The Betrayal

Chapter Forty-One

"I have to go take care of some things back at the pack. Will you be alright here by yourself?" Damon asked. He gazed down at me. His fingers grazed against my hips.

I pushed my lips together. I'd have to be okay. I couldn't risk not to be. Not with this divine. Not with the pups and Samuel still missing. "Yes, I'll see you tonight?"

He nodded and pressed his lips to my forehead. "Of course."

When his fingers abandoned my hips, I felt so alone, so chilled. His figure departed through the door and I frowned.

I was going to be alone for the rest of the day. Alone with my thoughts - my torturous thoughts. They were going to haunt me. They were going to tear me down slowly. They already were eating away at my soul.

After he left, I sighed and walked back to the map of the forests and stared down at it. The forest in the north was immense. There were so much land that packs resided on. Valerio was right about not being able to search it all within a reasonable amount of time.

But what else could we do? Wait around while innocent pups die? We couldn't. Not any longer.

I needed more information. These dots on the map didn't make any sense to me. Maybe, if I found out what was so important about them, I could figure out where in the north they were.

I sketched a picture of the points on a scrap piece of paper and brought it to my desk.

Here we go.

I pushed the thoughts of Luca and my feelings about the missing pups to the side for a moment and began thinking.

So, Alexandra was on foot by herself with a pup. Every pack near Damon's pack knows to watch for her. She wouldn't make it far without being noticed and stopped, especially if she was with a pup. So, either, she was working with someone else like Damon suggested or she was taking the pup to a place near Damon's property.

With a pencil, I shaded the portions of the forest that she wouldn't be able to get to without passing through a pack's territory. I sighed. That eliminated less than half of the forest to the North. There was still so much land.

Theories shuffled through my mind for the next hour. I tried explaining the points, but couldn't find a reasonable explanation.

There was no central and important focal point. There was no clear pattern that could predict which pack might get hit next.

Maybe I was just looking into it too much. The answer was probably sitting right in front of me, but I just couldn't see it.

"Valerio, have our Protectors search the areas right outside of Damon's property very thoroughly," I said through our mind-link.

After he responded, I cut the connection between us - for now. Grabbing my mother's journal from the top drawer in my desk, I placed it at my hip and walked to Luca's hospital room.

If I wasn't going to have time to mourn Luca's death without this problem hanging over my head, I was going to have to get through it now.

As I entered the hospital, the healers bowed to me, giving me sympathetic smiles. Everyone knew and I think that was the part I hated the most. They all felt like they needed to comfort me. But I didn't want their looks of pity.

I nodded toward them and then kept my eyes on the tiled floor.

His room was at the end of the hallway. Before walking in, I peeked through the small glass window on the door, my chin trembling as I took in his lifeless figure on the bed. After a few moments of watching him, I decided to face my feelings.