Of Runt

23

David dances around looking rather pleased with himself. Ghost and I are looking over a map, hopefully we can find an underground tunnel or something. "You are progressing so well!" David cheers as he pops open a bottle of wine.

"Davis shut up!" I snap at him. He puts his hands up in surrender before pooring himself a cup.

"I don't think they would still be on pack lands Reagan. That is rather stupid of them," Ghost says making me groan.

"He has to be to be able to take away what ever sickness I have. Well, most of the sickness," I argue. Ghost lays his hands on the table with a sigh.

"I brought donuts with whipped cream on the inside!" Shelly shouts. I toss the lid off the box while shoving a donut in my mouth.

I mutter a thanks through a mouthful before moving back to the map. Shelly pushes Ghost to the side before looking at the map. "So I saywe storm every underground tunnel," she voices.

"Thats idiotic. Eventually they would know we are storming every tunnel and move," Ghost pipes up while giving her a smug look. We all fall back into silence not knowing what to say.

"Why don't you just reverse the tracker he put in your necklace," Wen says making me jump. When did he get here?

"Where did you come from?" Shelly shouts before throwing a pen at him. As Wen walks in the rest of the way Ghost seems to slowly drift to his side. I would understand why, they are bonded unlike any before.

"When did he put a tracker in my necklace?" I finally ask. Wen smiles before clearing his throat.

"After you said yes. Archer is a paranoid guy."

"They would've taken it-"

"An enchanted tracker. Who did he use? I am the warlock this pack calls for help!" David shouts before stormimg out of the room. I roll my eyes at his dramatics.

It seems as if I've learned a lot about Archer since he went missing. I don't understand what is happing and my real father is a warlock. No wonder my family hated me so much.

†

†

†

  So many dead.

So many mangled bodies.

  I take shallow breaths as I walk pass the corpses. "These arent Archer," I shout out. The M.E. just shouts a meek yes.

  Why are there so many unclaimed bodies just laying around? I dont see how Archer can make weekly trips here. The smell, the blood.

  People don't know about these dead. The dead have a right to be buried or burned. Their families should know. The pack should know. So why dont they?

"I have no clue."

  I look up at the M.E. who is tightening her coat. "Everyone who gets this job isnt allowed to speak about this outside of the workplace," she says walking over to me.

"Why do you think that?" I wishper. She hears me, barely but she still does. The air is cold, so cold my lips feel chapped.

"Because these men, women, and children arent our own. These arent our packmates. Most are rogues or prisioners of surrounding packs," she admits while shamefully looking at the ground.

  I stand looking at the different bodies. None look familiar to me, so her case could be true. "Some of them are worse then others. They will be missing body parts like an arm or lung."

  What is Archer hiding from us all? Is he not the Alpha I thought he was? Why did ye not want my help?

Too many things dont add up and the peices are missing. No, the big peice, Archer, is missing. Soon, people will take risks to overcome our pack. We can only last so long without our rightful Alpha. We will die without him.

  Each and everyday that passes our pack gets weak. Our children lose joy, workers lose motivation, fighters lose strength. Soon we will lose each other. Togetherness is what a pack depends on,and we are glued together by our leader. Our Alpha puts that little extra, but needed, motivation.

  I just never realized that the Alpha carried so much burden with him. The codes, secret meetings, the power hunger,and much more tempts him to go dark but yet he doesn't. We were lucky for Archer.

  He was strongwilled, ambitious,cautious, caring, and much more. He is the perfect embodiment of a true Alpha and now is going to be turned into a raging monster. Will he lust for blood the way vampires do?

Will he still love?

Ghost and Wen must be concerned for their brother. Archers mother, the old female alpha. She must be devastated to know her child is gome and may never come back.

He may never come back.

Archer may die.

  My heart squeezes and my stomach clenches. My nose burns as my knees give out and make contact with the hard ground. My eyes sting. Pressure builds in my ears like a dam.

My lungs feel full of water but my stomach feels full of acid. A hummingbird take residence in my ears and chest. It feels like bees live in my eyes.

I've lost him.

Wht accept it now? Im surrounded by poor,dead strangers. This must be how he feels. Utterly alone.