Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jared

"I really don't like this, man. We should have talked to Lay- I mean, Lily, first. Since she's the alpha and all." Landon can't seem to stop twitching in the passenger seat, and it's getting on my nerves. He's flipping a guitar pick back and forth across his knuckles like a mobster in an old movie, and for some reason, seeing it in my peripheral vision is fucking annoying.

"Yeah, well, the point was to show her we can think for ourselves and not stress her out any more than she already is. We plan to be her mates, also alphas for the pack. Maybe she needs to know we can help her without having to be told." I keep my hands on the wheel and my eyes focused on the road. As much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, I'm just as nervous as he is. But one of us has to be calm.

"And you really think this is the way to show her how mature we are?"

"Look, I know we're taking a risk, but I think it's worth it. Even though we're her fated, we're still not officially mated to her, so we can still get on their territory without being noticed. Besides, no one really looked at us last night; all of their focus was on her and Leaf ." His name comes out as a snort, despite my honest attempt to be civil. "Even though I don't like the guy, he means a lot to her. He's basically all she's got from home—or whatever used to be home for her—and like it or not, she cares about him. So if he matters to her, he matters to me."

"Yeah, I know," Landon grumbles. "He's okay . And it could be useful to have a wizard around. Or a warlock, or whatever the male equivalent of a witch is. I just can't get over that he feels… off."

He hit the nail on the head with that one. "Right? Like, I can't explain it, but he's something different. It's weird."

"It's probably just because he's a wolf and a wizard."

"They're just called witches, Landon. Male or female. But I'm not so sure that's it."

"No, witches are definitely women. And if it's not the hybrid thing, what do you think it is?"

"Haven't you paid attention in pack history? Or are you just getting your information from novels? He's a witch. Regardless, he's never shifted before, right? I mean, as far as we know. He sure didn't seem to pretend not to be a wolf. And he seemed pretty shocked to find out he was the Montrose alpha's heir."

"Yeah, but that could just be the heir part. We don't know for sure he's never shifted."

"Just call it a hunch, then. All I know is, he doesn't feel like anyone else, and until I know why, I don't trust him." I ease down on the brake and roll up to the stop sign, checking carefully around the empty intersection as if a pack of wolves could come charging from any direction at any time.

Which, honestly, they could.

We cruise past the ‘Welcome to Montrose' sign on high alert. It takes several seconds to realize we're both holding our breath and bracing for attack, Landon scanning the right side of the road and me the left.

If some kind of ‘rival pack' alarm has gone off, the people on the street don't know. There aren't many; it's blustery and cold out despite the blue sky and sunshine. But they appear to just be going about their day, shopping and grabbing coffee like normal people.

I force myself to breathe out slowly and drive well within the speed limit. The last thing I need is for their local authorities to pull us over and see Smoky Falls on my driver's license.

"So… we're in. Now what?" Landon's knee is shaking, his hands playing drums on his lap to release the nervous energy.

"I guess we explore a bit? I hadn't really got past the point where we drive into town. We're just trying to find out where they took him."

"I mean, it could be anywhere. Do you think they have a peace officer building like we do, for tourists?"

"Why don't you try google?" I thrust my chin at the phone he tossed on the dashboard of my truck.

"Oh, good idea." He swipes the phone and taps on the screen while I continue our slow roll through town.

Honestly, it's a lot like Smoky Falls. Coffee shops, local restaurants, and gift shops with fall stuff in the windows, colorful fall wreaths on the lampposts. Growing up hearing how monstrous these people are, it's hard to make that idea fit with the reality of this average little town.

"Montrose, North Carolina, has a population of 1,873. Established in 1923, this small mountain town is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountain range-"

"Nestled?" I interrupt scornfully. "What the hell are you reading? We're supposed to be casing the joint, not learning fun facts."

"I was on their Wikipedia page." Landon rolls his eyes as if it were obvious.

"You know those aren't factual, right? Anyone could put whatever they want on there, including Pack Montrose. They can write whatever they want. How about some useful information? Where's the alpha's house? How big is the territory? Are there any old mines or factories they might keep someone prisoner in?" We've reached the end of the main street, so I turn left and rumble slowly down a residential street. My truck takes up far more than half of this road; I hope I don't come across another car before I can find a better place to blend in. Even though I know my truck is normal, it feels like I've got a neon sign over my head flashing ‘ENEMY!' for everyone to see. It's making me edgy.

Apparently, it's Landon's turn to be an asshole. "This isn't a detective novel, Jared. For all we know, they aren't even holding him prisoner. You know, he could be perfectly happy, reunited with his long-lost family." He goes back to his phone, scrolling for more info.

"You saw what he did when they took him away. I don't know everything, but I know that man didn't want to leave with them." His expression still haunts me, and I don't even like the guy.

"Well, they don't have a residence like Harridan House-"

"Who does? It's ridiculous."

Landon ignores my comment. "But there is a ‘Mayor's House' that's a historical landmark built in 1926. Apparently, the ‘mayor' still lives there to this day." His voice takes on a smug tone.

Know-it-all.

"That sounds like a place worth checking out. Is it in town?"

"Sort of. It's more on the outskirts, up on a hill that overlooks the town." Landon pinches and spreads his fingers over the screen. "There's only one road, like Harridan House. But it looks like there are some trails nearby. Fancy a hike?"

LANDON

After I guide Jared to the entrance of a convenient public trail system, we hop out of the truck and prepare to take a hike in hopes we'll get close to the ‘mayor's house' (aka alpha's house) of Montrose. The satellite images definitely make it look like the trails run close enough for us to slip into the woods and approach the grounds, but you never know.

Jared's antsy, moving around and shaking his hands out like he always does before a game. "Let's go already!" He grumbles.

I know him well enough that when he's nervous, he's kind of an ass, so I let it slide. I'm tucking away the stuff he left lying around in the truck that might give us away. "Give me your wallet."

He looks at me like I'm insane. "Why, are you internet shopping right now? What the hell, man?"

Pulling my own from my pocket, I show my intent by dropping it into the glove box. "If they catch us, our best bet is to pretend to be tourists who got lost on the trails. Smoky Falls ID will kind of ruin that effect, don't you think?"

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense." He pulls the wallet from the pocket of his sweats and hands it over. We've purposefully worn clothes with no ties to Smoky Falls, not even Jared's ubiquitous SFC hat. I've replaced it with a University of Tennessee hat, the signature orange 'T' a clear signal of where we're pretending to be from. Neither of us is exactly dressed for hiking, but general athletic gear is good enough.

With the branches bare, the dense forest is actually pretty bright right now. Sunlight streams in between the trees, and we crunch along over a blanket of fallen leaves. There's a small brook that follows along the winding trail, and regular markers to keep visitors headed in the right direction. Even though it's like Tennessee, it just feels like a different forest from home.

"So, do we have an actual plan?" Jared falls in step with me as I head down the trail, attempting to follow the route I noted in the photo.

"For now, we're hiking. We've parked at a public trailhead so that shouldn't draw any suspicion, and our story is just that we're UT students who came to town for the weekend to meet some girls we talked to online. They ghosted us, so we're exploring. Planning to head back to school tomorrow, staying at the Horsehead Inn in Bishop, that town we passed about twenty minutes back."

Jared's face is unreadable under the brim of his hat, but he sounds impressed. "You just came up with all of that in the last five minutes?"

"I was thinking on the drive here that we should have some kind of story. It's a small town, and we're not exactly your typical tourists. I assumed we'd stand out, so I came up with something to explain us being in town."

"That's smart, man. So what should our names be? We need to have a good cover story. Like James Bond." He rubs his hands together as if this suddenly became an exciting adventure.

"Okay, first of all, James Bond never had a cover story. Everyone knew who he was, and he told them if they asked. But we should keep it simple; you're Jared, I'm Landon. The more stuff you lie about, the harder it is to keep it all straight. We should change our last names, though, since they probably know the families from our pack."

"Right, right. What about Smith and Wesson?"

"What are we, the heirs to a gun manufacturer?" I snort. "Really subtle."

"Fine, Smith and Wes- ton , then. We're trying to keep it easy, after all."

I mull it over. "Landon Smith and Jared Weston. Works for me." We follow the left branch of the trail and start up a moderate hill. "If I'm reading it right, we'll meet another fork in about a half mile and the right branch will take us close to the house. It's hard to tell from the photo if there's a difference in elevation or not, but this area doesn't seem too mountainous, so maybe it won't be much."

"And what do we do if they have security or something?"

"It's a town of 1800, Jared. I doubt they have security."

"Harridan House has security," he counters.

"Yeah, because a couple of generations back, a witch cast a curse on our alpha. Plus, it's a much bigger property. It'd be weird if it didn't have security."

"Now that you mention it, isn't it weird that this town is so small? Smoky Falls is like four times the size."

I shrug. "I don't think so. We all have to stay on pack lands, and they don't remember. I guess the benefit of not being cursed is you get to live where you want."

"Oh yeah, you're right. Bastards."

He's silent for a few beats, and I split my focus between the screen in my hand and potential hazards on the trail.

"All jokes aside, do you think they'll recognize us?" Despite his bluster in the truck, I knew Jared was just as nervous as me.

Surprisingly, having a task to focus on has helped and I'm suddenly the calmer one. "There's no reason to assume the guys who came with the Montrose alpha are anywhere near this house right now. We don't even know if this is the place they took Derrek. So there's no point psyching ourselves out."

"Yeah, you're right. But what if they recognize our scent?"

"I thought about that. They may be able to tell that we're from a pack, but I don't think they'll know which pack. If it comes to it, we can say we're from a pack on the other side of Tennessee. I heard there's one south of Nashville. Franklin Pack. They won't know the difference."

"But what if-"

I stop walking and turn to face him. "Jared, you're over-thinking this. All we're doing right now is familiarizing ourselves with Montrose territory and—if we can—locating Derrek. Okay? We're not trying to confront anyone, or rescue Derrek right now. We're just here to get some information, see what we can find out, and leave."

He sighs. "I know, but I feel like we're going in unprepared. I'm used to having a list of plays, like plans for what to do."

I snort a laugh. "Bro, this was your idea. If you didn't have a plan at the beginning, how did you expect it to go?"

"You're right, it was stupid to just decide to drive out here on a whim. I just needed to feel like I was doing something. I'm not the type to sit around and talk, you know? I just get out and do . I'm a do er. And something needed to be done."

"I agree, and that's why we're here. So let's do something. Our plan is absolutely to not get caught, period. If something happens, we break and run directly for the truck; your phone will lead you back to it. It's better if we don't split up, but if we have to, we can meet there. Okay?"

He nods in agreement. "Okay. No getting caught. No splitting up. Back to home base."

I clap him on the back. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go."

We reach the next fork in a few minutes and continue toward the mayor's house. As we get closer, I'm suddenly more aware of every sound we make, my ears searching for something to indicate people nearby as well. The leaves crunching under our feet are too loud, echoing in the suddenly quiet forest. My heart rate picks up.

"Jared," I say in a low voice, stopping.

He turns to me with a confused expression. "Yeah?"

"I think it's right there." I point to my left, where a hill rises from the trail and prevents us from seeing beyond it.

"Are you sure?" His head tilts to the side. "It doesn't look like anything's up there besides more trees."

In response, I show him my phone, the map indicating a structure immediately to the left of the blue dot marking our location.

We both pause, listening for any sign of someone other than us. Besides the thudding of my heart, there's a light breeze stirring leaves and some distant animal sounds. No voices, cars—nothing.

Jared and I turn to each other, eyes locking. My hand trembles as I tuck my phone back in my pocket.

"Well, I guess this is it. Are you ready?" A steely determination crosses his face, the same look when he's about to head onto the field.

I nod, swallowing. "Yeah."

"Let's go."

And without another word, we turn and start picking our way up the hill.