, he places it on his desk, and I have a clear view of the photo. Titan is howling while prancing around in my head, he is so happy and content now and starts to purr, then he lies down and puts his head on his paws.
"What the hell Titan"
Huff is the only response I get.
"How is Titan now?" Zander inquires.
"The little shit is happy now that he sees the photo and started to purr before laying down," I say frustrated and annoyed.
I look at them all and Zavier and Conner have a confused look while Zander looks like he is contemplating something.
"What does his behavior mean?"
"Either he recognizes her as your mate or he is very protective of her because you are a beta? Who is usually protective of the alpha family?"
That is interesting, I wonder which it is?
"I hope she is our mate" Titan growls at me
"What does Titan think?" Zander asks.
"He is hoping she is our mate," I confess to them.
Conner sniggers. "Zavier can I have a look at the photo?" He asks while holding out his hand for it.
I wasn't expecting Titan's response, he growled very loudly at Conner, trying to take control from me.
Calm down Titan, would you!
Sorry.
They all crack up at his outburst.
"I feel sorry for the guy who is her mate, if it is not you, good luck holding Titan back." Conner tries not to laugh while saying that. It feels like I have been stabbed in the heart when he says that and Titan whimpers. Shit what is wrong with me, I feel like I am losing control. I glare at Conner, who holds his hands up in surrender while trying to control his laughter.
It is a very beautiful photo of her, she is standing on the outskirts of a forest with the biggest smile on her gorgeous face.
I want to kiss her
Shut up.
She looks very happy and proud of something in the photo.
Does it look like there is something on her chest? I move closer to his picture, to get a better look at it. My face is millimeters away from it.
"Are you going to kiss the photo, Mark?" Conner teases, I ignore him and keep examining the photo.
"There is something on her chest?" I tell them.
Well, that set Conner off, he couldn't contain himself and falls off the chair, laughing his ass off while holding his stomach from laughing too much.
"Zavier do you have a magnifying glass I can use?"
"Sure!" He says while opening a drawer, grabbing it, and then passing it to me.
"Thanks."
I look at the badge, hang on "It is a warrior's badge!" It is the same design that we use, it has a wolf standing on a hill howling, encircled by the moon, the whole country uses that design as well.
Conner stops laughing and sits back up while wiping the tears off his face.
We are all shocked, we guessed right, and she is a warrior.
"That should help track her down!" Zander says very excitedly.
We all get a bit excited now that the search is narrowing down.