Rightfully Hers

XIII

Note: This will be the last drastic time jump, but I needed a different time. I clarify the time throughout the chapter. Please note that none of the chapters up to this point, including this chapter are edited.

I know the majority of my readers are growing immensely irritated towards Jada (as am I!), but *spoiler alert*: the trip will kickstart some exciting things to come!

Enjoy!

JADA

---+---

"He's attacked Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in the past two weeks," Gabriel Caine roared over the phone. "It is June, you have been away for a month now, the attacks are becoming more frequent, and you are telling me you have no lead?!"

"We've been getting in contact with the Hunters from other packs, as well as the Hunters in the packs that have been attacked. Alpha Sinclair has been contacting the Alpha's who have been attacked as well as the Alphas in surrounding states so they may prepare. Jared seems to be heading West through the middle of the country, but we are unsure if he will attack Missouri or Iowa next, sir."

"What about the boy, Jacob Monroe? It's been almost an entire month since he was captured, Ms. Warren, if we don't hear news of him soon, we will be forced to pronounce him dead, and the Elders will not be pleased." Gabriel Caine had reached the point of anger to which his voice had dropped to a tight, calm tone. Julian and I knew that led to inexplicable decisions on his part, and we exchanged skeptic glances across the table.

"Would it be reasonable for Julian and I to head to Missouri and Iowa, we can possibly get a lead, or some answers in order to track Jared down?" I suggested once more. Cassandra leaned over to whisper something to Isabelle's Delta, Caleb, who nodded briefly in response. I watched the exchange as I waited for the rustling on Gabriel's end to stop.

"No, the entire point of your mission is to protect the pack assigned to you. The Hunters in the packs in those states should be capable of handling it. Of course, they're from the LA Institute, and the Council Leader wouldn't know proper training if it kicked his ass." He grunted.

"Where do we go from here, sir?" Julian asked after a moment of silence. He seemed the most bored of everyone in the meeting room, and there were ten of us in here. Isabelle, myself, Cassandra, Dante, Caleb, Caleb's wife Juliet, Julian, Isaac, the head pack warrior by the name Leo, and the head of the border patrol.

"Something does not feel right. Ms. Warren has spent weeks trying to find patterns in his time, the attacks, the locations, but has found nothing, and she has never failed to gather the correct information before. It appears Mr. Manning remains two steps ahead of us. Remain as you are, but Ms. Warren, try to find his mistake. There will be one eventually, and it may be very subtle, but he will make one, it's impossible not to with such a large following. Use it against him, as you've been trained."

"Understood, sir," I replied.

"Very well. I must go deal with Lukas and Margaret, they were sent to Washington and apparently don't know how to be civil," he made a tsk noise, "I expect an update next week." Then the line went dead.

Isaac immediately turned around and ducked his head closer to Julian. He was speaking very quickly under his breath, but Julian had picked up on it. Whatever the Korean boy said must have sounded good to my best friend because he smiled at the boy and whispered something back. Isaac ducked his head in response, his cheeks flushed.

"The pack of rogues are equipped with multiple weapons, a lot of them being made by the Hunters," I brought up, catching the attention of the table. "Hunters do not have the same strength as any other supernatural being, so we are pretty knowledgeable regarding weapons."