Revolting

Shane's POV

The Pelton Glade Pack was a very old pack. Once it had been strong, and very powerful, but it had been in a decline for several generations. It still retained its pride and its dignity though. Armed guards stood at the gates, and beyond, in a neat and tidy yard, was the main pack house. Nolan was furious when our cars were stopped at the gate. He wanted to kill the guards and plow through. I had a difficult time restraining him. "Be diplomatic, Alpha."

"If he is hiding her here, I will not be "diplomatic"," Nolan growled furiously. "I'll level the whole fucking place."

"We have a treaty with Pelton Glade, they are our friends and our allies."

"What fucking treaty? She took off the fucking wedding ring, there is no more treaty!"

I sat back, feeling a little self-satisfied. "Actually, the document only said she had to marry you. It didn't say she had to STAY married to you."

"Arghh!" Nolan ran his hands through his hair, standing it on and and making himself look even more wild and insane. "When did you become such a prick, Shane?"

Nina's father came out, flanked by his Beta. He still stood tall as he approached our party. Nolan jumped out of the car, and I followed him at a more sedate pace. I was his second, I was supposed to have his back at all times. But if he attacked Nina's father, I knew who I would be defending. "Alpha Nolan", Nina's father, Geoffery nodded in formal greeting. "What brings you here... in such numbers and unannounced?" He looked around us into the tinted windows of our vehicles. "Did you bring my daughter?" There was a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"That's why we are here," Nolan growled. "We are looking for your daughter."

Geoffery Pelton's eyebrows climbed up his brow. "You lost her?"

"She ran away." I offered.

The old mans lips twitched. I almost thought he was repressing a smile. But he cleared his throat. "That's very unfortunate. Please, come inside." He motioned to the guards, and the big iron gates were swung open so that our vehicles could enter into his pack territory. "I can assure you, she isn't here. But you are and your... men..." he cast a glance at the warriors that Nolan had dragged along with us, "are welcome to search on our grounds."

He welcomed us into the pack house. I could already tell by his behavior that his daughter wasn't here. He was hiding nothing. Her scent in the house was faint, and very old. She had not stepped foot in these rooms any time recently. Omegas scurried fearfully out of our way as we went through the house. A pretty young girl who bore a faint resemblance to Nina peeked out from the library. It was the younger sister, Hannah. She stared at us in fear and awe as we trooped through the hall. "This was her room," Pelton stopped in front of a closed door. He turned the handle and pushed it open for us to inspect it.

The room was exactly what I would have expected from Nina. Bright, cheerful. Everything was decorated in bold colors, yellows with spashes of turquiose and teal. Photos of her favorite memories were all over the walls, mostly pictures of her sisters, her mom and her dad. I stopped to study an old photo of her parents. Nina really looked like her mom. The Luna had passed a few years ago, I remembered, from an aneurysm.

"She's not here," Nolan grumbled out the obvious. "Fan out, search the whole house and the grounds," he commanded our men. I gave Alpha Pelton an apologetic look. This was not the way you treated your neighbors. And it definitely wasn't the way you treated your father in law. Nolan stormed out of the room to search other parts of the house, but I lingered behind, studying the photographs, picking up a well-worn teddy bear from the head of the bed. Nina's father stayed behind with me. "What's your name, son?"

"Shane Okhuana." I answered him, smoothing the fur of the bear before I set it down.

He sized me up, not just my physical body, but seemed to be making an assessment of my character as well. "Did he mistreat my baby?" He finally asked, point-blank.

I could not lie to the old man. If circumstances had been different, he would have been my father-in-law. I felt a deep sense of shame, shame in my alpha, and shame in my pack as I admitted. "Yes, Sir."

He grunted. "Twenty-seven days."

"Sorry?"

He looked at me solemnly, but his eyes were glittering mischievously. "It only took Nina 27 days to blow your pack."