Found

SETH

Seth King was fuming. He marched into the pack house and headed straight for the alpha’s meeting chambers. He flung the door open and the weary looks of his inner circle met him when he did.

“How the hell did they get past the perimeter?” he thundered.

All the men standing before him bowed their heads, averting their eyes, unable to face their alpha.

An angry werewolf was always something to be wary of, but when it was an alpha you would have to be stupid not to be careful.

“There must be a weak spot somewhere on our patrols.” Nate, his beta, was the first who dared to speak.

“Then find it.” Seth’s voice was calmer now, but barely.

Those rogue bastards had almost harmed a human on his territory, and that was something he could not allow.

In addition to protecting the pack, the alpha was also responsible for the protection of all humans, or other creatures, within his territory.

Other werewolves trespassing and trying to hurt people on his turf was unacceptable.

“As chief of guard, the task of finding the weak spot falls on you, Thatcher.” He turned to the man in question and fixed his darkened eyes on him.

“Yes, my alpha,” the older man replied gravely.

“You are dismissed.”

The man got up, moving quickly out of the room so he could get to the task at hand.

“The two of you know what to do. Join the patrol, make sure they’re gone.” He turned to look at the two remaining men: his beta and his third in command.

“I’m going back to make sure she is still safe.”

The two men glanced at each other, exchanging knowing looks, but they said nothing, and they too departed to fulfill their task.

As soon as he was alone, Seth slammed a fist down on the round table in the center of the room, with a growl, before taking a steadying breath.

Then he proceeded to walk out to the back of the pack house, where part of the wall was filled with lockers.

He found an empty one and quickly undressed, placing his clothes in the locker and closing it firmly.

He then took off running at top speed, leapt through the air, and in a shudder that lasted no more than a second, he was no longer man, but wolf.

His paws were digging into the ground, pushing him forward, back to where he’d left the human woman.

He stayed in the shadows, making sure he wouldn’t be seen if someone happened to be out for a late-night stroll.

Being in wolf form made it easier to scent whatever he was looking for, his already preternaturally heightened senses even stronger then.

He sniffed the air, making sure the stench of the offending werewolves was nowhere to be smelled.

He created a perimeter around the building, which he then ran until—using the pack mind-link—his beta’s voice sounded in his head.

“All clear, Alpha. Perimeters secure, no sign of the rogues.”

He let out a relieved sigh before heading back to the pack house after a last glance up at her building.

***

Seth was anxious the whole day following the ordeal. No one was supposed to be able to pass his borders, especially not getting as far as the two rogues had gotten.

He headed to his meeting chamber for the daily briefing.

This morning the pack lawyer was there too, along with the beta and third and the chief of guard. Once Seth was seated, the rest of the men sat down too.

“I call this meeting to order,” Seth said, the authority of an alpha seeping into every word.

“There was a breech last night,” Nate began.

“Two rogues entered our perimeters,” Gabriel, his third in command continued.

“The weak spot has been located and secured. Overall security has also been increased and will be so for the next few weeks in case they or others try to cross the perimeter again,” Thatcher finished.

He was angry at himself for letting someone slip past the guards. As chief of guard it was a blow to his pride.

This was the sort of thing that could have put his position in the pack in question if he weren’t as respected and trusted as he was.

“Good. The human is safe too,” Seth said as he leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, and his arms on the armrests.

“We also have to talk about these attacks. It’s getting worse and closer to the perimeter too—though they keep skirting the line, always just out of our reach.” The frustration they all felt was evident in Nate’s voice.

“What shall we do, Alpha?” Gabriel asked, and all eyes were now on Seth.

A crease formed between his brows as he considered his answer carefully.

“We wait. Hopefully they’ll get tired and move on to new hunting grounds. If we go after them we risk being driven over to Alpha Caleb’s territory, and that will mean war.”

So it was agreed that they would wait and bide their time and hope that whoever it was out there either got close enough so they could attack and eliminate the threat, or simply left.

After the meeting, the group disbanded to tend to their individual duties—all except for Nate, who lingered with Seth after the others left.

“Out with it,” Seth said after seeing the look on his beta’s face.

“Gabriel and I were talking,” he began.

Seth lifted a questioning eyebrow. “And?”

“Well, is it her?” he asked finally.

Seth let out a soft gust of air and dragged a hand across his face.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

***

Later that day, Seth scented her to a bookstore where it turned out she worked.

It had been easy considering his close encounter with her the night before. Her vanilla-and-honey scent was still clear in his mind.

He stayed close, watching her curiously. When she walked home he followed her, all his keen senses on high alert in case of more intruders.

Her obvious discomfort and nerves made him want to step out of the shadows and comfort her, smooth the crease between her brows, and tell her she was safe now.

He waited until she was safely home, like he had the previous night, before he wandered back to the pack house wondering how this human had captured his attention so completely.

He had had to save others before her, but no one had ever made him feel this protective before.

***

He kept watching her the following week, whenever he had some time to spare.

He told himself he was just making sure she was doing okay after such a traumatizing experience—that he would do it for any other human too.

But he was suspecting, as his beta and third did, that there was more to it than that.

***

The following Friday, a few nomad vampires were passing through town. They’d applied for permission and he had granted it as long as they promised not to feed on his land.

It had resulted in Seth feeling more and more restless, and when the day finally arrived, he found himself watching her even more closely.

He’d gone to her work and kept watch from a safe distance and followed her home as she went in to collect what had turned out to be a book before her walk led them to the park.

There she sat reading on a bench, completely lost in what she was doing.

He knew that if he looked closer at his behavior he would come off as a complete creep. He was literally stalking this woman at this point.

If she would have known he had been following her, he was sure she would be freaked out.

Seth sniffed the air and got a whiff of the vampires, and his body went rigid for a moment and his eyes darted to the reading woman. They were close.

He strolled down the path—forcing himself not to run—positioning himself on the bench opposite her, ready to defend her if he had to.

He pulled out his phone to check if Nate had texted him again, as the mind-link only worked when they were in wolf form.

Texting was their means of long-distance communication when they were in human form.

He heard her heartbeat quicken and he looked at her only to find her looking right back at him, a trace of wonder and curiosity clear in those blue eyes of hers.

When she realized she’d been caught, she quickly looked down and Seth saw a hint of a blush creep up in her cheeks. He stifled a smile before returning his attention to his phone.

Nate was giving him updates on the vampires. They had several guards tailing them, making sure they didn’t try anything stupid.

Apparently they had sentimental attachments to Pinewood Valley from before the area belonged to the werewolves of the King Pack.

They’d stopped at a few sites, but thankfully thirty minutes later he got a text that they were out of his territory again.

During these thirty minutes, Seth had made a decision. There was only one way to find out if his suspicions were true, and now was as good a time as any to do so.

He stood up and walked hesitantly toward the woman on the other bench and then he sat down next to her.