War Room
"I'll say, someone, is seriously fucking with us," Raven says, grabbing her knives. "They are asking for a world of hurt."
"Calm down Raven," Imani says, stopping her pacing to sit down again, "Let's handle this like ladies."
"I'd say we are past that, Mani. We have people missing and we have no clue why or how." Raven said. Throwing her knives yet again against that poor wall.
"Yet." Shanice said, "We don't know yet. We will find out. The cameras have to have caught something. There must be a scent trail or a hair. Raven, have our best trackers comb the missing women's room and the area and see if they can find anything. Imani, put out word we will be having a pack meeting in two hours, hopefully, we can find something by then. Tonight.... tonight, we will search the perimeter ourselves, just us, so that we are at our strongest with no other scents to distract us."
"Yes," Imani said smiling her creepy smile, and Shanice knew her wolf was at the surface, "If our trackers don't find a trail, our wolf will."
"Agreed," Raven said, smiling and standing. "I'm going to set the trackers on the trail and alert the warriors to be on the lookout"
"And I will have the ladies get ready for the meeting," Imani said, standing.
"Wear your rings tonight. We will meet thirty minutes before the meeting with the leaders before the rest of the pack so that we are all on the same page. Directly after the meeting, we will shift."
They nodded and left the room. Shanice poured herself another shot, before downing it and throwing the glass against the wall. Her teeth elongated, and her claw ached to get out. gritting her teeth and focusing on her breathing, she willed herself to calm down. She was worried and a little scared. Not for herself, but for her sisters, and her pack.
Things like this did not happen. It screamed of magic, an option she didn't want to entertain. Witches and wolves had been enemies for all her life and past lives before hers. No one even knew why. It was just the way it was. They stayed away from each other, and things had been fine for so long that it was a thing of the past for them.
A few years ago, they had crossed a powerful witch, and they had paid greatly. It was not something any of them wanted to repeat. Luckily, they came out on top. They always did, but these attacks were different. Well calculated and thought out and untraceable.
An hour and a half later, Shanice was making her way to what they called the war room. It was a building with more than one room. The war room was one of the many. It had not been used in some time because of everything being at peace. This building was used as a church, community center, school and it was also a safe house with a lockdown feature. There were a few bedrooms and a kitchen as well, with a fully stocked pantry.
Their territory was in the middle of nowhere, but it was far from basic. They had all the amenities of a small town. It was modern and had taken a lot of planning and building to make it what it was today.
When she walked in, Raven was already there, along with their Betas, Alexis, and Aliyah. They were twins and were very dominant. They had an air of authority about them that other pack members noted once they were old enough to show it. They could easily be alphas of their own packs one day. Raven has swiftly made them betas so that they had somewhere useful to use all that dominance. They were great at their jobs. Alexis was laid back and approachable. She spent lots of time with sick pack members and was a wiz with herbs, so she doubled as a doctor. Aliyah was hard, no other way to put it. She always had a stern expression on her face and never really spoke. When she did, it was one or two words. Alexis usually translated her grunts and stares.
Shanice took her seat at the head of the table on the stage of the war room and nodded to her best friends. Without everyone in this room, they wouldn't be here. They had all contributed to the pack's growth, and each of them had saved lives, with no regard for their own. They were the strongest people she knew.
"Alpha Shanice, how is this happening?" Alexis wasted no time in asking.
Shanice pressed her lips together, "I do not know," she said truthfully," but we will find out. let's wait for Imani and Asia before we begin."
As if she spoke them up, they walked in. First Imani, with her elegant glide followed by Asia with her slow gait, Asia was their Gamma. She was also the only person in the pack who was not a wolf. She was a savannah cat shifter. The last of her kind, as far as they knew. She came to them only two years ago running from hunters. They had killed her entire pride. Raven had found her and quickly killed the hunters. After listening to her story, they had welcomed her to the pack. She had risen in ranks fast and she was an expert weapon maker. Raven had suggested making her Gamma because at first, the wolves had tried to mistreat her, but she had held her own and had not backed down. She had, with time, earned their respect and loyalty.
Followed by her were the trackers and warriors, Nia, Ebony, and Tierra. They wore all black, like assassins. Shanice could not recall a time when they had not been in the black. Nia carried a crossbow on her back and a knife at her waist. Ebony preferred pistols, and she carried twin forty-caliber Pistols. Tierra had an ax on her back and throwing knives on her arm. They were intimidating as they should be. They were the first lines of defense.
Everyone greeted each other and Nia started to speak. "We went through their things and searched the perimeter, we found nothing alphas. No blood, no trail, and not a tree out of place."
"Something is very wrong," Tierra said. "All the ladies taken would not have gone without a fight. They have all passed defense training, and they were all strong."
"And no one heard anything," Asia stated.
"Someone has infiltrated our territory, and taken our packmates," Raven stated, looking around the room. "They didn't raise an alarm; they left no trail. Those women did not leave on their own."
"So, what do you all think, brainstorm time and don't be afraid to say anything. Who could come in, take someone and be back out with no problems?"
"Vampires?" Imani asked.
That was a possibility. Vampires were fast and stealthy and they could compel other people. They would only have to ask nicely for the ladies to follow, and they would do it with a smile. They could also be very seductive and convincing. However, they could not be invisible and they had a smell like no other species.
"I hate those damn vamps," Raven hissed, walking away from the table.
"You didn't always hate them, Raven," Shanice reminded her with a knowing smile.
"Don't remind me of my stupid, I wish I had a mate stage," Raven said, gazing out of a far window.
Her face was hidden, but Shanice had not missed the look of longing that crossed her face before she turned away. When Raven turned sixteen, she started dating a vampire named Marques. She was in deep until he wanted to bite her and she refused. He had been pissed, even tried to kidnap her. That hadn't ended well for him. Still, when all the smoke cleared, she had not been able to kill him. They had parted as friends, but Raven had never been the same.
"Aside from all that, why would some vamps want female wolves?" Asia asked, picking her nails.
"Naw, I doubt it was vamps," Imani said. "He wouldn't let them bother us."
Marques had become one of our greatest allies, and he was in charge of the Colorado Division of vampires. He made it a habit to drop by and check on them from time to time. Most of the time, he just wanted to make sure Raven was still single.
"Yeah," Raven agreed, "he wouldn't hurt us."
"Not the fairies. We have a treaty with them, and they have been good to us," Alexis said.
"Or the demons," Imani said, twirling her ring, "they have also been good to us."
"Another alpha?" questioned Raven, "we have been under the radar for a long time and female wolves are scarce. Maybe they are looking to mate with them."
"A forced mating is forbidden," Imani said angrily.
"That hasn't stopped them before, it's rare but not unheard of," Raven said.
"True," Shanice said, "but I was thinking maybe the witches. If they have found us, they could be trying to finish the job. They hate us."
They were silent. The witches had played a big part in the defeat of their parents and the curse that still plagued them as far as they knew. They all had a very low tolerance for witches.
"If the witches have found us, we will need to go see the fairies," Raven stated.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Imani said twitching. "Besides, the pack members are arriving.
They were indeed. The alphas, betas, gamma, and warriors stood and faced their pack as they prepared to give them the news. Shanice looked into the eager and scared eyes of her pack. She made a silent vow then and there. She was going to take care of this issue and she would do it soon. Losing another person was not an option.