raiden

When it's time to leave the hospital, Cloud and I walk together. Neither one of us say anything, but I keep glancing over at him. What do I say? With everything going on, is now even an appropriate time to talk about our fight?

When we reach the door, I quickly unlock it and Cloud disappears inside. Biting my lip, I follow after him.

"Cloud," I call out, just before he begins to walk down the hall and toward the bathroom. "Can we talk?"

Silence echoes between the two of us as I wait for his answer. He doesn't look at me nor does he move. He just stands there.

"I just want to make things better between—"

"Not now, Raiden," Cloud tells me, the exhaustion clear in his voice. "Later, just..not now."

With that, he walks away, leaving me to stare at his retreating figure. When he disappears into the bathroom, I drop onto the couch with my head resting in the palms of my hands as tears threaten to spill.

Why is everything going to hell now? Why can't we just be done with this mess?!

When Maia and I were younger, our grandparents always liked to say that everything happened for a reason, but what was the reason for all of this? What did any of us do that was bad enough for this?

Letting out a frustrated groan, I wipe my eyes and rest my head against the back of the couch. My eyes close as I try to calm myself down.

The longer I sit there, however, the heavier my eyes become. Finally, everything around me fades and I drift off into sleep.

...

"...en?"

"...den?"

"RAIDEN!"

My head snaps up, my eyes widen, and I quickly glance across the room, but nobody is there.

"What the...?" I mumble to myself. "What time is it?"

Patting down my pockets, I check for my phone and when I pull it out, I see that not only is it almost completely done, but it's also eight am. Which means that I spent the whole night asleep on the couch.

The pain in my neck tells me that it's the truth and I let out a groan before stretching.

"Raiden," an annoyed voice calls out to me through our mind link. The same voice that had woken me up...the voice that sounded very similar to Alpha Tatum's.

With wide eyes I quickly reply. "Yes, alpha?"

"I'm glad that you're finally awake," he says, and judging by his tone, I bet he rolled his eyes too. It reminded me of the beta.

"Sorry," I tell him. "After everything yesterday, I really needed that sleep."

He doesn't reply for a few minutes. "I understand that, but now that you are up, I need to you to come to my office. We have to talk."

Talk?

Alpha Tatum was the first to leave the hospital yesterday and just seeing how angry he was, I doubted that he slept much if at all. But hopefully whatever he wanted to talk about would help us find the beta.

"I'll be right there," I link back as I get up.

I start to head to the bathroom to take a quick shower and get ready for the day, but I have to grab clothes from the bedroom first. Opening the door slowly, my eyes immediately travel to Cloud's sleeping form. He seems peaceful. If only it could stay that way when he was awake too.

Tearing my eyes away from him, I quickly grab clothes from my dresser, not really caring what they are, and try to quietly walk back out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

Stopping, I look back at Cloud whose eyes are just barely cracked open.

"I'm just meeting up with Alpha Tatum. He said he wants to talk," I tell him.

Cloud's brows furrow. "About what?"

I shrug. "Didn't say."

He stares at me for a few minutes before nodding and laying back down. I bite my lip before turning and exiting the room.

I try to keep my shower quick, not wanting to keep the alpha waiting for too long and also not wanting to stay in the house either. The atmosphere was tense and I knew that Cloud would probably want space too.

Once I was finished, I dried myself off, got dressed, and brushed my teeth before exiting the bathroom. I took one last look toward the bedroom heading out to meet Alpha Tatum.

Even though the walk wouldn't be far and I could get there relatively fast by shifting, I decided to take the car. Climbing in, I started it up and began to pull out of the driveway after checking quickly that nobody was there. I switched on the radio, not bothering to change the station. I just didn't want to be driving in silence.

If I wasn't been directly involved in the situation at hand, I wouldn't have even known anything was wrong. The pack was still functioning as normal. I chalked it up to Alpha Tatum trying to keep things under wraps as much as possible. While I'm sure that the pack knew bits and pieces of what was going on, I doubted they knew the full extent of the issue about what was going on with Alpha Demos just judging by the way people were acting.

When I reach the office building, I park my car before heading inside. After coming here more than enough times, I knew exactly where to head and knocked twice.

"Come in!" Alpha Tatum calls out. I open the door and sitting there is not only Alpha Tatum but also Nara. "Take a seat."

I sit down beside Nara and ask, "What are we doing here?"

Alpha Tatum ignores my question and looks at Nara. "You said your mate was Alexander Whitman of the Red Eclipse pack, correct?" Nara nods. "I've spoken with their alpha yesterday and she has agreed to allow us to speak with him. With Maia still in the hospital, I won't be able to make the trip myself. I need to stay and make sure Alpha Demos doesn't try anything else."

"So you'll be sending us?" I question.

Alpha Tatum nods at me. "With Maia being unable to act as Gamma, while she's in the hospital, the role temporarily passes to you. You'll be acting in the name of our pack. Remember that. I'll be sending Nara since he was her mate and she'll hopefully be able to help provide context for whatever we learn."

"It's just the two of us?" I ask him. Something told me that didn't seem like a good idea.

Alpha Tatum shakes his head. "No, the Red Eclipse Pack wasn't the only one I called yesterday."

A knock on the door causes Alpha Tatum to get up. When he opens it, standing there is Cloud's brother, Gray, and his beta, Gaius. Alpha Tatum shakes both of their hands before stepping aside, allowing them to enter.

"This will be a joint trip with the Dark Woods Pack. Beta Gaius here will be accompanying the two of you as well."

When I glance over at Beta Gaius, his face is completely serious. I guess it wasn't too surprising seeing as his mate was involved in this mess also.

"When are we leaving?"

"Today," Alpha Gray speaks up. "You won't need to pack much. This is meant to be a quick trip. Get in and get out. If Demos truly is connected with the ferals then I wouldn't put it past him to try and attack you once you've left pack lands. The Red Eclipse has also sent two people down to help you. A siphoner and a hybrid. They'll meet you just right outside the border."

"With that being said, are there any questions?" Alpha Tatum asks. I shake my head and Nara does the same. "Alright, then you can go pack and we'll meet up near the northern border before you go."

Nara and I both leave the room. Once we're out she exhales shakily, when I look over at her, she looks as if she's trying to desperately keep her emotions in check.

"Are you going to be okay?" I ask her. "You do know that you don't have to do this, right? This technically isn't even your pack. If you wanted to, you could—"

"—I want to help," Nara says quietly before repeating more firmly, "I want to help."

"Then what's on your mind?" I question.

Nara frowns. "I just...I never thought I'd see him again," she admits and I immediately know that she's talking about her mate. While I didn't exactly know what she was going through, I could imagine just how hard it would be to see the person who rejected you once again. Even if we hadn't left the pack lands yet, she was probably already hurting.

Nara shakes her head. "I'm sorry for dropping that on you," she apologizes before turning to walk down the hall. I frown as I watch her leave.

Once Nara is out of sight, I also head out and make my way back to my car. I climb inside and begin the drive home.

When I get there, I step inside before going to the bedroom where Cloud still lies, only now he's awake. I tell him hello as I move to the closet and grab a small, empty suitcase. They said we wouldn't need much so I grab two outfits and a few other necessities just to be safe.

"What is that for?" Cloud asks me.

I turn to face him. "Alpha Tatum wants me to go talk to Nara's ex-mate."

"Just you?"

I shake my head, choosing my next words carefully. "No, I'll be going with Nara—" he frowns. "—two wolves from her mate's pack, and also Beta Gaius from your old pack."

Hearing this just causes Cloud to frown more. "Gaius is here?" I nod slowly. "Just Gaius?"

"Alpha Gray is here also," I tell him.

Cloud looks unimpressed by my words, but he just nods. "How long?"

"It'll be a short trip," I tell him. "We're just going to talk to him and then leave."

"When are you leaving?"

"...today," I tell him hesitantly.

"Today?" Cloud's eyebrows raise.

"It wasn't our—"

"—I know it wasn't your choice," Cloud mumbles. "Just...just go ahead."

I want to say more, but I stop myself and slowly nod. I zip up the suitcase and pick it up as I leave the room.

I begin to close the door, but right before it's all the way closed I hear Cloud faintly say, "Be safe."

...

When I get to the border, Nara and Beta Gaius are already there along with Alphas Gray and Tatum. There's a car waiting for us and I see Alpha Gray and Beta Gaius talking to each other.

When I'm close enough, Alpha Tatum comes to me and says, "As Alpha Gray said earlier, this should be a quick trip, and don't forget to stop to pick up the Red Eclipse members. Their names are Inez and Boston."

I nod at his words and move toward the car. Nara has already gotten inside and Beta Gaius is getting in also. Before I do so, I stop and look back at the two of them.

"Alpha Gray?" I call out and he turns to me. "Keep Cloud safe for me."

His blue eyes soften at the mention of his brother and he nods. I turn to get in the car, but he calls out to me.

"Just Gray is fine," he says.

With a small smile, I nod and get in the car. With Beta Gaius in the driver's seat, I climb into the passenger's and shut the door. I glance back one last time as we take off. Hopefully, everything goes as planned and we're able to get Beta Reo back.

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