The Alphas Wonder Land Phoenix Mountain Book 9

“Damica?”

I stand up behind her and grab her shoulder.

“You…You can’t…” She shakes her head slowly.

“Uh…Hi…I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jake Wallace.” Jake puts his hands on his hips and puts on his best smile.

“We've met.” Damica slightly growls.

“We have?” Jake looks to me and the others.

I turn Damica around. “What’s going on?” I say low to her.

“You can’t trust him. Don’t trust him, Sawyer “ She says to me in almost a panic.

I hold my hand up to her. “Just calm down, ok. Everything’s OK. You’re safe. Jake’s a friend.”

“I promise. It’s OK.” Jake walks to his seat.

She eyes Jake as he sits. He nods to her.

She looks back at me. “Don’t trust him.” She whispers.

Damica sits back down and I sit with her.

I scan the confused eyes of the council room. “It’s fine. We’re just overwhelmed.”

“Whose Miracle?” Zander asks.

Damica folds her arms. “Ask him.” She motions her chin to him.

Jake flicks his head around the table. “I have no clue what she’s talking about.”

“Why don’t you tell us, Damica?” Zander says.

“Miracle is what happened to Rex and his pack. They were friends until he turned on them and turned them into the Falcons.” She says.

Jake leans on the table. “I’m not this Miracle.”

Damica gives him this look like she doesn’t believe it.

I had a bigger question. “The Falcons? What?” I look at her confused.

“Look. It’s a long confusing story. Right now, I just need a way to keep Rex away from me.” She scrubs her face and runs a hand through her hair.

Zander shakes his head. “Alright. We can protect you here. We can post guards and provide escorts, but we need to have details.”

“I can tell you, but I need to grasp this first. I need to make sure I’m safe here.” She glances at me.

I hold her hand. “Trust me. You’re safe with me.”

“Damica, would it be ok if we run tests? Maybe I can find out why Rex wants your blood so badly.” Ricky asks.

Damica turns shyly to me and I nod to her. “It might help.”

She nods yes to Ricky.

“Ok. We’ll get started right away.” Ricky grins.

As we left the council room, Jake runs up and stops me. “Hey, what’s that Miracle thing?” He looks at both of us.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not thinking straight.” Damica says as she eyes Jake cautiously.

“Ok. I just wondered because when you said that, my wolf did a massive spin around. He reacted and I just wanted to know why he would to that?” His brow furrows.

“I don’t know.” Damica says. “I’m tired.” She says to me.

“Ok. I’ll take you to my pack house.” I look Jake over with a scowl. I already didn’t trust Jake and now Damica doesn’t trust him. This is concerning.

****

After stopping off at the lab for some blood work, I took Damica to my pack house.

She walked in and took a look around. It’s not the huge pack house I actually deserve. You know, the one Jake has? It’s more like a two level condo townhouse. It’s all I really need since I live in the city. I work and I’m on the road a lot so, having a huge house is kind of pointless. I live out of my truck for the most part. We do have people that come in and clean up after us. Us bachelor’s aren’t really good at keeping up.

“MATT!” I lead Damica in and call for my Beta.

“Yep.” He comes from the basement. Once he comes into the hall, he sees Damica. “Who’s this?”

“Damica Fox, Matt Jorden. My Beta.” I introduce.

“Beta?” Her brow ticks up as she questions.

I scratch my forehead. “Right. You wouldn’t know. In simple terms, he’s a best friend who takes care of the shit I can’t while I’m gone.”

“And what are you?” She asks.

“Me?” I place a hand on my chest. “I’m the leader. The Alpha. My pack answers to me.” I inform.

“Your pack? You have a pack here?” She asks.

“The Reds. They’re mine. Not a huge pack, but trust me, we can mess you up if we really wanted to.” I smirk.

“Right.” Matt agrees. “The Reds have zero fear.” Matt fist bumps me and I preen.

“So…You run the city.” She says.

“I wish.” I snort. “No. My pack is only 500 of these people. Jake runs the whole show here.”

“Jake.” She says in a concerned tone.

“Yeah. Jake.” I eye her. “You can trust him, you know.”

Matt scoffs. “You don’t.” He crosses his arms.

“I do…to an extent.” I scowl at him. I turn to Damica. “I’ll show you to your room.”

We walk upstairs and down the hall. I open a door on the opposite of the two doors across the hall. “I’m the end door. Matt’s over there. This is yours.” I walk her in and flick the light on.

It’s a simple room with a double bed and a dresser. “We only have two bathrooms. One’s mine and the other is the forth door to the right out there. We’ll have to get you some stuff. You can shower and get cleaned up. You like pizza?”

“I’d love some.” She smiles. “I never thanked you for coming to my rescue.” She closes the gap between us.

I look down at her and take in her heart stopping scent. “No. You didn’t.” I say quietly and smile.

She looks into my eyes. “Thank you.”

I lean into her lips and gently kiss her. I slowly pull back. “I’d save you a million times. Nothings going to scare you ever again.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” She whispers.

I tick my head. “Who are you worried about?”

“You.” She gazes into my eyes with a very serious look.

I gently rub her cheek and rest my forehead on hers. “Don’t worry about me, little fox. Worry about the evil son of a bitches I’m going to crush for doing this to you.”

She slowly rests her head on my chest and I wrap my arms around her. “I mean it, Dami. These guys won’t even get close to you. Not if I have anything to do with it.”

She hugs my waist tighter. “Thank you.”

I kiss her hair and hold her. I can still smell her fear, but it’s less than before. I’m making my promise now. Whatever this whole thing is, I’m going to figure it out and stop it. The torment of my little fox, ends now.

I let her go and direct her to the shower. I get her some shorts and a tshirt and grab her clothes from her. I’ll toss them in the wash.

After ordering dinner, I sit in the living room with my laptop. I try to see if anything weird happened in and around the time of Damica’s disappearance. Then I come across a name I haven’t heard in years.

“Hey, Matt. You ever hear of the Canton pack? Why does that ring a bell?” I say as I read an article.

He comes in and hands me a beer. “Yeah. Canton. East side. About half a days drive from here. They disappeared though.”

“Right. Petty thieves and bank robbers, right?” I ask.

Matt nods as he tips his beer back. “They tried to hit us and we laid them out. They bit off more than they could chew. They went from a thousand to 300 real quick.”

I read the article. “It says the whole town disappeared overnight. None have been seen since.”

He shrugs. “The Alpha just thought they packed up and left.”

I think they did, just not in the way our Alpha did.

I scroll through a section of the web of unexplained incidences.

“This is weird.” I say as I scroll through. “First National Bank of Utah. It says it was hit, but they have no clue how the robbers got in and out or even who they are as there was no one on the security feeds. There’s several more. Bank robberies, stores, even houses. Hit with zero evidence left behind.”

“Except one.” Matt points to a link.

‘Unexplained pile of black ash in washroom of bank robbery’

I click it.

“Police have no answers on the robbery of the Bank of Washington Heights. Authorities say the only evidence found was a washroom full off black ash.

‘It looks like an explosion of some type. Forensics will conduct tests’ says Washington police chief.

50, 000 dollars was taking from the bank vault and as with all the others in the invisible crime spree, police continue to not know how the robbery was done.”

I sit and rub my chin. Could the Canton pack have found a way to use the mirrors to get in and out of places undetected? Sounds like it. If they did, why stay there? Hide out maybe? Why do they need Damica?

She said they were prisoners.

I think of the two guys exploding on the front step of the museum. Exploding in black ash.

Not a hide out. A backfire.

What if the Canton pack found what they thought was a good idea, but now they can’t leave. They’re stuck. Maybe they can’t be too far from a mirror. They need Damica to get them out. Why?

“I’m tired and my brain hurts.” I close my laptop and lean back.

“What’s going on?” Matt asks.

“Fuck if I know. When I do, I’ll tell you, but right now the pieces are all over the place. It’s like a chess game with zero rules and the pawns are running all over.” I scrub both hands over my face and hair.

“Hi.”

I sit up and lean my head around Matt. “Hey. You feel better?” I smile.

“Much better. Thank you.”

She walks her sexy, long legs over to me. Matt eyes her as she passes by him. My eyes narrow, but I don’t want to cause any kind of stink. I really don’t know how far Damica and I are right now. I do know, I don’t want Matt thinking what he is. I elbow his arm and he shoots me a look. I mouth stop it as I point to him.

“I…um…I lost my phone in the run and I was wondering if I could use yours to call Gerome.” Damica sits in the chair corner to the couch.

“Sure thing.” I pull out my phone and open it for her. “Who’s Gerome? Out of curiosity.” I ask. I’m really hoping she doesn’t say what I think she may say.

“He’s my lab assistant. I need to tell him that I’m OK.” She says, dialing a number.

Internally, I celebrate. Doesn’t sound like a boyfriend thing. I hope not.

She puts the phone to her ear. “Gerome?” She gets up and walks to the kitchen. “Calm down…I know…I’m OK…Yes, I’m sure…”

I sit and glance at Matt. He’s motioning to Damica and pointing to me.

I shrug.

“Dude…You have to.” He speaks low.

“No. I don’t.” I snarl.

“When the last time you had a hot girl anywhere near your orbit.” He leans to me.

“Shut up.” I scowl at him.

“Fine, but I’m just saying. It wouldn’t hurt to relieve some stress.” He sits back.

“Enough.” I growl low.

“Yes, Gerome…It’s fine. I’m with Sawyer…I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Just work on the piece. I’m taking some vacation time…Ok…I’ll call you in a few days.” She hangs up and hands me back my phone. “He’s…concerned. He’s always been a bit of a worry wart. I’ll call him later and keep him posted. For now, he’s filling in for me until I get this all straight.”

“So, what’s going on?” Matt asks.

I turn to him. “Damica has some people after her and I’m going to catch them. I'll ask them to stop by ripping their limbs off.” I smirk and cross my arms.

He arches a brow. “Ok. Are these people dangerous?”

I lean on my knees and look to my laptop. Are they? “I don’t really think so. They’re sneaky bastards though. They’ll pay the price.” I take Damica’s hand and she tucks her hair behind her hair.

The doorbell rings and Matt gets the pizza.

“Ok. So why don’t we eat and figure out our next move.” I say.

Damica stands. “I’m starving.”

****

After scarfing down several pieces, Damica was ready to start processing all this. The girl eats like a linebacker.

We’re in my room so we can talk openly.

She drops a crust on her plate and wipes her mouth. “Question time.”

I get comfortable, kicking out my bare legs across my bed beside her and adjusting my grey Alliance t shirt.

As I sit facing her, I lean back on my hands.

“First thing I want to ask is how old are you?” She crosses her legs and leans on her knees.

“Why do you want to know how old I am?” I arch a brow.

“Because…you’re a supernatural creature. I want to know.” She says.

I furrow my brow. “I’m not a creature.”

She giggles. “You know what I mean.”

“Ok. Fine.”

I tilt my head back like I’m thinking about it. “I’ll be 130 next month.” I lower my head and side eye her with a smile.

“Oh my God. Seriously?” Her eyes go wide.

I laugh. “No. I’m 34.”

She slaps my leg. “Stop. This is serious.”

I motion. “Ok. I’ll be good. Continue.”

“Ok.” She adjusts her self again. “Silver. It kills you?”

“It can.” I sit up and cross my legs.

“Wolfsbane?”

“Makes us sleepy.”

“Iron?”

“No effect.” I look her dead in the face. My face is challenging and stone cold.

She leans in like it’s an interrogation. “You can make more?”

“We breed. We can’t turn.”

“Why?”

“It’ll kill you.”

“Can you change to the ones like the movies?”

“Like the Wolf man?”

“Yes.”

“No. Next question.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Billions. Next Question.” I bark with a smirk.

“How do we not know about you?”

“That’s our secret.” I smile.

We stare at each other as we throw questions and answers around like lightning bolts.

“No secrets. That’s rule number one.”

“Ok. How do you know Zander?”

She was taken aback by my snap back. “I just do.”

I hold up a finger. “No secrets.”

“He’s…He’s on the other side. With them.”

I sit straight “You’re shitting me. There’s two?”

She nods. “But the Zander Maximus I know, he’s not worried about his write offs.”

“What does that mean?”

She sighs. “No. I want to keep asking you questions."

I tilt my head to her. “Damica.”

“Look. I just want to forget them ok. I don’t want to talk about it. Rex is the only issue I have.” She fiddles with my oversized shirt.

“Dami. I know it’s probably scary to talk about, but you have to know, I can’t help you unless I know what I’m helping you with.” I say to her.

“Zander Maximus isn’t an issue. He hasn’t been for a long time.” She mumbles.

I cinch my brow and look her over. “Suit yourself.”

There’s lots she’s hiding. It’s obvious it bugs her. I just need her to talk. I have so many questions, but she shuts me down.

I may have to take a different approach if I’m going to find out everything.