Hi All
I'd like to apologise for taking so long to write this chapter, I had a bit of writers block with the character.
I want to thank you all for being so patient with me, and for all the reviews (double digits, Yay!) and to those of you that favourite-ed me again Thank you.
I want to quickly mention my beta teamtwihard for nagging encouraging me to finish this Chapter – thanks girlie, couldn't have done it without you.
Anyway enough of this, here is what you've been waiting for...
Chapter 2
KARL
Sometimes I regretted joining the pack. This was one of those times.
I was over reacting, I knew it. Jeremy was a good Alpha, any idiot could see that, but after years of doing things my own way I was finding it difficult taking orders from someone else.
I just didn't see the point in us being here. We'd come to this backwater town to tell the rest of the Council about the man eater. Yes I could see the importance of giving them a heads up, but it I didn't think it took seven of us to deliver the message (nine if you included the pups).
Of course Jeremy disagreed. It was pack matter therefore the whole pack should be there. And of course Clay agreed.
I was annoyed about not being able to do things my own way and I knew if I hadn't gotten out of there I would have done something I regretted. Something that Clay would have been happy to make sure I regretted.
So here I was trying to walk off my irritation and thinking that I'd rather be hunting Big Foot with Hope instead of going to this ridiculous meeting.
Clay would agree with Jeremy no matter the subject. Hell I bet if Jeremy ordered him to jump off a cliff he'd do it. I smiled at the image that thought presented.
I froze in my tracks. Deep breath. Werewolf.
No surely not.
I bent down to the street and retied my shoelace and took another deep breath. There was no denying it. Definitely werewolf. Young. Very young. I'd guess he was barely past his first Change.
What was a mutt that young doing so close to the New York boarder? Who was his father? Surely he wouldn't be travelling alone.
I stood up and walked slowly around the area trying to pick up another mutts scent.
Nothing.
No, not nothing. There was another scent, but not a mutt. Human. I followed the trail and the scents combined. The pup was with the human. I followed the scents and found myself standing outside a small grocery store.
If he was with a human did that mean he was alone?
That thought gave me pause. A lone mutt. Near the New York boarder, where there had been a man-eater kill only two weeks ago. Coincidence? Not likely.
With new purpose I continued to follow the scent to the store's door. Here the scent became fresher. Hot on his heels, I tracked the scent across the street and around various bands, until I turned the corner of a warehouse and spotting two figures, quickly backpedalled.
I looked around the corner at the mutt and his human. He looked vaguely familiar, though I was sure I hadn't seen him before. Had tanned skin, dark hair and looked to be in his twenties but I knew that was a lie from his scent. The human however was another matter. A girl who looked a lot younger than mutt was. She could barely be in her teens, with her pale skin, and her pitch black hair she looked ill. What could this mutt possibly be doing with her? Whatever it was it couldn't be good.
They ran to a door, the girl leading, and stopped at the warehouse door. The girl tugged on the door but it didn't open. I guess it was locked, not that that would stop the mutt. He stepped up to the door as the girl stood against the wall behind him. He pulled on the door, and when it didn't open took a step back and looked at it, as if willing it to open.
He stepped back to the door again and spread his feet. Roaring, he pulled the door from its hinges and threw it behind him.
I watched as it hit the wall narrowly missing the girl. She showed no reaction, as the mutt turned to face her. He stared at her, nodded, then she walked into the building with him at her heels.
Judging by her reaction, or lack of one, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. She acted as though throwing a door around was normal, but she had to know it wasn't, he wasn't.
But if that was true then he'd revealed himself to a human. If he'd revealed werewolves to a human then he'd broken Pack Law. Even if he wasn't the man-eater he, he was as good as dead anyway.
I pulled back from the corner and looked along the wall for another entrance to the building. There weren't any door, but near a dumpster there was a window about 10ft up. It was boarded over, therefore there was no glass. Easy.
I pushed the dumpster across to under the window, climbed on top and jumped. I grabbed the window ledge and pulled myself up. I pushed against the boards and the fell away, to land on the trash covered floor.
I climbed through the window and walked quietly from the room to the hallway. The hallway lead to an open balcony that observed a large room, obviously the original main floor. I assumed they wouldn't be heading for the main floor but as I passed the balcony, I heard someone.
"Rats."
I sniffed the air and sure enough smelt the rats that infested the warehouse. So the mutt could use his nose. That could prove both useful and problematic.
The human entered the room through the doorway and stopped in her tracks, eyes wide. The room was large but I couldn't see anything that would impress her.
Unless she saw me.
At that thought I realised just how obvious I'd made myself, and ducked back into the room.
"What are you doing here?" the human said. For a moment I thought she was speaking to me but she continued "No, not after the way we left things."
Now I was confused. Who was she talking to? I couldn't hear anyone respond, only her. Then it occurred to me, she must be speaking to someone on a cell phone. If I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation then obviously the other person wasn't there. There was no other way that I wouldn't be able to hear them if they were there, not with my enhanced hearing.
"If he hadn't you would have killed him," the human said.
Who would have killed who? Who was in danger? Obviously a male she cared about. Was that why she was with the mutt? Did he tell her he'd help her? I couldn't think of why else a mutt would be with a human child, but if that was what happened, I doubted it was coincidental that mutt was 'helping' her.
I listened to the rest of the girl's conversation hoping to learn more details.
"What are you doing here, really?"
"Why?"
"Things are lively enough thanks."
She hesitated before stammering "W...what's that supposed to mean?"
She was silent for a moment before saying "He's g..gone."
"What did he want?" The mutt, obviously the phone call was finished.
"H..he said that he d..d..didn't want us getting bored so h...he was going to liven things up."
"When?"
"S..soon."
"Come here. You need to calm down, you're stuttering again. You need to remember, he's gone. The worst he can do now is talk to you. He can't hurt you Chloe."
Chloe. Now I had her name. But what was his?
I heard someone take a deep breath then the human, Chloe said "You're right. There's no reason to panic. He can't do anything."
"I wouldn't say that. He can still do some damage."
"H..How?"
"I don't know but I think if he wants something done he'll find a way to get it done."
"That's not very reassuring."
"Sorry but I'm not going to lie."
"I know."
"Look, there's no point worrying about this now. We'll figure out what he's up to soon. Right now let's go back to the store and see about the groceries."
"Yeah, ok. Tori will kill us if we don't get her some shampoo. You know what she's like."
"Yeah, I do. I don't really care about her and her hair, but I still don't want her yelling at me. And I really don't want her yelling at you."
"She's not that bad."
"Yes she is, you're just too nice."
"Whatever Derek. Come on let's go."
I heard their footsteps retreat from the room.
I'd learnt quite a bit.
Someone was threatening the human, Chloe and someone she cared for.
The mutt, Derek, I'd never heard of, but he was obviously involved somehow, I didn't believe in coincidences. He also seemed to care for the girl.
They weren't alone, but the mutt didn't like this Tori girl, whereas Chloe did.
With this new information a plan began to form in my head. First I had to follow them.
I crawled back through the window and jumped over the dumpster to land in a crouch on the ally floor. I looked round the corner again and saw the pair exit the building.
As they walked away, a smile crept over my lips.
I was going hunting.
