Chapter 35 - On Alert

The next few days things have been a little too scrutinized. With the awareness of the involvement of the witches, everyone was either alert or scared or both. When it came to witches they had a way of getting away with the things because of their magic. Even without wolfsbane they had the potential to possess enough strength which decapitate a wolf just by their magic. 

From  the marks on that man that day, they deduced that it must be someone who used black magic. While their magic was usually unstable, they were known for their strength. There was no way they would survive a face off with a witch that strong, even if they outnumbered the witches. 

Whoever sent the man, whoever was behind all of this was someone too strong. If that someone was doing all this from the shadows that could indicate only one thing. They were determined to keep their identity secret. Could it be a part of something bigger, or the witch was merely scared to show their face.

All kinds of thoughts, theories and ideas went through Mr. Wrisberg's head when he heard a knock in his office door. He allowed the person to come in only to reveal his older son behind the door. "Please, tell me you have good news". He asked his son with a straight face carrying a tinge of frustration and urgency. 

"I have a news", Christian retorted awkwardly. 

"Daily patrol reports revealed anything new"? His father took a guess. 

"Not really". Christian shook his head. "The pack is still on a high alert mode. Most of them are scared for their life. In fact, the wolves, who patrol on a group of four now display a considerable amount of panic". He sighed.

"I see" he nodded. "Then why are you here"? He asked.

"Remember that new wolf? Sebastian Kyles"? Christian asked while his father nodded at him. "Well, I ran a background check on him like you asked. Guess what I found"? He raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"What"? Mr Wrisberg looked at Christian's smirk suspiciously. 

"He does not belong to any pack". Christian shrugged. 

"He's a rogue" Mr. Wrisberg took an alert stance at that. "From where"?

"That's the thing, remember how he is the nephew of Mr Stetson. Turns out his mother, as in the sister of Mr Stetson found her fated mate and thus left this pack". He smirked.

"Oh yeah, I remember. Amanda left to go to Canada". He relaxed, recalling her from the days when he was young. "I always assumed she found another pack there" Mr. Wrisberg shrugged. 

"She didn't. Her mate was a human, so she gave up pack life to be with her mate". 

"So, by her means he is a rogue"? 

"Yes, precisely so". He sighed. "I couldn't find anything suspicious on him though, except how his parents died" 

"What do you mean"? The alert stance was back again. 

"Well, I only looked at police reports which indicated that they were murdered due to animal attack". He sighed. "I mean, for us wolved, animal attacks are pretty darn suspicious".

"I see" Mr.Wrisberg nodded. "So, what do you want to do about him"? He raised one of his eyebrows. "You are the one who insisted he stays until the situation is a bit sorted out".

"Well, I was thinking maybe…" he let out a breath, "we keep an eye on him. Even if he is a wolf, he is not one of our wolves. It would be foolish to trust him blindly". 

"Agreed". Mr. Wrisberg nodded and got back to his work. Unsure of what to do Christian simply looked around awkwardly. "You want something else"? He asked after a brief moment of silence. 

"No" Christian shook his head. 

"Then why are you still here"? He questioned once more. 

"Never mind" Christian whispered while he left the room knowing well enough that his father heard him. The moment he turned around after he made sure that the door was closed properly he saw the same tall blonde guy, about whom they were talking about. 

"What are you doing here"? Christian asked with a steady voice despite being unsure of how much the other had heard.

"I ran into Mrs Wrisberg, who encouraged me to check out the library section in the office. She told me I would find something interesting there". Sebastian scoffed. "Can't believe she was right".

"Seems like you heard what I said". Christian spoke without an ounce of guilt or regret. 

"Yeah", he nodded. "FYI, even if you had asked me about my past I would have told you everything". Sebastian stated in a flat voice.

"Probably, but like I said, I don't know you. In our current scenario I'm just being careful". Christian shrugged. "Library is down the hall by the way" he showed him the direction using his hands, gave him a slight nod and left him there.

On his way out of the office he kept thinking that how could he miss that the other person was right outside the door. Maybe he missed his scent because this place reeked of various pheromones. Or maybe because the door was closed too tightly which blocked the scent from reaching their nose. Given how that strong scent hit him the moment he stepped out, the second scenario seemed more likely. 

He was just outside the building when he saw Mr. And Mrs Joseph ran towards him. "Son, where is Caleb"? They asked him with a panic stricken voice. It had only been five days since he went into heat. Caleb was probably almost fine by this time, but he couldn't reveal the truth to them so instead he asked them, "Why? What happened"?

"Yesterday, around afternoon Matt left the house saying he was going to see Caleb. Since our houses are nearby, I let him. He didn't come back home yesterday and neither did he pick up his phone when we dialed it". Mr Joseph informed. 

"After two calls his phone switched off" Mrs Joseph informed Christian. "I assumed he might have ran out of battery, but we are really worried about him. We went to your house but Caleb wasn't there. Is he in there"? She asked, pointing her head towards the office building. 

Christian took a deep breath while he pondered upon what to say. In a tough situation like this, he can't exactly lie to brush them off. On the other hand there was no way he could tell them where Caleb actually was. On top of Caleb's identity lying on a thin ice, now he had a missing wolf he needed to worry about.