“Good morning, Mike,” I replied. “So, what exactly happened?”
“The northern border morning patrol took our positions and we sent two of our juniors to walk fifty yards out from the border, as per patrol guidelines, and they noticed an unfamiliar scent. I, personally, went out to smell for myself and confirmed that the scent was indeed unfamiliar and werewolf, as suspected. We walked the area but weren’t able to locate the culprits. That’s when I mindlinked you. It’s similar to what happened a year ago.”
Luke nodded in understanding.
“Since I wasn’t here a year ago, do you mind explaining what happened?” I asked.
“Two werewolves from the Bois Sombre Pack were discovered after their scent was detected at the border. They were tortured and killed, per your father’s orders. We then mailed their eyes back to the pack and have not seen any evidence of them approaching our territory since. I am familiar with the Bois Sombre Pack scent, so I can confirm it was not the same. However, we cannot rule out that members of an ally pack were sent to do their dirty work.”
A shiver ran up my back. It would make sense that they would not continue to send their own pack members as the majority of our pack warriors had fought in the battle five years ago and would be familiar with their scent.
“I can take you over to the area where we found the scent,” he offered.
“That would be great,” I replied, as Luke and I followed him. He brought us into the forest and the three of us peeled our clothes off and shifted into our wolves to make tracking easier, not having to crawl on our hands and knees in our human form. We followed the scent to a cave but found it empty when we arrived.
“It was the same earlier,” Mike mindlinked Luke and me.“I can send some of my patrol group out on a mission to try to track farther if you’d like, Alpha.”
“Yes, please do,”I replied.
“Consider it done.”
“Thank you, Mike. I will double the bodies patrolling that area moving forward and require two additional juniors to walk one hundred yards out from the border at the beginning of each patrol shift. Hopefully it’s not the case that other packs are casing the area but we can’t be too careful.”
“Noted, Alpha.”
“I will take care of updating the schedules and send a memo out to everyone,”Luke chimed in.
“Thank you, Luke,”I responded, then added,“Mike, we’ll be on our way. Keep us posted on the mission.”
“Will do, Alpha and Beta,”Mike replied and turned to go back to his patrol station.
After we returned to the packhouse office, I turned to Luke and said, “I guess we should call the Lune Nordique Pack.”
“I’ll get them on the phone.” Luke was able to get Alpha Antoine on the conference phone who, luckily, was fluent in English. While we were all required to take French in school, I had never quite picked it up.
“Bonjour, Alpha Blake and Beta Lucas. I’m going to assume you have news,” Alpha Antoine greeted us in his French Canadian accent.
“Good morning, Alpha Antoine. Alpha Blake speaking. One of my patrol officers has informed me that the scent from an unfamiliar werewolf pack was discovered just outside the borders of our pack. We’re concerned that our pack might be being cased. Do you have any information on your end?”
“That is very bad news, Alpha Blake. It could be a sign that Alpha Édouard is preparing for war, as I’m sure you have concluded yourself. I don’t have anything new to share from my end, but please keep me informed if the situation becomes dire. We are prepared to travel if necessary.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it,” I replied. “We will keep you posted, and you do the same.”
“Absolutely, Alpha Blake,” Alpha Antoine replied. We said our goodbyes and hung up.
I sat back in my chair and sighed. War was looming. Ever the optimist, Luke responded, “We’ll figure this out. I’ll start drawing up the new patrol plans.”
“I also want the new training requirements for the pack put in place. I want all pack members who are over the age of eighteen and under the age of sixty to be required to spar for at least two hours a week with the warriors. I also want more accountability for everyone’s training. I’ve gone down to the pack gym and spoken with some of the trainers. They’ve agreed to personalize a training schedule for everyone. And I spoke with the school trainers who have agreed to make the curriculum more rigorous. We have reason to believe that the next battle might be fought on our soil, and I want everyone to be prepared.”
“Got it. I’ll get this all put together and have the office manager get the information out to the entire pack.”
“Thanks, man.” I smiled at Luke. Then I thought of something, “You know, on the topic of updating school programs, there are a lot of things they don’t cover in the health program at the pack school.”
“Well, you know how your father was. He was really traditional. I’m pretty sure he’d have blown a gasket if they started covering things like birth control.”
“Well, yes there’s that. But they also don’t cover heat.”
“Heat? You mean like what happens to a woman during the mating process?”