The Alpha Summit

Chapter Eighteen

Mel felt her fingers tremble around the paper. She felt the urge to crush it and pretend like it never happened, but that wouldn't solve anything. It seemed the rat was closer to them than it seemed. If they knew about the walk they went on earlier then they had to be somebody they knew. There just wasn't a way it could be somebody that wasn't close to them.

Mel wanted to sprint all the way to Achilles' office, but that would give the rat what they wanted. The rat and supposedly Alpha Wren were thriving off of the chaos they were creating. Mel would have to calmly walk back despite the unrest her body felt. She could feel her wolf on edge making sure that Mel was okay. Mel pushed her wolf back and stood up.

"It's okay, " she assures herself.

Mel shoved the note in her pocket and started to walk back. She couldn't help but consistently look over her shoulders. She couldn't sense anybody or smell anybody close by, but they had hidden their scents before. She felt paranoid as she speed-walked to the edge of the forest. She felt a bit relieved as she made her way back to the vicinity that was being searched.

Wolves nodded to her as she passed. She slightly acknowledged them with a small smile. Right now, she was nearly holding herself together so she couldn't offer much more than a smile. Her mind was spinning as she walked into the packhouse. Who could be watching them?

She noticed heads turn at her slightly fast pace, but it didn't seem to alarm anybody. Mel was just happy that she looked normal enough. The stairs were taken two at a time as her heartbeat started to slow.

She threw the door of the office open and Achilles' eyes snapped up.

"Mel? Are you okay?"

She slammed the door shut and shook her head furiously.

A growl passed Achilles' lips, "What happened?"

Mel dug into her pocket, "I went back to where we went for that walk and I found this by the river. The rat is a lot closer than we thought."

Achilles growled lowly as he picked the paper from her hands. It wasn't safe for Mel to be alone anymore. He wasn't even sure if it was safe for anybody other than themselves to know this new information. Achilles hated keeping secrets, but if it kept Mel safe he didn't care.

"This has to stay between us, " he stated. "And I don't want you going anywhere by yourself anymore."

Mel got closer to him, "I don't think I want to go anywhere by myself. Somebody is watching us and they want me. I just don't want anybody else to get hurt because of me."

Achilles shook his head as he grabbed Mel's hand, "You can't think like that. Our pack is ready for any attack they throw at us. And this isn't your fault."

Mel's wolf pushed forward in her mess of emotions and pushed herself into Achilles. She purred at the connection and Mel could feel herself relax a bit.

Achilles felt the tension leave his body at Mel's touch. He so badly wanted to protect her from everything. Right now, it felt like he couldn't trust anybody, not even his own pack. He was so paranoid, he didn't even feel safe telling his Beta.

He pulled back from Mel, "Who knew we were going on a walk?"

"Bentley and Jax clearly, but really anybody could have seen us. We didn't keep it a secret."

Achilles growled softly, "Bentley might hate me after this, but I need to make sure he's on our side."

Mel watched Achilles' eyes unfocus. He was mindlinking somebody, most likely Bentley.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"I'm going to have to use my Alpha tone on him and Jax."