Mark
I smirked as I watched the tom cat bound away. It seemed like the second phase of our plan was going very well if the pride had received the tip and come to investigate. Of course this also meant I would have to deal with Hannah acting like she was going out of her mind. As mother would say, sacrifices were necessary if the plan was to succeed.
Hannah didn't stay there much longer, and I took that as my cue to leave as well. I walked quickly back to the only open store in town, the convenience store at the gas station. Hannah would take the longest route back to the apartment to be sure no one else was following her. Her training demanded it. That left me with plenty of time to grab some snacks and bump into her outside the shabby apartment building as if I hadn't been tailing her this whole time. I wondered briefly if we should strengthen our training regimens because she should have known there was more than one person stalking her in the night.
I answered my ringing phone, knowing that it was her yet again, "So?"
"They took the bait. It's only a matter of time until they take her. Until then, she'll be useful with the raid." I said as I casually picked up a couple of bottles of soda and some chips.
"Very good. Report to me after the raid. And, dear, make it believable, they have to think they've won after all."
"Yes, mother."
***
Klara
"Don't tell me you're giving in that easily." I jumped slightly at Mia's words. The she wolf was leaning on the wall next to me where I had an excellent vantage point of her brothers, specifically Adrien, sparring. Shirtless.
"What? Of course not." I scoffed at the thought. Just because I wasn't ready to forgive the guy didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the view. "I just like to take in the sights." Mia visibly gagged at the thought. I couldn't blame her, Adrien was her brother after all.
"At least make him suffer a bit longer." Mia said, letting herself slide down the side of the building to sit in the grass. "Seriously though, are you thinking about accepting the bond?" She asked. I stayed quiet for a moment, sitting in the grass beside her while I pondered the thought of actually accepting Adrien.
"I mean, should I really hold a five year old grudge when he's clearly changed?" I asked, watching Mia's face. From what I remember she had always been so easy to read, but over the last five years she seemed to have developed a talent for a poker face.
"That's really up to you, but he has changed. Thank god by the way since he was insufferable before." We both let out laughs at her remark. It was quite true, he had been a stereotypical alpha's son as a kid. However, now he was a young man being primed as a candidate to take over his dad's position. The hardwork and dedication looked good on him.
"It's probably just the bond, but I miss him all the time. Even when he's ten feet away. It's so weird." I muttered, resting my forehead on bent knees.
"I don't know, Klara. Before you could feel the bond again you seemed into him. Granted you were trying to see if we were wolves to probably kill us, but you still seemed into him." Mia said, patting my shoulder affectionately.
"Thanks for reminding me I was brainwashed by hunters, Amelia." I said through an annoyed groan, shifting my shoulder so her hand would fall away from me.
"What? It's not like it was your fault." She said with a shrug.
"Nevermind." I said, standing and brushing off the few stray blades of grass that stuck to my jeans before walking towards the training field, giving away our position. His eyes were on me in a moment, giving his brother the upper hand. The slightly shorter he wolf swiped Adrien's feet out from under him, pinning my mate with a grin on his lips.
Adrien scowled at his brother, quickly pushed the other he-wolf off of himself, surging to his feet as fast as he could. "Klara, hey."
Mia snorted from behind me, having followed me towards the two he-wolves, "You have leaves in your hair, little brother."
I stifled a laugh with my hand. Sure enough there were several leaves sticking out of his red hair at strange angles. Adrien growled quietly at his sister before I eyes fell back on me, a smile pulling at his lips, lighting up his whole face. Mia was right. I was giving in much to easily for how big of a jerk he was back in highschool. A larger part of me really didn't care. He was much to like a pup at that moment for me to really remember what he had even looked like on that day. I didn't think much of my movements, hand reaching up to tug a couple of the leaves out of his hair, "You're such an idiot." I said with a small laugh.
Adrien frowned a little, but his lips still wanted to pull back up into a grin, "Hey, I'm offended by that."
"Uh-huh, sure you are."
"Oh gross, come on you two, stop being all lovey dovey, it's making me sick to my stomach." Ambrose said, making fake gagging noises beside his sister. Ambrose was the youngest of the three, but he stood only an inch shorter than Adrien. He looked very much like his older brother, except unlike the red hair of his siblings his was lighter, a strawberry blonde mass that never seemed to lay flat.
"Oh shut up Am, you're just jealous because you haven't met your mate yet." Mia said, smacking him upside the head.
"You're one to talk. You were complaining about them too! And at least I've only just turned eighteen you're becoming an old spinstress." As soon as the words were out of the young he-wolf's mouth Mia lunged for him, teeth bared in a snarl while her brother took off running.
"Mia's really gonna kill him one of these days." Adrien said with a grin on his face as he watched his siblings run after one another. He looked back at me, "No work today?"
I shook my head, unconsciously threading my fingers with his, "No, wanna go walk around town?" His fingers tightened around mine, almost as if he didn't hold on tight enough I would let go of his hand.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
***
Hannah
Watching the security feed had begun boring me to death. The wolves didn't even do anything remotely interesting and I vaguely wondered why we were even bothering them in the first place. Honestly, all they did was go about their lives like they were normal humans, other than of course shifting into large wolves. But, as we were taught in training you never knew when one of the beasts would snap and take out an entire town, so we had to take them out first. Still, It was boring to just sit around, especially when so many unanswered questions were swirling around in my mind.
I went through Mark's bag again. I didn't know where he was or when he would be back, but I went through his bag anyway. It was stupid and my heart was hammering so hard I could barely hear anything else, but I needed to see if I could find more information while I waited for Blue to contact me again. There weren't any new files which wasn't surprising since he hadn't gone back to the base or anything, but there was a small burner phone in a zipper pocket. I frowned as I pulled the ancient looking flip phone out and powered it on.
There was only one number in the contacts so I quickly scribbled it down on a scrap of paper and shoved the note into my bra. I wasn't stupid enough to call it from Mark's burner. I was however, just stupid enough to go call the number from the pay phone, or maybe go use a computer at the small library in town to see if I could find out a name connected with it. Plus, I needed to figure out why a werecat would be in wolf territory and what he would want with me.
As far as I knew werecats normally didn't stray from their territories, and on top of that those places were either hard to reach or impossible to find. Their population had been in decline for the last decade or so from hunters as well as low birth rates. So, a tomcat wouldn't be so stupid as to wander about pouncing on people that weren't worth anything to his people or at least to himself.
The door opening made me jump, startled at the sudden intrusion. I still managed to send Mark a sneer, "And where were you, off picking up some nasty whore?" He rolled his eyes at my remark and dropped the grocery bag he was holding on the rickety coffee table.
"What crawled up your ass?" He asked, seeming to be amused at my behavior.
"Your shift for the surveillance started thirty minutes ago." I snapped, grabbing my jacket and the bag I had readied quite a few hours ago to kill five minutes of boredom. "I'm going out." I said flatly, slamming the apartment door behind myself, letting out a sigh of air when the wood separated us. Ever since I found those files in his bag I felt nervous around Mark. Was he drugging me like they drugged Klara? I wouldn't doubt it. I couldn't take food or drinks from him anymore, but I'd have to make it look like I still was.
I didn't bother taking an extended route today. I went straight to the only payphone in town and shut the booth door closed behind myself, trying to ignore the stench of urine. I glanced around, noting that there were just a few locals milling about running their regular errands before I dug the lip of paper out of my bra.
I fished some spare change out of my pocket before looking at the number uncertainty. I needed to know what was going on. I couldn't just sit around and wait for Blue to get back to me. All my life I had followed the clan without question, but it was different now. Now I knew that I wasn't one of them even if I couldn't fully believe it. I would get to the bottom of this. I took a breath, regretting that I basically inhaled urine stained air, and dialed the number.
A/N: *evil laugh*
Love you guys! <3