Alpha Scarlett

Chapter 5

Scarlett's POV

With his hand on the small of my back, Raul leads me to where our server is directing us towards our table. It's a completely innocuous gesture, but given that my hormones are already in overdrive, I'm grateful that the majority of the people in this restaurant are humans. But I do see at least a few shifters who obviously smelled my arousal when Raul touched me, given the way they looked up from their meals or conversations with their knowing smirks. Hey, we're all wolves, it's not like we don't know what we all do in our free time.

After we sit down and have our drinks brought over, Raul turns to me, "Okay, Alpha. You said you wanted to talk Alpha to Alpha over dinner before we move on to the non-work portion of our evening." He says with sly smile. "So, what's going, Scarlett? Is everything okay?" He's in Alpha mode, but he still moves his hand over mine on the table.

I take a deep breath, "Well...what do you know about vampires?" I ask, causing him to practically choke on his drink.

"What?" He says, trying not to cough.

"Last night my patrols picked up on some strange scents that they didn't recognize. This morning, two of my trackers went out to follow the scent trails to see if they could find where it was coming from. And see if they could figure out what it was." I say looking at him, trying to gauge his reaction. I can hardly believe what I'm saying, so I want to see if he thinks I'm nuts.

"And they came back with...vampires?" He asks with a combination of suspicion and incredulity.

"Not at first, no. But after Cayden, Bree, Jacob and I went out to the northern border to meet with Channing and Tasha, Cayden and I went to see my parents and –"

"Wait, back up. How did we go from a strange scent at your border to talking to your parents about vampires?"

"Tasha and Channing explained to us that as they were tracking the scents, they just suddenly disappeared. They didn't slowly start to fade, like whomever¬¬¬-or whatever-was leaving the scent had gotten further away. They just disappeared." I explain.

"Okay, well, that's definitely weird, but there could be other explanations that aren't vampires." He said as though he's trying to convince himself more than me.

"True. But there were also footprints along with scent trails before they disappeared. Human footprints. Specifically, men's dress shoes." I say slowly, watching Raul's face. His bright blue eyes grow large and then narrow as he squeezes my hand, his still covering mine. He then inhales deeply.

"Okaaay. But are we still sure it's vampires?" It's a fair question – none of the wolf packs have seen or detected vampires in years. When my parents were still the Alpha and Luna of our pack, they, along with some other packs, did battle against a group of vampires. My brothers and I were still pretty young so we were in a safe room and don't remember much of it, but legend is that the battle went on for days, resulting in causalities on both sides before the wolf packs came out victorious, sending the vampires back to their crypts where they came from. There were those who believed that the losses suffered by the blood-suckers was so great that they didn't just go back into the shadows, they left the country. It seemed plausible considering that there have been nearly zero vampire sightings in the years since. Which made everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief, considering how strong, sneaky and duplicitous vampires are.

"That's why Cayden and I went to talk to my parents, since they were part of the battle against those vamps years ago. I wanted to get their take. We took them and Dax out to the border where the patrols first picked up the scents and then out to the place where Tasha and Channing lost it." I sigh and look Raul directly into this sapphire blue eyes. "My parents confirmed that the scents what they remember as vampires."

"Yeah, that's pretty damning. But to fair, that battle was also a long time ago. Is it possible that they don't exactly remember the scents?" I cock my head and just look at Raul like he doesn't know what he's talking about. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I heard it. There's no way your parents would ever forget that smell." I nod, silently. "Are you going to call in any of the other Alphas and Lunas from that time, to confirm?"

"No, but I did call Bruno Osbourne." I tell Raul.

"The bear shifter? The Clan Leader of the Silver Cave Clan?" Werewolves and bear shifters haven't always had the best of relationships, but the bears did help the wolves against the vampires all those years ago. While it didn't result in any alliances being signed, it did allow for a "you don't bother us, we don't bother you"-type of dynamic. And Leader Bruno is also of my parents' generation and was a part of that battle years ago."

I nod. "Yeah. I wanted to know if his clan has also picked up on any scents. I figured if they had, they may have a better handle on where the vamps were coming from." Wolves have excellent senses of smell, but a bear's sense of smell is superior. "They haven't, but he is going to reach out to some of the other bear clans as well as to some of the lone bears he knows to see if they've picked up anything. He and some of his clan are going to come by the pack tomorrow to confirm the scent and have a look around. I'm going to have him sit down with parents, Dax and my ranked members to hear more about their experiences and start talking next steps."

"That's a good idea. Have you reached out to any of the other wolf packs?" He asks.

"No, not yet." I say, doubting myself. "As of right now, you're the only wolf who know any of this beyond my parents, Cayden and Dax."

"Bree and Jacob don't know?"

"Not yet. I wanted to double and triple confirm my suspicions before spreading the news, pack-wide. Vampires lurking around pack grounds is no small deal and while it's not something to keep under wraps, I also don't want to create panic. And I want to have an idea of the best course of action before I alert other packs. I don't want to show up with a problem and no solution." I say, taking a big swig of my drink to give Raul some more time to let everything soak in.

He nods. "That's smart." He smiles at me. It's a smile that is equal parts impressed friendship and equal parts desirous. What can I say, the man loves seeing my own Alpha mind at work. "Would you mind if I stick around for the strategy meeting tomorrow? I don't want to impose, but if this is something that the packs need to act on –"

"I don't mind at all." I saw faster than I probably should have. Truth is, I'd like for him to spend the night so we can have some more raucous sexy time, but I'd also like to have him in on the meeting – another Alpha of this younger generation to have my back in case Leader Bruno or my parents have ideas that I don't agree with or don't think would be best for a more modern pack.

Raul smiles, lifting my hand to his mouth. "I'll always have your back". He says, knowing what I was thinking without my even having to say it. Damn, why couldn't the Moon Goddess above have mated me to Raul. Okay, okay, I know why...we're both Alphas, leaders of our packs, and neither of us are going to give that up. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about? Any more potential threats to our way of life to spring on me?"

I can't help but laugh. He's not wrong that the threat of vampires is scary as hell, but there's nothing more we can do about it right now. I've increased the patrols around the pack lands and have trackers on stand-by to go on the hunt if the patrols pick up on anything. We'll figure out more tomorrow when Leader Bruno arrives. "Well...I wouldn't mind ordering our dinner, eating quickly and returning home to my pack house so I can spring myself on you." I say slyly.

Raul motions for the server to come over and take our order. "Order the thing that is the easiest and fastest to make. We can come back here another time to enjoy the food." Making me laugh again. I'd probably laugh more if I had known just how little of it I'd be doing in the near future.

Chapter 6 coming soon.