Thirteen.

Eren

Gods, that was mortifying! 

 Did that really just happen or is my mind playing ticks one me? Wolves are by nature not modest creatures, but Dylan has never been included in pack life and I'm not sure if she has even seen a naked man before. 

 F*ck, what the hell was I thinking? Is that really the best that I could come up with? Make a fool out of myself while scaring the sh*t out of her and pleading for her to listen to me. 

 To top it off, now I'm even hallucinating. There's no way I heard that, right? I tried asking Dane, but he was pissed off and wouldn't respond to me. He was so angry, I could feel it radiating through him like an intense pressure in my mind. I'm sure if it was possible for us to never speak again, he would be okay with that.

 I didn't have time to deal with anything else right now. We needed to get as far away from where Dylan's wolf was and try to catch the scent of the trespasser. Since someone wasn't speaking to me, I was trying to come up wit a plan.

 Only now did I realize that Dane was already ahead of me on that front. Dane had already been trying to cover Dylan's scent by running through small patches of flowers that smelled like rotting food. He didn't run through them in full, but a few steps here and there to grab their scent and mask Dylan's.

 The moment I figured it out I heard him mumble, "imbecile!" Fine, let him call me names if he wants. I'm just glad that one of us was already trying to figure out a way to keep her out of this.

 Not once had I been able to keep her out of trouble, and it killed me when ever I caught her giving me those looks. At first they had looked hopeful when we were younger and in grade school. Then they turned to fear as we became teens and all started shifting and moving into our predestined roles.

 But the looks that killed me the most were the recent ones, the look of total loathing. It didn't matter to me what everyone else said or thought of me. They all wanted to be near me to get close to my Uncle and because they thought I had some type of power.

 Little did they know, that I was his least valuable possession. The only person I wanted to be around was probably the last person on this planet who wants anything to do with me.

 "That's what you deserve," Dane bit out. It hurt because it was true, but I knew that if I didn't follow his orders, he would get someone else to do something probably much worse.

 Dane knew that just as well as I did, but he was just angry. Angry at me, at himself, and at my Uncle. Lately, it feels like something has been bothering him and the only way he knows how to deal with it, is by letting out his frustrations on me.

 I didn't blame him, but right now I needed to get my head in the game, and make sure that we were on the same team.

 Just as Dane ran through another little patch of those stinky a** flowers, we picked up the other scent we had been following. It seems that the intruder had ran through here and as Dane slowed down to track it, he saw that someone else had run through the same flowers we just had.

 It seems that this wolf was smarter than we thought. Either he has been here before and knew which way to go, or he was familiar with ways to mask his scent. 

 Either option wasn't good, but I figured we were far enough away to call the patrol and the guards over. Dane linked with the wolf of the patrol leader and howled loudly to let them know where we were.

 Within a few minutes, four large wolves bounded into the area next to me. None of us were bigger than my Uncle's beast, but he was only an inch or two taller than Dane. 

 I knew that this bothered him, so I instructed Dane to keep his distance. "Shift," my uncle commanded to us all. He was the only one who could link with more than one wolf at a time and I knew he wanted me to tell them all what I found at once.

 We all shifted and I explained to them that as I was patrolling the area I came across the scent we had been looking for, but that it had zigzagged through the area. 

 "That must be why you smell of trash," the patrol leader said as he tried to inconspicuously take a step back. My uncle glanced in his direction and he paused in his obvious retreat.

 "If he is smart enough to run through those damn flowers, then he is definitely here with an ulterior motive. This is no accidental trespass, this is a deliberate breach."

 The red gleam in my uncle's eyes let me know that he wouldn't let this go until there was buckets of blood flowing.. He walked slowly around the little area we stood in and sniffed the air.

 None of us moved or spoke. After a moment, he ordered, "I want a twenty-four hour patrol in this region until we catch the intruder. Under no exception should this area be left unprotected.

 "You two," he said as he pointed at the no named omega guards, "you two will stay here until the next shift comes to relieve you." They immediately shifted and each one went out in opposite direction to go patrol the area.

 With only the three of us now, my uncle laid out his real plan. "Captain, I want wolfsbane planted along the border and braids of silver wire spooled around the bottoms of every other tree in that same area."

 Shock was written on the captain's face, but I had been expecting something along those lines. While it sounded a little crazy since it would be harmful to both resident and intruder, both he and I knew better than to question the Alpha. 

 "I will get this done immediately Alpha," the captain replied before bowing his head and shifting into his wolf. The big chocolate colored wolf ran off in the direction they had come from within seconds.

 Now that it was just my Uncle and I left, I stood patiently still and waited to see how the rest of this night would play out. Dane sent out a small wave of comfort to me trying to encourage me to be strong.

 My uncle seemed to be discussing something with his beast because I could see flashes of red spark here and there as he paced back and forth. I knew better than to interrupt him or speak until being spoken to.

 The only thought that kept running through my head was why did she have to be out here tonight of all nights There hadn't been any sign of the intruder for days and the day we finally pick up their scent, she was out here to.

 Dane seemed to be just as worried as I was, but he was still angry with me and only acknowledged my thoughts but didn't commiserate with them. 

 The only sounds around us were the constant thumping of paws as the two wolves continued to patrol the area around us, and my uncle's steps in the soft grass.

 When he finally spoke to me, he didn't even bother to look at me, "what else happened out here tonight?"

 "Nothing, I came across the scent and then called the patrol to meet me while I followed it to trace it to the source."

 Not once did my eyes leave him as I spoke. I made sure neither my heart or me breathing gave anything away. I knew that if either sounded even the slightest bit off he would become suspicious.

 He was quiet again, but never stopped his pacing. As annoyed as I was getting, it really wasn't worth pissing him off any further. 

 When he was finally done speaking to his wolf or whoever it was he was linking with, he stopped right in front of me. Blue eyes that neared black stared at me with no feeling what so ever.

 It always used to hurt when I was younger by how cold he was to me when no one was around. There had never been any love in those eyes unless someone was around and I learned that it was nothing but show from a young age.

 You can't hurt someone you love, and though he may not have physically hurt me himself, he watched more times than he didn't while others carried out his orders.

 "Do you have clothes with you," he asked out of no where and I was so thrown off by his sudden shift, I stumbled over my words like an idiot.

"Uh, no I uh I mean yes, yes but not on me, in my pack near the guard station a few miles back."

 He looked annoyed, but not angry. It seemed like he was thinking something over and finally made up his mind.

 "We need to go and check the closest houses to this area. If the intruder's scent is near their homes it could be that they are either working with someone in the pack or looking for them."

 Dane and I were both trying to figure out who lived closest to this area when he started walking in a different direction than the captain ran off in.

 "I have my guards bringing clothes for the both of us, they will meet us on the beach." While it wasn't an invitation I knew I would be stuck with him until he chose to let me leave.

 As we approached the beach I saw two of my uncle's guards there with two large bundles. We changed and instead of leaving us they followed along as we headed to the old guard area.

 I had forgotten that some of the pack lived out here, but when we approached one of the smaller houses I caught the sweet floral scent of Dylan. My head swung to my uncle who was already watching me with a sick grin on his face.

"Don't do anything stupid boy, or this night will not end well."