42

Not wishing to talk to anyone, Savannah weaved her way through the slash pine forest, being careful not to brush against the low hanging branches in order to remain less traceable. She breathed deeply of the calming scent and tranquility that always enveloped her when surrounded by the silence of the tall trees. Soon, this forest would be felled, the timber processed into palings for Alpha Pierce. Some would be smoothed into poles to hold telephone wires, while others would be cut into posts and beams for housing. The soil she walked on, this territory she owned, was rich in silica and sandstone, making it perfect for forestry and agriculture. Being well-known for the natural resources her territory produced gave the young Alpha much pride.

"Alpha, wait up!" Justin caught her arm and pulled her to a stop.

Shrugging him off, she backed up a few steps. "I don't want to talk right now, Jus. Can't you see that?" Turning back around to the nearly invisible path she'd been following, Savannah muttered her frustration under her breath.

"Yeah, that's exactly why I'm here," he hurried forward to her side.

His persistence was like a pesky fly she couldn't shoo away. "For chocolate's sake, just leave me alone, okay?" she snapped, thankful for the blanket of darkness that hid the tears sliding down her face. But knowing Justin's keen eyesight, he'd probably noticed them already. Why did she have to get so emotional?

"I know it's hard—"

"Do you? Really?"

"But hear me out," Justin held up his hand to stop her from interrupting. "So, your mate is being hunted down. We'll figure it out. We'll—"

"Just leave!" She glared at him, using her Alpha dominance over him.

Justin stood his ground, adamance in his unrelenting gaze. "As your Beta, I will. But as your best friend, I'm not letting you go through this alone."

"Oh please," Savannah sighed heavily, then kept walking. Ignoring Justin as he followed by her side, she did her best to bite her tongue from saying all the scathing words she felt like spewing. She was crumbling inside, and there was nothing her best friend could do about it. Her mate, the other half of her heart, was on the run for killing their Alpha leader, and every practical cell in her brain told her there was no way out.

"Remember that time you lost your bike? You were distraught for a week," Justin spoke softly, his familiar voice chipping away at her mountain of agitation.

The Alpha clenched her jaw, not wanting to wonder about the point to his trip down memory lane. Instead, she climbed the hill in front of her, her feet tracing the worn path with a mind of their own. Muscle memory. This track she'd taken a thousand times in her life, more often than not with Justin by her side, Alpha and Beta together as always.

"Your dad threatened to never buy you a car, since you couldn't even look after a bicycle," Justin continued.

"It was a rusty old piece of junk, anyway," she muttered, clenching her fists against the sour memory. At only ten, she'd felt terrible about misplacing something as important to her as her bike, despite its state of disrepair. It had been her mum's when she was a child, and Savannah had spent hours riding it all over her territory and beyond. "I was afraid I'd never make a good Alpha or take proper care of this pack."

Justin chuckled. "We eventually found it by the creek on Alpha Malachi's territory. Remember Gamma Hendrick's explanation?"

"Demons had taken it for a joy ride." Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Savannah looked out over the view that stretched before them. They'd reached the summit of Razorback Ridge, a spur leading down from the Stone Ridge mountain range that ascended from the western side of her territory. It was a favourite for them all, a place to relax, spend time alone, or share confidences with close friends.

"Yeah, whether you believe that or not, the moral to the story is," Justin sat down beside her on a large boulder. "No matter how hard you try and do the right thing, to be your best, you'll always get knocked back by those who have it in for you. Enemies are always around. We can't protect everybody." Taking a deep breath of his own, he looked at her sideways.

She felt her face grow hot under his intense scrutiny, and swallowed hard.

"The point is, you have to protect your heart," her Beta said quietly yet firmly. "You may feel a bond with this wild rogue, but you have to ask yourself if it's wise to pursue that. Maybe, given the recent events, it's not God's will for you to be with him."

"But I—"

"Just think about your future, Savannah. Don't throw it all away on a fantasy. I get that your heart might be drawn to him because of the bond. But in reality, Zion is not a good guy no matter what promises he's made."

She huffed, turning her face away. "I don't want to hear this."

"Remember that time I dropped my watch in the lake?"

After pursing her lips, she eventually relented to his gentle prodding. "You spent all afternoon diving for it."

"And you kept telling me it would be impossible to find. I eventually had to accept it no matter how much I loved that watch."

"This is different. This is my mate we're talking about. A human being, not some ridiculous childish watch."

"And we're also talking about the most dangerous and cruel wolf to walk this earth."

"You really gotta meet some more rogues before making that judgement call," Savannah chided him, vividly remembering the blackened hate and maliciousness in Regan's eyes.

Shaking his head, Justin continued seriously, "Just remember everything you've learnt over the years. Don't forget it all as soon as your heart is tugged in another direction. Remember your own promises." Sliding his hand under hers, he interlaced their fingers and lifted her hand to his lips.

The gesture was touching, pricking a memory in Savannah's mind. It was on this very ridge that Justin, her best friend she'd fought, bickered, trained and grown with over the years, had promised to care for and protect her for eternity. As her natural Beta, his promise hadn't meant much at the time, but since maturing and getting a taste of the dark jaded world, she realised just how deeply his words resonated with sincerity.

"I know it hurts to see him treated like this, to face the punishment he deserves, but you have to fight for what really matters." Justin's words hung quietly between them, his warm breath tickling the hair around her ear. "Fight for us and our pack."

Finally turning to face him, she noted the deep concern in his amber brown eyes. Concern at their predicament, at what could happen if she pursued the foolish notions of a future with such a lethal and unpredictable man who wasn't even worthy to be counted a wolf.

Justin was safe. A man who kept his word and respected her; a loyal friend who had her back when it counted most. She had promised him her heart if it hadn't been claimed by a certain age.

Leaning closer, inhaling his familiar spiced scent of cinnamon, she wondered if she could really give him all he deserved. Loving him dearly as a Beta and brother was one thing; claiming him as a lifelong mate was something else entirely. They knew each other backwards, but bonding seemed like a mountain she might never want to summit.

Justin closed the distance between them, hesitantly pressing his lips to hers.

He tasted sweet, like honey on toast with soft butter, and a hint of spice dusting a latte. The warmth that engulfed her was familiar, yet different to anything she'd ever experienced with him. It was new, and utterly strange.

Pulling back, she cringed at the hurt that crossed his face. Her hand slipped from his. "I have to be up before sunrise," her voice escaped her on a shaky whisper.

"Right," Justin looked down for a moment, then up at the view, his eyes focusing on some distant spot. "You have to find your mate."

"I have to find him before anyone else does and kills him on sight. You don't—"

"I do understand," Justin faced her again, his tone hard and his eyes dark as he finished her sentence before she could. "You'd rather chase after the one who betrayed you than stay with someone who would never, ever leave you."

"Justin, don't make this about us. You know how important true mates are to me," Savannah said hotly, standing abruptly and wishing she never came here. She'd only grown more confused than ever.

"He lied to you! He killed—"

"I don't care who he killed!" she cut him off. "You don't know his reasons, so stop condemning him already. No matter how many promises he's broken, how many crimes he's committed, or how far he's run, he belongs to me. This is his home, whether he realises it or not. I won't stop looking for him no matter how long it takes me. I might be his only chance at surviving this."

As she turned to run back down the ridge, Justin's words reached out to her. "For your sake, and ours, I pray you're right."

_____

"Welcome to the headquarters of PEACE."

Savannah followed Alpha Pierce and Beta Whitney into the tall skyscraper that boasted more glass windows than Savannah's entire township. They were led by a Council assistant, a young wolf by the name of Waylon. He was dressed impeccably in a suit with shiny cufflinks, polished shoes, and slicked hair. His image projected the manicured and preppy city life that Savannah had had more than enough of.

"Do you know what our name stands for?" Waylon asked as they went through the security checkpoint, their bodies scanned and bags checked by guards carrying automatic firearms at their waists, black fatigues and combat boots completing their militant vibe.

"Prosecutorial, Equitable, and Armed Corps of Enforcement," Ryan answered confidently, having clearly done his homework before coming to the centre of intelligence in Villawood Pack.

"Very good," Waylon gave him a bright mile. "And what does that mean to you?"

"That someone really wanted their initials to spell out peace," Cale whispered in Savannah's ear where he walked close by her shoulder.

She stifled a laugh, hoping their tour guide hadn't heard.

"Peace is one of our primary tenets," Waylon looked back with another smile, clearing having heard the snide remark and choosing to ignore the intent behind it. He continued to lead them through the grand foyer, motioning to a set of elevators that rose in a clear shaft towards the ceiling fifty stories above. "Along with justice and responsibility. We all have a responsibility to serve justice to every rogue and criminal on the continent. Only once each is either executed or behind bars awaiting execution, will we achieve peace."

Savannah shivered as they passed a room full of weapons, each styled like a medieval torture device, yet upgraded with modern technology to make it a hundred times more powerful.

When is someone going to tell them that's not how you achieve peace? Cale mindlinked her, giving her a grim expression.

She nodded in agreement, suddenly realising how futile this entire organisation seemed. Her whole life, she'd been taught to destroy rogues without a second thought to their motives, background, or potential for a future. How many more lives could they have saved if they'd spared a moment to see the enemy for what they truly were—people with the capacity to turn from their path of destruction? By understanding Zion and giving him the chance to explain himself, perhaps she could help him turn his life around for the better.

"And this is our intelligence division," Waylon's voice snapped her from her thoughts.

They all filed from the elevator and turned into an open-plan floor, desks arranged in cubicles with meeting rooms surrounding them on three sides. "This is where we collaborate with investigators and enforcers across the continent to catch rogues and bring them to justice. I'll now hand you over to our chief enforcer, Keith Hartley, and his partner."

Waylon introduced them to a middle-age man who nodded grimly in greeting, then looked back down to the papers in his hands.

Savannah was more interested in his partner, a younger man who was only just now turning from his desktop to face them. His black hair and broad shoulders were awfully familiar...

"Nik—"

"Nikoshiro Tadashi," he held out his hand, taking Alpha Pierce's and Beta Whitney's first before flicking his eyes to Savannah briefly, his gaze heavy with warning.

Niko? Cale's voice echoed in her mind.

So he'd recognised him too. Even with thick framed glasses and a neat button up shirt and tie, the rogue wasn't hard to misplace.

"Alright men, I'll get you up to speed on what we know so far," Keith spoke abruptly to Pierce and Whitney, not even seeming to notice Savannah and her men. "If you follow me, we can talk more privately in my office. It seems the search for Lord Alistair's killer has taken a surprising turn. All the CCTV footage from the night at the conference has been erased, so we have no lead on what the murderer looks like..."

His voice faded, disappearing completely as the door closed behind him, leaving Savannah outside, excluded, and dismissed.

"Well," she glared at the forms of Pierce and his Beta on the other side of the frosted glass wall of Keith's office. "So much for including me on all the details of the search." She crossed her arms and huffed.

"Would you like some refreshments? Tea, perhaps?" Niko offered, tucking a couple folders under his arm and picking up a black leather briefcase before motioning back down the hall.

"What I would like is—"

"Alpha, let me explain," he cut her off, his voice terse and demanding. With a stern nod back towards the exit, he promptly walked away, not turning to see if she followed.

After rolling her eyes, she took the hint.

Only when they'd passed the tea room, took the elevator to a few floors above, and entered a large study, did she open her mouth to demand answers.

Niko immediately held up a finger to silence her, only causing her to grow further frustrated.

The chair behind the large oak desk slowly spun around, revealing a young man sitting there with a despondent frown on his face, glass of amber liquid in one hand while the other cradled his chin. "I suppose you're here to pay your respects."

"Respects?" Savannah queried. Looking to Cale and Ryan for answers, she followed their gaze to the engraved name plate sitting prominently at the front of the desk.

Lord Alistair, Head of Council

So this was his office. And the young man must be...

"'My dad was brilliant; he was one of a kind; he will be sorely missed'—I get it. Whatever you want to say, get it over with, please." After waving his hand and casting them a gloomy look, Savannah finally understood what he meant.

"You must be Finley," she nodded her head in recognition of Alistair's eldest son. He was young, perhaps only seventeen, with thick wavy hair that framed his boyish face with its darkness. He had a slight and wiry build, perhaps from never engaging in physical training or combat. Savannah guessed the men and weapons downstairs were more than enough security against the enemies this pack faced, and the Alpha would never need to lift a hand to defend his territory and its inhabitants.

"Alpha Finley now," the young man chuckled wryly, training his piercing blue eyes on her. She couldn't dismiss the sorrow that clouded them. "I was the biggest disappointment in my father's life. Yet now in death I take his place as Alpha to this pack. Ironic, really, since he always said I would never be Alpha enough for the position. As though I ever wanted it." Staring down into his drink, Finley frowned. "And to top it all off, my mother wants me to become head of Council, too. Says it's my right, like she knows anything about rights," he finished with a cynical mutter.

"I thought Council members were elected?" Ryan said, puzzled.

Finley looked at him sharply, eyes glassy as if not really seeing him, then his taut face broke into a smile that crinkled his eyes with sarcasm. "Oh, to be as naive as you are. Elected, indeed." Tipping his glass back, he drained the entirety of his drink then slammed it on the desk with a resounding thud. "Whatever. Take what you want. A memento, a picture, a damn paperclip even. Anything to remind you of my saintly father. I certainly don't care for any of these things," he gestured to the gilded stationary, expensive glass paperweights, and ancient books that lined the shelves behind him. "Afterall, he lived for his beloved people, didn't he?" With a sardonic smile, Finley pushed past them and exited the office as abruptly as they'd entered.

Only once he was gone, did Savannah feel like she could breathe again. "That was..."

"Weird," Cale offered.

"Sad, I was going to say. Poor pup. Obviously his childhood was far different to what we imagined the son of the most respected Alpha's would be." Though she knew Alistair was far from saintly, she did respect the man and his authoritative position, so his own son's cynical attitude toward him was surprising.

"Since when did you become so good at profiling someone?" Ryan asked, setting his laptop down on the desk and connecting it via a cord to Alistair's.

"Since I hung out with a bunch of messed up rogues." She turned to Niko, lifting her eyebrows in demand for an explanation. "Since when do you work for PEACE? Or is this all a disguise?" she waved her hand at his unusual attire.

"I've worked for the Council's intelligence division for about seven years now. It's not a disguise."

"So, you're a fake rogue?"

"Not really that, either," he paced around the room, picking up a model B-25 bomber and looking down the airframe before placing it back on the floating shelf with a few other ornaments. "I've just come to realise a few things while working with the Council. Not everything they do sits right with me, so I do what I can to help my brothers on the streets." Reaching up to a corner of the tallest bookshelf in the room, he removed a book, tapped the cover twice, then replaced it. At Savannah's questioning look, he explained. "I need to make sure all the cameras and bugs are switched off before we can talk freely."

"Right. So, you pass on intel to the rogues so they can escape the Council? Doesn't that make you a traitor?" Savannah wasn't sure which was worse— Niko betraying Zion's gang by working with the Council, or deliberately sabotaging the Council's work by colluding with the very rogues they were trying to catch.

"Listen, whichever way you want to look at it, I'm on your team, Savannah," Niko sighed wearily, giving her a serious look that quelled the arguments rising to her tongue. "Now, do you want help finding Zion, or not?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" she studied him intensely, watching the way his jaw clenched, his eyes remaining fixed on hers, his face etched with sincerity.

"Because I want what's best for Zion and his family. I can help him get justice for those who've hurt him. And I have all the network passwords in this building. I'm guessing you want access to Alistair's files."

"I've already gotten past the firewalls," Ryan flexed his fingers and continued typing away on his laptop. "I've almost made a copy of everything on his database and hard drives."

Niko whistled lowly. "Impressive."

"Good," Savannah nodded. "When you're done, email the compressed files to Phoenix. He knows what to look for."

"The files will still be far too large for our network at home. Coupled with the connection issues..."

"Use Pierce's satellite. He owes us one anyway. Encrypt the files and use a virtual private network to send them across," she instructed him.

"Gotcha."

"There's a few more backup hard drives and disks in these filing cabinets," Niko informed, reaching for a key in his pocket and unlocking a drawer beside Alistair's desk. "You might find some relevant information about Victor's preliminary trials and sentencing in these folders, too. I haven't had time to go through them myself, but I was on my way up here just as you guys arrived."

Savannah accepted the paper files, locking eyes with the rogue investigator and realising just what information he was talking about. It seemed he really was trying to help Zion get justice for his family.

"There's one more thing," she said, setting her own laptop up on one edge of Alistair's very large and ostentatious desk. "That security footage that's been erased..."

Niko cracked a grin. "That would be me. I disabled the cameras before anything even happened that night."

"Well, that's a relief. But it still begs the question why Zion would kill Lord Alistair in the first place. I can't believe he actually did that." Rubbing the creases from her forehead, she opened her laptop and logged into the Alpha database. She was hoping to use the powerful search engine available only to Alphas to search the internet for any whisper, rumour, or theory on the Silver Rogue's whereabouts.

"Alistair was threatening you."

"Huh?" Savannah swivelled her gaze from her screen to Niko, believing she hadn't heard right.

"Come on, you can't deny Alistair wanted you. Anyone could see that."

A shiver slid down her spine at the confirmation of her suspicion, making her feel sick. "How did you see that?"

"Me and the guys were there that night, running backup for Zion. He was only supposed to talk to the Councillor, but I guess he had to do what any jealous male would: protect his female even if it resulted in the worst crime imaginable. As if his rap sheet didn't already earn him the death sentence," Niko sighed, clenching his jaw in obvious frustration.

Savannah could only stare at him, suddenly wondering what else he'd covered up or erased in the Council's system to keep Zion alive for so long.

An alert sounded from her laptop, warning her of a restricted site.

Access denied.

She typed in a password and kept searching, but still the site blocked her.

Access denied. Stop looking for me, little Alpha.

Her fingers began shaking as she typed in a source code to overwrite the page's programming, but again received the error message. "This is so weird. Under these search protocols, I'm supposed to have unrestricted access to the entire web," she exclaimed, trying to shake off the eeriness of the rest of the message.

"Yeah, I kept getting the same message when I ran a search for him," Niko peered over her shoulder. "Just not the part about little Alpha," he added with a smirk. "Zion knows exactly who's after him."

She ignored the comment and the confusing thrill that ran through her. "How did you run this search?"

"Finley gave me his credentials."

Nodding as if that made complete sense, Savannah posed her next question. "So now what?" She felt despair creep once more into her heart. Zion was obviously planning something big and risky to be covering his tracks so thoroughly.

"Now, we do things the old fashioned way," Niko gave one last look around the office before stuffing a few more papers into his briefcase. "We'll go back to Hierapolis, canvas the streets, and knock a few heads together."

Savannah cringed at the mental image of beating people up to get the information they wanted. "I'm not sure I like your methods..."

"Hey, do you want to stop Zion from getting even deeper into trouble, or not? You are the key to saving him. As his mate, you may be the only one to get through to him before it's too late."

She realised he was right, and reminded herself that she did come here searching for a way to find Zion and save him from himself. "Alright. What do I have to do?"

Niko nodded at her with a satisfied smirk on his face. "You have to turn rogue."