Wolves Without Hearts

☾ Chapter 37 ☾

☾ T Y T O ☾

During my talk with Yana, Ryder came in and handed me a slip of paper and I immediately opened it. I was curious to see what it said but I wish I hadn't. It said that Alistair had been sighted close to Wild Moon and that a few of the patrol wolves went missing. They couldn't find any scents but that didn't mean that an advanced tracker couldn't find them.

I ended my conversation with Yana, feeling a bit better knowing that she was safe now, but I was still angry that she kept such dark secrets. I had always thought she was my little sister but now that I know the truth, nothing will change. She is still the pup I grew up with and the girl that I came to love as my little sister. She and my mother are the only family I have left and I am not letting her go because of our blood.

Family is thicker than blood.

I made my way to Ryder's office once I shoved my phone in my pocket and didn't bother to knock as I entered.

"So, Alistair has been sighted outside Wild Moon?" I questioned as he glanced up from his paperwork.

Ryder nodded, "Yeah, some of my patrol wolves are missing as well. The south tower was abandoned when I checked in earlier today."

"Have you been in contact with the other towers?" I asked, hoping he had been able to do so.

I saw him hesitate before his eyes clouded over; mind-linking them of course.

"I just got in contact with the north and the east towers but the west tower has not responded." he replied, looking worried.

"Do you think Alistair has something to do with their disappearance?" I questioned, hoping that my assumption was wrong.

He took a deep breath before he answered, "I think it isn't a coincidence that he was sighted and my patrol towers aren't responding. Our best guess is that he has taken them or killed them off."

I growled at either thought, "Well, what are we doing standing here? Let's go to the towers and investigate ourselves. I doubt any wolves Alistair has working for him can take down two alpha males."

Ryder slowly nodded before we both shifted into our wolves and blazed through the territory until we arrived at the south tower.

The atmosphere was eerie and I shook my fur to shake the worry away as we closed the distance between us and the patrolling station. I glanced around and my wolf had his eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. Everything appeared to be abandoned. As if everyone just up and vanished from existence.

There was no evidence of struggle and there was only the stale scent of coffee in the air. We entered the tower and made our way to the main control room, checking all the doors as we went and making sure to scent the air as we went.

Everything was stale. There were no fresh scents, almost as if no one had made it to the tower that morning for their shift. The control room was no different.

The machine lights flickered and glowed as we entered and the main control desk powered on. It wasn't unusual seeing as the machines started when they detected motion. Ryder immediately approached the glowing keyboard of the main control panel and whispered, "Damn, they must not have even been in here for the past week!"

My eyes widened and I stared at Ryder, "What do you mean by that!?"

He turned to me and slowly replied, "Well, everything is covered in dust and all the scents are stale, even the scent of their coffee is a week old. What the hell were they doing when I checked in with them over the past week?"

"That's strange," I commented, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

If the wolves were checking in and reporting their patrol hours, then why did none of them set foot in the tower? I looked to Ryder for answers but he appeared as confused as I was at the moment. I glanced around hoping to get some clues from the abandoned watch tower but I saw nothing that could be useful for tracking the absent patrol wolves.

I sighed, "We should get going, it looks as though there is nothing for us to use here."

Ryder nodded slowly and powered down the control panel, "Yeah but let's check the west tower as well."

I didn't reply and we exited the tower, quickly shifting. I glanced at Ryder, who seemed lost in thought before I took off toward the west tower. It didn't take long for us to arrive and I allowed Ryder to walk in before me.

The west tower had a similar structure to the south tower, but, instead of having many rooms, it held only a main control room. We opened the doors and the machines whirred with power as they flickered on. I couldn't scent any recent activity and I looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"This is strange," Ryder murmured, "The machines were activated this morning but the scents in here are at least a week old. What is that supposed to mean?"

I shrugged, "I don't know but I think it has to do with the recent appearance of Alistair."

Whatever was going on, we were going to get the bottom of it, and if it had anything to do with Alistair, there was going to be hell to pay.

☾☆☾

A/N: Sorry for the late chapters! I am so inconsistent but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. My birthday was yesterday so I got a keyboard for my tablet! It will be easier for me to write chapters now since my iPad is my most reliable device for writing. Anywho, tell me what you think about this chapter! What's up with the towers? Do you think Alistair is behind the disappearing patrol wolves?

Also, I came up with a new name for the second book in this series. Instead of the previous name (which I can't remember at the moment) I was thinking of calling it The Cursed Child. Tell me if you think that's better or worse than the last one! 

Love you all and thank you so much for your amazing support on my book! I could never imagine that I'd get so many views! Again, thank you! I couldn't have gotten to this point without any of you.