Beyond The River

7

Several hours passed by, and the new mates were still on the couch, one now sleeping soundly in the other's lap. Jason was mindlessly stroking the hair on Evelyn's head as she slept. He had shut the television off an hour ago, and was now just resting in the peaceful room, his new mate's breathing the only sound in the quiet living room.

He looked out the window that faced the forest. A slight beam of sun had started poking through the trees. Sunrise was just on the brink, but then again, the season called for an early sunrise in this region. Spring and summer days typically started around four thirty or five in the morning. Jason felt a stirring in his mind, a link beginning to form once again. "You awake, Jace?" Hunter's voice sounded in his mind; a tiredness clearly heard as he spoke through the link. Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath, allowing his mind to focus on the link as he responded to his brother, his Alpha. "I'm awake, Hunter. The girls are fine." He answered the unspoken question before allowing his brother to start. "Good. And I take the lack of news throughout the night as it being uneventful?" "Yes", Jason answered, stopping the motion of his hand on Evelyn's head. "Should I assume the same should be said from your end?" he asked, the tiredness in his mind now seeping into the link. Hunter growled through the link, not at his brother, but in general annoyance, "Unfortunately, yes. I wish I could say otherwise, but other than the mess at the beta's home, there's no evidence anywhere else of an intruder on the pack lands."

"Do you think that this wasn't an intruder and maybe something more mystical?" Jason asked, unsure if there was another possibility of finding out what was happening. "I sure hope not." Hunter responded gravely, "If it is, we're not equipped to deal with anything mystical. Not here anyway." Jason knew that to be the case, but hearing it come from Hunter just made the thought much more unnerving.

Jason moved his thoughts to another possibility, "What about a rat? Does Alpha Martin think someone in his pack could be behind it?" "I'm not sure, based on how Martin's been acting I don't think so, but the level on incompetence in patrols can't be ruled out either.."

"Speaking of which," Jason began, his thoughts uncertain as he remembered Evelyn's brief tale of the first intruder the day they had arrived, "what are your thoughts on the potential rogue that was spotted five days ago?" Hunter took a minute to respond to that question, "The beta doesn't know if they are connected, but he also can't rule it out. Since he went to check out where Evelyn spotted it nearly a full day after it occurred, he doesn't know anything for certain."

Jason recalled the angry, sulking beta that spent most of his time around them when they arrived. He would only focus on the meetings and negotiations, but refused to speak much with himself or Hunter unless it was regarding specific requests.

"Unfortunately, I think we're the reason the Beta wasn't able to get out sooner to see for himself." Jason let the thought hang between them, his brother responding irritably, "Martin had just as much to do with it if that's the case, not sending his beta out to take care of a matter as serious as rouges just to keep us from snooping is not only stupid, but dangerous."

"I agree." Jason hesitated on his next thought, "The incompetence really makes me question our decision to offer an alliance." Hunter responded instantly, "I more than want to back out if the pack's Alpha really is as incompetent as we're observing. The only thing stopping that-"

"is our mates..." Jason and Hunter thought simultaneously. Both men could feel dread as they thought about their mate's opinions on breaking the alliance. Martin likely wouldn't let either of them go if the twins broke it off before taking the two females back to Joplin, and breaking it after could lead to war. Neither thought Martin's pack could do much in the way of that, but they wanted to avoid conflict with their mate's families if at all possible.