Mason's point of view

We went to the last place the most recent girl had been abducted from. There had to be something there for us.

I had to give them some credit; they were definitely smarter than I first presumed. They knew how to hide their scents. They weren't making this easy for me and leaving a trail to their doorstep. They were hard to find, but these guys just couldn't get away with this.

When we got to the area, I instantly knew there would be nothing for us here. There was a lot of foot traffic through this area; I could catch too many scents. I was good, but I wasn't the best at it.

The alpha took his two wolves and spread out. The two he brought were learning the quickest, so they wouldn't get in my way. They were searching for something they wouldn't find.

I needed to catch the scent that I had. I needed to confirm my hunch. If I was right, I was dealing with someone who might give me some serious issues. I might have to call my brother down for backup if I was right.

I went into the brush, in search of a good vantage point to watch anyone who would come through the area. They would have sat and waited for their opportunity. These two rogues were very opportunistic. Lex thought they were getting more brazen, coming to more and more public areas to abduct their victims. I couldn't help but agree with her.

I followed my senses. If I were on a hunt and wanted to scope out my prey, I would want to be somewhere higher up, where I couldn't be spotted or scented. I looked around and saw a small hill.

I quietly made my way over. I didn't want to attract any attention. I put my nose to the ground and followed a faint trace of werewolves. It was older, but might end up being useful.

The scents collected at some dense brush, great for spying without getting caught. I laid on my belly and put myself in their shoes.

This really was the perfect place. I could see the alpha and his two wolves searching around for scents in vain.

This was a perfect vantage point. No one knew I was watching them. I could wait for the open opportunity and strike when I had the chance. This spot riled my wolf for a hunt. We needed to find these guys soon. The failure at catching them was a thorn in our paw.

I rested my head on my paws and took a long, deep breath to take in my surroundings and commit them all to memory.

What I hadn't been expecting was to pick up the scent I was looking for, and it made me furious.

I didn't have very many memories of the pack my father had been in, but I remembered some things about it. Grayson and I were introduced to a couple of my father's pack, but only the ones he really trusted. When we were changed, we met the pack twice before my father broke off from the pack, taking a few with us.

We were on the run for a long time before we settled down because my father took several of the children from the other wolves. That was how the core of our pack was created, kidnapping.

Declan was one of my father's closest friends. No one had seen or heard from him since Finn's pack tore through the pack. That pack was wiped from the world as if they had never existed before. My theory was that my father knew Finn was coming and saved who he could, but that would be a fairytale because my father was no hero.

Much like my father, Declan was losing it. Declan would know who I was, so that surprise would be gone. My father did a great job at training my brother and I to fight, Declan knew that. I didn't know who the other wolf was to Declan, but they were definitely close.

Now that I knew who I was after, changed things, he was old and smart. I couldn't just trick him into coming out into the open. Finding Declan would be harder now; he would be careful now that he knew someone was after him. This was not looking to be an easy task for me.

The only thing that I knew about Declan was that he was a heavy drinker. I doubted the years had changed anything, especially when it was very hard for werewolves to get drunk. Maybe that would be something I could use to my advantage.

I watched Dean approach and decided I needed to have a little fight before we went back to his house. I needed to let off some steam, and he was getting closer. When he was within range, I leapt and landed right on top of him, pinning him to the ground before he pushed me off and was right on me again.

Lexi's point of view

The next few days after the girl's body had been found, were uneventful. I had the files of the other two girls memorized and was coming up with theories as I watched the sun rise. 

Mason was long gone by now. He was adamant about searching every inch of the forest for a trace of their scents. They couldn't hide it. They were around here someplace; they just needed to be found. 

I could feel Mason's frustration grow as the days went on. He needed a break in this case. We all needed a break, no one wanted to face the consequences of a break in the case though. Enough girls have died because of this. 

I could hear Dean's truck that the guys had left in. I got up from the couch and went towards the sound. Mason had been gone most of the day and I missed him. The mating bond made me want to be close to him at all times, no matter how clingy and desperate that made me sound.

I was not happy with what I saw. Mason and Alpha Dean were scraped up, bleeding and bruised, and smiling.

The two smiling wolves were followed into the house by two other wolves that I didn't know. Mason paused when he came into the house and saw me, arms folded over my chest and glaring right at him. His smile faltered for a moment before I felt him reaching through our bonds. I tried to deny him access, but I couldn't, which made him smirk at me.

The three wolves paid no attention to me as they walked past Mason and up to freshen up. It was well past dinnertime.

"We were only fighting each other, it was just a little fun," he defended himself as came closer.

"That would've been a good opportunity for you to get ambushed."

Mason shook his head. "I doubt it. There was no one around, I would've known."

"That's not the point. You're all scratched up and hurt. What if that compromises you?"

Mason scooped me up and over his shoulder before I could even react. He smacked my rear hard and carried me up the stairs. "You're irresistible when you're all worried Lex. You can't get me riled up after I've had a good fight."

I scoffed and tried to escape from his shoulder as he climbed the stairs. "That's not what I was doing. You're not supposed to come back to me beat up."

He chuckled and shouldered our door open before throwing me down onto the bed.

"You're a mess."

Mason shrugged and crushed his lips onto mine.

"The door's open," I barely managed to get my lips away from his with the force he was using.

He groaned before getting up to shut the door and returning to me, all much faster than anything human. It was nice to see Mason not so wound up. It wasn't often that he got stressed out, but when he did, he was closed off. Even though he was practically attacking me with his love, I was happy to see his mood had improved.

Before getting onto the bed again, he made sure that there was no clothing left to get in his way.

---

As we lay in bed, still catching our breaths, I could tell something was bothering Mason. I laid my head on his chest, with my chin digging into it so I could look at his face. He looked down at me expectantly.

"What's bothering you?"

He sighed and stared at me for a moment, deciding if he wanted to tell me or not. When he nodded to himself, I knew the waiting game was over. "We went to the place that the most recent missing girl was last thought to be. I'm pretty sure she was taken by the rogues. I found a great hiding place and smelled someone familiar."

I jerked my head up. "Someone familiar? You know who it is and we're not getting them?"

He smiled. "I know who it is, which makes the problem bigger. He was one of my father's friends, so I know how strong he is. His name is Declan. He's an old, smart wolf."

"Does he know anything about you?"

He shrugged. "I really don't know, baby. I guess it's possible, but he knows that someone is after him. He's probably going to try to lure me into a trap."

I shook my head as I imagined Mason at the mercy of someone else. "You can't let that happen. You just need to be extra careful."

He cupped my face with both his hands. "Which is why I need you to be very careful. He can't get a hold of you because for you, there isn't anything I wouldn't do."

I moved my face slightly so I could kiss his palm. "Ditto, baby."

He smiled and pulled me on top of him for a kiss. He pushed me away, but kept my face close to his. "I'm serious. They can't get a hold of you. They'll be worse to you than Millender."

The mention of the werewolf who scarred me emotionally was enough to take what Mason was saying seriously. I'd rather be dead than deal with what Millender did to me again. It was just better to avoid the whole situation.

"We will both be very careful," I agreed.

He nodded once, satisfied with my answer. The smile that grew over his face made me suspicious, he was thinking about doing something.

He smiled and lifted me up off the bed as he stood up, forcing me to scramble to get a hold on him. He carried me to the bathroom and started the water for a shower.

---

After we cleaned ourselves up, we met some of the wolves for a late dinner. There were only the ones who had been with the alpha, making the table look severely empty.

Dean sat at his normal spot as he talked to his wolves. They seemed to be getting along. When Mason and I joined them, the talking wasn't so carefree. When the men were all finished, they followed Dean up to his office. I wasn't invited this time, so I stayed back and did the dishes while I waited for Mason.

I went outside for some fresh air, since they had a hammock, I took the opportunity.

I didn't like being on the outside. I thought I would be helpful for this trip with Mason. It was hard to wrap my head around the customs of the wolves. It was like a time warp, where women's rights weren't evolved yet. Women were meant to be coddled and pampered. I could find these rogues just as easily as the men, even if they didn't want to admit it to themselves.

When they were finished, Mason came for me and we went to bed. They didn't talk about anything I didn't know. They caught up with what Mason had found out that afternoon.

---

The next day, I was minding my own business, staying away from Jenna, as Mason had suggested, because we were never going to get along. But anyone could've heard the arguing coming from inside the house. 

It wasn't until I heard a defining smack, followed by several surprised gasps. I made my way into the house and followed the sounds to the fighting. 

Jenna and Sparks were in a fully blown cat fight.

Jenna was going it easy on the woman, as a werewolf, she couldn't really hit Sparks without breaking bones. Jenna dodged the slaps from the enraged red head easily while taking the opportunity to land hard blows on Sparks' body. Every missed hit enraged Sparks further from frustration. Sparks didn't look like a bad fighter, she was just the wrong species. The two other main human girls stood there in shock as several of the casual girls egged the fight on. 

As I went to the brawling woman, I spotted several guys from the pack standing in the background, just watching this happen. Shameless men. If they were responsible members of the pack, they'd break the fight up. Even if Jenna was mated to someone high up in the pack, they were responsible if Sparks ended up getting hurt.

I grabbed Jenna first, pulling her away from Sparks with inhuman strength. She snarled as she let go of the other woman. I pushed Jenna away from Sparks and stood her up. 

"You two need to stop fighting," I chastised. "You're not in high school where this bullshit is accepted."

Jenna stood up straight, using her height advantage to intimidate me. It didn't work. 

She came so close to me that our noses were inches away. "You've been here for a few weeks and you think you can come in here and tell me how to run my house?!" she yelled. 

"You need to pick on someone your own size. Throwing your weight around isn't how you get people to respect you."

I anticipated her push before she did it. I stumbled back one step before using the momentum to swing back and tackle her to the ground. It was a trick Mason taught me. 

I had Jenna, face down, with her mouth full of carpet. She thrashed around, but wasn't much of a challenge to keep down. "Get the fuck off of me!" she spat venomously. 

I added more force to her spine, where my knee dug in to control her. If she pushed me, she'd end up with a broken spine. "You should mind who you're talking to. You're married to Jamison. I'm with Mason." I leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You need to listen to me and calm down. You're beat. Submit before I really hurt you."

She jerked her head back, head butting me. I only had a fraction of a second to react, which wasn't enough time to move away. I simply turned my face so that the back of her skull collided with the side of my cheekbone. 

I felt the fracture and knew there would be nearly immediate bruising and bleeding from the force.

All rational thought was instantly gone. How dare this whore strike on us, my wolf growled. 

I grabbed a fist full of her hair and slammed her face into the ground with all the force that I could muster three times before I was forcibly ripped away. 

"Cool it Lex." Mason's influence on me wasn't as effective as it had been pre-mating, but being in skin-to-skin contact with him retracted some of my fury. 

Alpha Dean had a thrashing and bloody Jenna in his vice grip. She was like a cat held above water, trying everything she could to get out of his arms. 

"This bitch came at me," she growled.  

I scoffed and stood up without fighting Mason.  "She was brawling with one of the girls." I wasn't stupid enough to think I could get another scratch or two in with Mason and the alpha around. 

I felt Mason's anger. Fighting against a human was shameful to him. It would be like trying to fight an infant, just too easy, and not to mention a crime. "Which one?" His voice was more gravelly than normal.

I jerked my head at the human. "Sparks."

Sparks had obvious signs of being in a fight. Her skin was red and blotchy from where Jenna had hit her. Her clothes were disheveled and ripped. They were even speckled from her blood.

"Nothing happened." She kept her eyes on the ground, lying so that every werewolf in the room could hear.

Jenna smirked at me. I would've leapt over to her and gave her another good beating if I could have. But I would have done no good. Women, like her, would never learn how to be decent people. She just needed a leash.

"Sparks, what happened?" Dean asked with obvious compassion in his voice. "Don't worry about Jenna."

Sparks' eyebrows rose for a second in disbelief. She didn't believe that there would ever be a time when she didn't have to worry about Jenna.

She glanced up at Jenna, only to quickly stare back at the ground. She sniffled, probably because her nose was starting to bleed. "Nothing happened."

Dean shoved Jenna to her mate. "Keep an eye on her. I don't have time for her shit."

Jenna risked a glare at her alpha. That was something she shouldn't have gotten away with.

Dean walked over to Sparks and gently took her hand. "Come with me, I'll get you cleaned up." He led her towards the bedrooms. "Get the rest of them out of here."

His order stuck to his wolves. Within twenty minutes, the only human left was Sparks, but she was still with Dean.

"She can't get away with this behavior without punishment, Mason."

He sighed and sunk back into the sofa. "It's his pack to run. I'm not going to offer to set his guys straight because I have no desire to become alpha of this place."

"She's abusing humans. She could draw attention to the packs and expose us all. This needs to be brought to Finn's attention."

Mason just nodded as he kept tabs on the wolves in the house.

"If this is them on good behavior, I can only imagine the shit they get into when no one's watching them."

Mason turned his face towards mine and looked right into my eyes. "As much as I love to hear your opinions on everything, there are some things that should be said in private." He stroked my cheek.

"You don't want to give these wolves a reason to push back against what we are trying to do here. We don't need any more trouble."

I nodded. "I know we're not here to correct their behavior, but she can't be taking risks to expose us."

He nodded and kissed my forehead. "I'll call the Madill's later. This isn't the priority," he whispered into my ear before kissing it. "Let's go take a bath. You're still bloody."

I took his hand and led him to our room.