The Forbidden Alpha

Adea

Beta rushed through the doors and we both jumped up. A flood of relief swept through my body as I realized we weren’t alone in this anymore.

“Luna, tell me what’s going on,” he asked. Despite his usual professional attire, I knew he was worried, frantic even.

“It’s Olivia, she’s missing,” I tell him.

“What do you mean?” Odis asks.

“Olivia never came home last night,” Gabe tells him.

“I’m guessing that Ethan couldn’t reach her because she wasn’t anywhere near the pack territory. I think she’s too far to link,” I tell him. “We’ve been trying to reach Ethan all morning.”

Odis roars, his eyes flickering between him and his wolf. One of his hands reaches up and pinches his temples. “How long? When was the last time you saw her?” Odis asks Gabe.

“I haven’t seen her since the afternoon,” he says.

“And you didn’t think anything was up?!” Odis growls.

“She’s always busy with work and I knew Ady’s first shift was last night so I wanted to give her time to prep. I wanted to give Ady space for her first shift,” he says, sounding wounded.

“It’s not his fault, Beta. I saw her last night during the full moon. She left to give us some privacy,” I tell him.

“And where was this? We need to investigate and see if we can smell any intruders or find a clue of what took place,” Odis says.

“I’ll show you the way,” I tell him. I shoot Gabe an apologetic look and lead the way to the forest.

Everyone in the pack house had fallen silent and as we headed out Beta gave them a look screamed don’t follow. When we got to the clearing where Ethan, Olivia, and I stood, Gabe and Odis scanned the area. They were careful not to disturb the scene.

“I’ve identified where the three of you stood and I’ve found the tracks that led away from the two of you. I suspect these tracks belong to Olivia,” Beta said.

Gabe and I followed in his footsteps, careful not to get in the way or distract him. When he froze, Gabe and I shared worried glances.

“Whoever took her, was with you guys the whole time. I suspect they knew you were coming out here but there’s no proof to back up my theory,” Odis sped through the forest. We ran hard to keep up.

“They took her here,” Odis said as he squat down.

Gabe growls and steps forward. Scanning the area Odis is looking at, “She didn’t put up a fight,” he said quietly.

“She went willingly?” I asked, curious. I don’t think Olivia would leave willingly.

Odis shook his head.

“No,” Gabe choked. “She didn’t want us to find a struggle.”

“There were at least 2 people but I suspect there was a third,” Odis says.

“Do you think they would actually kill her?” I ask quietly, afraid of the answer.

Beta pushed his tongue into his cheek, opened his mouth then closed it again. I could taste his frustration in the air, but he didn’t answer.

I exchanged a look with Gabe. There was something I was beginning to suspect about Odis and Olivia, but I didn’t have the balls to ask it outright.

We followed her tracks and her kidnapper’s tracks until they disappeared into thin air. “Oh, no,” I whispered.

“What can we do?” Gabe asked, his eyes wide with horror.

Odis frowned for a moment before he knew what to say.

“All we can do is wait, wait until whoever took her reaches out to us. I pray to Goddess that they want something from us,” he says in a low voice.

“Wait?! What the hell are we going to do about it?” Gabe demanded, getting into Odis’ face like he was ready to fight.

“I…” I looked between the two of them and slowly shook my head. “I don’t have… a fucking clue. What we do know is that we may have hope. We should wait,” I walked over to Gabe and grabbed his arm. “We should wait, to hear from Ethan and maybe by then they would have reached out to us.”

“You don’t understand,” Gabe whimpers.

“What don’t we understand?” Odis asked.

Gabe looked at me with a weird kind of desperation in his gaze. “I-” he chokes and falls to his knees.

“Tell us,” Odis demands. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I look back and forth between Odis and Gabe, I’m confused by what Gabe is trying to say and I don’t understand what Odis is asking about.

“Tell us what you’ve felt and when it started,” Odis orders.

“My mate, my poor mate,” Gabe whimpers. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Ady, I’ve never… I can’t stop feeling this coldness, this chill in my body.”

“You need to try and focus on the feeling. I need you to snap out of it! You are her mate. If anyone can find clues of where she is, it’s you,” Odis pleads. I wonder what Odis’ relationship with Olivia was before Gabe and I got here.

“Tap into the bond, pull the string that connects you two to each other,” Odis pleads. “She needs you to be strong, you’re Gamma until we get her back,” Odis says.

My heart breaks for Gabe, I’d be a wreck if anything happened to Ethan. I fight the tears that threaten to spill. Now is not the time for this.

Gabe and I follow Odis as he heads out of the forest. When we get back to the packhouse we can’t do anything but wait for Ethan. Time is ticking and we’re running out of it. We don’t know who kidnapped Olivia, we don’t know where they took her or what they’re doing to her.

We sit in the lobby and wait. The anxiety and stress are coming off of Gabe in waves, I reach over and grab his hand.

“I’m here with you,” I tell him, hoping to sound reassuring. “We will find her,” I promise him.. It’s a promise I hope I can keep.