hunting the desert sun. ******COMPLETED******

#3 Cara Star

The flight was long. I was exhausted and my body ached from being hunched over those pictures I had. The reports were just as vague. It was as though they purposely witheld informaton from this file which irritated me. How was I supposed to get anything from what they gave me or even make sense of the crime scene if things were not here? It was like a puzzle they expected me to put together without all the peices to it. Still those tattoos were playing in my mind. They were indeed strange. I had never seen it in the shifter world before. I made my way to grab my bag. I knew there would be a driver for me waiting so I weaved in and out of people as they walked. I needed to get going fast. The sun was already setting and I needed to get to the Desert sun pack to meet with Alpha Gray and his Beta Liam. I had never met either of them before so this would be whirlwind of a night. I knew I needed to know if there was more than just these two pics and a few peices of report. Surely they knew better than to take such crappy notes. keep your cool Cara. no need to piss of the alpha with a bad attitude already. I took a deep breath looking around for the driver that would take me to my destination. He was off to the side. a long line of people with little cardboard signs with various last names. I'm not sure why he didn't stand out before. He easily towered over the rest of the group. His muscles buldged beneath his shirt and his skin was the most beautiful caramel color. He had jet black hair that he wore pulle dback into a bun on his head. He was hot. that was undeniable. I could sense he was a shifter. He held up a little sign with the last name of Star on it and so I walked hurridly towards him. He was my driver. "hello sir, I am cara Star."

He looked down at my small stature and the largest grin crossed his face. It was friendly warm and inviting and you couldn't help but feel at ease with this massive beast of a man. I got no sense of danger from him. He bowed slightly crossing his arms over his chest."Princess cara star, I am Gamma Benson. I will be drivng you to your destination. please follow me." I nodded my head and started following after him. His stride was so big I had to run walk to keep up with him. I didn't mind it was nice he knew the sense of urgency in the matter. We made our way to the parking garage and he stopped in front of a black SUV. it was nice. Definetly a car made for luxury and if I had more time I could probably take more time to appreciate it but I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to where we were going so I wanted to make this fast. It was as though he sensed my urgency and smiled again at me."I can tell you want to get to work quickly. It takes about thirty minutes to reach the territory. Our pack lands are secluded but within reach. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Alpha Gray and Beta Liam have the pack under lockdown just in case."

"So what can you tell me about the situtation? The report was vague and definetely missing crucial peices."

"Princess,"

I cut him off mid sentence. I wasn't one for formalities and hated being called princess. It felt as though the word itself had meant for so long to demean me. I was reminded daily i was just a woman. I was lesser than the men. It's why I worked harder than any other hunter. I had to be the best. I had to beat out all the men and still not get any of the same respect that was automatically given to them. "Gamma Benson please call me Cara My title has been used for so long to keep me inmy place I barely ever go with the formalities now."

"forgive Cara. I mean tno disrespect. It is strange seeing a woman in your position though. Feels like even in shifter world women aren't treated the same as men. I am honored to see you shatter the ideals. Your reputation for being the best has not been lost on me. I admire it."

"why thank you. I work hard to be more than just a woman. It isn't easy when you were born just to breed. Anyways enough of that. tell e what you can."

he did not even glance at me as he drove. Instead he kept his eyes on the road and his face void of emotions."I can ot speak of the matter per Alpha Grays orders. I am truly sorry. He will debreif you once you are there and go from there." This was no surprise of course. they were going through great lengths to keep this from the outside world and I was assuming their pack as well. It was very frustrating as I need the knowledge of the situation to better assess if I truly needed to be there or not. this could determine if this was a pack problem or a hunter problem. I had a sinking feeling this was going to be bigger than just a pack problem. This was going to be a big problem. It felt like hours before we got to the pack teritory. I knew logically it wasn't but the drive was long with little to no conversation. I wasn't trying to make it uncomfortable. I just was deep into my own thoughts trying to make sense of everything I knew thus far. Which was almost nothing. I was trying to hide my frustration in the matter and knowing I was failing. I knew I neeed to remain calm when entering into the pack house to meet the alpha and Beta. The last thing I needed was to vreate animosity between us making my job harder If they didn't cooperate then my job would be next to impossible. The tattoos still nagged at me. It was as if someone was purposely trying to make it look like shifters had done this. The fact that the bodies were dumped onto pack land with no one being alarmed was curious as well. Usually territories were gaurded more aggressively than that. An alarm system should have been set in place for this. It could have been they relied heavily on their re,oteness to be part of their protection plan. I couldn't be certain but it was a dangerous default in their own security of the pack members who resided here. I hadn't heard much on the way of rogue atttacks out here. most packs chose to be nestled into the wild lands of forests but there were 2 packs that thrived well in this desert and relied on the anonimity of the desert. For most wolves the heat of the scorching sun would be too much but these two packs were large and thriving and usually kept mostly to themselves very rarely needing the outside help. I had never personally had any dealings with either pack but if this were to set up these two packs it was from an outsider. I just couldn't think who would want to rid them from the desert. The land was only profitable if used to drill oil. there was no farming here and livestock usually would die from dehydration sp no hunting options. Wolves needed large amounts of meat which I did know was stock piled here but it was usually brought in through other means. From all the information I had they had very posh accomodations and every modern luxury as humans even an thriving enterprise and owned businesses outside the packs. Money xouldn't have been a motivator because the money and businessess were not made through pack ands but different motels and gas stations and super markets within the human cities. it was a mystery how that happened though since it was fairly rare for many of them to leave the territory. I guess now I would be thrust into their secret world learning their inner workings and dealings between humans and shifters. It was a rare inside look. We pulled up to the pack house and Benson jumped out as two men came out of the door. I couldn't see their faces as i slid out the passenger door. the air smelled cool and crisp. It was a clean smell so intoxicating as it filled my senses. it was an excilerating smell that sent shivers down my spine. this was an odd feeling. I shook it off. I needed to keep my head on work not delicous smells in the desert sky. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath before heading up to where Benson was now standing and talking. Thats when my eyes fell on the most amazing man I had ever seen.