Chapter Eleven

Derek shuffled along with the rest of the team which included some privately employed coroners, Ryan who kept engaging in a flirtatious banter with one of the latter, leaving a pallid Diana with a few warriors.

Diana had been a bit secluded than usual since she met Lavender, probably reliving the memory, making her worst than usual. Her catty self was no where to be seen, just an engimatic recluse left behind. Derek's chest tightened at the putrefaction of her condition,he wanted to gather her into his arms, telling her that she would be fine but he couldn't cause he knew she wouldn't be fine. He couldn't comfort her cause he blamed himself for everything that happened, sometimes venting his guilt on her in form of anger because he couldn't comfort her.

It was complicated, even for him.

His brother despised him for this fact.

The midday sun propelled its rays in full arduousness over the pine trees with the tense frowsty air, reminding them summer was in full bloom. They had spread out in the woods outside the borders down south,where the felony had taken place. The events of yesterday's meeting swirled round his head. For years, it seemed nothing was working out, being in a labriynth of theories before going back to square one. However what Dr. Elliot said changed a few things, bringing into the investigation which seemed like an abysmal darkness,a glint of light although Derek was tired of the unending meanders, wanting to have those assholes by his fists.

**Flashback **

"I trust you have some information Elliot," The Alpha said, watching the middle-aged doctor stack his files neatly. "It is time we put on the latch to this case. It has seriously sapped most of our projected resources. Besides, since the king refused to help,we helping in this case might fetch us some honorary recognition as it is a matter disturbing many Packs in New York." The Alpha said with a hint of a grin flashing his aging features.

Derek's eyes couldn't help but twitch at his Alpha's statement. This was a just a case to him?

However he wasn't taken back, the subtle, uncaring and covetous nature of his Alpha revealed itself a little more than often. He glanced over to Diana who sat in one of the chairs, eyes shut in order to stop the tears which threatened to spill any minute.

A pang of guilt pricked at his heart again. Aylan was sober, whispering to him. ' She shouldn't be here, she shouldn't be.......'

" Well it is not the panacea to our unending problems but sure I've found something...... though it is a bit of an engima....."

Aiden groaned loudly." What the hell is it? You told us you found something and now you come in here givin' us this shit?!"

" Young man, I would mind my tongue if I were you........you don't know what it means to work your ass off in the laboratory everyday and attending to dozens of patients...."

"Enough Elliot!" The imperious Alpha snapped, turning to face Aiden. " You'd better cool that temper of yours Aiden, else you spend the next few days cooling off in the cells!"

Not wanting to test his Alpha's ire any further, Aiden slouched into his chair keeping mute while he glared at the doctor who seemed rather calm about the whole situation.

How disturbingly impish...... his wolf must be acting up.

"From the recent victims,we had observed the semen found in the rape victims contained no DNA, having no trace of werewolf chromosome or human, leaving it utterly bland and useless." He continued, passing a file to the Alpha. Derek angled his neck in order to steal a peep at what the files contained only to catch a glimpse of diagrams: the semen's constituents structures. The Alpha flipped through the pages like he was completely congruent with the gibberish the pages seemed to feed him.

"Alpha I'm sorry ' bout it because I'm sure what I did was against your jurisdiction but I did it anyway." He babbled on.

The Alpha raised an eyebrow at him, his thin lips set in a tight grimace. " What did you do?"

Derek expected for the middle-aged man to be scared, mortified even for the stance the Alpha gave him was one which usually sent shivers of fear down his spine. However,Dr. Elliot continued like he was in some sort of lecture, going on and on.

" Well, I used one of the victims for an experiment-" The Alpha opened his mouth in a bid to say something but Doc beat him to it. "And before you get your tails in a twist, it wasn't some huge experiment and my patient is perfectly safe. The aim of the experiment is to find out the reaction of the spermatozoa towards the ovum since I figured out the semen wasn't normal. But instead of fusing with the ovum as it normally would-"

Derek stifled a yawn at the 'Biology lesson' while Ryan couldn't help but snort loudly, interrupting the stoic doctor who in turn glowered at him.

"I'm sorry, couldn't help it." The doctor rolled his eyes in response before continuing.

"As I was saying, the spermatozoa disappeared and the ovum wasn't even fertilized, which means something is terribly wrong with the wolves who are perpetrating this act."

"Rogues, you mean." Aiden commented wryly. "So what's up with the new victim, Lavender Lain? Who is this Canary she keeps talking about?" Derek asked, his arms crossed across his chest as he snuggled deeper into the African mahogany wooden chair.

"Oh that, well I figured the only person she could be talking about was her wolf. The trauma associated with the rape probably made her lose contact with her wolf. Their tie was broken up and my theory was confirmed when you provoked her-" He turned to Derek, trailing off with a desultory tone. "If she was a werewolf in the meticulous sense, the surge of those emotions would cause her to shift."

The realization of what he said sunk deep into their minds, the impact making the room go silent.

Derek stared at the piece of clothing which lay on the table just before him, the one found on Lavender's wrist in her unconscious state. The cloth's background was a harsh garnet colour, the obsidian wolf character stared back at him with harsh feral eyes.

"We need to do a background research on this clothing. It must be some kind of symbol." Derek said, averting his eyes from the piece of clothing.

"And where do we gather that information? Rogues aren't actually sell-outs you know. Once you've got them under control, they are actually quite loyal. Besides, they have covered their tracks so far." Aiden said, sitting uprightly.

"Not all of them think quite alike. Just as there are power-hungry humans, some wolves can be quite voracious." Ryan said, rubbing his palms against one another.

"Hey Aiden, how about that witch of yours?" Diana spoke for the first time, startling everyone, mostly Derek.

"Oh Scarlett," Aiden mused.

Aiden met Scarlett from the Blackmoons pack when he went to visit there. He spent a year schooling there when he was younger, making a corpulent amount of friends including the Gamma.

"She could help us pry around the covens, if any witches have worked with the rogues, if not herself." She flipped her hair unto her shoulders before continuing. "The rogues cannot get that far without the witches of course, the masking of scents......and everything. Plus she could easily reach out to other covens. The Midlands, perhaps? I hear many of the Witches and Wizards of the first order came from there."

Derek watched his sister with a slight bewilderment. How she put up such a facade when they were discussing it right in front of her, he didn't know. He just hoped all this will be transitory......

He hoped so.

"No, it's all the way in Mexico , Tijuana. We don't have that time." Ryan said.

"Aiden, I need you to have a succinct rendezvous with that witch of yours." The Alpha commanded, getting off his seat. "Seems like we are gonna need a new witch."

"Elliot, I need to speak to you, now. This meeting is over." The Alpha concluded, leaving the conference room.

********

This was the furthest progress they had made in five years. Aiden had gone away to Blackmoons to find that witch of his.

They had reached the middle of the forest where the pine trees had slowly given way to sycamore trees. They had left the coroners behind at the spot where the crime had occurred to find any trace of evidence that might lead them on further, leaving Ryan with Derek and Diana, along with a couple of warriors who tagged along at the rear of the group. The warriors whom had split up, came to join the rest of the group after completing their fair share of patrol.

A hand rested on Derek's shoulders. "Say, Derek, have you ever had a girlfriend before?" It was Ryan alright.

"Loosen up pal, leaving your face hardened like that isn't gonna solve anything or make it any better, instead you're gonna end up with wrinkles."

Derek shoved his hands off his shoulders. "You won't like my reaction if you don't get off my ass." He glared at Ryan over his shoulders who in turn raised his hands in surrender.

The walk was eerie silent, even the birds which flew across the trees became silent. The air around them had shifted as if the creatures in the forest were anticipating the worst. Derek glanced around his group, they seemed to feel it too. Diana's pallid demeanor had changed to one of belligerence, anticipating eagerly for something.

A tree branch snapped.

All heads turned to Ryan whose feet was pressed against a broken bramble branch buried within the sea of dried,dead leaves. "Sorry about that." Ryan apologized sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

How frivolous.

Derek growled immediately but something else caught his attention. An uncouth scent wafted across his nostrils followed by the snapping of another branch but it was not Ryan this time. A warrior behind them had shifted and Derek and the others followed suit. They jogged to the forest's clearing where there was an eerie silence.

A shrill whistle broke the silence followed by the light stomping of paws. The scents wavered ever stronger and Derek got a good sniff to know what they were.

Rogues.

They broke into a run after them, gong deeper into the forest. Branches of various shrubs whistled Derek's large obsidian wolf form as he put more tempo in the chase, leaving all of them behind with a warrior lingering in his trail. He caught a glimpse of the group with a grey wolf on its rear. They were lean and scrawny with scruffy furs, their muscular legs taking long, lengthy strides in order to get away from their pursuers.

Filled with derision,Derek pushed on further until a few metres apart from the grey wolf. With an ample paw, Derek had him shoved to the ground and within a nanosecond, the rest had gathered, surrounded the rogue, their canines bared ominously at it, threatening to tear it apart, leaving the rest to continue their escape pursuit.

With the adrenaline pulsing through his veins, Derek had him further shoved into the dust, his demeanor casting nothing but sheer lividness.