Hidden high above the ground, a surveillance drone went by unnoticed, too small to be seen with the naked eye. It hovered in place, a silent spectator of the hive of activity in the otherwise quiet part of the city. Humans with guns roamed about like ants, scurrying in all directions yet still organised, resembling controlled chaos.

"The building is secure sir," one of the men reported through the tactical headset Robert wore while leaning against the side of his car, arms crossed in a seemingly relaxed pose, even as his eyes continuously roamed the building's surroundings in search of a possible ambush.

Straightening away from the vehicle, he moved directly to the entrance of the bookstore, "Noted. I'm heading in." Around him, the clean up crew were busy covering up any damages incurred to the surroundings, while the last of the unconscious supernaturals were secured and loaded into the back of a truck.

As he stepped into the basement, Robert scanned the area, taking in the rows of cabinetry filled with unopened earthen jars. One of the jars lay on the floor nearby, shattered into several large pieces with its contents scattered in a large diameter around the point of impact with the ground. With utmost care, Robert picked them up.

"Stones," he muttered out loud, unable to conceal the confusion in his voice as he stared at the plain, uninspiring pieces in the palm of his gloved hand.

Right then, one of the men approached for an update, "Sir, we've scanned the entire area including the tunnels, but there's no sign of the supernaturals reported entering the building."

The look on Robert's face made a shiver run down his subordinate's spine. Robert's face muscles tensed angrily as he set his jaw, "Search again. There's no way they could have disappeared into thin ai–"

Robert suddenly paused mid sentence, earning a look of concern from the other man. Robert blinked his eyes owlishly slow, their green depths marked with uncertainty as he said, "Then again, you can never say what's impossible and what's not with these creatures."

***

The surveillance drone continued its silent work up in the air even as its owner began to grow ever more agitated. "Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY?!" Orsan screamed while hurling a decorative vase at his right hand man, forcing the sinewy vampire to frantically dodge it.

The Duke of Havar screeched in anger before turning back to the live feed on screen. The humans had entered the book store but exited without captives. It could only mean one thing.

"He's got his powers back," Orsan growled, realising he had made the mistake of pushing the fragile human that Mathias now was into a corner and forcing the prince to do the only thing he could under such desperate circumstances; risk becoming a vampire again. Orsan knew his carefully orchestrated plans were on the verge of catastrophic failure if he didn't act soon.

Mind furiously thinking of what to do, he finally settled on one of the more outrageous plans he had kept away for a rainy day. Right now was the perfect time to pull it off and, the duke deliberated, perhaps a little anarchy was needed to get things back in order.

He swept a hand, still trembling in anger, through his messed up strands of silver ash in a vain attempt to adjust his hairdo back in place. "Set Operation Black Smoke in motion."

The sinewy second in command bowed low and scurried away, too afraid to say a word. Orsan shattered a few more priceless decorative pieces against the wall to release some steam and then returned to staring at the live feed.

While Robert pondered the meaning of some rather plain stones and the Duke of Havar continued to sulk away in his hidden hideout, the acting clan head of the White Oak Clan wasn't having it any better. Cedric Livingstone's expression was contorted into a look resembling someone who had smelled something bad but couldn't get away. Standing reluctantly before Cedric, his nervous secretary struggled to keep his knees from trembling.

"Are you sure this was the only thing they took?"

"It's the only file that was downloaded, sir."

Cedric waved his secretary away "Leave."

Moments after the scared wolf left, there was a knock on the door. "You wanted to see me, sir?" Tyler entered the office, unsure why his uncle had abruptly summoned him. Cedric initially intended for Tyler to track down the two missing wolves. Now though, knowing what was taken, the older wolf's unfounded mistrust was beginning to raise its ugly head against his own blood relative.

Not bothering with civilities, he forcefully demanded, "Where are Andy Silvestri and Brandon Santiago?"

More than a little taken aback, the young wolf's eyes widened as he replied, "I don't know, sir."

Cedric didn't believe a word he said, instead insisting, "What have you done with the stolen data?"

Tyler's expression went from shock to alarm, "Sir, I swear, I had nothing to do with the incident in Vegas!"

It was obvious to the younger wolf that his uncle did not believe him, not even a little. Cedric went to stand dangerously close to Tyler, his body language threatening, as he stared menacingly into Tyler's still wide eyes, "I will inform your mother that you are not to be trusted and that you be excluded from all matters pertaining to the clan. She will agree with me, of course. Pack your things. I want you out of my city."

At Cedric's words, Tyler's expression abruptly changed from alarm to anger. "This city doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the White Oak Clan."

In response, the sneer that spread over the acting clan head's face sent a chill down the younger wolf's spine. "Let me clear something up for you, boy," Cedric's deep voice dripped with malice, "I am the clan, and what I say is law."

Every single profanity Tyler knew, which was honestly hardly any, almost made its way out of his mouth but somehow he managed to keep the words from bubbling out of him. Instead, he grit his teeth and lowered his eyes to the ground, knowing no good would come out of a head-on fight with Cedric, who in reality was the most powerful werewolf this side of the world.

Seeing Tyler's acquiescence, his uncle smiled humorlessly at him, satisfied that the young wolf was smart enough to know his place. Voice as cold as ice, he said, "You have two hours. Now get out of my city."

With no other choice left, Tyler turned around and left. He took the elevator down to the basement parking and got into the driver's seat of a black sedan before heading back towards the location of the private jet he had just spent hours travelling in. His mind was a mess as he tried to figure out what to do and where to go, knowing that what Cedric said about his mother was true. Emerie would never choose to believe him over Cedric. She had never believed him over anyone else before, and she was not going to start now.

Sighing, he ran a hand over his head out of habit, before shifting gear into reverse and exiting the parking lot. A sudden vibration had him struggling to pull his phone out of the side pocket it was stuck in before he answered, not even checking the caller ID to see who was calling.

"Tyler! Where the hell have you been, man?! I've been trying to call you for hours," Andy's voice, brimming with complaint, burst through the loudspeaker as Tyler placed the phone on the car's handsfree holder. Tyler couldn't help but quirk a smile at the thought that the object of his uncle's wrath had finally made contact mere minutes after he'd told his uncle he had no clue of Andy's whereabouts.

'Well, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know where they were,' he internalised a little gleefully, 'but if he'd asked if they would be in contact with me, well...'

Returning to his conversation with Andy, he explained, "My phone was turned off while I was in flight and I only switched it back half an hour ago. Cedric summoned me over. I have no idea what it is you've done, but your actions have somehow gotten me cut off from all things clan related. Cedric literally threw me out of the city."

"Aww crap." Andy sounded genuinely guilty as he said, " I didn't think they'd take it out on you."

Tyler couldn't hide the resignation in his voice when he answered, "It's fine. Pretty much the story of my life right now. You should know the Chieftain's running theme by now. Blame Tyler, even if he wasn't there."

Awkward silence filled the air followed by soft rustling sounds before another voice was on the line. "Tyler, it's Aidan. Is this line safe?"

Tyler absently nodded before realising no one could see him. "Yeah, no one knows about this number except for the four wolves with you."

"Good. I want you to come to me."

"Okay." Tyler didn't ask anything else other than,"Where are you?"

Instead of answering, Aidan instructed, "I need you to go somewhere out of sight. No people, no cameras. You need to be completely out of sight. Can you do that?"

Aidan's odd request had him intrigued but Tyler didn't bother with unnecessary questions, only saying, "Yeah."

"Call me when you get there."

Tyler switched directions, heading to a townhouse he'd bought a couple of years back. The place was as he left it with no indication anyone had entered the place recently but Tyler still did a thorough check of the place for hidden spyware before finally shutting himself in the master bedroom walk-in closet.

He hit redial to connect back to the unknown number. "I'm in place." Without warning, a portal sparing forth from the door he had just shut. "Come on in," Aidan's cheery voice flowed through the speaker. Instead, Tyler just stood in place, transfixed by the glowing portal.

"Tyler? I need you to walk through the portal."

Slowly waking up from a daze, Tyler gave the portal a determined look before hunching low and running at full speed into the blue glow. The moment his body touched it, Tyler squeezed his eyes tightly shut, a wince of fear plastered on. Moments later he hit a semi solid object before crashing to the ground in an undignified heap. A loud moan escaped from below, causing the tall wolf to blink his eyes open in surprise before staring down.

"I finally know what that door felt back in the Unified Research Centre," Aidan said with a moan, referring to the door that Tyler and some wolves had broken down by force to escape Robert's supernatural research facility cum prison. He lay sprawled on top of a bean bag, with Tyler's heavy body pinning him down. Horrified, the tall wolf quickly got up before helping poor Aidan to his feet.

Not far away, the remaining wolves were doubled over with laughter. Streaks of tears actually ran down Charlie's cheeks as he struggled to stay upright by holding onto the shoulder of a pale man Tyler had never seen before.

"Alright, cut it out, you lot," Hailey said from her spot on another bean bag, but even she had a huge grin in place.

"Glad to know I've put a smile on all your faces," Tyler said, unable to stop the corner of his own lips from rising.