Torment (Primal Progeny Book 1) (10 page)

‘Please be seated’ he invited. ‘I can understand that today must have been a very stressful experience for you, and we have much to discuss… Would you like something to drink?

Taking a seat at the foot of the table Hunter watched Eve move to the old man’s side and seat herself directly to his right; waiting until she was seated before he answered. ‘I’ll be honest with you, I could do with something potent, perhaps a whisky?’

The old man nodded and gestured to the man to his left, who promptly scurried out of the room to comply with the request.

‘A man after my own heart’ the old man smiled tightly. ‘I suppose I should give you a quick introduction to the pack before we continue.’ He looked about the table before continuing. ‘You’ve met Audra, my daughter’ he pointed at her, sitting just three seats down from Hunter and furthest away from her father on the left hand side of the table.  ‘Seated next to her are Lucas, Arthur, Georgia and Christina. Opposite them starting at the end of the table closest to yourself are Matthew, Finnlay Mason, Anna, Isabelle, Samantha, James and Johnathon. Opposite Samantha is Allison, Opposite James is Michael and opposite Johnathon is Lucinda. All of them are currently without rank in the pack, with Audra looking to raise ranks and become our delta female. Next to Matthew our Omega female Courtney would usually be seated, but she is currently very unwell and laid up in bed. Next to me on my right you can see Eve whom you have also already met, she is our female beta; and to my immediate left is our male beta Tobias. To his left is our male delta Jeremy. I realise this is a lot of information and a lot of names to take in, but we do not expect you to remember it all just yet so do not concern yourself with that… Do you have any questions?’

‘Yeah’ Hunter sipped the whiskey that had been placed before him a moment before by a haughty looking Tobias. ‘What the hell is a delta, and what do you mean rankless? They have no place here? None of that makes any sense to me, I thought everything below beta rank was an omega?’

The old man smiled and shook his head ‘No, it is far more complex than you would think. There is only one omega in every pack, the others are simply in a comfortable grey area where they don’t have to worry about jostling for a position. The delta’s are beta’s in training.’ As he spoke about ranks there were quiet nods from others around the table, people who were obviously happy in their stressless, rankless lives.

Hunter took this in and nodded ‘ok… I suppose it will make more sense the longer I’m around you all… But can I ask your name sir?’ He felt that respect was needed with the older man, and was correct in his assumption. Had he shown none he would have been thrown out or torn to pieces depending upon his level of complacency; though he did not know that was the case.

The old mans eyebrows raised ‘how careless of me, yes you may. My name is Alfred and this is my pack you see seated before you. I think I can comfortably state that we are all happy to see you too despite the unfavourable circumstances.’

Every head in the room with the notable exception of Audra’s bobbed up and down in agreement, and Hunter struggled to suppress the smile that threatened to break out upon his lips. That woman needed to learn some people skills!

Alfred smiled at the head of the table and clasped his hands together upon its polished wooden surface in a business-like manner. ‘Introductions aside, I think it is high time we broached what we are actually here to discuss. Time is ticking away now everyone, and this must be resolved quickly or I fear it will not be resolved at all.’

Chapter 10

The whole room fell into an abrupt silence, where before there had been murmurings there now was no sound at all. Even their breathing seemed to quieten. All present stared expectantly at their Alpha male. Hunter’s gaze trained firmly on Alfred’s wrinkled, time weathered face as well, waiting for him to begin.

The old man let the silence linger for a moment before finally speaking once more. Allowing the ominous nature of their conversation, and the severity of the situation to fully sink in for all present.

Clearing his throat dryly he began. ‘We all know why we are here; but I feel it necessary to briefly discuss the basics again so that everyone has the same information. We must all be on the same page. We all know that Varulv is back in our country, and we can trace his presence here back as far as his first victim’s disappearance late last year. We had reports from a pack in France that same month letting us know that he had definitely left their soil; and in that same week a pack on the coast let us know that he had been sighted here… Knowing obviously of Hunter’s close proximity to us. Over the course of the past six months we have been kept updated by other weres whenever he has been sighted; and it has recently been discovered that he has been using the pseudonym Mr. Arthur James. He has booked into at least two hotels that we can trace under this assumed name. The most recent being the Goldenhall hotel in town, just nine miles from where we sit here. We have sent scouts to verify this, and as John and Anna can confirm his scent is all over the town and is heavily concentrated in the lobby of this particular hotel.’

Both nodded their heads in confirmation as Alfred continued to talk.

‘We know from our observations of the news that the killings are always committed in remote areas, and that his site of choice is usually a disused barn… As such we have been monitoring the countryside surrounding the town, and paying particular attention to any suitable spots that we think he would be interested in. We have discovered only one building that would suit his needs, and surveillance of this area has proved to us that he is indeed visiting this site. Samantha has on one occasion seen him carry a toolbox into the building; and on another occasion James saw him enter with a large length of rope and chains. Dragging them almost nonchalantly behind him.’

Alfred paused for a moment and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as though he could shut out the awful reality of what he was about to impart. ‘When he was seen leaving a bar in town with a female friend of yours we decided that the time had come to involve you. She was seen to have trouble standing and the smell of alcohol on her was so potent that she was scented from over a mile away… There was also a faint taint of odour that could not be identified; and so we fear that he has drugged her to prevent her from being able to track where he was planning to take her.’

Feeling himself growing increasingly angry, but realising that he was surrounded by weres who could easily tear him limb from limb Hunter desperately tried to keep his cool. He knew it would not take a lot to set them all on edge and initiate an aggressive response. One man could not fight off a whole pack. He spoke through gritted teeth as he addressed the elderly pack alpha. ‘With all due respect to both you and your pack sir, why has nothing yet been done to apprehend him?’

A brief scowl marred Alfred’s features, and beside him Eve and Tobias visibly tensed as they sensed his agitation. Suddenly though, his time ravaged features snapped back to the emotionless visage he had presented for his entire speech thus far.

‘Many reasons prevented an interference from us before this point Mr. Dalton; not least of which being that the pack member who witnessed this was struck by a car when she ran across the road towards them in a blind panic. Hence Courtney’s absence at the table.’ He sounded curt, which given the condition of his pack member was justifiable, but irritated Hunter nonetheless. ‘Naturally Varulv used the commotion this caused as an opportunity to slip away inconspicuously. Thankfully Courtney’s injuries were relatively minor, and she was able to discharge herself from the hospital and just an hour after she was admitted. Though naturally this has slowed us down in our responses to the incident, as it took far longer than it otherwise might have for us to discover her abduction had occurred. We held a brief meeting to discern how it would be best to deal with the situation, and then Audra was sent to fetch you back to the pack house.’

Hunter’s anger flared, how was he supposed to remain calm in the face of such slow moving, red tape bound idiocy?! Meetings?! They should have been dispatched immediately! ‘Perhaps you could explain to me then why it took her a matter of hours to find me and muster up the courage to approach? My scent trail must be easy enough to follow?!’

Alfred turned his gaze upon his daughter who visibly wilted under it. The added tension of both the betas staring at her causing her to shrink down into her chair and gaze at the wooden tabletop, avoiding looking at them at all costs. Alfred’s voice boomed throughout the hall ‘Do you care to explain Audra?’ He questioned.

She replied so quietly that in his minds eye Hunter saw her as a trembling mouse. He rather enjoyed the visual intrusion of that particular mental image.

‘I first went to his home father and left a note. I waited for an hour before I left for the village thinking that he might return… Once I got there I struggled to pick up his scent and it took me a while to pinpoint his location.’

Alfred looked away from her without reply, turning his attention back to Hunter, the newcomer at his table. ‘I can only apologise for my daughter Mr. Dalton. I cannot excuse her for the length of time it took her to locate you. She knows I am disappointed, and that she should not have allowed herself to take so much time. As though there was nothing at stake here. But we must now focus on how we are going to deal with Nicolai Varulv.’

Hunter’s reply erupted from him without thought or even consciousness that he was about to talk, the beast in him seizing his vocal cords for its own. ‘Take me to him!’ A snarl followed the words, which were so heavily marred by rage, and obviously tainted by his inner wolf’s desire to tear the kidnapper to pieces.

Alfred’s eyebrows raised ‘you cannot expect that we will let you go against him unaided. What do you plan to do once you get there, tear him apart single-handed? This beast is much, much older than you or I Mr. Dalton and cunning beyond belief. He has a kind of cruelty intertwined very deeply with his soul… He is utterly unlike any other in existence. Many weres have tried to kill him and failed… He has a great deal of control over his changes and uses our condition as the unrivalled weapon it has come to be for him. You must be prepared not only for the possibility of an all out attack, but also the chance that he will elect to sneak up and kill you; and he will certainly use mind games to his advantage. The moment he scents you he will know what you are, and that you are of his making… We must use this to our advantage. He will be confused and enraged, and he will most certainly want to hear about you and your life as one of our kind. He will either want to take you under his wing or kill you; and we must use any moments of indecision he may have to ambush and kill
him
.’

Alfred took a deep breath before continuing, a kind of weary drawn out sigh which revealed his age. ‘For this to work you must act as though you have stumbled across him and are alone, do not give any indication that you have met with other weres or that you were his victim…. Though of course he will smell us on you once he has come to his senses after discovering your existence, so we will not have long to act…. Can you force the change Mr. Dalton?’

Hunter shook his head slightly, uncertain of his abilities ‘I don’t know, I’ve never tried but if I get angry enough I can feel it fighting to happen.’

Alfred turned to Eve and then to Tobias, muttering something inaudible to Tobias before shaking his head and looking back to him. ‘It’s not enough… If you have not honed the ability it will be too slow a transformation, and he will have ripped your throat out before you have sprouted a single strand of fur. You’ll have to take at least one of us with you to even find the place to begin with; and you’ll certainly need us there to help deal with him. I would recommend both Eve and Tobias as they have the most fighting experience out of all of us here present.’

Both betas nodded in agreement, Tobias speaking briefly to his alpha. ‘How would you like us to tackle this Alfred?’ The younger man ran a hand through his ash blonde hair, his agitation palpable.

Alfred addressed the room as a whole as he responded to his beta’s query, his words directed at no one in particular but instead informing all of how things were going to be played out. 

‘Hunter will approach the front entrance of the barn alone regardless of wind direction; Eve and Tobias shall follow at a suitable distance and should position themselves so as to cover both entrances to the barn without revealing themselves via sight or scent. Both must stay conscious of the wind direction at all times to avoid detection, and neither must move until Hunter and Varulv are deep in conversation. Do not move to attack until Hunter utters the phrase “I am your only surviving victim”, and make certain that you are both transformed before you even begin to follow Mr. Dalton towards the barn. When the others attack, Hunter can use the opportunity to free his friend and take her back to the van. Then…’ And here he looked firmly at Hunter ‘he must head back and change away from where his human friend can see him; and help the others to finish off Varulv.’

Hunter nodded along with the rest of the room. Some distant rational part at the back of his brain screaming at him that this shouldn’t be happening, as his shocked mind numbly accepted the situation and what he was being instructed to do. He was angrier than he had ever thought possible, and yet somehow he was managing to hold it together. He would happily punish the beast who had taken his Lucy… His brain could struggle with the facts in the background whilst he focussed on the task at hand… It barely seemed possible that this was the same creature that had killed his parents all those years ago…

As Hunter lost himself in thoughts he would have much rather escaped, the people around him pushed back their chairs in a chorus of ear piercing scrapes and began to filter out of the room. Audra shot him a filthy look as she strutted past, but he didn’t even notice she had left the table let alone looked in his direction. He was only vaguely aware of the movements around him as he stared at his hands with their fingers tightly interlaced upon the tabletop.

It was a lot of information for his mind to process, and with to many strong emotions flying around in his head he felt as though he might be coming dangerously close to some kind of meltdown. With his eyes glazed over he continued to stare at his hands as they began to tremble with the rage that was building within him. He was distraught and confused in equal measure; but his dominant emotion was a deep boiling anger. It rolled threateningly below the surface of the calm visage he was struggling to uphold.

This man… This beast had ruined his life. He had taken his mother and father from him; had scarred him for life and left him struggling with this curse alone for all those years… And suddenly he was back and taking away the only true companion he had. Not just stealing away but debasing and abusing, and almost certainly planning to murder.

He felt the growl rumble in his throat before he could prevent it; and with his vision slowly swimming into focus, he saw that his fingernails had lengthened and bitten deep enough into the flesh of his hands to draw blood. He felt the presence of another by his side and turned with wide, wild eyes to see that Eve had moved from her seat and that the room was empty but for them.

So wrapped up in his own rage and sorrow was he that he did not notice the look on her face as she gazed down at him. She struggled to appear firm and commanding, whilst battling with the desire to wind her arms around him and wrap him in a comforting hug. Her position as beta dictated that she not only keep the ranking between lower members in the pack, but also that she kept a balance within the pack… And this new wolf’s fluctuating moods and radiating anger were drawing out all kinds of different emotions in her. A part of her shouted loudly that he should be disciplined for causing anger amongst her fellows, and another dictated that she should comfort first and scold later.

Her lips parted slightly as she considered what to say to the man who sat almost broken before her, and she found herself looking him up and down without meaning to. As her eyes flickered over him she saw the tension in his slightly hunched shoulders and the way his hair hung unruly over his face in scraggy tendrils. How it curtained but did not hide the pain and anger in his striking green eyes… The way his lips were slack with the confusion that must have been feeling… With the scent of his blood fresh in the air offsetting the rich muskiness of his natural smell, she suddenly felt the dull throb of the blood in her veins intensify as she caught herself leaning towards him.