Chapter Five

Gabriel

I was standing in one of the side rooms outside the main council chamber, my father and Beta Murdoch by my side. Jason had decided not to come. He just couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing Zagan or Dante.

The council had asked for both Zagan and me to be present, along with our Betas.

I had a gut feeling that something was up. It wasn’t just about the paternity test results, but also the fact that I’d felt my link to Ellie snap. The entire pack had felt it.

That could only mean one of three things. She had either been blooded in by another pack, rejected the pack, or... she was dead.

If that son of a bitch had hurt her in any way, I’d personally tear his throat out. My father thought it was likely that he had blooded her into the Blood Fang pack.

I couldn’t believe he’d have the nerve to do that, especially before the test results were even in.

An omega emerged from the main council chamber.

He bowed to me and my father.

“The council is ready for you Alphas.”

We followed him as he led us into the main chamber.

Zagan and his father were already there.

Zagan glanced at us and smirked.

But behind his smirk, I saw something else in his eyes. It wasn’t fear. It was more like he was seriously pissed off.

His father looked pissed too. I wondered if it was the idea of his son fathering a hybrid. Everyone knew that Zagan’s father was an elitist. He didn’t believe in human mates.

Actually, he despised humans. That’s why I found it odd when he suddenly took his seat on the council and blocked us from entering the territory to search for Ellie.

Even if Ellie was his granddaughter, he wouldn’t be thrilled about it. You’d think he’d be happy to let us take her back. But then again, Zagan didn’t have a mate, nor any other heir.

If Ellie was his, that would mean his mate had been human. It would mean he’d not only abandoned Ellie, but he’d also abandoned his mate.

My thoughts were interrupted when the council leader banged a gavel and began to speak.

“Alpha Zagan has requested a paternity test on the missing hybrid pup Ellie.

“Alpha Gabriel, the pup's adopted father, has agreed, on the condition that he and his trackers are allowed to search Alpha Zagan’s territory. Are you both still in agreement?”

I looked at the elder and nodded. Zagan did the same.

“I have the results of the test here.”

He pulled the report out of a brown envelope.

The elder glanced at the paper, then at Zagan, then at me.

He stood up and looked at Zagan.

“Alpha Zagan, the test has concluded that you are not the pup's biological father,” the elder looked at me, “I will make arrangements for you to have unrestricted access to Alpha Zagan’s territory.”

Zagan stormed over to the Elder.

“Let me see that!” he growled.

He snatched the report from the elder and scanned the sheet.

He threw it down on the table.

“You can search all you want, but you won’t find her on my territory. I don’t have her,” he paused, then smirked at me, “anymore...”

I glared at him and was about to charge at him. I wanted to tear his head off.

I felt my father's hand on my shoulder.

This won't get you anywhere if you kill him, Gabriel.

My father mind-linked me.

He was right, of course. I took a deep breath.

“What do you mean, anymore?” I asked.

Zagan rolled his eyes.

“She escaped, with your nephew. They’ve gone rogue.”

My father narrowed his eyes.

“This changes nothing, Alpha Zagan.”

He looked at the council leader.

“I propose a full investigation into Alpha Zagan. He has just admitted that he took the pup. I’m concerned that his treatment of both her and my grandson is in breach of council law.”

The council leader paled. He knew this was the case. It would be more than hypocritical to deny it.

He nodded, “We will conduct a full investigation. In the meantime, Alpha Zagan will inform the council in which direction the pups headed and give full access to a rescue party should they require access through his territory.”

Zagan looked at the elder and laughed.

“Oh, you can have as much access as you like. I watched them cross the border at the Blood River crossing,” he paused, “heading west.”

Now it was my turn to pale.

Very little was known about the Blood River pack. They had unaligned themselves from the council. Their territory was huge, and the way they treated rogues was well known. It was an instant death sentence.

My only hope was that both Samuel and Ellie would be shown mercy as they were still pups. The only real consolation was that their Alpha had an intense hatred of the Blood Fang pack.

Then realization hit me. Ellie was with Samuel. What about Samuel's wolf? He hated Ellie.

I swallowed hard and looked at Zagan.

“Has Samuel managed to control his wolf?”

Zagan smirked at me.

“How the hell should I know? He had his wolf suppressed with Wolfsbane. I guess they’ll both find out soon enough.”

There was a gasp from the council. Suppressing a wolf with Wolfsbane had to be authorized by the council and was only used in extreme cases.

“You were never given authority to do that, Alpha Zagan. The council will be investigating your actions and will take punitive measures if necessary,” the leader warned.

Zagan looked at him and rolled his eyes.

“No, you won’t, because from this point forward the Blood Fang pack will be unaligning itself from the council. Anyone who sets foot in my territory will be killed.”

He looked at his father.

“Father?”

They both turned and walked out of the council rooms.

The council leader looked at me.

“I’m sorry, Alpha Gabriel. There’s nothing we can do now. Without access to Alpha Zagan’s territory, you won't be able to access the Blood River pack’s territory.”

I nodded and left the council room.

I should have felt happy. I finally knew that Zagan had no hold on Ellie, but that didn’t help me now.

I couldn’t reach the territory she was in.

I was clueless about how the Alpha of that territory would handle rogue pups. There was a good chance Samuel's wolf would kill her before I could even locate her.

My dad placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Gabriel, there’s another way.”

I frowned at him.

“What other way?”

He took a deep breath. “We can cross into his territory from the human side of the border.”

I gazed at the map in my office.

Dad was right. The river that served as the border between the Western pack and Zagan’s pack flowed into human territory before it reached an estuary that led to a large lake.

They were named Blood Lake and Blood River after a brutal massacre during the war between humans and our kind, before the truce.

The Western pack had named their pack after the River, as it separated their territory from the rest of the council-controlled packs. Blood River Pack.

I could only hope that if Ellie and Samuel were still alive, the pack wasn’t as ominous as its name suggested. My only hope was that their hatred for the Blood Fang pack was because they were different from them.

Crossing the border into human territory wouldn’t be a walk in the park. We’d have to cover about twenty-five miles unseen before crossing back into Blood River territory.

Then we might face a hostile reception. That’s if we even made it that far.

The only other option was to wage war against Zagan. Just to cross over, with no guarantees of what we’d find on the other side.

The council would probably favor a fight with Zagan’s pack over crossing the border, which would break the truce we had with the humans.

The only advantage of crossing the human border was that we knew they weren’t using silver bullets. We also knew they were short on food. But that intel was two years old.

Who knew if it was still accurate.

I walked back to my desk, sighing.

Sitting down, I opened the desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a glass. I poured myself a hefty measure and downed it in one gulp.

What the hell was I supposed to do now? I had been so close to finding her, only to have her snatched away from me again.

Alpha Gabriel…

I was about to pour myself another drink when the mind-link interrupted me.

What?

I growled back.

Sorry, Alpha, but we’ve found a human.

I sighed. The last thing I needed was humans trespassing on my territory.

Kill him and send his body back as a warning.

I hissed over the link.

There was silence.

I poured myself another drink.

Alpha…?

I rolled my eyes.

For fuck's sake, what now!

I was starting to lose my patience.

It’s just...this human says he’s looking for his sister.