Chapter 8
1664 Words
“We are not done yet. Since you will not let me see all the unmated girls, I want a copy of the CCTV videos. And believe me when I say, if I see someone walking with my mate after she turned her back on me, this someone will regret trying to get between me and my mate.”
“I will not violate federal privacy laws by handing you copies of our CCTV videos.” Said Dean rejecting Ash’s request.
“But I will let you sit with our security team and go through the CCTV videos in our premises. You can even bring Carmen and your Beta with you.” offered Dean.
“I also want the names of all those who already left the ceremony. Their names and their pack’s affiliation.” Requested Ash.
“We do not track our people. They can come and go as they wish. Giving you access to the CCTV recordings is already too much. My beta will join you in a few minutes and walk you to the surveillance room. Consider this an olive branch to you Ash. Thread wisely.” Warned Dean before he turned his back to Ash and his rogues and left with his brother.
“Who does he think he is!?” growled Rob through the mindlink.
“Any other alpha would have thrown us out. And you know it, Rob!” rebuked Carmen.
“Ash, you need to calm down. You cannot throw all the efforts we did down the drain. Our people count on you!” advised Carmen.
Their conversation was cut short when the Beta of River Moon called for them.
“Alpha Ash? My Alpha asked me to take you to our surveillance room to check the video recording of today’s event.”
“Yes. Thank you, Beta Jeff. Rob and I will join you.”
“So will I.” said Carmen.
She was determined to keep Ash under close monitoring. He is too worked up and he might do some irrational things and throw everything out the window. He needed someone by his side to calm him down. and this someone could not be Rob as Rob despised all packs to the bone.
They spent the next two hours watching all the surveillance tapes trying to see the face of Ash’s mate. Unfortunately, the videos were low quality and there was no possibility to zoom it. The only thing they saw were the huge crowd and they noticed a couple of brunettes and one redhead walking away about the time Ash smelled his mate. However, the girls were mingling versus running away and it was not possible to catch their face features anyway.
They even tried to scroll back to track those three girls and see who their friends are, who they were talking to, but again, the quality of the videos was of no help, and they did not see any familiar faces.
“It is hard for me to believe that a tech savvy pack like River Moon has such low-quality CCTV surveillance system.” Questioned Rob.
“What are you insinuating?” barked Jeff, who had enough of Rob conceited attitude.
“I expected better from you, that’s all.” Smirked Rob.
“We do not plan on tracking and monitoring our people. The high-resolution cameras are on the borders of our territories. Plus, we are werewolves, we rather track on scent.” Huffed Jeff.
“Can we see the videos from the entry gate?” asked Ash.
Jeff sighed at the insistence of Ash and his friends to go through all the videos. But Alpha Dean’s instructions were clear: give them access to all the videos as long as they watch the recordings on-site.
Jeff nodded, and the surveillance team pulled the videos and projected them on the giant screens in their command center.
They fast forwarded to the middle of the ceremony, which was when Ash’s mate made a break for it.
Ash and his friends tried for twenty minute to see the faces of those who were leaving, but it was impossible. Not because of the quality of the videos but because of the angle of the cameras. Those were not 360-degree surveillance cameras, and they were pointed to see the faces of those entering the pack.
“I am positive you have 360-degree CCTV at the gates. We saw them when we are scanning the area to prepare our attacks.” Challenged Rob.
“They are down for maintenance.” Replied Jeff, glaring at Rob.
Jeff knew that those cameras were not down for maintenance. But Tristan mind-linked him a few hours ago insisting not to show those videos to the rogues. The surveillance team also mind-linked Jeff and told him that Tristan had barged in their command center and kicked them out. They are positive that Tristan deleted and replaced certain videos, but they are not sure what was erased.
“Tristan, you have a lot of explanation to do.” Grumbled Jeff through the mind-link.
“I owe you one boss. Please no words of that to anyone” Replied Tristan.
“The Alpha will know Tristan. I cannot hide anything from Dean.”
“Ok. Do what you have to do. I am sure she can handle him.”
“She?”
The asshole cut the mind-link! Jeff was fuming because of all those secrets. Something was going on and he was determined to get the details from his friend, even if he must beat it out of him. But first, he needed to get rid of those rogues.
“Are we done here? It has been three hours already.” Said Jeff, eager to start his own investigation.
“Not yet. We want to see the recordings of the ceremony once again” stated Ash.
He was not ready to leave this surveillance room until he got a clue or an evidence... Anything that can help him find his mate.
“What are you hoping to see Ash? We already looked at them over ten times and we got nothing.” Asked Rob.
“We were focusing on finding my mate.”
“and?
“Now we have to focus on finding whoever helped them.”
“But we tried to find those people too and we failed.”
“We were searching for anyone talking with the suspected girls. But what if those particular footage were tempered?”
“What? You think they deleted or changed some footages?” asked Carmen as she joined the conversation via the mindlink.
“Why not? We know for a fact that they are lying concerning the 360-degree Cameras.”
“Ok. Let’s give a shot.” Stated Rob, determined to help his Alpha.
They had to watch the videos for a couple of times until they finally noticed a detail… A major detail.
“I’ll be damned!” whispered Carmen through the mind link.
“Isn’t that the human mistress of Alpha Dean?” asked Rob.
“She is his mate and Luna” corrected Carmen.
“Yeh right, a human mate and luna.” Scoffed Rob.
“She is looking to the left, where your mate was earlier.”
“And she is looking at our people. She understood something was wrong.”
“And she leaped to help whoever was in distress.”
“That means that your mate is from River Moon!”
“Not necessary. This human is annoyingly helpful.” Said Ash.
“Yes, so helpful that she welcomed your sisters with open arms. You should address her with respect Ash.” Scolded Carmen
“I have seen enough. Thank you.” stated Ash before storming out.
He was trying to contain his anger, but his wolf was fighting to get out and destroy this pack on its people. He has been played by the Alpha and the Luna.
“Ash, calm down!” said Carmen as she caught his arm to stop him.
“Calm down? Calm down? he lied to me. He played the role of the offended Alpha whereas I am the one who should be offended. The peace treaty is off.”
“Don’t you even dare!” yelled Carmen.
“This is not only about you Ash!” she added.
“What do you wanted me to do then? Let them separate me from my mate.”
“First, you need to calm down. Then we go and talk with Luna Taylor and try to get the truth out of her. Remember she is a human, and we can easily know whether she is lying through her heartbeat changes or her breathing. She does not have the necessary training to hide those.”
Ash knew that his friend was right, and he did his best to send his wolf to the back of his mind to calm down and think straight.
He took a deep breath then mind-linked his friends and his sisters to get information on Taylor’s whereabouts.
It took his friends just a few minutes before getting back to him with the awaited information.
“Luna Taylor is at the Gym. We were with her fifteen minutes ago. Why are you asking?” asked Ariel, his sister, through the mind-link
“I just want to thank her for her hospitability and for welcoming you and your sister in open arms.”
He was not going to tell his siblings nor his mum about his mate. Once found, he will introduce her to his family. Also, he did not want his sisters to know about his beef with Taylor. His sisters worship the ground she walks one. They look up to her and would never believe that she would separate him from his mate.
“She is at the Gym.” Ash told Rob and Carmen as he marched towards the Gym building, determined to get the truth from Taylor, by hook or by crook!
- Writer
