| ZEV

The scent of burnt wood was heavy in the morning air. Smoke still rose from the remains of the pack house. After defeating Larken's little army we spent the remainder of the night piling up the dead bodies and placing them in the smoldering remains of the house before setting it on fire once again.

Darren seemed to be taking it well, as well as he could anyway. He seemed to have realized that he had step up to plate as Alpha. He and I fought surprisingly well together, a comraderie seemed to have grown during the bloodshed. I had a newfound respect in the young alpha. We still couldn't find Alpha Drake and Larken had escaped. The coward had run away during the fighting.

My tiger was agitated, wanting nothing more than to rip Larken apart. It irritated us to no end that the bastard had gotten away, the urge to sink our teeth into his neck was consuming. I also longed to see my little mate but I had to make sure things were safe here first before I brought him back. After cleaning up the aftermath of the battle, Darren began organizing the pack, providing some stability after all the chaos.

His chocolate wolf stood strong as he addressed his pack mates, what was left of them. The number had shrunk significantly, at least a third of the large pack was dead or missing. I knew Kaleb would become distressed at hearing this and that just made me want to kill Larken all the more. He better pray to his moon goddess I found him before Darren. Although his death wouldn't be painless, it would a lot quicker than the torment Darren would place him through. Either way he was marked for death.

I paced the treeline, patrolling for anymore rogues still lingering by. A moment later Darren came trotting over, his large head a little lower than it had been whilst addressing his pack, you could tell the night's events were weighing the powerful male down. The large male hardly reached my chest so he had to crane his neck up. Knowing we wouldn't be able to communicate like this, I shifted first and Darren followed closely behind.

His shoulders slumped even in this form, his warm brown eyes were red from the tears he refused to shed. This was the face of a man who was almost broken. Almost. He still had a fire in his eyes that shone with the need to end the life of the man responsible for all this suffering. It was at seeing this look that I resolved to help him do just that.

Darren heaved a shaky sigh, running a hand over his face.

"Thank you for your help, Zev." he said earnestly. I nodded mutely. Nothing I said would ease his pain. "But there is one more thing I must ask of you." I nodded again.

"Kaleb cares very much for this pack, and you, so I will help. What do you need of me?" the young alpha's face seemed to turn pensive.

"My father is gone, probably dead. My request is not that you help me find him." a sudden hardness entered his expression. "I need you to help me find Larken." it was simple statement but the emotion behind it was far from it.

"I will." I said "first I have to make sure Kaleb is safe." Confusion crossed Darren's face.

"He wasn't with the pack mothers and cubs I'd told Jared to take to the hiding place. I mind linked one of the enforcer wolves there and he wasn't apart of the head count." confusion seeped into his voice. "I was under the impression you told him to hide in the clearing where you met, that's the only other place far enough from the fighting I can think of." A simmering suspicion began to fill my chest.

"Where is Jared?" my voice had lowered considerably as some of my grip over my tiger loosened.

"You don't think..." Darren trailed off as a snarl stretched his lips. "This traitor thing is getting fucking old." he growled.

A growl ripped through me causing a few of the wolves to turn their attention toward me. I ignored them as I turned away from the young alpha, bounding toward the last spot I'd seen Kaleb. I immediately shifted so that my sense of smell would be heightened. The edges of my vision were beginning to turn red. I took a deep whiff but only the smell of those damned flowers filled my nostrils. I roared about to plunge into the thicket and rip the whole damn forest apart to find him if I had to. Darren jumped in front of me. Which I had to admit was a brave move.

I held my tiger back from ripping his head from his shoulders. The wolf looked a little wary but determined.

"You won't find Kaleb like this. Jared will have covered there tracks. Our best bet is to find Larken and see if he knows where Kaleb is." His brown eyes were pleading me to to hear him out despite my volitile state.

My tiger did not want to listen to reason. He outright growled at Darren which caused his fellow pack mates to rally behind him to protect their alpha. Some shifted into their second forms, settling into a defensive crouch. I snarled again at the challenge. Darren raised a hand signaling them to calm down.

"You'll only be wasting time if you go off blindly." the alpha tried again. It was difficult to admit he had a point when every part of me wanted to go on a rampage. A low rumbling echoed through my chest but my tiger reluctantly let me have control again. I shifted once more, glaring harshly.

"Fine. " I said through clenched teeth, though you could hear my tiger's influence in my voice. I imagine my eyes would be a startlingly bright emerald, showing just how little control I had.

The pack members behind Darren shifted warily on their feet as their leader nodded tensely.

"One of the enforcers has caught a scent on the west side of the clearing." Darren said, visibly relaxing when he saw I wasn't about to completely lose it. "It's faint but if we le-" I didn't let him finish as I began walking in that direction. The alpha had to jog a little to catch up with my large strides.

We waisted no time reaching the spot the enforcer wolf had indicated to Darren. True to his word, Larken's scent was definitely strongest here. There were also traces of blood, he must have been badly injured. This filled my tiger with sadistic glee. After all, prey was so much easier to catch when weak.

I shifted, taking a deep whiff through my nose. My muscles bunched and released as I dug my claws in the ground to keep from ring off without Darren. The young alpha shifted into his large mahogany wolf as well as some of the enforcer wolves who weren't badly injured, and did the same. Our eyes locked and though we couldn't communicate mentally, the message was clear.

The hunt had begun.

Sorry for the wait my loves, and thanks for hanging in their while waiting for the next update. I'm sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger for so long. Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently from now on since The Tiger's Omega is coming to a close.

Much love,

-J.T.