Mystery of the Rejected Alpha ✔

Chapter Sixty-One

Alina

"Drake, wake up." James shook him ferociously. Ron checked his pulse and dropped his wrist on the ground. Everyone's face dropped a few shades of colour.

He is dead.

Ron along with Neil had arrived a few minutes earlier. Gaping at the sight in front of them, they both rushed towards Drake in the hope of saving him. Unfortunately, Drake had died right after confirming that Hailey was his mate.

Everyone was left in shock. No one uttered a single word.

The pack healers arrived soon after and took the bodies back to the packhouse. We followed them. Ron asked James if it was alright if he took part in the autopsy. He was curious to find clues but James was in too much of a shock to even comprehend anything. Instead of James, Jace gave Ron the permission as long as all information was given to the Alpha James afterwards. Ron agreed and joined the pack doctor in another room where they were supposed to execute the procedure.

James stood outside the room, silently, with a horror-struck expression on his face. His clothes had blotches of blood. The blood of his best friend and Beta. He had also witnessed the corpse of his chosen mate. I could sense the turmoil he was going through. My wolf felt his emotions.

I stood next to him, unaware of what to say. I knew none of my words could heal the pain and I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Neil looked concerned as well. We all waited outside the room, expecting Ron to bring new information for us all. A part of me hoped he would come out and say Drake and Hailey were still alive, just unconscious.

■■■

A couple of hours went by. Jace had forced James to shower and change his clothes. The blood on his clothes had already attracted enough attention. Almost all of the pack members were aware of the situation because they could sniff the blood, and some even saw the bodies as the pack healers brought them inside the house.

Jace had asked everyone to stay calm because panicking would only worsen the situation. He was correct.

Ron came out of the room after a few hours with a blank expression on his face. Jace ushered us to follow him. We soon entered the library and he closed the door behind him.

"Did you find anything new?" Jace asked Ron.

"Where should I start? I'll start with Hailey then. She would have died either way even if she was not strangled by the silver shackle. She was too weak for a werewolf. I assume she was born without a wolf?" He asked James.

Everyone looked at James, including Jace.

"Yes. She was born without a wolf. Since her parents were werewolves, she was a little stronger than an average human." James confirmed. "Drake, my beta, he —he got shot. He died right in front of me." He stammered.

"We have all witnessed that unfortunate event." Ron sympathised.

"He said—he said Hailey was his mate. How is that possible?" James croaked out, his voice was raspy.

"That was a rather interesting turn," Ron admitted. "It's not usual but not impossible either."

"What do you mean? All of us literally grew up together. If she was his mate he would have sensed earlier." James reasoned. His voice got louder towards the end of his sentence.

"I'm not sure what you are trying to imply? You mean your Beta lied to you as his final words?" Ron questioned. He looked angry and snapped at James.

James looked at the floor. "No."

"Since she was born without a wolf, it was difficult for Beta Drake's wolf to sense her. That is the only logical explanation."

I sat in the corner revetting. It made sense how Drake was unable to sense her. Her aura must have been too weak for Drake to the trail and claim her.

"Then how did he sense her all of a sudden?" I asked Ron, curiously.

Ron looked at me. "It's rare but in some cases when we are close to death, our senses heighten. Maybe it was a sign from the Moon Goddess."

The sudden thought of James being in love with her, sleeping with her crossed my mind. All the time Drake thought he had no mate, his mate was in love with his best friend, right in front of him. The irony itself saddened me. If it was not for James falling in love with Hailey at an earlier age, our lives wouldn't have been this complicated now. I couldn't even entirely blame Hailey. It felt like a twisted fate, a bad selection made by James.

"I don't know what to do." James sighed. "I lost my Beta."

I clenched my fists and exhaled. I couldn't tell who he was mourning more.

"I would recommend you to be extra cautious. The fact that the abandoned wolves managed to attack and kill your Beta and mate, is alarming. They struck close, very close." Neil said looking at James.

Jace sighed. "I have tried my level best to keep him safe." He said pointing at his brother. "Even Drake has tried his level best to keep him safe, always."

"It's about survival at this point. You can not entirely deflect their strikes. You just have to ensure ways to take minimum damage and get away with it." Neil stated.

"I can not get over this and pretend like nothing ever happened," James growled looking at Neil.

Neil gave him a cold stare. "I never told you to forget about anything. You twist words and then assume things that you want to hear." Neil spat. "How you protect yourself is none of our business. We are just here because your brother asked us to help formulate strategies. Listening to them or not is completely up to you. We are trying our level best to act like professionals and not let our personal opinion of you reflect on our decision to help you."

Neil was provoked at that point. I was not expecting him to go off on James like that. He started cursing James using our mind-link.

"Calm down, Beta Neil," Ron said out loud. "Our main concern is to find out what the shapeshifters are looking for in this territory, so we can drive them out."

Ron was right.