Chapter 1: The News
Rhys’s P.O.V
“So, Rhys,” Alpha Salim Ali of Saudi Arabia folded his arms below his chin and gave me one of his not-so-innocent smiles. “I heard you still haven’t found your mate yet.”
“And that is of relevance to our conversation because…?” I raised my eyebrows at the twenty nine year old man who had recently found his mate and is now holding a celebration in honor of his Luna.
“Oh, come now! We all know as the Alpha of the strongest and largest pack in Asia, you need a mate now more than any of us do.” Salim pointed out. “Your pack has extended up to four hundred wolves and an Alpha alone cannot manage everything on his own. The Luna is the heart of the pack. People come to her with problems that they are too afraid to tell their Alpha.”
“I know perfectly well what the purpose of a Luna is,” I snapped at Salim. “I will take a mate when the time is right. Thank you for inviting me to your Mating Ceremony, Salim, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it. Congratulations once again, I’ve already sent you a give. And I’ll see you during the next Summit.”
“Alright then, see you.” With that I disconnected the video feed on my phone.
I know I was being rude but being the Alpha of the biggest and strongest pack in Asia, I couldn't afford to have any weaknesses. It was true that my pack has extended a fair amount and also that there is a growing sense of unrest deep inside, an unrest that only a Luna can solve, but I just cannot afford to choose just anyone as my mate. My Luna had to be strong enough to hold my pack together and suppress any rebellion inside or outside the pack, even during my absence. And in reality, I haven’t found any of my potential mates yet.
Wolves have many potential mates. It is the wolf who decided whether someone was 'capable' of being with us or not. It is very much possible that a female wolf might feel attracted towards a dominant male wolf but the male’s wolf might not even acknowledge her. Both wolf's have to 'approve' of one another to become true mates. Wolves are almost always paired with wolves, and that theory is applicable with all kinds of shifters. Nature seems to like keeping us purebreds. But the only exceptions are humans. Shifters have gotten paired with humans several times but the pairing isn’t very common. Mostly isn’t always a shifter pairing since humans are a lot weaker compared to us.
The wolves in this continent were smaller than normal and being descendents of that ancestry, our wolves were small too, compared to werewolf size in the west. But what we lacked in size, we made up with our fierce strength and speed. I especially make sure every member of my pack is well trained both physically and mentally. Being desert wolves we were naturally ferocious and dominant, but that didn’t give anyone a reason to slack in their training. Anyone who did so would find themselves wondering alone in the endless Wahiba Sands.
My pack was located in Saudi Arabia, south of Nizwa, on the brink of the Wahiba Sands. The place is called 'Jever' which in Hindi means jewels. My pack is known as the WildRain.
"What happened this time?" Came the voice of my Second, my Beta, Zyane Hudson.
I looked up from the paperwork on my desk as he came inside my office and settled on a chair right in front of me.
Zyane was about 6' 1", comparatively short to my 6' 3", with black hair and dark brown eyes. His hair was longer compared to my military cut and he also had a slight moustache which...frankly he was damn proud of.
"Salim happened," I growled low in my throat, the sound more animalistic than human.
"Ah!" he said with a knowing smirk, "Poor boss got the whole Luna lecture again?"
I growled again. Yes, that exactly was my problem. In the past couple years; everyone seems to be giving me advice on getting a goddamned Luna! I was only fucking thirty two and that was hardly like being a teenager in werewolf terms. I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and all this talk about getting a Luna was only fueling interest amongst the female wolves who now thought it was alright to expect more out of a simple one-night stand and were pressuring me for a ring. Damnit!
I didn’t need women who would try to seduce me just so they could become the next Luna. I didn’t need women who batted their eyelashes at me and did everything I told them with their heads bowed. I needed someone who would take care of the pack for me, look after my wolves and nurture them, but most importantly, I needed someone with a spark, a fire that was challenging. Yes, challenge. That was exactly what I needed. Someone who would make me 'earn' their keep, not give in so willingly. Unfortunately, dominant females are very rare in our hierarchy. And the groupies were like puppets, trying to grab my attention so I could do with them as I please.
"Any news? Where's Jakia? And has Mehul returned from the construction site yet?" I asked him about the packmates who were under Zyane's command as soldiers. I needed to get my mind off the drama. “Any other news that I need to be made aware of?”
"Jakia's patrolling the outer perimeters during the night so she won't get any unnecessary tan," a snort and then, "Woman’s a pain in the ass but she’s also a damn good soldier. Mehul is out with Eric to finalize the construction deal with the MegaMart CEO about selling the dates in our own stores for once. And yes...there is...some news."
"What's with the long pauses?" I asked Zyane, who also happens to be my friend ever since we were little children. His father had been Beta back when my father had been the Alpha and we had grown up together, thick as thieves since childhood. Nothing had been able to separate us and since we’ve known each other since so long, we’ve come to know what the other was thinking even without having to communicate verbally or telepathically through the pack mind link. And that's why I knew something was up.
"Alpha Devon Solomon and Alpha Aiden Morgan called. They want to have a video conference with you," he answered simply but his shoulders were tense, because it wasn't often that the two of the most notorious packs wanted a video conference, much less together. Don’t get me wrong, they were thick as thieves but they were also greedy and power hungry bastards, each trying to grab an opportunity before the other could get a whisper of it.
"Connect," I said, shoulders tensing. This couldn’t be good news.
Zyane booted up the laptop that sat on my desk and connected it to the large plasma screen on the opposite wall so that I was facing the screen directly. After adjusting the webcam and sound devices he proceeded to make the call. A few short seconds later, the screen divided into two parts and the faces of the two Alphas came into view.
Devon was fare skinned with what we liked to call "pretty boy" looks, completed with blond hair and blue eyes; while Aiden had mocha skin and black hair and dark brown eyes. But both were equally powerful, dominant male wolves and they were also the only two packs present in China. Separately, their packs didn’t come close to my strength, but if they ever joined forces, they will become the strongest pack in the planet with almost six hundred wolves under their command. Fortunately, they were too egoistic to submit to one another, so those two uniting any time soon would be out of the question.
"You wanted a conference?" I asked with my eyebrows raised, waiting to get this over with as soon as I possibly could. Part from being power hungry and cunning, these two also loved to bicker like a married couple and it as the most unpleasant thing I’d ever had the pleasure of watching.
This time I had no doubt there was a female involved. Both were also equally big man whores and the competition between them was endless. But they usually complained to me separately; never together like they’re doing now.
"We...well...we have some news to share…" Devon said hesitantly.
I frowned. This was definitely not going to be good. "Go on."
"You know we have our spies on the China border, to make sure there are no rouges hiding in unusual places?" Aiden asked me.
"Yes" I said, "I left that for you to deal with. Don't tell me you’ve failed in your mission?” My temper rose at the thought. We have enough roughs around already; we don't need more from India to cross over through China.
"No," he hesitated so Devon took over for him, "We had reports of a few wolf sightings in the Middle Himalayas...so we followed them."
"Wolves in the Middle Himalayas? But wolves are usually found in the southern or Lesser Himalayan ranges, not the Pir Panjal," I said confused.
"That's why we followed them by sending some of our best spies after them. We even kept a mind link so we would know what they found, but…" Aiden said and then, "…but out of the eight wolves that we sent...none returned. We lost total contact with them a few minutes ago." Devon finished.
A sense of dread settled in my stomach. Spies are specially trained to endure any kind of hardship. Typhoons, tornados or avalanches…they were trained to survive them all. The fact that eight of them were missing at the same time without any hint of a natural calamity was no joke.
"But," Devon said, "The last image we got through the mind link…before they…God I don’t even know if they’re still alive...the link holds complete silence!” He chocked. I could understand what he was going through; spies were outstanding fighters, but more than that, it was the loss of several packmates that hurt the most. Pack was family. Pack came above everything else.
“What did they see?” I urged; this wasn’t just about curiosity; it was about detecting any new threats.
It was Aiden who finished that sentence. “The last things that our spies saw before the bond was terminated…was a white wolf."