Chapter Three

Hunter's POv

I'm fucking pissed. It was the middle of the night and rudely woken up because there was a spotting of a young girl heading to our cliffside, and she was coming from the Opal Moon pack area. And I want to know why she had crossed these borders at this time of night without authorization. The report said that she was a petite young girl, maybe about seventeen, she had what looked like light brown hair, but it was pretty dark out. We know she was young because she was running on foot instead of in her wolf form. I sent Shayne out first as Emery, and I was getting ready. Not long after I send Shayne out, I receive a link from him saying he has found her and has her backed up against the waters. I tell him to hold her there if she tries to jump. You grab her, don't let her escape. I cut the link as Emery, and I start heading towards the cliffs; they aren't far from the packhouse, which is nice. We shift and take off straight to Shayne; as we arrive, I catch the scent of fresh lilacs, and lavender fills my lungs as I approach where Shayne is standing with this young girl unconscious on the ground, her head bleeding and the scent of it driving Ash into a rage. "Mate…?"

Ash's POV

Hunter hasn't noticed yet, but I start smelling this sweet electrifying scent drift in the air, and it is not a usual scent in this location. It smells of fresh lilacs and lavender, and it is getting stronger as we get closer to Shayne and Axles' site, but when we get closer, there is now something that is tainting the fresh scent. It smells of blood. Who's blood? Is it Axles' or is it from whoever gives off this smell? We finally arrive at Shayne, who has this young girl pinned under his massive hand, her head is bleeding, and I realize that she is the source of the sweet scent in the air, and the blood is coming from her head. I see red because I don't know why or how, but she is our mate, and someone hurt her. I snarl at Shayne, who quickly lets her go and backs away from her, showing the back of his neck as he backs away. Knowing I am beyond pissed off and close to wanting to snap his neck. Hunter starts to pull me out as I walk closer to this girl, and the smell gets closer. I can't help but get angrier; the closer I get, I can even feel the rage rolling off me. Hunter finally yanks me away, taking back control.

Hunter's POV

Once I finally get control back from Ash, who was quickly starting to lose control himself, I look at Emery, "Take her back to the packhouse and have Lillian look at her, find out who she is and where she is from." Emery nods his head, and Shayne moves to help Emery get her on him. I shift and step in front of him, glaring at him as I do it myself. I know this anger is Ash, but I don't know what is going on yet; even though Shayne was doing as I told him, this isn't his fault either. After getting her on the back of Emery, we all start heading back to the packhouse. Emery strives off to the left as he heads to Lillian's clinic. Me and Shayne head back to the packhouse. We stop at a hedge line where we shift and slip on a pair of basketball shorts before walking into the house. We head to my office, and I quickly alert patrols to be doubled just in case. We have no clue who this girl is or what she was doing on our grounds, and I have people I need to protect.

Since I am up, I will start to go over my meeting with the surrounding pack's Alphas later today. I believe it was Alpha Ryan of the Silver Stone pack and Alpha James of the Opal Moon pack. I hear that the Opal Moon Alpha has been a piece of work ever since the death of his mate. But I don't know much about what happened during the time of my father's leadership. I was just a pup at that point. "Alpha, I think you should meet me at my office. I discovered some things, and I think you should see them yourself," Lillian says as she opens a link between us. "I'll be there in a moment. What can you tell me now on her status," I ask as I head out of my office, walking straight past Shayne, still somewhat pissed off at him, but I know I shouldn't be so mad at him? "Her name is still unknown, but she is from the Opal Moon territory, but while looking her over, Sir, I found some shocking markings littered across her body." Sir, it looks like someone beat on this girl very brutally." Lillian says, cutting off the link.

The whole time I walk to Lillian's clinic, I have a few questions that I want answered, who is this girl? Second, why am I drawn to her? My mate is dead and gone. Was I given mercy and given a second chance? And third off, why was she at those cliffs? I walked into Lillian's clinic, and I was pissed. I saw Lillian standing in front of a door, and I walked past her as she tried talking to me, but I wanted my questions answered and answered now. But as soon as I laid eyes on the small-framed girl lying in that bed, my heart melted, and I was no longer a priority. I sit down next to this girl's bed and gently take her hand in mine as Lillian walks into the room, holding a file with her. "Alpha, as I said, is from the Opal Moon pack, and it looks to be that someone has used this girl as a punching bag. So far, I have counted six broken ribs, a wrist fracture, and a dozen more breaks and fractures. None given any kind of treatment either, like she even has a hairline fracture in her foot. I don't know how she has been walking or even breathing as well as she is." Lillian tells me as she hands me her folder; there are pictures and x-rays, and I grip the hell out of the images as a growl escapes.

Lillian places her hand on my shoulder, pulling my focus back to what we were talking about, and she is studying me as well; I clear my throat. "Please treat all her injuries and find out who she is. I will even talk to the other two Alphas that I will be meeting in the morning and see if they can recognize her." I hand the folder back to Lillian as she pulls a seat up next to me, "Hunter, what's wrong? You seem very interested in this girl, and we don't even know who she is or her intentions, either," Lillian sounds nervous. "I don't know, Lillian; as we were heading to the cliffs, Ash when wild when we suddenly found this scent of fresh lavender and lilacs, and when we found the source, it was coming from this girl. Lily, it reminds me of how I met and felt about Liz. Did the Moon Goddess give me another chance at happiness? And who the fucking did this to her?" I started to get angry again, but I just held this girl's tiny hand in mine, and I relaxed again. "Who knows, Hunter, maybe, and you deserve it because you never got to have your time with your Liz. We will find out where she is from and who she is, and in doing that, we won't let her go back to that world again," She places her hand on my knee before getting up and taking her to leave.

Talking to Lily sometimes is fantastic. She always makes me feel better. I'm delighted that she and Emery are together. He is my Beta, and she is the only doctor that I trust the most. I trust her when she says she will talk to whoever and do whatever to get information for me on anything. She's also one of our top strongest warriors under my sister. I notice the time, and it is almost dawn. I have to get back to the packhouse and get ready to meet the other Alpha. I grab a picture of her and gently place my hand back on her hand. "I'll be back, and I will protect you," I whisper before leaving her room. I have two of our warriors guarding her room so that no one can enter. There are only four people on the list, Lillian, me, Emery, and Shayne; that's it.