Lone Wolf (The Wulf Pack Book 1)

The old man that stood before him smelled of death. His skinny form and sunken eyes and cheeks were clear signs that he was nearing the end of his life.

It was no wonder that Rogues were trespassing onto this pack’s land. The Alpha was going to die any second.

“How may I help you?” The old man asked, his body seemed to shake with the effort. Rage was surprised the Alpha was still sitting behind his desk and not bedridden.

“I have found a large group of Rogues on your land, I came to find out if you were aware of the trespassing,”

Bushy white eyebrows frowned as the Alpha took in his words. Rage new instantly that he had no clue. This old man was being kept in the dark from everything around him.

“I was not aware,” the foggy blue eyes shifted from Rage to the door behind him, “Henry!” He yelled before breaking into a fit of coughing.

Rage wrinkled his nose at the tangy smell of blood that filled the air with each of the Alpha’s coughs.

The door behind him opened and a male in his forties stepped in. His face was shadowed in worry as his Alpha coughed up blood into the cloth clenched in his hand.

“Alpha,” he gasped, rushing over to the old man and kneeling before him. His brown eyes watched in worry until the coughing finally died down, the rag now drenched in blood.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The Alpha choked out, looking down at, what Rage assumed was, his Beta.

“The doctor told me not to worry you, Alpha, Sam and Logan have been dealing with our Rogue issue...”

“Rogue issue,” Rage laughed, this pack was going to split at the seams the moment this Alpha died.

“Who are you?” The Beta asked, finally noticing Rage standing on the other side of the desk. He stood, eyeing the much larger man before him.

“This...” the Alpha struggled against more coughing, “this is Rage Wulf,” The Beta’s eyes swong back to Rage, seeing him in a new light.

Rage fought against rolling his eyes. His family really needed to get out more.

“Sara!” The male yelled abruptly, actually causing Rage to jump slightly defensively.

A young female entered the room, her warm features pulled into a worried frown as she noticed the Alpha’s pale form.

“Would you please take your father to his room? He needs to rest,” the Beta asked the woman, her light blond hair swishing around her as she nodded and moved to help her father up.

Rage was silent as he watched the petite female assist the Alpha to his feet and slowly lead him to the door.

The Beta followed, closing the door behind them once they were out of the room.

He turned, scrubbing his hand over his face with a heavy sigh that spoke volumes of his stress.

“I am sorry,” the Beta said, once he composed himself, “My Alpha has been sick for a few years now, cancer,”

Rage nodded and watched the male take a seat beside him, not even a thought of sitting in his Alpha’s chair.

“My son and I have been trying our best with managing the pack, but without a successer, when the Alpha dies, the pack will crumble and we might as well be a bunch of Rogues,”

Rage laughed at the dramatics of the male. A pack is a pack, no matter who is Alpha.

“My brother would not allow that,” the man’s eyes widdened, “I will inform him of your Alpha’s condition and he will decide who to appoint as a new Alpha,”

“He does have two daughters,” he said, drawing thoughts back to the fare haired female, “both trained well, but you know how it is, female Alpha’s don’t last long,”

It was true, any female that took an Alpha position was killed shortly after by someone who thought they could do better. Females were viewed as a weaker sex and rarely held high positions besides Luna, and even then a Luna was viewed as below the Alpha.

“How long have you had problems with the Rogues?” Rage asked after a few minutes of silence.

“About a year, we keep driving them away only for them to come back with more,”

Something clicked in Rage’s mind at those words. He found what he had been looking for.

“We found them,” Ethan confirmed as he and Allison entered the motel room.

“A whole lot of them,” she added as she flopped down on one of the beds with a sigh.

“How many?” Rage questioned, curiously.

“Two- hundred... three- hundred... it was hard to tell,”

Rage nodded, looking down at his phone, gripped tightly in his hands.

He had called Fury to give an update but when he didnt answer, he called Wrath. It seemed the routine now. Fury didn’t answer his calls, didn’t answer his texts.

Wrath seemed to push it off the first time he questioned it, stating Fury was busy with Beta stuff. But Rage was starting to think his brother was avoiding him.

With a sigh, he tossed his phone into his bag and looked at his cousins.

“We have been invited to stay at the Pack house while we are here,”

Allison sat up as she and Ethan gave him a wide eyed look.

“You want us to stay with a pack that has hundreds of Rogues squatting on their land?” Ethan’s voice held hit of contempt as she questioned Rage.

“I have spoken to both the Alpha and the Beta,” Rage’s face took on a hard mask that seemed to chill his cousins into silence, “They are struggling within their pack and have not been able to manage the growing numbers, though I suspect they aren’t aware there are so many,”

“Why haven’t they reported it?” Allison chirped, perched on the end of the bed like a child being told a story.

“Their Alpha is dying and has no heir to take the position,”

“So they didn’t want to be seen as weak?” Ethan spit out accusingly.

Rage nodded as he watched the male, he was so young yet conditioned for anger and agression, like he and his brothers were.

“Do you think this is the group that has been attacking packs?”

“It would make sense,” both Allison and Ethan nodded their agreement.

“Are you going to report what we found?” Ethan asked, braking the thought filled quite of the room.

“Tomorrow, I have already called today and would like to see this group before I call again,” the male nodded, lowering his head down submisively.

“Well,” Allison jumped up, onto her feet, using the bed to help her spring up, “are we going to the pack house or what?” Both males looked at her, she always seemed happy, how, they did not know.