Her Pack by Tamara White

Chapter Twenty-One

Vivienne is waitingfor me at the beginning of her path when I walk up to her beautiful home. It's nestled a bit further in among the trees unlike the rest of the pack homes. Eli told me it was a strategic decision, something that his ancestor had done shortly after being cleansed.

He chose a spot that would have trees that would grow closely together and provide an extra level of security for whatever Alpha was to live in it after him. It's now only got one entrance, and you have to follow the path to get to the actual house itself. It's also what makes it such an impenetrable place to break into or break out of.

Vivienne smiles at me, and encases me in a hug once I reach her. It's amazing how when I first met her, I was scared of her and her intentions but now, I know she only wants what's best for me, her son, and her pack.

I relax into her arms, only pulling away when she does. "I'm so glad you got some rest, Dani. You looked a little worse for wear yesterday. Are you feeling better today?" She questions in concern, her eyes raking over me.

I got dressed pretty quick once we were ready to head over here but I didn't bother with brushing my hair, something I'm slightly regretting. I think I was just too eager to find out where Luke is and actually be able to end this. I probably look like I have a rats nest up there. I grin up at her. "I'm more than okay. Well rested and fed." I glance back at two of my mates. "Not that I had much of a choice," I mutter their way.

Cam and Nate just smirk. Vivienne chuckles softly. "I would expect nothing less from mates as loyal as yours. They take their duty of care for their Queen very seriously, and making sure you're healthy is one of those many things they are tasked with. Just accept it. No point in trying to argue when you won't win."

That's what she thinks. I reckon I can win if I really put my mind to it, but I understand their need to see me healthy. It's something that I want too. So there's really not much point arguing it.

"How are Aiden and Anthony doing today? Have you seen them yet?"

She places an arm around my shoulders and guides me up the path and into her home. "I dropped in on them this morning. They are well rested and have been fed a hearty breakfast. I also took the liberty of providing the hunter with a laptop so he could start in his research for you. Hopefully when you get down there, he might have news on Luke's whereabouts. Hell, I would settle for just the city he's in. I could send scouts out then and get an accurate location for us."

"Wait, is that wise to give him access to a laptop? Couldn't he alert Luke to what we're doing? Or tell others of his kind where we are?" It sounds paranoid when I say it aloud, but I'm unable to hide my fear. Having one hunter on pack territory is one thing, having others, well I don't think any of us are ready to deal with that.

She gives me a cheeky grin. "Oh, Dani, you really don't know much about me, do you? If that boy tries to do anything but track down Luke, I'll be alerted immediately. Nothing goes on in my pack without me knowing about it."

"Really? You have people who could do that? Keep a track of what he's doing and actually understand it? I thought wolves didn't do much outside of pack structure except school, or the things that are needed to maintain business fronts. From what I've seen, none of you leave your packs to be in the human world."

She scoffs. "That may be true of the other packs, but I like my ties to the humans. It's how I've kept apprised of what the other packs are doing. You know the things humans have made in the past few years, the technology they've created. I could spy on each of the packs by hiring people to hack into drones, or satellites, and many of them would be none the wiser of what was happening simply because they don't comprehend most of it. It's always fascinated me that no one has thought of the possibilities. It's like once their children have graduated, they simply blend back into the woods as if they never left in the first place."

"Hey, that's not true!" Nate grumbles from behind me. "We're just as progressive as you are!"

Vivienne pauses before the basement door, and throws a questioning glance his way. "Really? So if Aiden had of come back to your place, you would have been able to have a human doctor look after him?" Nate remains silent, because obviously that's not true. "And you have people in your pack capable of hacking into various government sites to ensure we haven't been exposed?" Again he remains quiet. "And what about having a pack member or two that live out in the human world to keep you all up to date on the current technology, including advancements to blood tests capable of detecting DNA other than human? No, you don't have those things because you've been sheltered by Luke," she goes on to explain. "Monique was well on the way to having every pack embrace humans before her daughter took over then when shit hit the fan, and Blair was forced to go on the run, everything Monique had been working for fell apart. So you all stayed in the dark, unable to reunite with the world the way you should have."

"Huh, you're right." Nate remarks, his thoughts flashing across his face. "I mean my dad has tried to teach me what it means to mingle with human kind, and how we can transition into their world if we so please, but it's not been openly encouraged for everyone of the pack," he points out, glancing over at Cam. "It's only ever been with us Alphas that he's discussed the possibility of working alongside humans in the future. I guess I thought it was for some other reason, I didn't realize Luke was behind that too."

"Well, he wasn't directly but would you really want to be the one to tell a man like Luke that you are thinking about leaving your pack and living with humans? No, he made sure he was feared enough that that would never be an issue." Vivienne gives my shoulder a squeeze and lets go of me. "As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I know you five have better things to do. I'll be going out and checking on Jason's pack with the rest of your mates, but if you need me, send one of the men to find me. I won't be too far."

"Thanks Vivienne." She gives me a small smile and takes her leave. Cam, Nate, Jake, and Rick each wait for me to open the door and go down to the basement. Each of the men follow after me, and I'm kind of glad that the others decided to help Jason check on his pack today. It was extremely cramped down here last night and I don't want Aiden overwhelmed. I want him to help us to find answers. Not just about Luke, but I'm hoping maybe I can convince Aiden to help me find Jason's mom. Or at least a clue of where she could be being held.

Cam wanted to come, well because it's his grandfather, and I wanted Nate here. It felt right to have the two of them stay behind and well, Jake and Rick had no choice but to come with me, or stay on bed rest. They’ve been over doing it with their guarding me. I know they need more time to rest but the stubborn asses refuse to stay home and get the rest they need. Instead, they're following me like a bad smell.

As I descend the stairs, I hear the tell tale clicking of someone typing extremely fast on a keyboard. When I finally catch sight of Aiden in his cell, I pause, a little concerned by the intense expression he's displaying while hitting the keys on the laptop. He's got a few empty cans of soda scattered around him, as well as discarded power bar wrappers.

"I thought Vivienne said she'd only given the laptop to him a few hours ago? This looks like he's been at it for days."

Anthony chuckles, hearing my whispered words. "He's only been that intense for just over an hour. Viv brought him that just after breakfast so he could 'focus'," Anthony rolls his eyes, and flops back on his mattress. "I wish she would have brought me some noise cancelling headphones too. Who knew hacking was so damn loud," he groans in annoyance.

"Really? It's that annoying?" I ask, curious. To me, it's not too bad but I guess if he's been listening to it for a while now, then I can understand why it would get on his nerves.

"Yeah, and if you think that's strange, you should have seen the sexual way he looked at that thing. Let's just say, I am glad I'm not a piece of technology. He looked at that laptop like a man being reunited with his long lost lover."

I glance over at Aiden with concern. I hope whoever Vivienne has monitoring Aiden's comings and goings online is good because he looks like a man on a mission. He hasn't even stopped to acknowledge that we're in the room.

"How long do you think he'll take?" I ask Anthony, trying to be friendly.

He shrugs. "I'm not sure. It only took him a few hours to find you when we were searching for your location, so give him a couple of hours, and then you'll be off on your way to kill the big bad wolf and become Queen."

"Why aren't you more upset by this?!" Cam's sudden angry tone surprises me. His gaze is fixed on his grandfather though, not me. "Dad is your son. I want him dead because of all the trauma he has inflicted on me and our family, but that doesn't mean it will be fucking easy for me. You're sitting there, almost laughing it off like it's nothing more than another day. I thought at the very least you would want to find a way to save him."

Anthony watches Cam berate him, all the time his eyes on his grandson are filled with sympathy. Anthony rises to his feet and comes as close to the cage as he can. "Dear boy, I've had a long time to be upset. And a long time to realize some times there is nothing you can do to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. It kills a part of my soul that I am helping a wolf hunter and the future Queen to find my son and kill him but I know there is no other way. If we let him live, maybe find a way to imprison him, then we will always have people who are living in fear of whether he will escape. Whether he will once again hurt the people we love. The only way our kind will ever live in peace is to kill the person responsible for creating such terror in the first place."

He sighs, and drops back on his mattress, refusing to look at his grandson. "When it gets hard to remember why I'm doing this, I think about what your father did to your nan, how he forced me out of the packs. If I had of been around, I could have stopped what happened to you. I could have helped you challenge your father long before he had the chance to do as much damage he did. But, I can't so I am focusing on the future. I want to be there for you and your brothers. To show you all that your father's way is not the only way."

Cam seems to struggle with his grandfathers words. I watch him work through his thoughts, trying to settle the war in his mind that tells him it's okay for his father to die for his crimes. It makes me wonder just how conflicted I'm supposed to feel? I mean, it's my mate's father I have to kill. Sure, like Anthony said, I could always find a way to imprison him, but it just doesn't seem possible. He was imprisoned in Tim's pack for not even a full week when he escaped with the help of guards loyal to him.

But how should I feel about taking someone's life? I enjoyed killing Sonja, because of the pain she had put me through, and her betrayal cut really deep. I should have been able to depend on her as an Elder, but she was in Luke's pocket the whole time. Killing her after she shot Eli, it was almost thrilling, defending my mate in such a way. But her death is also why I feel unclean.

"AH! SON OF A COCK SUCKING SON OF A BITCH!"

I'm startled by the sudden outcry from Aiden, that I let out a small yelp. Nate is at my side in an instant.

"How the fuck is he doing this? this is not possible for someone so unsophisticated!" Aiden grumbles in frustration.

When my heart settles, I look over at him in his cell. "Is everything okay?" I ask, my voice a little breathy from being so startled.

Aiden kicks out at the empty cans, the noise echoing in the basement. "No, it's not okay. Luke is bouncing his cell signal off multiple different relay towers, and then piggy backing them off even more. Even the numbers his sons have are doing the exact same thing. The closest signals I've been able to isolate are from a few towns over, but when I tried to dissect it, it said it was in Australia, then when I tried again, it said they were all at Disneyland. Every time I dig deeper, I'm given yet another location. It's like the moment I'm given a location that looks even remotely viable for his hideout, he's got it programmed to bounce again and again."

I simply stare at him, feeling a little out of my depths. "Okay...for those of us who don't speak computer, what does that mean?"

Aiden puts the laptop to the side and stares me in the eyes. "It means, that he's definitely at one of those locations but there is no idea to tell which one it is without virtually dissecting layers of code so I can find the source of the bounce. Normally I would have assumed the first place that was a few towns over would have been the logical choice, but he is smarter than to have it pop up as the first location. But it's worse than me just digging through the code until I find the right location. You see to have such intricate measures in place, Luke knows that someone is looking for him through the system. Which means you have a mole."

"What?" Nate is immediately on alert. "What do you mean by a mole? No one here, and I mean no one, would dare betray their Alpha Queen."

While I appreciate Nate's declaration, I know that's not exactly true. Luke has followers everywhere. Just because a majority of Vivienne's pack is happy to have me as their Queen, doesn't mean they all are.

Aiden scoffs, his gaze going to my mate. "Well, I suggest you double check your information because Anthony and I are the only ones here that are aware of the true extent of my hacking abilities or that we intended to try and track him and his sons down by using their phones. It seems awfully coincidental that Luke knows how to counter attack for the type of tracking I was planning to use." He pauses, to look at everyone in the room, making it clear just how serious that information is. "The only people who knew I was going to track them, was your Queen, each of her mates, the pack Alpha, and the enforcers. Which means someone in your inner circle has told Luke that you have a hacker here, or he has someone working close by to hear the information."

Ah fuck, that’s not the news any one of us needed to hear. Rather than discuss it here, without the rest of my mates, I bury it to the back of my mind to be discussed later.

"Will you still be able to find his location?"

Aiden gives me a worried look. "I can, but not as quick as I promised. Without him bouncing his location off different towers, I could have found him within a few hours at the most. But this, this could take weeks or even months to break down each level of code on the signals to work out if it's a true signal or a dummy one. I may be able to enlist some online help, to speed the process up and find the original source location."

My shoulders slump in defeat. Weeks. Weeks to find Luke.

Something tells me we won't have that long to find him before he'll find us. My birthday is almost here and I can't fight the gut feeling that he will attack before I turn eighteen. Something tells me he won't want me to reach adulthood as a wolf. He may still wait it out until the anniversary of my mother's death, for some kind of sick gratification in killing two generations of Alpha Queen Heirs.

It's just one more motivator for me to go and get cleansed again. The rest of my mates may think they are protecting me, but it has to be done.

I clear my throat, trying not to let the future hold me back. "Jake, Rick, could you two please see to it that Anthony and Aiden are offered more suitable accommodation to stay in. Possibly a free pack home or a couple of rooms in a home that isn't too crowded?"

"What?!" Jake looks aghast that I would even make the suggestion. "You're really just going to set them free to do as they please?" His voice is filled with disbelief as he stares at me, no doubt wondering if I've lost my mind.

"I am giving them their freedom, Jake. They have more than earned that today with their words alone. But it is their actions in the future that I believe makes this decision more than necessary. I see no reason to treat them as prisoners when it is clear they want what we want. Luke gone from this earth. Now please, do as I ask."

Jake stares at me a little longer before turning and making his way up the stairs all the while grumbling under his breath about how naive women are. Rick, however, follows his mate, only pausing to give me a wink, his eyes filled with pride.

I turn my attention back to Aiden, offering him a warm smile. "Thank you for trying, even though we didn't get the results we wanted, I appreciate the effort you put forth. Once you are situated in a more comfortable place, I will make sure you have your weapons returned to you. I simply ask that you try not to wear them openly when you walk among other pack members. I would hate for there to be a misunderstanding and you get attacked because of it."

He nods, his eyes filled with warmth. "Thank you Alpha, I appreciate your kindness."

"You're welcome. Now, I will take my leave but my enforcers will be back to free you and help you to your new housing. If you happen to find anything on Luke in the meantime, please call for me."

I turn to leave when I remember what else I was going to ask him for. "Actually, I do have one more favor to ask you if you wouldn’t mind? It would earn you a favor from me as Alpha Queen."

"What is it?"

"My mate's mother is missing. She should have been where the pack was when you two revealed yourself to me. Is it possible to try and locate her too?"

Aiden hesitates. "I will need her full name, birth and married, last known phone number, social security number, last known address and a picture. Do you have all of those things?"

My face falls. "I don't have any of that. I don't even know his mother's name. And I would rather not mention the search unless we find something."

"I'll get it all for you by the end of the day," Nate says surprising me.

I turn to him with a relieved smile. "Thank you."

I'm glad he understands my need to keep this from Jason. Sure, I could have asked him and he would have gladly handed me everything if I could have helped find his mother, but the last thing I want is for him to be let down even more. If we find her, then we can tell Jason.