And Then There Were Four

Chapter 103

Chapter 103: A New Alpha

Hale.

Three days had passed since Ivy had the children, and Damian was pronounced missing. I wasn‘t sure what to expect, b ut I stepped into my role as alpha of the pack to ensure everything ran smoothly.

We had gone to the cabin where the seer was Damian

supposedly met. It wasn‘t hard for us to find the location with the information he had left on his desk. Ho wever, as soon as we got there, it was clear the woman had been long gone, which was lucky for her, co nsidering I would have torn her to shreds to find my brother.

The disheartening feeling of coming home empty– handed wasn‘t something I wanted to do again. The look in Ivy‘s eyes when she threw open the front doo r only to find that Damian wasn‘t with us… it haunted my mind.

“Have there been any recent signs?” I asked Talon, who walked through the office door looking grimmer t han he had the day before.

“No, but I do have patrols watching the borders expecting the worst if it comes to it. We have to find Damian. Have you seen

the state that Ivy is in?”

I had seen the state of her.

Every single day she refused to eat the right amount of food or get the right amount of rest, and every time we tried to

force her to do it, she would snap as if she was slowly losing herself.

For the first time in my life, I had questions I didn‘t have the answers to, and it burned a hole through my heart, knowing there was nothing I could do right now to help Ivy. We knew who had done it. We knew the Council had Damian, but without proof, we couldn‘t just storm in there and accuse them of something.

“I‘m at a loss for what to do to help her. She‘s spiraling, and I only see her smile when she‘s with the twin s. She is happy and content one minute, and then it‘s like someone flips the switch as soon as they‘re asleep. She becomes unstable.”

Talon stared at me. His facial expressions were unreadable, but I had no doubt he saw the same things I did in his mind, “What do you want to do, then? We have to find a way to be able to help her.”

Talon was right. We had to help her. I was just at a loss for how to do that. It was hard trying to decipher what was wrong with her while trying also to find my brother.

Letting a heavy sigh escape me, I shook my head. “There‘s been nothing that‘s been brought to the bord er, no sort of message or anything.”

“It‘s only been three days, though,” Talon replied. “If they were going to come, they would have surely co me by now. The only thing I can think of is the Council didn‘t do it, and someone else is behind it.”

Talon‘s reasoning had crossed my mind more than once, but I didn‘t want to be so hasty as to believe the Council was actually on our side. They weren‘t pleased by the outburst

that had happened the day we were all taken to court before.

Thave thought about that situation a million times over. Tried to contemplate what exactly was going to h appen, but every single time I searched for answers, I came up empty–handed.

“I can help with that,” kate said from the open doorway as she stared at Talon and I with determination on her face. I hadn‘t even realized she had gotten back from her trip. The day after the children were born, she had made her way back home in sea rch of answers from her own family.

“Did you just return?”

“Obviously, I‘m glad to see that the two of you are happy to see me,” she replied in a sarcastic tone as th e corner of her lips turned up into a small smile.

“Did you find anything out, anything at all that could be useful?”

With a tight–lipped expression, she glanced down at her feet, rocking back and forth as she shook her head no. “In all honesty, they didn‘t want to let me come back.”

“Yet you‘re here, anyway. What changed your mind?” I asked,

confused why she would come back if her mate and her family had told her not to.

“Nothing changed my mind, Hale. I was planning to come back regardless of what they said. Ivy is my fri end and you

guys have become like family to me. She needs me here and my help whether or not she chooses to see it right now.”

“Well, do you have a plan in mind? Because being the alpha isn‘t something I‘m particularly good at. I‘m a book nerd.

Talon deals with patrols, James helps with training. Damien was always the one that ran everything. And yes, I knew some of what he did, but I was nowhere as good as he was. So any kind of help I can get rig ht now would be brilliant,” I sighed as I plumped down into the chair behind the desk.

Laughter escaped Kate as she smiled at me. “You do make a very good book nerd, though.”

Of course, that would be what her response was.

Standing still for a moment, she stepped forward. “Look, the Council knows I wasn‘t here when the murd ers happen. I have an alibi, and I didn‘t arrive until the day the Council came seeking answers from you …“..

“Okay, but what do you suggest doing?”

“I could go there,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

A scoff left Talon‘s lips before the laughter erupted from him. “Angel would fucking kill us if he knew we all owed you to go there.”

“I guess it‘s a good thing I came with her then,” Angel said as he stepped up behind Kate. A smile spread across Talon‘s face upon seeing Angel.

Through the time Kate and Angel had been here before, Talon and Angel had formed a wonderful friends hip and kept in touch with each other often. I was happy for Talon because he honestly didn‘t have many friends.

“It‘s good to see you, my friend” Talon said happily as he pulled away.

“We can take care of the situation,” Angel replied, “Kate and I will head to the Council, scope it out and see if we c

an find anything. It wouldn‘t be abnormal for us to go there to pay our respects while being in town. Aloka ye may turn around and think something‘s up, but the Council would toss the idea out the window.”

Angel had a point. He and Kate could go up there and the Council would have no reason to suspect them of an ything. It was times like this I wondered if I could really do this type of job.

I may have been an alpha, but I wasn‘t the oldest and I wasn‘t trained for this, and every day Damien was gone reminded me how much I should have paid attention to what he tri ed to teach me when I was younger.

“All right, then the two of you can leave at dawn. That way, it‘ll give you enough time to get up there as th e morning sun rises, make your way around and get out of there before anybody really notices you.”

“How‘s she doing?” Kate finally said, speaking up softly. “Is she talking much yet?”

Once again, silence enveloped us, the tension high as I cast my gaze towards the window. Ivy had spoken little in the last three days unless she was talking to the twins, and e ven then it was baby talk and cooing.

I wished more than anything to see the light of joy in her eyes once more. But now, when she gazed out staring out the window as if expecting for Damien to com e strolling back up, I saw nothing but pain and sorrow.

“She is great with kids. They are everything to her, but outside

of that… she isn‘t herself. Something inside of her is

changing.”

I wasn‘t sure what it was, but Talon knew exactly what | meant. There was something within our bond tha t it was changing.

“I‘ll see if I can talk to her. Start the conversation out slowly and see if she opens up to me.” Kate‘s offer made me smile. Perhaps she would have better luck.

As soon as Kate, Angel, and Talon left the office, and the door was closed, I rested my head within my pa lms, and tried to understand where I had gone wrong.

We had gone from exotic moments of sexual bliss to chaos that consumed us. A battle for her. The loss, the love, the reuniting, almost bringing death and now? It was as if everything we had gone through was for nothing, be

More than anything, I couldn‘t wait for the day when things would be normal. I didn‘t understand what evil

It was honestly beyond ridiculous.

I wanted my mate back.

I wanted my brother back.

Deciding I would turn in for the night, I stood up from where ! sat, turning off the small lamp at the desk and made my way out of my office, closing the door behind me.

I didn‘t get far, though, before I ran into Priscilla, coming out from the kitchen, a hot cup of tea in her hand and a low, concentrated look on her face.

“Are you retiring for the evening as well, Priscilla?” I asked her, trying to be polite and keep the conversati

She stopped in her tracks, taking a moment as she processed my question, her eyes gazing up at me with an intensity.

A sense of understanding washed over me, realizing Kate didn‘t miss a beat when it came to the opportun

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“That‘s good. Hopefully, she can get answers to the questions that we cannot. Why is it you looked so troubled, though?”

Priscilla was a very mysterious woman, and while my brothers were not as observant as I was, I could tell

Her wrinkled expression creased up as she smiled at me, a clicking of her tongue as she looked off down

“You have always been the most perceptive of children,” she said as she let out a small sigh. “I‘ve had visions lately, and the

Her words weren‘t as riddled as usual, and the concern was

etched in her eyes. I‘d never once heard her say she could not

see into the future any more.

“That doesn‘t make any sense. What do you mean you can‘t see past what‘s coming? You‘re a seer who s

“Trust me, boy, I know it is my gift. However, things have changed. Fate has changed, and with it, I can no meaning behind her words, and I couldn‘t understand why her gift would deny her

the ability to see the future..

If I wasn‘t as worried before, I definitely was now. Priscilla was the seer of our family. The secret we hid de