Chapter 1: Plans
Hunter Clarington sniffed the air, trying to detect any unknown scents before he revealed his intended target. Glancing around and not noticing anyone on the street, he retreated part-way down the alley before descending a pair of stairs and knocking quietly on the metal door at the bottom. It opened a crack, and a pair of eyes studied him silently before slamming the door shut, the sound echoing down the deserted alley.
Grunting to himself, Hunter waited impatiently as he heard the several locks and chains being removed before the door was opened completely, and he was beckoned into the dark hall beyond. He nodded silently to his scout, moving further down the hall as the wolf closed and chained the door behind him. The other wolf passed him, before leading him further into the abandoned building.
As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Hunter tried to suppress the shudder of disgust at the putrid air that surrounded them, burning his sensitive nose. They had been reduced to this, he thought bitterly, hiding in the shadows and foraging at night to survive. He felt a longing to simpler days when the Pack would run carefree and happy, now those that remained had taken to living in squalor, trying to survive while staying under the radar.
He knew that they could have sought out another Pack and petitioned for adoption; most of those who had survived the attack were pups. Of the Alphas, only himself, his Second Santana Lopez and Ethan Johnson, their scout, had survived, having been sent on a mission, days prior to the attack. They had returned to the pups picking through the ruins of their Estate, having been discarded by the attacking Pack.
As they had traveled the border between their own Pack's territory and that of the Lima Pack, they had encountered Sam Evans. He had been changed by his girlfriend but she changed her mind a month later, and set her sights on a different human to woo. With the chaos of their Primary-Alpha being killed, Sam had been all but abandoned to fend for himself. Taking pity on the Changed-Beta, they had adopted him into their make-shift Pack. Now, he spent his time flittering around the group, trying to be as useful as possible, afraid that he would be abandoned again because he wasn't a Born-wolf like the rest of them. He was also the only Beta among them over the age of six, and the instincts he had inherited with his change had kicked in, his attention on keeping the pups alive and well.
"You're back," Santana greeted him as she spotted him from where she was standing over a dilapidated card table they had scavenged from the garbage heap behind an apartment building two blocks away.
Upon hearing her greeting, he was surrounded by the pups, each demanding a bit of his attention. He gladly gave it, noting with dismay that several of them look thinner and sicker than when he had left two days before. Extracting himself from the rabble that Sam attempted to control, he made his way over to his Second. "Before we go through with this," he murmured to Santana, leaning with his back against the table and regarding the room. Sam had enlisted Ethan's help to calm the pups down enough to sit still for a story. "I've decided that we need to leave the pups with a different Pack."
She turned her head and regarded him sharply. "You're thinking the Chicago Pack, aren't you?" she accused. "What is this? Some way to compensate them for what we're about to do?"
Hunter glared at her. "No," he answered firmly. "I will not regret the actions we are going to take to reap revenge for our Pack, but –" He turned, his gaze taking in the four pups that they had saved who were all crowded around Sam, happily listening to him recount the story with voices. "They won't survive without the resources the Chicago Pack can provide. They're the future, Santana, whether we survive and procreate or not; these pups are all that's left of our entire Pack and our job is to ensure that the blood lines that remain live to see further generations."
Her eyes softened. "April wasn't there, Hunt, which means it's very possible she survived the attack. She and Cordy had taken Britney out the field from what the pups have said. She's out there just waiting for us to find her."
"I know that," he snapped back, having been reassured multiple times not only from his Pack-mates but also through the Bond he shared with her; it hummed with happiness and contentment regularly, even though he had not found the three Betas while he searched. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to her."
She hummed her understanding. Although the anxiety she felt for her intended-mate was not the same as what Hunter was feeling for his twin sister, she could sympathize. She and Britney had been scheduled to create their Mate-Bond on the next Mating-Moon, a week and a half after the attack which left their Pack in shambles.
"Have you scouted them?" Santana asked, drawing the attention back to matter at hand.
He nodded in confirmation. "That's where I was," he admitted. "From what I gathered, Blaine is due back from his Pack at the end of the week. I want to make sure they're established with the Pack before we snatch the Beta. I don't want any suspicion to fall on the pups and we need to take Blaine before the Mate-Bond is complete, otherwise Sebastian will be able to track him with little to no effort."
Biting her lip, she glanced over their plans once more. "And you think Sebastian Smythe will be willing to help us in exchange for his Mate?"
"Of course," Hunter replied. "He killed David Karofsky to save Blaine. I'm surprised he even considered Blaine as a Mate, though. An Alpha-Leader's mate needs to be strong and from my brief observations, Blaine is anything but."
"Makes our lives easier," Santana shrugged. "He'll come without a fight and we'll be able to convince Smythe that if he wants to see Blaine alive again, he'll do as we ask."
"Exactly," Hunter agreed, turning to go over their plans again.
