26. Voss

26

VOSS

I swept my night vision around the compound as everyone cheered my efforts. And I swear, every single part of me was on the lookout for her. I just knew that any second, she’d come swimming down that little makeshift river I dug out just so she could get to us. Yet, as the water flowed into the compound without impediment, I didn’t see her.

She didn’t come swimming up.

“Hey, we’ve got water!”

“Woo hoo!”

“Way to go, Alpha!”

“Yay, Alpha!”

“Alpha! Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!”

I felt people from both mine and Bexley’s packs patting me on the shoulder and congratulating me on a job well done. The rocks were inlaid into the four-foot trench I dug out with my bare hands. The fresh water bubbled over the rocks I inlaid from the rushing river, cutting across the compound as it headed toward a makeshift pool I dug out as well. The pups jumped into the water, splashing around while women and men alike filled their watering cans to go tend to their crops in the middle of the night. I couldn’t blame them, either. It's not like any of us were going to get any sleep, anyway.

I sure as hell wasn’t sleeping soundly until Bexley was back with us.

“Nice job,” Ronyn said as he came up to my side.

I wiped the dirt off my hands with a rag from my back pocket. “No more emergency mode for the compound?”

He shook his head. “We’ve been patrolling for the better part of two hours. There’s nothing.”

I jammed that fucking rag back into my back pocket. “Of course.”

“You know,” Dom said as he came up to my other side, “we could put out some traps. Trap some of the fish that make their way into this little area.”

One of the pups jumped out of the makeshift pool. “I got a salmon, Alpha! Look!”

I gave two thumbs up to the pup holding the fish over his head before I tucked my hands into my jeans’ pockets. “Let them fish for them in the water for now. It’s good hunting practice that we can keep an eye on.”

Ronyn snickered before he moved away from my side. “Yeah, especially since group hunts are gone for the foreseeable future.”

Like my Bexley.

Ronyn chastised me in groupthink. Don’t think like that. She’s stronger than you realize.

While the trench of water beneath the thick hedges and vines Ronyn crafted would keep our crops watered and our packs hydrated for the time being, it wasn’t a permanent solution. I slowly turned toward the pups that had yet to reach their shifterhood and I wondered if there would be a hunt for them after the winter months. Yes, it was only autumn. But this time of the year always passed quicker than usual. And by the time spring rolled around, we’d have a new group of fresh shifters ready and waiting for their first kill to initiate them into a wolf’s way of life.

Would we even be able to provide that stability for them in a few months’ time?

Will Bexley even be back with us in a few months’ time?

Yes, Dom and Ronyn said harshly together in groupthink, she will be.

And yet, I couldn’t smell her. Every time I sniffed the air, the smell of garlic and juniper filled my lungs to a point where I wanted to fucking barf. I mean, I got it. Protection, and all that. But the scents were so strong that any scent I wanted to pick out was obscured. I still couldn’t sense her, though. My body didn’t tingle with her presence nearby. My soul didn’t shift into place. There was nothing about my wolf or my human form that felt her in any way, and it killed me inside.

If Delilah laid a fucking finger on Bexley and she was hurt? Or worse?

I’d spend the rest of my life making that fucking bitch pay.

“Come on,” Dom said as he patted my shoulder. “Ronyn’s gathering his stealth operatives at the meeting house.”

I slowly turned toward the house on stilts that rose all the way up to just below the treetops. Perfectly concealed in the shadows with massive juniper leaves draping over it to cover its one vulnerable side, it gave a full view of our compound and the surrounding area. We didn’t feel the need to use it in a while. But as I watched Ronyn’s stealth operatives that he trained himself making their way swiftly up the steps, it jolted me back into the game.

I reached out and patted Dom’s hand on my shoulder. “Help the families get their kids bedded down. Then, come meet us.”

He squeezed my shoulder before moving from my side. “Keep your mind open so I can hear what’s going on until I get there.”

“Yep,” I said as I started toward the sniper’s house across the compound.

By the time I got up into the house, however, Ronyn already briefed his men. I didn’t like that, but I also knew that we were all working with the same stress. I wasn’t the only one that wanted Bexley back safe and sound, and all of us knew there was no time to waste.

So, I opened my mind to Ronyn’s barking voice as he stood there in front of his men that were jam-packed into that little studio apartment house thing we had.

“All right, one more time,” Ronyn said as his eyes scanned the room. I made sure my mind was open so that Dom could receive whatever information I took in. “Teams A and B: you’re responsible for aiding in the hunt for Alpha Bexley. Teams C and D: you’re to keep this compound and the pack safe from any intrusion that gets past Team A and B. While we’re hunting for Bexley and any track or trace of her, we’re also going to be keeping our senses peeled for any scout vampires that wrap back around to try and scout us out again. Anything that gets past us will be the responsibility of Teams C and D.”

“Yes, commander general,” his operatives said in unison.

Lieutenant Mac raised his hand. “What about those still training? Are they running with their assigned teams?”

Ronyn shook his head. “Those who are still training will continue to train with me on a daily basis until further notice.”

That kicked up a bit of a stink.

“That’ll put us down a few people.”

“Like you said, we need all of the help that we can get.”

“We can’t afford to be down people right now, especially if we are still keeping to teams and playing defense back here.”

“You heard your commander general, now hear your Alpha,” I said as I shoved my way through the crowd. I went to go stand beside Ronyn as the entire room fell silent with all eyes on me. “If you are training, like your commander general said, then you will continue to train. We will lose no one unnecessarily because you don’t know how to control yourselves when you’re angry. Understood?”

“Well,” Dom said as he finally managed to slip through the door and into the jam-packed room, “I suppose that shut everyone up.”

Ronyn and I slowly panned our gazes over to the man as a trickle of laughter filtered through the room. Leave it to Dom to find a way to make people laugh even in the direst of times. That cheeky little smirk of his followed him into the room before he came to stand at my other side. The three of us, just as it always was from the moment my father was slaughtered and I became Alpha.

Now all we needed was Bexley back.

“There anything you two wish to add?” Ronyn asked as he peered over at me and Dom.

I wanted to say so many things, and none of them more than the things I wanted to say to Bexley. Fucking hell, I should’ve spoken up sooner. I shouldn’t have given her such a hard damn time. I shouldn’t have kept my distance. I should have overwhelmed her. I should have told her how I felt. I should have said so many things to her while she was with us. And now, she was gone, and all I had were the thoughts I wanted to tell her floating around in my mind.

Focus, Voss, Dom said in groupthink.

I slowly looked over at him and drew in a deep breath before I nodded. “Everyone?”

Their attention fell on me as I cleared my throat and finally decided to fill them in.

“The vampire that killed my family took my mate,” I said.

“Our mate,” Dom said.

Ronyn simply nodded in agreement at my other side as wide eyes and dropped jaws slowly ricocheted around the room. I intentionally blocked out their groupthink because I knew their brains would swirl. I knew they’d have a million questions. And I wasn’t in a frame of mind to answer any of them.

“So,” I said before I drew in a deep breath, “that means I expect all of you to be at the mating ceremony when it takes place. Which means that none of you do anything reckless. You’ll listen to me, your commander general, and Dom. And you sure as hell won’t do any more, and certainly not any less, than exactly as you’re told.”

“Yes, Alpha!” the entire room chanted.

“Anything to add, Dom?” Ronyn asked.

Dom faced the crowd. “The healers are working on potions as we speak. Make sure you poke your head into the bath house from time to time. They’re going to load all of us down with different things to carry with us as they get things brewed and made.”

“Yes, Dominic!” the group chanted.

Ronyn rolled his shoulders back before he clapped his hands. “You have your orders. Dismissed.”

Groupthink came alive with commands from all of his lieutenants, and I quickly blocked that shit out. Everyone scurried to get out of the sniper’s nest, making their way quickly to their positions. And as I stood there in the middle of the little studio apartment on stilts that we converted into a sniper’s nest overlooking the compound, I drew in a deep breath.

“You good, Voss?” Dom asked.

I nodded toward him before I turned to Ronyn. With the meeting behind us and a plan of action in front of us, there was only one last thing to ask.

“All right, commander general. What’s our next move?”