Page 195 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Our information says he’s operating out of a secure facility in the basement of Kyle’s mansion,” Langston explained.

Milbanks nodded. “Got it. So, we need to figure out a way to get some sort of legal warrant to inspect the house.”

Langston caught my eye and shrugged almost imperceptibly before looking back at the police chief. “That would be amazing, actually.”

“I can’t make any promises,” Milbanks said. “If this house is where I think it is, it’s not in our jurisdiction, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.”

“Sounds like a plan,” the mayor said as he stood. “I need to go. I’m sure I’ll have lots to deal with after this disaster of a day. Keep me in the loop.”

He departed, leaving us to say our goodbyes to the police chief. Milbanks shook my hand at the door.

“I wish this had been under better situations, Cole. Been a long time,” he said.

“Yeah. Sorry to throw a wrench into your day,” I said.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said as he slipped his sunglasses on and walked down the porch steps toward his car.

I looked at Langston. “You know what we need to do now, right?”

He nodded slowly. “Find the wolf?”

“Exactly.”

We dropped Avery at Stormy’s house, leaving Porter and Zayde with them as security detail, then Langston, Trent, and I departed. Instead of heading straight for the forest, we went to the intersection where the transformation had happened.

“You catch a scent?” I asked, looking at Langston and Trent.

Trent nodded. “I think so. Smells weird. Not like a shifter or a human. Sort of like some combination.”

Langston agreed. “Yeah. Strange.”

“Same here,” I said.

The streets were quieter than usual. People had vanished. It reminded me, disconcertingly, of North Crest. Perhaps they were afraid another shifter would come by, bite them, and turn them into a wolf, too. I cursed Kyle, and my wolf growled. I didn’t want him to turn my town into another version of North Crest, but it looked like it was already happening.

“Let’s follow the trail to the woods,” I said. “Then we can shift and try to catch up to him.”

The scent led down the street, through an alleyway, across two parking lots, into the rear of a small neighborhood, and then finally to the edge of the woods that surrounded Harbor Mills. We shifted and sprinted into the forest, noses low to the ground.

The deeper into the forest we went, the easier it was to track him. The scents, sounds, and smells of the town faded, leaving behind the green, musky smells of wilderness. Langston and I took the lead. As alphas, we had a stronger sense of smell.

A while later, I noticed amuchstronger smell. The same human-shifter combination we’d first caught back in town. It was mixed with the smell of running water. I made a chuffing sound and picked up the pace, leading the other wolves onward as they fell in line behind me.

Following my senses, I led us down an embankment. We were on the right track. Both smells were getting stronger, and I could make out a whimpering sound not far away.

A few yards farther, we found our quarry. A wolf sat shivering against a rotting tree beside a small creek. When he saw us, his entire body jerked, and he stood on four shaky legs, baring his teeth and growling.

Langston shifted back to his human form, and this time the wolf yelped in terror.

“It’s okay,” Langston said, holding his hands up, palms out, in a show of peace.

Trent and I shifted as well. The wolf’s eyes darted between the three of us, trying to figure out who was the biggest threat.

I stepped forward, crossing the tiny creek in one step. The wolf huddled closer to the downed tree, eyeing me suspiciously.

“We aren’t going to hurt you,” I said, talking to it like a man. “We came to help.”

The closer I got, the more I realized how wrong this was. His eyes weren’t the same as what you saw with wolves or shifters. No, they were still the bright, introspective eyes of a human. The soul inside hadn’t been destroyed by the drug. Gabe Kolchak was still stuck in there, trapped in the body of the wolf but with the mind of a man.

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