Stealing the Alpha’s Heart

I slowly drank one of the sports drinks that Emma tended to keep in her fridge, waiting for people to arrive. Our dinner had actually turned out to be quite nice, with both our bellies filled with delicious food. I felt a bit less like the world was ending.

I still wasn’t happy about Emma’s plan, but I also recognized that at the moment, it was the best one we had.

Emmaline, for her part, was pacing around her kitchen island, chewing on her l!p as she waited for people to arrive. I wanted to stop her, to pull her bottom l!p out from between her teeth with my thumb and k!ss her until she forgot why she was worried.

But we weren’t there yet, and we might never be.

Unsurprisingly, it was Mahlan and Lyssa who arrived first, the women greeting each other with hugs and enthusiasm. As for our alpha, he sat next to me with raised eyebrows. I just shrugged. I wasn’t in charge of the meeting, Emma was.

Everyone else arrived in the next few minutes, and once we were all assembled around the kitchen island, including Savannah, Emma cleared her throat.

“I ordered pizza. It should be coming in an hour or so, so none of you should have to worry about starving.”

It was said in jest, but late-night wolf munchies were not unheard of. My mother always told me it was our body’s way of getting us to stuff it with more calories before sleeping, as going eight straight hours without eating could be hard on our bodies even when unconscious.

“But I called this meeting because what we’re doing isn’t working.”

Wait, was she abandoning her trap plan? That was the easiest argument I’d ever won.

“Emma,” Mahlan said reproachfully, “do I need to remind you that I am the alpha here, and I’m trying to keep you and my pack safe?”

“Oh, come off it,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.

The only reason she got away with that was because she was Mahlan’s sibling, but boy did it make my stomach roll with anxiety. I would never talk to him that way.

“Look, my house being a trap is a good way to draw them out, but we’re playing defense when it’s clear we need to play offense.”

“It’s difficult to play offense when we don’t even know who the enemy is,” I remarked, still sipping at my drink.

“We need to put together a full list and map of everyone who’s been taken. I’m talking entire files on their history, where they were taken, their gender, abilities, what kind of shifter they were, and who they were with. We’ll compare all of these and see if there are any patterns we can find.”

“That could work,” Parker murmured, pulling up his phone. “I started doing that with everything I happened to pick up about them. I’ve already got all their names and addresses, but I can contact their alphas and get much more detail.” He looked at Mahlan sheepishly. “If you think that’s a good idea, of course.”

Mahlan nodded. “It would give us a better direction to go in while Samson works. And maybe him seeing the completed map will help him do some sort of spell.”

“Alright, then it’s decided,” I said with a nod. “Everyone forward me the information you have and I’ll add it to my own, then compile it into a few databases to look for any connections.”

I wasn’t hopeful that we would find any. Every time a new shifter went missing, I always found all the information on them I could and filed it in my office, trying to find some sort of clue that would bust the case wide open. But it wasn’t like I had an exhaustive picture of their lives, so maybe there was something we could find in the mist.

“You know, the council would likely have all the information we need about the early records of the missing shifters,” Jacobian offered, his umber skin almost seeming to glow in the warm light of Emma’s kitchen.

“I’d like to involve them as little as possible for now,” Mahlan answered.

“But what if the council finds out about everything that’s going on around here and is upset we never mentioned it to them?” Emma countered, always thinking on her feet.

“The council can’t punish us for protecting our pack or researching a threat. If anything, they’ll be grateful to us for not involving them and adding more to their daily to-do list.”

Parker snorted. “More like daily snooze list. Those guys do like one thing a month, then spend the rest vacationing.”

“Perhaps it would be best not to speak ill of the council,” Savannah chided softly. “You never know who may be listening.”

Mahlan cleared his throat. “Point blank, we need to find these brothers, but I’m beginning to think that they’re not tied to Bronson’s company.”

“Not legally, at least,” I muttered.

But Emma just nodded, full of all that determination that seemed to run so fiercely through Reese b***d. “Then we have our plan. The trap is set here at my place, but at the same time, we research our butts off to try to catch our enemies unaware. We focus on the missing shifters and trying to find these brothers.”

“That does sound like the long and short of it,” Mahlan agreed.

I took a deep breath, strangely relieved. For some reason, I thought the meeting was going to involve a lot more yelling and throwing things. Perhaps I needed to have a little more faith.

But faith or no, the discussion ended just in time, because Emma’s phone went off. Taking a cursory glance at it, her face lit up in a wide grin.

“Looks like the pizza’s here!”

---

As soon asI finished my morning run, I started using my second day out of the office to reach out to every alpha and beta who had a member of their pack kidnapped. Some of them were quite grouchy at having to take the time to answer every question of the about hundred and ten that I had, but there seemed to be an undercurrent of camaraderie as well, even if it was reluctant.

Sure, Mahlan had become the head alpha of our area in a very bizarre and unpredictable way, and that had rubbed a lot of the other packs the wrong way. But they were just as eager as we were to see whoever was hunting us be caught and brought to justice.

And by brought to justice, I mostly meant be ripped to shreds until the birds couldn’t so much as find a decent morsel.

But even after I managed to contact every single one of the other pack leaders, and have them agree to either email or mail me the missing shifters’ personal records, I couldn’t identify any sort of pattern. It seemed so random, with their only connection being that they were all shifters.

I hoped that Emma was right, and there was something that was missing that would be unturned by mapping everything out. But that also seemed far too convenient.

Ugh.

I was chasing myself in circles, so I picked up my phone to distract myself. Where were the days when our battles were actual battles? Teeth and claw and bloodied fur, not corporate espionage and detective work. Those had certainly been simpler fights.

Curious, I flicked to Sam’s contact and sent him a text asking if he’d uncovered anything on his end.

Whoa, is this the great wyte wolf texting me?

Don’t call me that.That was a nickname I didn’t mind among my own people, but I wasn’t a fan of a witch using it. Especially when I could practically hear the snark in his voice as he said it.

Ooookay, what’s up? Kno ur not texting me for fun. Not like we’re bffs or anything.

Can I call you?

Yiketh. It’s that serious? D:

It’s just a lot to type out. And I’m still thinking out some peripherals.

God, you even text like a stiff. Yeah, hold on, lemme get out of this internet cafe.

I waited about five minutes but sure enough, my phone started buzzing. I answered it, only to hear Sam panting slightly.

“You better not be calling me while you’re having s3x,” I snapped.

“First of all, ew,” the witch snapped. “Second of all, I just told you I was in an internet cafe.”

“None of that explains why you’re out of breath.”

“I scaled the fire escape to get on the roof, duh,” he said, like that was the natural thing to presume. “But good to know that the first thing you think about is me doin’ the do. Take me to dinner first, jeez.”

I took two calming breaths. Sure, it was my fault for bringing it up, but he was like a little brother I never had nor wanted. “Sam, please realize that in the past three weeks I have been fully mated to the love of my life but we have been sleeping in separate beds the entire time.” I wasn’t a man to k!ss and tell—I found that disgustingly pathetic—but I figured that was a respectful way to put it.

“Oh f**k—or rather, no f**k. Sorry, man. Tell ya what, next paycheck I get, I’ll buy you the nicest pocket pu—”

“Sam.”

“What? It’ll be from that bad dragon site! They’ve got wolf molds and dragons, too. It’ll be just like doing the real—”

“Samson Fischer, do not finish that sentence.”

“Alright, alright. Talk about being pent up.”

“Anyway,” I continued tersely through gritted teeth, “I think perhaps we should give you another false identity.”

“Really? Why?”

“To sign you on as Hannah’s assistant. Addison works well as our ghost since no one pays attention to disabled people. Hannah is our known honeypot. They know she works for us and she draws plenty of attention to help Addison work behind the scenes. But I’m thinking we need someone else to balance it out.”

“Ah, so you want me for my devilish charm and dashing good looks?”

“Somewhat.”

“Huh. Is it bad that I was expecting an insult there?”

I just ignored him and kept on. “While Hannah works as a distraction for hetero men and any gay women they have there, you would help entice any gay men and straight women.”

“And we both got the lock on the bis3xuals.”

“Sure,” I said, waving my hand. “Whatever. But while you’re working as a honeypot, you could also work whatever magic you have to give us a leg up.”

“You remember I’m a green witch, right? It’s not like I can enchant all their computer screens into scrying bo…actually, that’s kind of a good idea.”

“I don’t care what you do, we need more access and we need to find out more.”

“Sure, I’ll just tell all their plants to give me all the latest deets.”

My eyes widened. “You can do that?”

“No! I mean, kinda, but they don’t speak our language. They more tell me their impression of things. Their person is stressed, or seemed dehydrated. Not exactly the high-level espionage you’re asking for. Unless, like, you want to know when the female plant carers are on their periods. Plants are always mystified by that.”

“That’s more than I need to know.”

“Oh please, wyt—Theo, the menstrual cycle is a normal part of—”

“I don’t have a problem with uteruses or reproductive functions,” I snapped. “But my mate’s life is on the line so can we please stay on track?!”

I swore I heard Sam swallow and his tone turned serious. “Sorry. Humor’s how I’ve dealt with a lot in my life. I forget that not everyone has the same response.”

Well, that sounded like a genuine apology. “I can appreciate that you haven’t had the easiest time. But please, Sam, I need your help. We all do.”

“I know, you don’t gotta tell me twice. I lost Lyssa years ago and I’m not about to let some assholes hurt her right when I found her again.”

“Even if those assholes are your own kind?”

He snorted. “What have witches ever done for me?” He must have sensed my shock at his statement because he kept going. “Look, I’m chill with the covens in this city who just kinda want to do their own thing and live their lives. But I’m not a part of any of them. When my entire clan was wiped out in an inter-coven war, none of them helped me. I was alone, just coming into my magic, and completely lost.”

His tone turned even more bitter and I had a feeling that I was hearing something a lot of people didn’t get to. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a black, cursed orphan in America right now? I don’t know why I survived what killed the rest of my coven, and it took me two years to break it before I could move on.

“So yeah, I don’t care if these assholes are witches, I care that they’re assholes. And everyone’s life would be a lot better if there were less people like them and more people like Lyssa in the world.”

I couldn’t agree more. “Thank you, for explaining that. For what it’s worth, I’m glad that you’re on our side.”

“Not your side, Lyssa’s side,” he corrected. “And, for what it’s worth, I do think I have a functional enough moral compass to always be on the opposite side of people who are kidnapping and murdering innocent folks.”

“Good to know.” This was quite the heady conversation, so I took a deep breath to reset everything. “I’ll go talk to Mahlan about getting you another identity. Keep your eyes on your email.”

“Ew, time to be gainfully employed again.”

“Looks like it.”

I hung up, feeling quite a bit better about Sam, and headed toward Mahlan’s office. He was actually there for once, his honeymoon period with his mate seeming to slowly wane.

“Hey, I talked to Sam.”

“I heard,” Mahlan said with a nod. “And it got me to thinking as well.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I think we should follow Lyssa’s line back through several generations, visit her old pack, the places her parents lived, and visit the comatose brother.”

“Wait, we know where he is?”

“We always have. He’s been in an assisted living facility for over a decade. They tend to him multiple times a day and he hasn’t moved a muscle.”

“What’s the point in going then?” But something about that didn’t make any sense. How could the brothers be a part of the grand scheme of missing shifters if one half of them was essentially brain-dead?

“Sam, actually. I think his magic might be of particular use for interacting with a comatose human.”

I let out a sigh. “You know he’s gonna love this plan, considering I just got off the phone with him,” I said, pouring all the sarcasm I could into the world.

“Oh, I am aware. And that’s why I’ll leave that to you.”

I withheld a g***n. “You’re lucky I think you’re a brilliant alpha.”

“Yes, very lucky indeed.”