Alpha Grant: Book 3 of The Alpha Series

13. Dark Hollers Pack

Grant

Our stay ended at Trinity Forest and the three of us left to head to the last pack here in the US. We drove for eight hours and during that time the guys started asking personal questions. I knew they were going to find out something was going on with me and I needed to be honest and open with them. They were my pack and I wouldn’t be the person to be dishonest with them when we needed to trust one another.

“What’s up with you at night with all the texts, phone calls and then sneaking out of the packhouse one night to lay in a field and look at the sky?” Krew asked.

I looked at Krew in the back seat and then over at Otto. They had both noticed it, so it was time to share with them what was going on. Goddess they are going to judge me and call me a f*****g i***t like Eric does.

“I’ll be honest with you both and I don't want judgment from you two,” I told them as I turned the music down to talk.

They both nodded their heads in agreement, so I was ready to spill my guts to my first two pack members. They were already close with me and I trusted them.

“My best friend back home, her name is Madison. She’s only sixteen and will soon be seventeen. She’s grown to be more than just a friend and I was an i***t to let it get that far, but I just have this feeling that she’s mine. Waiting to find out is f*****g murder. I’ve been talking to and texting her every day since I left Hunter’s Moon.”

“That’s why you don’t want to look for your mate. You don’t want it to be someone else,” Krew said in realization.

“Yeah. I know I’m a f*****g i***t for it too,” I said with a sigh.

“Not necessarily. Sometimes we can feel that pull a little early on in life. Like I suspect that the former Beta’s daughter is Alpha James’s mate. The way he looks at her says it all,” Otto said.

I nodded my head and said, “I suspected the same thing.”

“So what do you want to do about traveling and Madison?” Otto asked.

“I want us to stay on this mission to learn and explore before settling and building the pack, so when I know if Madison is mine or not, she will have a home.”

Otto nodded his head and said, “that's a good driving force for you.”

I nodded and asked, “What is your judgment of me?”

“I don’t have any. She could be yours, but I’ve never met her and I’ve never seen the two of you interact, so I have no valid opinion on the matter. Just be prepared for things to not go your way. I hope to Goddess they do though,” he told me with a smile.

“Same and I hope you find your Navajo girl,” I told him.

He smiled at me and I looked in the back seat at Krew and asked, “What about you?”

“I’m not judging you. Betas and Alphas bond early on, even before we know for sure they are Betas of Alphas. Why should mates be any different?”

“Fair. What about a mate for you?”

“I’m not picky. I will be happy just to find her,” Krew told me.

It felt good to get all of that out there in the open with them. I could talk with them when things got tough and they could help keep me going and focused.

We soon arrived in the buoys of Louisiana and found the gates to Dark Hollers. The guards stopped us and I rolled my window down. The guards bowed their heads to me, motioned for the gates to open and waved us through.

“What do you know about the Alpha here?” Krew asked.

“Alpha Wyatt is the same age as Alpha Miguel and acts like him to an extent. From what my mom has said of him as an adult, he is super nice and has a strong Lycan. He’s still without a mate also.”

When we got to the y in the road, I stuck to the left and the guys looked at me in question.

“I’ve been here a few times before this. My dad is really close with Wyatt’s dad,” I explained.

Krew and Otto both nodded their heads and we drove up to the packhouse. I parked the SUV and we got out after I texted Eric and Madison that we had made it to Dark Hollers. Madison hadn’t talked much but I’m sure it was because her parents still had her phone. She would sneak it to send me a few messages here and there but I kept her updated either way.

We got out of the vehicle and I turned to look at the large wooden packhouse as I stretched my stiff limbs. I watched as the guys looked at the area and everything it had. This pack was so different from the others and Louisian was beautiful even if it was humid as hell.

As we grabbed our bags, I heard the packhouse door open and close. I heard footsteps on the wooden porch and looked up to see Wyatt making his way toward us with a smile on his face. I closed the back of the SUV and walked up to him.

We took each other's hands in a firm handshake and I said, “good to see you again, Wyatt.”

“Good to see you too, Grant. I’ll show y’all inside to your rooms.”

We all went in and Wyatt showed us to our rooms on the second floor. We set our things down then went to his office. All of us stepped into the office that his parents shared and took a seat.

“How has traveling been going?” Wyatt asked.

“Good so far. This is the last pack before we leave the country. How are things here?” I asked him.

“Same as always. We have weeks or months that are quiet then all of a sudden we are being bombarded by hunters,” Wyatt told me.

I nodded my head while listening to him. Someone walked in and I looked up to find his best friend Eli. I greeted Beta Eli and he smiled back. He turned his attention from me and my group to Wyatt so they could talk.

“I hate to come in and tell you that we are having issues, but we are having issues in the south swamp,” he told Wyatt.

Wyatt growled in frustration, then got up from his seat. I stood up with him, Otto and Krew followed my lead and got up also.

“We can help with anything that you need while we are here,” I offered Wyatt.

“That would be appreciated. Maybe you can help me come up with better ideas than we can,” he said.

“We will be glad to offer anything we can,” I told him.

He nodded and said, “follow me.”

We walked out of Wyatt’s office following him and Eli. All five of us stepped out of the packhouse and got into Wyatt's truck. He drove back toward the entrance of the pack territory but at the fork he went the other direction. I hadn’t been out this way before in the times that we had come to visit. I wanted information on what was going on.

“What types of issues are we looking at?” I asked as Wyatt drove.

“Trespassers. I don’t know yet if they are witches, lost humans or hunters,” Eli said.

“Got it,” I told him with a nod.

When we showed up to the spot we were called to, I saw five warriors waiting for us. Wyatt parked his truck and all of us got out. I stood by and listened as the warriors gave a quick report.

“Alpha, we spotted unusual movement right off the territory. We tried tracking it but it was difficult. There’s no scent and the footprints are inconsistent,” one of the warriors said.

Wyatt nodded his head and looked over at me, then said, “Let’s go check it out.”

I nodded my head and the five of us followed a warrior over to the area where the footprints had been spotted along with the movement. I looked at the ground and the warrior was right. The footprints were there, then they were gone, then showed up again. I sniffed the area for any unusual smells but got nothing, not even the use of magic. Someone was using suppression pills to mask their scent.

I watched Otto and he was looking from the ground to the trees carefully. He stepped up to the footprints and took pictures before he stepped into them and looked around. Otto started to travel with the prints at a fast pace and would stop when they ended and look to the side where the next print would go.

Otto turned back to look at us and said, “whoever it is has feet that are as big as mine, a longer stride than me and is using the trees to move through the area. I don’t think this is any human or witch doing this.”

Wyatt nodded his head and I asked, “What do you think it is then?”

“Could be a werecat, a werebear or a rogue werewolf,” he answered.

“We haven’t had many sightings of other shifters in this area but it’s possible. Rogues haven't been an issue for us in a very long time either,” Wyatt said.

I listened to him and thought about what was going on. I didn’t have any questions or suggestions.

“We will just need to keep an eye out down here then. Would you like me to double the patrol?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, for the next week or two,” Wyatt answered.

We all turned and went back to Wyatt’s truck and got in. He drove back to the packhouse and parked. We got out and started to go inside.

“Why don’t you shift and go out on the territory when there are issues?” Otto asked as we stepped up onto the porch.

“Our pack is being watched too closely for us to shift during the day right now. It sucks and I’ve been trying to fix it for years. All of us feel oppressed and like we can’t be ourselves. I’m not really sure what to do to fix it,” Wyatt answered.

“Who’s watching y’all?” I asked.

“Mostly hunters,” Eli said.

“What do they do to y’all?” I asked to understand what he was dealing with.

“They either kill or capture us when they can. If we are captured, there is little to no chance that we will see that person again.”

“Why?” Otto asked.

“Because they are selling supernatural creatures on the black market if we are that unusual to them,” Krew answered for Wyatt.

I turned to look at him and asked, “how much do you know about that?”

“Just the reports I’ve been handed. Alpha Jack has been working to get inside the black market to try and do something about the sale of supernaturals for the past two years, trying to solve it before Fallon takes over,” Krew told me.

I nodded my head, realizing there was a lot going on in the supernatural world that I had no idea about. I would need to sit down with Wyatt and Krew to learn what they knew tomorrow.

We followed Wyatt into the dining hall and I saw that it was dinner time. The day had gone by fast. We sat down on the benches and waited for our food. It wasn’t long and there were large bowels of crawfish etouffee placed in front of us. I hummed in happiness before taking my first bite. This was something I had my first time here and I loved it.

I ate happily until everything was gone. We all retired for the night and I looked to see if Madison had messaged me back. She hadn’t, so that meant she hadn’t been able to get to her phone. I texted Eric to occupy my time and asked if he knew about the black market issues. It was news to him, but he wasn’t very surprised.

~

I woke up to still no messages from Madison and I knew it was because she didn’t have her phone, but it was still irritating. I went and had breakfast with everyone before heading out to the training field. This morning, I took it easy and just trained with Wyatt. We weren’t able to let our Lycans out to train or our wolves because of what was going on here, so I was going to take it easy.

Otto got to train with Beta Eli and with Krew this morning instead of me beating him up. Because of him having to defend himself from me, he was growing even stronger and was able to take pore Eli down quickly.

While Wyatt and I stood there watching our Betas train, a couple walked up to us. Wyatt greeted them then introduced them to me. I had seen the two sparring together close by but would never have guessed they were mates with the way they were fighting. They reminded me of Logan and Sebastian because of it.

“Alpha Grant, I would like you to meet my Gamma, Hudson, and his mate, Serenity.”

I shook their hands and said, “it’s good to meet the both of you.”

“Likewise,” Hudson said in a thicker Cajun accent than Wyatt had.

I listened to him and Wyatt talk while I watched the training session going on in front of me. I couldn’t understand half of what Hudson said because of his thick accent, but it was amazing to listen to. When we were done, I went and cleaned up, then met with Wyatt and Krew in Wyatt’s office. We all sat down while Eli and Otto were in a meeting in Eli’s office.

“Tell me everything y’all know about the black market that is selling supernaturals,” I said.

“All we know is that it’s possible we are being captured and taken for sale. We don’t have any proof yet, just missing pack members,” Wyatt said.

I nodded my head and looked at Krew.

“Jack has proof of the sale of witches, vamps and some shifters but we are having issues getting into the sale rooms so we can bid or shut the sights down,” Krew said.

I sat there listening to them and asked, “What are these buyers even after?”

“Anything that is unusual. Things they don’t see in normal life and things to take advantage of,” Krew told me.

“What do they do with them?” I asked.

“I’ve heard that some are kept in cages and shown off like animals in a zoo. The witches are used for their powers and exploited in other ways,” Krew told me.

“That’s horrible.”

They kept feeding me information and I listened to everything. I realized that these hunters were smart and were selling everything they could on the black market. If these hunters caught wind of me, I could be their next target, so I needed to keep my head down and possibly keep a lid on my strength and Skoll. I felt him brush up against my mind in irritation.

“I don’t like this,” Skoll told me.

“I know. I don’t either.”

“The three of us agree again,” Wraith chimed in.

“If we are met with any issues like that, let me f*****g handle them. You have to be ok with the fact that we might have to kill humans to keep others safe,” Skoll said.

I sighed in irritation because I knew he was right.

“He is right. It would be horrible to live in a cage or be used in some other way. Not to mention the fact that we don’t know what to expect of ourselves and others. We are all three unique and that might just be enough to put us in danger,” Wraith said.

I hated it when they fought, but part of me hated it when they agreed. Especially on this.

~

I bought plane tickets from New Orleans airport to Edinburgh a few days ago. We would be leaving straight from Dark Hollers to Scotland. I texted uncle Sean and he messaged me telling me to let him know when we would be leaving and arriving at places so he could get into contact with each Alpha so they would be expecting us. He still had contact with all of them, even the new Alpha’s that he had met as pups.

After we had breakfast, Otto, Krew and I packed up all of our things to leave the country. Otto and Krew said goodbye to everyone and got into the SUV.

I shook Wyatt’s hand and said, “I hope you figure out how to handle these hunters and the black market. I’ll keep my eyes out for issues and solutions while I travel.”

“Sounds good.”

“See ya next time,” I said.

“Laissez les bon temps rouler,” Wyatt said loudly as I turned to get in the vehicle.

I smiled and got in to leave the last US pack. I was making my moves happen and I was forging ahead. No going back now.

“What did he say?” Otto asked.

“Laissez les bon temps rouler. It means, let the good times roll,” I explained with a smile.

We left Dark Hollers and drove to New Orleans. Soon we will be saying goodbye to the US and flying over the ocean to Scotland. As I drove, I got that nagging feeling that I was being watched and I got uncomfortable. Who was watching me while I drove? I looked to see if anyone was following us but there was no one. What was that about?