Beyond The River

8.5 - Ryker

A short side chapter... enjoy!

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Ryker was the very definition of controlled rage.

He was standing at the edge of the shallow end of the river, not fifty yards from his own back door. He had been using his enhanced hearing and smell to try to detect that scent Evelyn and Jason had found. Upon inspection in the house, he found and memorized the scent, along with every tracker in the pack. This was the fourth time he had done this in the last four hours.

Not a single lead had turned up. No faint traces, no disturbed parts of the forest, no tracks. Nothing.

What enraged him more than that, however, was the lack of care his alpha had toward the incident. Martin hadn't bolstered patrols along the border, hadn't sent word to neighboring packs, hell, he hadn't even summoned a pack meeting to inform the rest of the pack about the incident.

He knew word would spread fast in the pack, so why let rumors remain that way?

The very brittle peace that Ryker had within himself was quickly diminishing the longer this situation remained unaddressed. Who knew what home would be targeted next.

He knew that he was taking his anger out on Evelyn. Although her rebellious attitude as of late did not help his situation. He wanted to be with his children, but he had to protect them first.

"Catch anything new, Beta?" Alpha Hunter asked from the dry section of the river behind him.

Ryker shook his head, closing his eyes in frustration. He turned to look back at the young alpha, "I haven't, Alpha." He replied, twisting the rest of his body to move back to the shore of the river.

Hunter put his hand out to give the beta a hand, to which he took with gratitude. The young alpha could sense the repressed anger in the beta, likely over the lack of control of the situation.

Once Ryker was pulled back onto dry land, he grabbed one of the last clean towels he'd found in the wrecked cabin off his clothesline, using it to dry his lower legs and feet. He struggled getting his socks back on, but once that was done, he slipped his hunting boots on and rose to his feet to look around the area once more.

The young alpha had not left his side since last night, and while he would have been normally comforted by the help from an alpha, this time it just felt strange. Hunter sighed, "Let's head back to the pack house."

Ryker snapped his head over to the alpha, surprised by the suggestion. Hunter continued, "We've been scanning the same patch of forest for at least six hours now. We're both exhausted, and we both have people we need to see at least once before the day ends."

"My people are fine without me there, Alpha. My arrival to the pack house will just be a distraction." Ryker replied. His desire to see his children was far stronger than he cared to admit, but he needed to resolve this issue first.

Hunter paused, turning to finally look Ryker in the eyes, "A distraction you say?" he started. "For them, or for you?" The young alpha let the beta absorb the question before continuing, "You have young children waiting for you. I have a mate waiting for me. I would prefer you to come with me, as I don't want my mate leaving the pack house to eventually come looking for me.

"I also don't want my beta to skin me alive for leaving his mate's father alone to do this investigation by himself." Ryker could do more than stare at the young alpha in shock. Hunter turned towards the direction of the pack house, "Now come on, Beta. I need someone to guide me back to the pack house."

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Ryker and Hunter made it back to the packhouse just after twelve o'clock. They had decided shifting and running off their frustrations to the pack house would be the best way to calm their wolves as much as possible.