Despite the heightened level of anxiety, the walk to the town hall was quick and uneventful. I breathed a sigh of relief when we entered the building.

"Beta Alastair!" the guard sitting at the desk exclaimed, jumping up.

"Bruce," he said, leading us past the man.

"Where is the water department?"

"Their office is on the third floor. They keep all of the city plans there."

Instead of going to the elevators, he led us to a set of stairs.

"It's quicker," he said.

I nodded and followed behind him and Ashley. She stayed as close to him as was appropriate for a Beta and his newly found mate.

I can't believe she found her mate in the middle of all this shit. How is that even possible?

We walked up the three flights and entered a dark hallway.

This isn't promising. It's the middle of the day and everything is off?

Almost like he could read my mind, he pulled out a key ring and inserted a bronze skeleton key into the first door we stopped in front of.

"Where is everyone?" Ashley asked.

"I'm assuming out checking drainage systems and whatever else they do."

"Checking them? As in being inside them?"

He paused for a moment and looked up. "Shit. I guess so. When we go in I'll radio the guys from one of their radios."

"Where would the city plans be?"

"Physical plans? They're in giant binders on bookshelves. It's just a matter of finding the right ones."

The door swung open and Beta Alastair flipped a switch, illuminating a large and messy office.

"Oh Goddess," Ashley gasped. "This place is a mess!"

"Yeah, the guys aren't really good with keeping things neat."

"I'm going to start over here," I said, pulling a binder off the shelf.

I flipped through, reading the descriptions trying to find one of the drainage plans that weren't specific to just Silver Peak.

On my third binder, I found one that showed the drain system where the creature climbed in.

"Here's the initial entry point that we found. Now we just need to find a map that connects all of the systems."

"Here!" Ashley said pulling multiple pieces of a map out of the back of a binder.

We laid them out on the floor and stood back looking.

"This could be a huge problem," I said, staring at the paper.

"I had no idea that we were all connected underground," Beta Alastair muttered.

"What does this mean?" Ashley asked.

I laid the thin piece of paper that I had from the entry point on top of where it was located on the giant map. I pointed to the entry drain.

"This is where the initial creature climbed in. This manhole here, this is where Chief Wayne saw the three creatures in the pipe."

"Okay?"

I traced my finger along the smaller pipes to the very large ones. "The pipe connects to these large ones, the large ones spider out and connect to every other pack."

"Oh, oh no."

"Yeah."

"We need to tell your dad."

"Beta Alastair, can I take these to show my dad?"

"Who is your dad?"

"He's Beta Kenrick from Moon Mist. He's investigating the other incidents from these creatures."

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah. If he's already investigating, maybe he has a theory that we can all work on."

"This," I motioned to the maps, "Could really make a difference."

"Is he on his way?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah. He should be here in a few hours."

"Okay. We'll head back to the police station then. My office is there." He wrapped an arm around Ashley and pulled her close. "We can get to know one another better."

"Plan the mating ceremony?" she asked, batting her long eyelashes at him.

He smiled down at her and nodded his head.

"How is it possible you managed to find your mate in the middle of all of this insane shit."

"I am just really lucky." She rested her head on his massive chest before looking at my forlorn face. "Ellie! How rude of me! I am so sorry!"

"Sorry?" Beta Alastair asked.

"It's a long story," she whispered. "I'll tell you later."

"Don't be sorry, Ash." I looked at the Beta. "My ex-boyfriend, the future alpha of Moon Mist, mated with my twin sister at our 18th birthday."

His eyes grew as large as saucers. "He didn't wait for a mating ceremony?"

Ashley shook her head fiercely. "No. It was so horrible and inappropriate. Just right there in front of everybody!"

"And he's your future alpha?" he looked at me.

"He is!"

"Well, not yours anymore." He nuzzled her neck.

I sighed heavily and folded the map back up. "Will you finish the trip with me?"

"Huh?"

"Our trip. Are you going to finish it with me?"

"Of course!" She glanced up at the Beta. "Do you mind?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I won't interrupt something that seems so important to the two of you. I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled and him and looked at me.

"Great. Thanks."

Ashley laced her arm through mine. "There are still two more packs. Your mate is out there."

"Honestly, I'm not even that concerned with that. It's all of this that has me worried."

I pushed my hair to the side, revealing the mark that was high up on my forehead. Something I had completely forgotten about.

"That mark. That is interesting."

I rubbed it as my cheeks flushed. "This? It's just a...thing."

"I've seen something similar."

"What?" Ashley and I both exclaimed.

"Yeah. In a book in Winter Lake."

"A mark just like this?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Do you remember anything about it?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. Just that it looked interesting. I know it said something about Goddess Artemis."

Ashley leaned close to me whispering, "Did Artemis lie to you? Are there other children of hers?"

"I don't know," I whispered back. "But I'm going to look for that book when we get there."

Ashley's eyes lit up. "Hey! Beta Alastair?"

He chuckled lightly. "You don't have to call me Beta."

"Alastair," she said sheepishly, her cheeks flushing, "Would Ellie be able to defect to Silver Peak after our trip?"

"Defect? Why?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes at me.

"The whole ex-boyfriend alpha mating with her sister thing. It's kind of awkward."

He nodded and rubbed his chin. "I could speak with Alpha Wesley. I don't see why that would be a problem. You're a Beta's daughter. You're assisting with a very big problem. And you are my mate's best friend."

"That would be lovely," I said a bit sadly.

Ashley hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry. I want you happy, Ellie."

I hugged her back. "I am. I promise. As long as you're my best friend, I'm happy."

"Oscar? Charlie? Are you guys there?" Alastair spoke into one of the radios.

"Beta? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Where are you guys?"

"Police station. There is some weird shit going on."

"We know. We're on our way."

"We?" the man on the other end asked.

He put the radio down before I reached over for it. "Just in case."

"Good idea," he said, grabbing the last two.

Alastair popped his head into the Alpha's office, noticing he wasn't there. "We'll find him later. Let's get to the police station."

We walked swiftly the few blocks to the police station without incident. The lobby was jam-packed with even more people wearing every uniform imaginable.

"Beta!" a man in an orange and yellow jumpsuit pushed his way through the crowd. "Beta!"

"Oscar?" What's up?"

"Those things. What are those things?"

"You saw them?" I asked.

"Saw them? They attacked us! The damn thing bit Charlie. He's over with the medics getting his armed dressed."

"He's still awake?"

Oscar nodded.

"I need to speak with him. We haven't found anyone alive or talking that were attacked."

I shuffled through the crowd till I saw a man wearing the same jumpsuit as Oscar sitting with a few medics. They held his arm up, pouring something over it. I stopped next to the man and stared at the injury.

"Ma'am, please step back."

"I'm working with Beta Kenrick of the Moon Mist pack. We're investigating these attacks. Can I just see the wound?"

The medic held up Charlie's arm. The wound was circular with multiple puncture wounds.

"Did you see the creature?" I asked.

Charlie nodded tears in his eyes. I stooped next to him, holding his hand.

"I am so sorry this happened to you." I stared into his eyes.

"Can you tell me what it looked like?"

"It-it was so white. I've never seen a creature so white. And it looked human-like except the ears were pointed, the eyes were so red, the mouth was just sharp teeth, and there was no hair."

I put my hand on his arm and smiled at him. "Thank you so much, Charlie. I appreciate what you've told me. Goddess Artemis be with you and heal you quickly."

An almost peace came over his face as he turned back to the medics.

He saw the same thing I did. What are they?

******

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