Fifty–One
Alexander’s POV
The meeting with my men who had gone with me to the Dark Crescent pack after we came back basically consisted of 20 percent talking and 80 percent of me pacing the room. My fingers found my hair one too many times in the process and I was sure I ended up looking more like my wolf than my wolf himself.
The idea of Alpha Joe being the villain had fizzled down as quickly as it came up and it wasn’t at all because I had seen him all lovey–dovey with his family. The motive was weak. Joe would not dare come against our pack. His pack is simply too weak. They’ve always clung to us, done us favors to get on our good side.
Joe himself was also super meek whenever he had to be in the presence of my father because he knew that should there be a war or uprising, his pack could not stand against us and would survive better under our protection. And now that there was a new Alpha of the Red Moon pack who had also happened to lose his mate to some kidnapper, he wanted to get on his good side by pledging to help find her.
Except he was helping someone, it really couldn’t be him. Even Isabella’s possession that was found in the pack was placed so sloppily that it had been obvious that it had been meant to be found.
The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was why anyone would want to frame Joe in particular. Or could it be that
Dividing into pages now
Fifty–One
288 Vouchers
someone knew that I was going to be at Dark Crescent pack and wanted to somehow throw me off…lead me astray. But who? Who on earth was the spy?! I scoffed, it’s not like I have any leads that they could throw me off and it frustrated the hell out of me!
How could I be so incompetent?! It has been a week. A whole week! No clues, no leads, nothing! And now a handkerchief pops up out of nowhere with no real information except for the fact that it obviously belonged to my mate.
“Are you going to stop with the pacing and tell us what’s on your mind at least?” Caleb finally said, breaking into my thoughts, and frankly, if I had been expecting a distraction, I definitely wasn’t surprised by who it came from and the carefree way in which he said it.
While the other two would have been too scared to address me like that and Mason, too considerate, Caleb had never been the one to pay attention to things like that.
I turned to them. Two tensed, Mason shot Caleb a glare before looking back at me, concern swimming in his eyes while Caleb just sat there and then offered me a shrug as if to say, ‘Well, you know I’m not wrong‘.
“Why haven’t we found her?” I whispered and I saw Caleb’s shoulders finally relax as something like pity washed over his face. My jaw ticked at that. I did not want to be pitied. I wanted a solution and when my friends began to walk towards me, I held up my hand to stop them.
“It’s been a week. Are we really so incompetent or are they just too good? I can’t leave the pack to find her for myself because it would put the pack in danger and…and I cannot put my
pack in danger. It’s my lifelong responsibility to protect my pack, one that has been passed down through generations of my family. Long story short, I have to be here. The rest of you don’t. We have over a hundred able men, including trackers and–fighters that have claimed to be looking. I have sent out people and there is still no result. Is this a joke to everyone? Does no one else care?!” I yelled out. “I’m meant to just accept that she’s gone forever?”
“Alexander…” Mason started towards me once again but once again, I held up my hand to him.
“I’m going to find Blake,” I announced before leaving the four of them completely frazzled, letting the door slam behind me. Linking Blake I asked him where he was and when he
answered that he was in his suite, I made my way there, taking the steps two at a time.
Not even bothering to knock, I burst inside. He was expecting me anyway so I guess that could excuse my rudeness a bit. Not that I cared at all right now though.
Blake came out of his bedroom and raised a brow at my appearance. I definitely looked as crazed as I imagined I did.
“Give me the keys to Isabella’s apartment.”
He spared me a look and then without another word, he went back into his bedroom and when he came out again, he had the keys in his hand. It was the spare keys that we had gotten from the front desk at the reception of her building because the main one was probably with her and I had Blake
confiscate this one because I didn’t want anyone else gaining
access.
Blake eved me curiously, “What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just want to…” Be close to her scent because I feel like I’ve been starved of it and a second longer and I’ll lose my mind. “…look around for any clues,” I said instead and Blake nodded. “Did anything happen while we were gone?”
Blake shook his head, “No. Have you met your father?”
“I’ll do that when I get back,” I said.
I hadn’t actually thought about it but I wasn’t changing my plans now and there was also a part of me that resented reporting anything to my dad when I had full responsibility over the affairs of the pack now. I wasn’t his Beta or something.
I was the Alpha and it hurt my pride to have to still be babied. It was like he didn’t trust me to do anything on my own yet and I was still nursing the bruise of him making that decision for the ball by himself. The same ball that led to Isabella’s disappearance.
My fist balled up at my side and if the keys in my hand were a living thing, I’d have strangled it to death at that point. I made my way to the door when Blake called me that.
“Alexander?”
I turned my head slightly, urging him to speak.
“Do you need help looking for clues?”
“Look somewhere else,” I said before grabbing the door handle and slamming it on my way out.
I got into my car and luckily the roads were free because my anticipation had me speeding down the road. You’d think I
was going to meet Isabella herself and not just her cold, dark, empty apartment.
Immediately that thought entered my mind, it felt like a
bucket of ice water had been poured on my head. It was like a rude awakening and I realized that I had indeed been deluding myself that I was going to meet her… in person. My jaw hardened and my fingers tightened on the wheel as I kept driving until I pulled up at the building.
I came down and without paying attention to anybody, walked straight to the elevator and luckily no one bothered me either. I guess I looked as unapproachable as I wanted to be.
Getting to her floor, I walked straight to the end of the hall
where her flat was, and on getting to her door, I was met with something that made me stop short. The door was open. Not wide open so that it was obvious, but like it had been pushed close but didn’t click shut and whoever tried to close it hadn’t
noticed.
My first thought was that Isabella had somehow returned and I burst into the room, checking every room and every nook only to get completely deflated when she was nowhere to be found and that was when I smelt it. In her room. A foul scent that made my stomach churn and my blood boil at the same time.
Someone had been here and it hadn’t been Isabella. It wasn’t the scent of any of my men either because this person reeked like the rogue that he was.
Whoever it was had taken his time not to cause a real mess but I had been here after Isabella went missing and now that I
was looking, I could notice a few things that were out of place since then. Could it be that the hanky that had been found at Dark Crescent pack wasn’t taken from Isabella herself but from her room by whoever had come into this place?
I went round the house once more, doing exactly what I had lied that I was coming here to do: look for clues. And I did find one. It was a crest and it belonged to no one else but my rogue twin…or at least one of his men.
Growling so loud, I slammed the object into the wall, driving my hand through the hardwood.
Fuck you, Antonio.
