Chapter 21

Nikolai's POV

We were piecing together information with Cheyenne. For me it was a little awkward working with someone so young, much less the fact that she was an omega. I've never met a young omega female that knew as much as she did especially on this particular topic. I had asked a few friends of mine that nobody knew about, to look into what we had been putting together. I was sending them texts as we pieced together major points, such as the locations moving and the 150-year gap, and etc.… We were all trying to work together to get as far ahead of this as we could.

In the middle of our meeting, my office phone rang. I excused myself from the conference room and went down to my office to take the call.

"Alpha, It's Becka. I need you down here now. I got the results back on that girl's blood."

"On my way." Was all I said. I hung up the phone, told the boys and Derek that I had to go but didn't give them any direction or explanation. Becka sounded almost worried about what she found, so my mind was reeling with questions.

I got in my SUV and headed towards the Becka's office. It was on the other side of town so it took me about 30 minutes to get there. When I pulled in I remembered I left everyone sitting in the conference room and knowing them, they wouldn't continue without me there, and not knowing how long I was going to be I opened the mindlink up to Derek.

"Hey tell the kids to take a break. I need you on standby." I told him.

"For what Nik? Something serious? Another siting?" Derek asked.

"Results back on the girl's blood work. Tell them to take a break but stay close." I said.

"Got it covered." Was all he said before the mindlink was closed.

I walked into Becka's office, and she was already standing there by the front desk waiting on me. She didn't say anything, just waved her hand telling me to follow her. She led me back to her office where she took her seat behind the desk, and I was on the other side.

"Alpha, before I show you these results, please listen to my explanation of everything before running out of here. Considering the circumstances, if they saw you so much as come in here, could already cause us trouble." Becka states.

"What the hell?" I muttered while rolling my whole head back and staring at the ceiling for a second before looking back at her. "Well, this whole thing can't get much worse. We're looking at a war with the originals. So I guess hit me with it doc."

"I wouldn't speak to soon Alpha." She said as she typed on her computer pulling up Cheyenne's blood work results.

Now I see why she told me not to go storming out of here. According to this, either she knows and is hiding the truth or she's completely oblivious and could be in great potential danger.

"Derek, where's the kids?" I opened the mindlink back up.

"Told them to go ahead and start training early. They already ate and figured this was the best way to keep an eye on all of them and keep them busy." He responded.

"Good thinking. Either she lied to us, or she is in more danger than we thought. Keep a close eye on them. I am alerting the border patrols and we are upping security. Also, get her parents and Alpha Brock here NOW!" I growled.

"On it Alpha." The mindlink was cut off and I returned my focus to Becka.

"You jumped to conclusions and sent out orders before I could explain Alpha. Exactly what I told you not to do. Now I got to talk fast, and you better keep up." She was pissed but I couldn't care right now. My pack as a whole was in danger because of this girl and I needed to know why.

"Comparing her DNA to the database, and what you told me about her mother, I can confirm that that part of the story lines up. As far as the father, he is not listed in the database, but after analyzing her genetic makeup even further, which is what took me so long and I apologize, her father…well sir…"

"For fuck's sake Becka, just spit it out already." I snapped.

"Her father is an original, sir." My eyes went wide with shock. I had already seen the results on the computer but to actually hear it from Becka to confirm it was like reality slapped me in the face.

"How is that possible?" I mumbled more to myself.

"I'm not sure. I can only assume, he was at the Everglades pack at one point while the girl's mother was there. Also, there's more."

"MORE?! You just told me I have a halfblooded Lycan within my borders!" You know when they say when you're having a rough day, not to ask a certain question because once you do, it happens? Yeah, well I asked. "How can this get any worse!?"

"I had to dig deep to confirm my suspicions, but I am 95% sure that her full blooded Lycan father…well he's high up in the ranks. The genetic markers are off the charts, sir." Becka said trying to sound confident in her findings, but I heard the worry in her voice.

I through my hands up and said, "That's just great! And not Tony the tiger great either! Damn it." I was collecting my thoughts when I felt a mindlink open.

"She's running Nik!" Derek came through and I could tell he was running too.

"DO NOT LET HER OFF THE TERRITORY DEREK. LIFE OR DEATH!" I shouted back threw the link, but before Derek had a chance to respond I felt another link open up.

"Sir, we have some activity on the border down here between us and Wolf Claw." One of my warriors informed me.

I opened a link to all my off-duty warriors, "All off duty warriors AND border patrols to their stations NOW!"

I heard them all respond in unison, "Yes sir." Before it all went quiet in my head. I looked at Becka and I could see the worry and possibly even fear in her eyes.

"Becka, shut the office down and tell everyone to go home. We will all be fine, but you earned the rest of the day off. Remember, not a word of this to ANYONE! Thank you!" I shook her hand and then walked out of her office.

"Nik, she knows about Gunner being her mate and she's running in the woods headed towards our border!" Derek coming back through the mindlink.

"Do not let her cross that line! Did you contact her parents and Brock?" I asked back.

"Yes they are on their way! SHIT!" that was all I got before the mindlink cut out.

"Derek? DEREK!" But I got no response.

"Ben?! What's going on?" I opened the link with Ben hoping he was ok to answer.

"Dad you need to get here NOW!" I slammed my SUV in drive and peeled out of the parking lot onto the road leading out towards the main gate. I would cut threw fields and anything else I could drive threw to get there faster.

I wasn't sure what was going on but for Derek and Ben both to sound worried, it wasn't good. I made it to the tree line, put the SUV in park, left the door open and took off into the woods following the scent of my pack members.

I got to the border line to see Derek, Ben, and at least 10 warriors with 3 border guards all standing there just staring out into space, but where was Gunner and Cheyenne?

"What…what's going on?" I shouted out as I continued to walk up. As I got closer a couple of the warriors looked back at me and parted to let me through. Gunner was down on his knees breathing very heavily, but Cheyenne was nowhere in sight. "What happened? Where's the girl?" I asked wanting answers.

That's when Derek came walking towards me. "Nik, we can't cross the border. There's some type of invisible barrier. The girl made it across the line and then fell to the ground. Her body then just vanished into thin air. Gunner is livid because he couldn't get to her in time."

"Invisible barrier? Vanished? The bastards are working with the witches. You and the boys and our warrior leaders get to the packhouse. Call an emergency meeting." I instructed.

"Emergency meeting? Sir, we haven't issued one of those since…" Derek trailed off. Last time one was issued was when he lost his wife.

"I know Derek, and we issued it to late then. I will not make the same mistake twice." I let out a loud howl that could be heard for miles, and I got back hundreds of howls in response and the guys started taking off. Gunner was still knelt in the dirt, and I could tell he was doing everything in his power not to completely lose his shit and give his wolf total control.

I walked up behind and knelt down beside him and I started talking to him in a low voice, "We need you Gunner. She needs you. We will get her back. We know what we're up against. I need you to get dressed and get back to the packhouse. I will fill you in on what I have found out and we will come up with an action plan. But I need Gunner, not Maddox. Do you understand? She's depending on you now. You're going to be the only one who can track her, through the bond. It sounds harsh, considering the circumstances, but pull your shit together."

Gunner closed his eyes, took in a few deep, slow breaths, and then slowly looked up at me and nodded his head. We stood up and Ben handed him a pair of shorts that we keep stashed in trees and brush around the forest. We all headed back towards the SUV and the packhouse.

Once we got back to the packhouse, all the warriors were already there waiting on direction from me. I was only going to talk to the higher up and have them trickle down the information but since everybody turned up, I guess it would be better if they all heard it straight from me.

"Ok ok quiet down please." I bellowed out over top of all the chatter. Everyone got quiet and all eyes were on me at that point. "I'm not going to beat around the bush about this. It's a very serious matter. One that we might possibly have to implement a protocol that hasn't been used in 150 years. The girl that was abducted tonight, she is only 17. Her name is Cheyenne Smith, but her real name is Alida Romanov." I looked over to Gunner when I said it. His eyes wide with shock. I gave him an apologetic look and then returned my attention to my warriors. "She is the daughter to an omega level family from Wolf Claw. Her parents and Alpha Brock are on their way here and should be here any minute actually. I do have to question the mother on a few more details, but we ran some blood tests trying to find her biological father. It's turned up some potentially great or horrible news." I filled them in on what Becka had found out about the girl's father being one of the Originals. It was so quiet in the room that you could have probably heard a single hair hit the carpet flooring.

After I was finished handing out assignments, I walked over to Gunner who had sat down on one of the couches with his head in his hands.

"Alpha, with all due respect. I don't believe she had any part of this. I was watching and listening as she was giving the family details this morning. She truly didn't know. I think she's more in danger than ever now, knowing this information." Gunner said quietly.

"Can you feel her at all? Lycan mating is different from wolf mating. The bond can snap into place faster without having to go through the whole mating process."

"I'm not feeling anything right now sir. I just feel…empty."

"She's probably still unconscious then. Don't worry. We will find her." I tried to reassure him, but I wasn't sure how well it was working. The boy was good at hiding his emotions from the world.

Just then the door to the packhouse opened and I looked over to see Alpha Brock and the girl's parent's walk in. I patted Gunner on the back and whispered, "time to get some answers." He looked up but his emotions never changed.

I shook Alpha Brock's and the parent's hands and we all headed up to the conference room.

I didn't waste any time and just jumped right in, telling the whole room of everything that was going on and what the blood work had turned up. The father looked pissed. Apparently the mother hadn't been completely honest with him and now the cat's out of the bag. He ended up having to leave the room before we could continue.

I started in on the mother. I knew her history already and couldn't really blame her for hiding it, but I needed to know about the girl's biological father. She gave us a name and I told Derek to go hunt it down. She had told us that it was probably a fake name if what we had discovered was true, but I wasn't taking any chances. I told Derek to expand the search to known associates of the name if it came back clear. If he had used a false name, then he had to of crossed paths with the real person in order to get it.

I sent the mother out to attempt to smooth things over with her mate and then turned to Alpha Brock.

"What do you know about witches Brock?"

"Just not to get on their bad side pretty much. Why?" He asked.

"There was magic involved in Cheyenne's, or Alida's whatever we're calling her, in her abduction tonight. An invisible barrier was casted so my men couldn't cross the border and then they say she just vanished into thin air after she collapsed and was unconscious."

"Son of a bitch. I hate witches. But I do know a really powerful wizard. I will be getting in touch with him to get him out there to sniff around. No pun intended. Maybe he can tell us at least what kind of magic it is and what we're dealing with. If the originals have teamed up with witches, then we don't have a snowballs chance in hell Nik." I could hear the worry in his voice.

"Don't be putting your cart before your horse Brock. We will figure this out and we will end them once and for all. This is going to be the fifth war. From what we have gathered we still have a few months before it hits. So we need to use our time wisely in the meantime. Try to get ahead of this. Knowledge is power. Call your wizard and get him out here. I will meet you guys at the border when he gets here."

Brock nodded his head and then we shook hands and he left. I heard him talking to the girl's parents and then heard their footsteps heading down the hall and out the front door of the pack house.