The Lost Female Alpha

When I woke up it was still dark and there was a slight chill in the air. At some point during the night I must have kicked the covers off my body because my body was now naked and exposed. I turned over seaking for the warmth of Elijah's body but he wasn't beside me.

My eyes shot open and I scanned the room around me. Elijah wasn't here and his fading scent told me that he hadn't been here for hours. It wasn't even 6am yet, where could he have gone so early?

On closer inspection of the room there were a few things that seemed out of place. The covers were on the floor a few inches away from the bed and there were clothes and other personal effects laying all over the floor. The room looked as though someone had packed for a tip in a hurry and there was a note on the pillow where Elijah's head usually rested. The note was in my mother's handwriting, I unfolded it and read through it quickly. Dearest daughter,

I have so much to tell you and I wish I had more time to do it, but Arthur has your little brother. He will hurt him if I don't bring Elijah to him soon so I have to go to him now.

He will expect you to come in search of your mate but you will have a few days before he will do anything to hurt Elijah. You have the books and they should give you all the information that you need to defeat Arthur. All my love.

Underneath that there was a series of random letters and numbers. I let out a loud sigh, why did my mom keep giving me puzzles? That last one just about broke my mind, now I had another one to solve and this one came with a time limit. Ugh, I hate puzzles. She had taken the time to write me a letter couldn't at least take the time to explain the stupid code?

Part of me wanted to ignore my mom's message and go after her and Elijah right away but I had to be smart about this. Arthur had already proved that he was a formidable enemy, I didn't want to underestimate him again. Especially when he had my mate, my mom and the brother that I never knew I had.

The remaining part of me wanted to fall back to sleep in the hope that I would wake up to find out that all of this had been nothing more than a bad dream. That my life hadn't spontaneously imploded over night.

"Elijah, are you in there?" Mark called through the door to our room. I wasn't sure that the door would be looked after Elijah's departure but at least he didn't walk straight into the room. It would have been embarrassing for Mark to see me like this, particularly as I would be running the pack for a while.

"No. He has been taken by Arthur. I can find him but it is going to take me some time to come up with a plan."

I had to hope that my mom was right when she said that the books would give me all the information that we needed to defeat Arther. I was sick of getting beaten by him, he was becoming a real pain in the ass. This time I wasn't just going to be going after him with the aim of rescuing people from him, I was going to end him.

"Shit, we need to find a way to fix this. I will come to your office after breakfast." Mark replied, a moment later I heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway.

Now I was alone again it would have been easy for me to sink into a pit of depression but I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere. Insead I focused on getting ready to face the pack. Once I was washed and dressed, I folded up my mom's note and tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans. I took a deep breath to steady myself then opened the door to my room.

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On the short walk to my office it felt as though the eyes of the whole pack were on me. Omegas would look at me then whisper amongst themselves as I walked past. The pack loved to gossip but at least on this occasion I couldn't really blame them for it. Their alpha had gone missing in the middle of the night, it was big news.

Mark and Felix were already in my office when I arrived. I could see the concern in their faces even though they were trying their best to hide it from me. I was barely holding my own anxiety at bay and sensing theres was doing nothing to help that.

"Do you have any idea who took them and why?" Felix asked. He started pacing the room, his fists clenched as he walked up and down the office. "Diana, Diana."

Ryker screamed as he ran through the door and into the office. He leaned on the desk in front of me, panting as he tried to catch his breath. He looked as though he had run all the way from his parents house.

"I heard what happened. I came as soon as I could." He continued once he had caught his breath. How had the gossip travelled that far already? Were people going door to door?

"Yes, because you still think she is going to take you as a second mate." Felix rolled his eyes but Ryker didn't even try to deny his accusations. I tried to put that concern out of my mind, I already had enough to worry about. Instead I focused on telling them everything I knew about Elijah's kidnapping. Thankfully they were able to listen to what I had to say without arguing amongst themselves too much.

"So I have to look through these books. There must be something in here that will help us." I concluded. It might not be much of a plan but it was all I had right now.

"How do we know we can trust her? She took Elijah, this could just be a ploy to help them get away." Mark frowned at the books that were currently scattered all around the office.

It looked as though he didn't like the idea of us all trying to read our way through these books. I couldn't really blame him for that. These books weren't exactly easy reading, I had already spent countless hours reading through them and I had found very little that could help us. Maybe if I could work out my mom's cryptic note then it would go a little smoother.

"The reason she took Elijah is because Arthur wants me to follow. It wouldn't make much sense for them to hide from me after going through all this trouble. But just in case I am wrong I want you to think of an alternative plan." I told him. Mark nodded his head and left the office without saying another word. Felix took a long look around the room, scowling at the books around me before making some excuse and following Mark out.

"I guess it's just you and me then." Ryker observed.

He smiled broadly at me and it was making me feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe Felix was right about Ryker's motivations for being here, and maybe I should send him away so he doesn't get the wrong idea about our relationship. But I didn't want to have to do this alone.

"I think I have an idea what the codes in your mom's letter might mean." Ryker said, pulling my attention back towards him. I nodded my head and waited for him to continue.

"The letters correspond to the titles of the books and the numbers are pages."

Unfolding the note and glancing over the list of codes, I quickly realised that he was right. Even though the list was long this would still be much quicker than looking through these books aimlessly. For the first time since waking up this morning I felt as though I could breathe freely. It no longer felt as though I was facing an impossible task and I could actually see a way out of this whole mess.

Ryker pulled over a chair and a few books before sitting down beside me at my desk. He worked out the books that we needed but we read the pages together. It wasn't long before I was completely absorbed in my task. If we could carry on at this rate then it would only take us a few days to get through the list that my mom gave me. If I was lucky then I would be able to get Elijah back home in less than a week.