Revolting

William and Heath had stopped at a gas station along a country road. The gas station sported a convenience store, along with a small deli in the back. The two men were leaning against the hood of William's car in the almost empty parking area, eating sandwiches and drinking sodas they had just purchased inside. The teenage girl manning the cash register was watching the two handsome men through the window with a dreamy expression on her face. William grinned back at the girl and saluted her with his soda bottle. She looked flustered and pretended to be busy with something under the counter.

"You are such a flirt," Heath grumbled good naturedly.

"Hey, she's looking at you, too," William bumped his mate in the shoulder, and then peeled back the paper wrapper on his grinder to take a big bite. He enjoyed watching Heath's face grow pink as he peeked at the front window to see that the girl was indeed still giving him a wishful look.

"Too bad she's not my type," Heath grumbled, opening his own sandwich. He had ordered the hot Italian, with extra hot peppers. "Mmmm" he sighed as he took a big bite. He didn't mind the hotness that made his lips tingle and his tongue burn. He'd spent most of his life surviving on bland food without even salt to make it palatable. These days, the more flavor, the better.

"So... where to now?" William didn't want to discourage his mate, but the Adirondack Park area was huge, a massive patchwork of private property, timber lots, forestry reserves, wilderness and state land. There were two big packs that had lands within the area. William had already been in contact with their leaders to let them know that they would be searching the area for a Heath's lost sister. The packs had also promised to be on the lookout for a girl matching Hannah's description. It was unfortunate that they had no photograph to offer, but Hannah's small size made her unique.

Heath finished chewing his bite of sandwich and then stared off in the distance, his eyes momentarily vacant as he tried to mind-link his sister. After a moment he sighed in defeat "I still think we need to head east... and maybe north." He said with frown before tucking into his grinder again. William nodded and patted his mate on the thigh. As soon as they had polished off their lunch they climbed back into William's car and headed in the general, vague direction that Heath had indicated. Google Maps wasn't very helpful in this instance, so Heath had spread a paper map over the dashboard, and was now tracing the possible routes through the wilderness areas.

They had been on the road for almost forty minutes when William's phone buzzed with an incoming call. William glanced at the unfamiliar number before he used the car's hands-free Bluetooth system to answer the call. "Hello?"

"Is this the Rebel Moon Beta?" a deep, gravely male voice asked.

"Yes, this is William. Go ahead." He glanced across at his mate, who was chewing his lip anxiously.

"This is Alpha Scott from the High Peaks Pack. You contacted me about a missing she-wolf?"

"Yeah," William felt a bubble of excitement well up in his chest, "Have you seen her?"

"Well, not exactly." There was an uncomfortable silence on the line before Scott cleared his throat. "There's been an... incident, out East of the Giant," The Giant was what they called the Giant of the Valley Mountain. "What kind of incident."

"Near as we can tell... hunters attacked a group of rogues."

Oh Goddess, William thought, please don't let her be dead...

"We found the bodies of three hunters, all of them mauled by wolves. And some remains on a pyre... we think it was one of the rogues."

"Was it..." William didn't even dare say the words.

"Don't think so," the Alpha said quickly. "The bones looked man-sized to me. But there were prints around... mighty small prints for a werewolf. I'm thinking your girl might be running with this pack of rogues." Heath shook his head, "No way, Hannah wouldn't run with strangers."

"Well anyways, they seem to be heading south now, but they are attracting an awful lot of unwanted attention. We don't want humans looking too closely at what's going on around here, if you know what I mean." William grimaced, "No of course not."

"They are in neutral territory now," the alpha continued, "But if they cross onto pack lands, they will be eliminated."

"Can you give me their location?" William asked quickly.

"They were last spotted crossing a logging project near Beaver Slip."

"Thank you for the information, we deeply appreciate it," William thanked the Alpha before he cut the call. Heath was already scrambling to refold the map.

He squinted at the names of the places before he swore and slapped the map. Heath was only just beginning to learn to read, and it took too long for him to sound out the strange names on the map. William pulled over onto the narrow shoulder of the road and eased the map over the steering wheel. He put a finger on a tiny name. "Here. You were heading us in the right direction." He backed his finger up along the roads. "We are here. If we hurry, we could be there in a couple hours."

Heath snatched back the map. "Well, what are you waiting for!? Go, go! Pedal to the metal, man!"

William felt his mate's excitement, anxiety and anticipation. "Yes, sir!" He gave him a cocky smile before he put the car in gear and peeled back out on to the road. "Keep trying to mind-link her," he advised as he expertly guided the car around pot holes and sharp curves.

Heath's leg bounced nervously, and his hands balled into fists as he closed his eyes to sharpen his concentration. His forehead wrinkled up and little beads of sweat popped out along his upper lip. He seemed to be holding his breath as he strained with all of his mind to connect to his sister. They had a stronger bond than most siblings, probably as a result of having been rogue together for so many years.

Heath gasped and reached across the console, grabbing William's shirt sleeve. "I... I think I've got her!" "Really? What she's saying?"

Heath's face screwed up in confusion. "That's just it... she's not saying anything... it's so confusing. It's just... images and feelings and emotions and..." he ground his teeth in frustration. "I don't understand, something is wrong!" William covered Heath's hand with his own. "Deep breaths, Heath. Everything is going to be fine. Let's just get there, okay? Before they accidently wander onto pack lands."