Once Forgotten Twice Loved

by Bryce Evans

  Larken immediately walked over to Ash. He smiled at her and asked, “Are you ready for this?”

  “Yes.”

  Larken watched as Ash blushed because every eye was on her. Including the FBI instructor and Larken’s look-alike. He escorted Ash to the table where Jonas was sitting. Jonas jumped up and pulled out her chair, winking at her as she sat down. Ash couldn’t help it, but Jonas made her smile.

  “Behave, old man,” Larken said as he smiled at Ash and Jonas. Larken sat down beside Ash as Larken’s look-alike released his gaze on her. Ash thought the man was downright sexy. He was rugged looking with gray eyes and dark black hair. His hair was shorter than Larken’s, but just as silky looking. He had a mustache and goatee with a long straight nose. Ash could tell that he was approximately six foot four with a muscular build. However, Ash could tell by looking at him he was also built like a brick shit house. The man was drop dead gorgeous and Ash wanted him, too. Yep, I’m a slut now.

  She didn’t understand what the hell was going on with her. Ash wanted to help here but she couldn’t control her emotions. She was crying a lot and getting upset about everything. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling this way about two werewolves.

  Larsen turned and looked at Pelton Miller, nodding for him to start.

  “Let’s get this started. Larsen Wilder called me in. He is the Sheriff here in Freedom. Larsen suggested we form a taskforce for our kind. I agree with him. I have spoken with the Supreme Alpha and he has given us his consent. He will send people if we need them. I explained to him I thought as of right now, we could handle it. They are still moving into their new facility and they are needed there.

  “It would be hard for any information to go out to human officers on the abduction of Jamie Johnson of the Nortic Pack. We don’t have a lot of information on who took Jamie. Unfortunately, as of last night, another girl was taken. This time it was from the Dugan Pack,” said Pelton. Everyone started talking at once. Larsen whistled, getting everyone’s attention.

  Ash couldn’t help the heat she was feeling for Larsen Wilder. She knew now that Larsen was Larken’s brother and he was the Sheriff here in Freedom, Colorado. Nash did tell her that Larken had a big family—she wondered how many other siblings he had. She tried to concentrate on what Pelton was saying, but she continued glancing back and forth between Pelton and Larsen. She could feel Larken beside her, too. His smell was enticing her. She was drowning in a lust-filled haze between Larken and Larsen Wilder. She could feel the heated looks Larsen was sending her.

  Ash was too busy smelling Larken’s scent and lusting after his brother standing at the front of the room to hear exactly what was being said. What did he say about a Supreme Alpha?

  “Okay, here is what we do know. Both girls were taken in broad daylight. The girls were by themselves when they were taken. It is imperative to get information out to the packs and lock down our young people. If they go out, it should be with an adult and in groups. The same scent that was found at the Nortic Pack abduction was also found at the second one. Jake Paul confirmed that for us last night.

  “Now listen, Alphas, whoever is taking these girls is coming this way it seems. We need to set up roadblocks and check traffic of incoming cars coming into the next two pack areas.” One of the Alphas held up his hand for a question. “Yes, Alpha.”

  “Why do you think they are being taken?”

  Pelton Miller looked down before he spoke. It looked like he was mad at himself because he couldn’t come up with a Profile for why. “I don’t know, Alpha. We haven’t come up with a Profile yet. I can’t figure it out. If he wanted them dead, we probably would have already found a body before the next girl was abducted. That is why we are forming this taskforce. Twenty heads are better than one. If any of you have any suggestion, please, let’s go over them one at a time.”

  Several Alphas suggested reasons but none seemed like the answer they were looking for. Ash had a feeling, but she didn’t want to say anything. She wasn’t a wolf and she didn’t know how the Alphas would take a woman giving suggestions. She continued to write her answers on what she thought and before she knew it, everyone was silent in the room and Ash felt like everyone was looking at her. She looked up to find everyone watching her.

  “Is your name Ashland Peters, ma’am?” Pelton Miller asked.

  Ash looked at Larken before she spoke. She felt like she was new in school and the teacher called on her to tell the class about herself. Shit, Shit. Ash cleared her throat, and then answered, “Yes it is.”

  “I have heard about you from one of the Agents who works in New York. What do you think, Ashland? What is your opinion on why these girls have been taken?”

  Ash knew he was putting her on the spot on purpose. He either wanted to embarrass her so they would ask her to leave or he truly wanted to know her opinion. Ash looked around at everyone before she spoke.

  Larken reached over and grabbed Ash’s hand, trying to comfort her. He could see the anxiety in her eyes by being put on the spot.

  Larsen flinched when he saw Larken reach for her hand. He watched his brother trying to comfort her.

  “We are waiting, Ashland.” Ash looked up at Pelton Miller, narrowing her eyes at him.

  You asshole. Give me a minute. “It looks like you have a bunch of Rogues who are trying to gather more members and they need females for breeding and such. I don’t know much about werewolves except what Nash has told me over the years, but that is what it seems like to me,” Ash responded. Nobody said anything; they were thinking about what she suggested and it fit. Larsen looked at Pelton who looked down at the floor and mumbled, “Shit.” Larken squeezed Ash’s hand letting her know that she was on to something.

  Pelton Miller looked at Ash before he spoke. “Why do you think that?”

  “Well, you have no bodies yet and the girls are at the age where they could take a mate. The only problem I have with it though is I thought you were fated for your mates. So I guess I’m wrong.”

  Pelton shook his head. “No, Ashland you’re not wrong. I believe you got it right. We are supposed to be fated for a mate, but there are instances where you have unprotected sex with a wolf and the female can have children. Just like with humans, mistakes happen. We just choose to wait to find our mate. However, you are right. If these are Rogues trying to form a pack, then we are in trouble, because they won’t wait long to mate with these girls.” It sounded like a wild bunch of wolves descending on their prey in the meeting with the growling that came out of the Alphas’ mouths.

  “I will kill them!” Jake Paul stood and shouted.

  The growling intensified, scaring Ash. She didn’t know if the Alpha was talking about her. She whimpered, not realizing she had done it loud enough for others to hear her. She got up quickly and went to the door. Larken and Larsen were behind her, quickly stopping her from running out the door. They had their hands on her back and arms rubbing her, trying to calm down the fear she was feeling.

  “It’s okay, baby. Calm down. They are upset, not at you, but in fear for the girls and what can happen to them. There you go, slow your breathing down,” Larken whispered to Ash.

  Nash had gotten out of his seat and walked over to where Ash had her head against the door, breathing erratically. “Ash, it’s okay. Remember I told you how wolves get when they are upset or emotional about something. They growl. It’s our way to relieve the tension we have without hurting someone.”

  Ash opened her eyes and turned her head sideways, looking at Nash. She half smiled, embarrassed at her actions. The emotions were flowing through her since Larken told her she was his mate. Now his brother was standing behind her, rubbing circles around on her back. He was trying to stop the tension in her shoulders and back area, but all he was doing was making her body go up in flames.

  “Ashland? We need your help. Do you think you can come and sit down and continue?” Pelton Miller asked.

  Ashland turned around slowly, not wanting Larken or Larsen
to stop touching her. Ash didn’t understand the feelings she was having for the brothers. She hadn’t even been introduced to Larsen yet and she was thinking about kissing him—or worse. She walked back over to her seat and sat down. Jonas got up, grabbed a bottle of water, and handed it to her. She looked up and smiled. “Thanks, Jonas.” Jonas smiled back and then winked at her. Larken scooted his chair closer to Ash, not releasing her hand, rubbing circles over her wrist.

  Larsen walked back to the front area but continued to watch Ash. He couldn’t take his eyes off his brother’s mate.

  “Ashland, can you think of anything we need to be doing in this investigation? I will take all suggestions and we will add them to a list. Once they are completed or checked off, we will hopefully narrow it down to our suspect,” asked Pelton.

  Ash knew that Pelton was trying to bring her back into the conversation. Nobody said anything about Ash’s run for the door. Larken squeezed Ash’s hand letting her know he was with her. Ashland sighed, trying to gain her composure before she spoke. “Well, I would suggest that we send investigators out to the towns where the girls were taken and tell them to go to the mom and pop stores to ask if anybody during that time period came into town and how many of them there were. Also, get credit cards receipts from these stores. If you’re a sheriff, or even a cop, they can talk to these people. Most of the time they will give you this stuff voluntarily without a search warrant. Get the Alphas to talk with their pack and ask if while they were in town, did they see anyone suspicious? Maybe they stopped in the town to eat or get gas or just to go to the bathroom. Some of these places have surveillance cameras and someone could review these tapes. We may get lucky and get these guys on tape. If this theory is right and they are wolves then they live close to the areas where the kids were taken, but not so close that you would run into them. I don’t know the culture of being a werewolf so this is where you come in and give a profile on the type of people they would want to take so they can have a pack. What type of people are they?

  “And last… Is there a pack member who was an outcast, recently or a long time ago? Check your records and see if a male wolf was kicked out or left the pack for other reasons. I don’t know if that happens, but I think this person was an outcast or asked to leave for some reason and wants to be the Alpha and have his own pack. To do that, he needs members who he can control. His pack members will also be Rogues who were kicked out. This person who is in charge will be strong and scary. He wants kids because he can control them and put fear in them at an early age so they won’t run but will do exactly what they are told because of intimidation or they are scared for their life. They won’t have any family and they are probably telling the kids that their family is dead or they gave them to them because they don’t want them in the pack anymore.” Ash finished talking and the entire room was watching her.

  Pelton Miller stood there with his mouth open. He cleared his throat then asked, “Do you want a job with the FBI, Ash, because I couldn’t have said that any better. I didn’t even think about Rogues taking the girls and trying to form a pack. I guess I have been away from the pack for too long. I stopped thinking like a wolf.” Ash smiled then looked down toward the floor.

  Jonas spoke up first. “I agree with everything Ashland said. Let’s plan on who will do this and when they will leave. I will need to contact my Protectors to get them to handle these questions while I’m still here. Time is not on our side so we need to act fast.” Everybody in the room agreed.

  Pelton Miller asked, “So we are all in agreement then?” Everyone in the room agreed.

  Larken leaned over and whispered, “You were great, baby.”

  Ash smiled. “Thank you.”

  Pelton advised everyone to meet back after dinner to delegate who would go and accomplish these tasks. He asked everyone to sign the notebook so they could exchange numbers. Pelton then asked everyone to think about starting a permanent taskforce where they were paid a salary and if anything happened like this again then the taskforce would handle the danger or whatever came up. He added that this was important since humans didn’t know about their existence.

  Ash watched as the Alphas agreed and started to leave the room. Larken got up to shake hands and talk to the Alphas as they left. Most of the Alphas looked at Ash and told Larken that he was a lucky man. They never said her name, but Ash knew they were talking about her. Ash was hungry since she had skipped breakfast and hadn’t eaten lunch yet, her stomach growled as the last person left the room.

  Pelton looked over at Ash and smiled. “Hungry?” Ash blushed, but nodded yes. “Well, we have another instructor here for the second half of the class. We could go eat, then sit and get this stuff down and the things people need to be doing. These Alphas, and whoever goes out, needs to ask certain questions. So how about it, Ash? Are you up for the challenge?”

  Larken walked over to Ash but didn’t comment. “Sure. Of course I will help.” Ash sat back down quickly. Her blood sugar dropped and the color left Ash’s face.

  “Ash, what’s wrong?” Larken knelt in front of Ash and grabbed her hands. Larsen quickly walked over to Ash and also knelt in front of her. Ash started sweating and her eyes looked glazed over. This came on quick.

  “Move, Alpha,” Nash quickly said as he grabbed the bottle of orange juice off the back table. Larken started growling at Nash. “Alpha, I know what’s wrong, but you have to let me help her. I’ve been through this with Ash before.” Larsen pulled Larken up to allow Nash to kneel in front of Ash. He opened the bottle and put it to her lips. “Drink this, Ash.” Ash shook her head no. Her body started shaking. “Drink it, Ash, now.” Ash opened her mouth and Nash poured some of the liquid down her throat. Immediately the color started to return to her face.

  Ash shook her head trying to shake the fuzziness away that she was feeling.

  “Feel better?”

  Ash blinked several times then looked at Nash. “Yes, thank you.”

  “You are very welcome. You know, Ash, how you burn calories, you probably didn’t even eat breakfast, did you?”

  “Not really. I thought I would get a snack or something but never did. I’m sorry,” Ash said as she tried to get up. Wobbly on her feet, she sat back down.

  “Hey, hey, sit back down. We can all eat down here. The kitchen can send us lunch down here so we won’t be disturbed. Plus, you need to rest and eat,” Larken muttered as he reached out to touch Ash’s face. He skimmed his fingers over her cheek.

  Ash could see the concern in Larken’s eyes for her health. She smiled but turned her head because everyone was watching.

  Larsen watched as Larken touched Ash. The only problem was that Ash was his mate, too. He didn’t know how to tell his twin. Larsen reached out to touch Ash but jerked his hand back.

  Ash noticed the way Larsen jerked away from her. She didn’t understand why he was acting like that. Ash wanted to eat and then help with the plans. She tried to disconnect herself from Larsen, she didn’t have time to worry why he jerked away from her.

  Larken knew that Ash was embarrassed so he didn’t push the fact that she turned her head so he couldn’t touch her. Larken also noticed how Larsen was acting toward his mate. He watched Larsen and knew something was wrong with the way he was acting. Larken had seen the looks Larsen was giving her since she walked in the room. He tried not to show it, but he knew his twin, and Larsen never showed emotions toward a woman. Larken walked over to the phone to order lunch. He decided he would talk to Larsen later.

  Pelton came and sat down across from Ash. Nash sat down beside her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. Ash couldn’t stay mad at Nash. She squeezed his hand back letting him know she had forgiven him. Larken didn’t like the fact that Nash was touching his mate, but he knew if he said something then Ash would never allow him in her life. Plus, Larken trusted his cousin and knew he only loved Ash as his best friend. Larken hoped he was making progress with Ash because all he wanted to do was mate with her. He looked over at his
twin as he watched Ash. Larken knew something was up, but he didn’t want to say anything until they were in private.

  Waiters brought the food in as Larken sat down beside Ash. Pelton was typing all of Ash’s comments on the computer. The FBI had a profile program that was compiling the information on the suspect. Pelton would ask a question, giving Ash and the others time to answer then type in their response.

  Larsen couldn’t eat lunch. He couldn’t concentrate except on the beauty in front of him. He would take a bite of his sandwich then look over at Ash.

  She knew that Larsen was looking at her. She didn’t want any problems occurring with the brothers because of her, and she tried to control the looks she was giving back to Larsen. Ash wanted both Larken and Larsen but knew that wasn’t happening. She knew this would only cause trouble between the brothers, so she decided she was going to throw herself into the job and try to leave the Wilder brothers alone.

  Damn, Ash thought as she ate. Why can’t I stop looking at him? What is wrong with me? It has to be some type of wolf thing. They put out vibes that attract women like me. Maybe they do this all the time with women. That’s how they get them into their bed. Well, forget it, girl, you won’t be a notch on the Wilder brothers’ bedpost.

  “I need to go and speak with Larsen. Will you be okay while I’m gone?”

  Ash narrowed her eyes at Larken for asking a stupid question. “Larken, I’m very capable of taking care of myself,” Ash whispered, knowing the other wolves in the room could hear her. She didn’t want to chastise Larken in front of others.

  “Okay.” Larken decided now was not the time to tell his mate how he would always consider her feelings.

  Larken stood and walked out with Larsen.

  When they were in the hallway, Larken said, “Larsen, I need to see you in my office.” Larsen paused in the hallway and nodded then followed his brother into his office.