***Ryker***

I should have done something the moment Tamara told me that she had a bad feeling something heinous would happen. Guilt, contrition, fright and anger crowded my conscious. My wolf was out the moment Tyron uttered those words.

Paper, blood, monica, gone. The four main words in his statement swirled and occupied my mind. Had these occurred the first time Tamara informed me about her gut feeling? Would I have prevented anything had I done something about it then?

Questions upon questions darted in my brain cells. Still rooted to the floor of my office, my mate attended to Tyron, helping him seat down on my office couch. She gave him a glass of water, whispering sweet somethings to coax him into calming down.

I wanted to sprint into action instantaneously but a mind link from my father stopped me. After learning about the news, he had told me to stay where I was before going to both scenes. He insisted that it might have been a plan to lure me out, a distance away from Tamara. There was no doubt in me that Addanc had everything to do with the mysterious papers.

I had long mind linked my second in command, and the best warriors to look into the matter. I could trust Jayson in mobilizing everyone and doing a good job. I was waiting for his report while my parents made their way here.

'You can tell me Tyron, I can see the fear in your eyes.' I could hear my mate's voice from a far urging my tracker to talk. Even though we were in the same room, my mind was elsewhere, trying to come up with a final, unequivocal answer.

'Son.' My father came in, with my mum trailing behind him through the door that was already ajar. He was composed as always, little or no stress visible in his facial features. My mother on the other hand was a contrasting story.

'Oh my goddess Ryker! are you okay. ' She rushed to me, inspecting my external appearance. She then turned to Tamara, and pulled her in for a heartwarming hug. She even pulled her to her feet and made her turn around just to affirm that she was indeed okay.

'This has become intractable Ryker, we are dealing with a crafty wizard, one who has lived longer than any of us in this pack, except Mimi. ' My father stepped forward, looking me dead in the eye as he stated the very patent subject.

'You know I really don't how Mimi is still alive. ' My mother seemed to just grasp to the part that my dad said Mimi was still alive.

'Me neither, when she told us about the prophecy, she said she had been poisoned with silver and that she was soon going to die. ' I had never given it much thought, but now that it had been pointed out, I knew it wasn't normal.

A slight shift in the thread that held us together made me turn to look at Tamara. She was calmly seated, or was at least trying to stay calm. Her heart beat had accelerated and she kept on twiddling her fingers. Guilty, she had out and out hand in this, no uncertainty.

'What did you do Tamara? ' Every person shifted their attention to Tamara.

'I can't let her die, I won't let the same thing that happened to my mother happen to Mimi. ' She spoke with abundantly zealous determination.

'But she said that, just like your mother her demise is inexorable. ' I knew from the Alpha teachings that if a prophecy was tampered with every thing surrounding the prophecy would change.

'I know what she said, but I can do something about it. As a matter of fact, I am doing something. I mean isn't she still alive? ' She argued her gaze directed to me in pure resolve.

'Well this is good Tamara, we can go talk to her about this. She might have an idea about it. ' My father seemed in a hurry to visit the old werewolf.

'You go there, Tyron will accompany me to the dungeons while my mate goes to inspect the papers. ' Tamara stated, already making her way to the door.

'No, you'll be under my protection at all times. We go to one place at a time. ' I spoke with finality, watching her sigh in defeat.

'Don't you know that you are the Luna now my dear? ' My mother looked at the both of us, shaking her head.

'The pack members must be in a frenzy now. To have someone taken from the pack grounds and especially from the one place that is heavily guarded must be raising fright among them. It is your duty as the Luna to act during times like these. You get calming aura naturally when you officially become the Luna. Go out there and assure them that every thing will be alright. '

I swear my mother could talk, but even so, she made a lot of sense. I guess we were still learning from the best teachers, my parents.

'So how about you come with me and let the boys handle this? ' Tamara nodded before asking for a minute with Tyron.

I refused to leave her with him alone, he could be the traitor for all I knew.

He remained adamant to say anything and no matter how much my mate pushed him, his mouth remained shut. I was tired of his shit and if he thought he could keep my mate begging, he had another thing coming.

'Either you speak, or I use my alpha command on you. ' No body could resist the alpha command, said with utmost alpha powers. It brought down even the most dominant werewolves, compelling them to shift and lay on their side or back, thus exposing the vulnerable ventral side of their chest and abdomen to the alpha. In extreme submissive ones, urine got expelled in total fear.

'Black eyes. ' The raised eyebrows Tamara spotted were clear that she hadn't heard his whisper.

'What black eyes? ' He fiddled with his fingertips, his eyes fixed on an open space as of he was reliving the entire thing.

'I saw him, covered in black, except his eyes that were black. ' My love gasped, putting her hand on top of her chest.

'They had nothing in them, the way he looked at me before disappearing into the wild. Fear, it crawled up my spine and rendered me helpless. I couldn't even walk or talk. Pure evil '

'It is him. ' She whispered in utter disbelief.

'He's the same man I saw on the boulder, but who is he? '

'Tamara, Monica's parents are inconsolable, you've been in there for long. ' My mother's face popped behind the door, beckoning her daughter in law.

'And you, act like the Alpha you are to this pack. Remember, speed and perfection don't go together. ' She pointed at me.

As soon as Tamara was out, we followed behind with my best tracker, phasing into our beasts once outside. We sped to the dungeons, my beast already out to play. He wanted to know why it happened when there were warriors on duty, trained to detect anything suspicious.

Jayson was questioning the men, lined up in straight lines. As usual my beast could hear their pulse, very swift, they were high strung.

My beast stood tall in front of them, pure waves of dominance emanating from him. He carried his tail high mouth open with his canines fully in view. Threatening, he knew the fear in them would make them blabber.

'Alpha. ' They bowed down, their gazes remaining cast down on the dusty ground. Soon cracking of bones could be heard as we morphed back into my human body. We always kept a pair of shorts all around the lands for times like this. A short was handed to me by my beta, and when I was covered, I faced them with unwavering attention.

'Talk. ' Simple, they looked at one another, debating with their eyes who was going to go first. One wave of my powerful aura had them where I wanted.

'They went for their usual hunting break, leaving him in charge for a few minutes. ' Jayson pointed at a young werewolf, Gareld who was barely 18 shakingly stood on his jelly feet.

'When they came back, he was down unconscious, and Monica's cell had been broken into. '

'What happened Gerald? '

'A shriek scream came from that bush, and I went to investigate. I remember a brief pain on my neck, before I fell down on my face and blacked out. I stirred awake when the rest of the guards came back. ' He kneeled down in repentance, a thing that most warriors did when they thought they were to blame for something.

'And the rest of the prisoners in the cells? '

'They were okay, they didn't see anything out of place, nor did they hear anything except one shriek but short scream from monica. ' One of my men retold the happenings.

'So you only found blood in there? '

'Yes, a lot of it, but there is a mystery surrounding the liquid. ' That piqued my heed, my eyes focusing on Jayson.

'The blood had no scent at all and it was only inside the cell. There wasn't a single drop of it past the cell, even on the outside. Monica's scent was not there at all too. ' Confusion, that was the only thing that I was capable of experiencing at the moment.

I turned to Tyron who had joined the rest of his warriors. I mean he had said that the blood that was on the papers were that of Monica, how come the one inside didn't have any scent? Where was Monica in the first place and who the hell had broken her out? Was she alive or dead?

'Mimi had something of importance to say honey.

The scent of an animal's blood can be permanently masked. That of a human can be masked too, but only for a few minutes. ' Tamara's voice invaded my mind.

'Why would the culprit mask it in the cell and leave it on the papers though? '

Simple, the fool has no idea that the scent is identifiable now and that it can be traced back to him.