But they had still not found the murder weapon and figured the person who did this was still carrying it. After searching through all the books on the floor, through the victim’s clothing, behind curtains, under furniture, inside drawers, underneath knickknacks, and basically throughout the whole of the house they decided to give up looking for the murder weapon since it just wasn’t there.
“Sorry guys, I need to take a break for a sec. I need a drink – how about you guys?” asked Erik.
The other two shook their heads but waived for Erik to go right ahead and get a drink. He had found the drinking glasses earlier as they were looking for evidence and went right straight to the cabinet and pulled a cup out. Next he went over to the fridge and opened up the freezer to get a couple of ice cubes out. Strange, he thought to himself, the ice cube tray is empty. Why was a empty ice cube tray in the freezer? And it wasn’t put in straight either – and there was more than one in there just like that?
“Hey,” said Eric to the other two men. “Have you seen this?”
“It is merely an empty ice tray brother. Nothing to concern yourself with.” said Ashton.
“I know what it is, but don’t you think that it’s weird to have an empty ice tray in the freezer?”
“Not necessarily, some people do that all the time. Maybe he didn’t want any ice,” replied Ashton.
But while Ashton was answering Erik’s question, Erik continued to dig through the freezer looking for other oddities. Overall everything seemed normal to him but there did seem to be an odd cavity open behind the three pizza boxes over on the right. Erik reached behind the pizza boxes expecting to find nothing and then felt something… something odd – something metallic in fact. He reach further back, picked up the object and pulled it out with two fingers – it was a pistol! And judging from the amount of ice on it, it had not been in the freezer for long.
“My, oh my,” said Ashton, reaching for the weapon his brother was now holding, “what have we here?”
Kahn walked over to get a better look at the pistol now in Ashton’s hand.
“Have you gentlemen seen one of these before,” asked Ashton.
Kahn spoke up, “That’s a Kel-Tec P-11. I haven’t seen one of those in a few years. It’s the perfect weapon for someone who wants to keep a gun concealed. It has all the firepower you would want but its small size and rounded edges make it the perfect weapon to fit inside of a pocket… or handbag.”
“Or inside a freezer,” added Erik.
“Exactly,” agreed Ashton. “So, gentlemen. What do you think our next step should be? Do you think we should let people know what we know, or do you think we should keep this a secret until we know more.”
Kahn and Eric looked at each other and then back to Ashton, then spoke at the same time, “Secret.”
“I concur completely,” said Ashton. “So… I think we need to hide the bodies and hang onto that gun until we find out who it belongs to. Once we do that, we should have found our killer.”
“Agreed,” said Erik. “It shouldn’t take us long to get this place back in order and there are two closets in here where we can hide the bodies of my attackers. As for the Alpha, I suppose we should leave him where he is until we have a chance to do otherwise. But let’s turn up the air full blast to make it nice and cool in here just as a precaution when we do leave.”
About a half hour after that the Alpha’s cabin looked almost as good as new. No visible bloodstains or bullet holes, no obvious signs of a struggle with books and furniture tossed here and there, and no dead bodies lying around – all three of them thought it looked pretty normal. But before they left they did take the time to come up with a surveillance plan of the house, just in case the killer returned for his weapon, locking the door behind them as they exited the home.
Book 3: The Alpha’s a Bitch: Rise Of The Pack Princess Chapter 20
By the time the men had found the Alpha’s body, Ryder was safely back with Simon’s clan. Normal security procedures were completely ignored as far as she was concerned. All of Simon’s subordinates let her come and go as she pleased in respect to their Alpha. Anyone else would have gone through all sorts of pat downs and the like before getting within a few yards of the Alpha, but as far as Simon was concerned she was above and beyond all that and he told his men the same. That would be one decision he would come to regret.
As soon as she exited her Tahoe she ran up the steps and let herself in to Simon’s cabin, just like she had lived there forever. “Baby,” she yelled, “are you here?” She stood there for a couple of moments in complete silence before she realized she was all alone. Just to be sure she took every precaution as she walked through each room one at a time until she was completely assured that she was the only person there.
Smiling to herself, she decided to take another quick shower even though Simon was not there. As she undressed she theorized that her plan seemed to be going well so far. Another few days and she would certainly be the Alpha of her father’s pack. Turning on the water she whispered to herself, “Only David stands in the way… but that won’t be the case in a few more days.” She knew Simon and his men would see to that. And then once she was the Alpha of her pack she could probably double the size in no time by taking control of Simon’s pack too! Planting his weapon at the crime scene had been a genius idea and one she felt she could count on in the future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later Dunne was still looking for David and had not yet received a call from his brothers so he was still completely clueless concerning the Alpha’s demise or Ryder’s recent assault on Erik. Simon was completely unaware of Ryder’s scheme to set him up as the murderer of her packs Alpha. David, asleep in a cave, didn’t know any of this. Kahn, Erik and Ashton had no idea where Dunne was or whether or not he had found David yet, where Ryder was, or that Simon and his pack were now involved in the scheme. But they were pretty sure that the murderer would return soon as they kept the Alpha’s house under surveillance from a few hundred yards away, across the compound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was just beginning to be dark when David woke up. As he peeked out from the safety of his cave hiding place he saw nothing from the opening that was out of the ordinary. He listened intently and took a few quick breaths. Nothing. But as he sat there listening he suddenly realized how good he felt compared to only a few hours ago. His headache was gone and so was the ringing in his ears. And most of the cuts, scratches and scrapes all over his body had healed.
Time to go. With darkness coming on he should be able to easily avert his captors to be, even though he still didn’t know who they were or what they wanted with him. So he left the cave. Once outside he stood up and stretched for a few moments before taking off at a quick jog, feeling better than he had in a few days, not realizing that his cousin Dunne was busy looking for him only about 5 miles behind away. Or that Simon, the Alpha of a nearby pack, and his men were on the lookout for him too – for entirely different reasons and about three miles away – but directly in front of him.
One of Simon’s sentries howled as soon as he picked up the scent of David only a few moments later. As soon as David heard this he scaled the nearest tall pine tree hoping to see where the howl was coming from. Dunne, only a few miles behind, heard the lone howl as well and recognized that it didn’t belong to one of his clan. But who did it belong to? He didn’t answer but listened for more responses. So did David.
Moments later an answer came to the lone howl… and then another, and another. And soon there were several mournful howls off in the distance just ahead of him. David and Dunne immediately thought the same thing – “Shit, this isn’t good!” David froze in place still high up in the tree while Dunne picked up the pace heading directly toward the origination of the howls.
Book 3: The Alpha’s a Bitch: Rise Of The Pack Princess Chapter 21
It didn’t take but a few minutes after the first howls were heard before Simon’s men reached David’s locati
on. David, hoping to remain undetected, was still high in the pine tree frozen in place, hoping against hope that the new pack would not pick up on his location. He could easily see each of the wolves sniffing about 50 feet below him from his lofty perch, obviously looking for clues to his location. He still had no idea that his cousin Dunne was only minutes away too.
To start there were only two, but they were soon joined by three others. Large wolves – strange wolves he had never seen before – and they looked hungry and mean! And he could see every move they made from high up in the Pine, prowling about the forested floor. They were obviously on the trail of something, of that David was aware, but he did not know at this point that they were looking for him.
Then David caught a whiff of something – something familiar. “That’s strange,” he thought to himself, “but where have I smelled that before?” And just as that thought exited his mind he looked back in the forest, exactly from the direction he had just came and caught a glimpse of a man heading his way.
“What the hell?” David wondered. “That guy has no idea what he’s heading toward. I’ve got to warn him somehow.” Not wanting to give up his current location to the wolves, he knew that he just couldn’t do nothing. So he kept watching the man’s approach hoping he would change direction – lucky for him it seemed the wolves were so intent on what they were looking for that they didn’t even notice the new guy heading toward them.
Just then David realized who the stranger was – it was his cousin Dunne! “What is he doing out here?” David wondered to himself. But it didn’t really matter at this point because he knew exactly what was about to happen – a big fight. And just as luck would have it, the wolves realized that the stranger was in their midst as well. “Crap!” He thought to himself.
“Dunne, watch out! Wolves!” yelled David to his cousin. The wolves immediately looked up to his hiding place way up in the tree and started jumping on it, excitedly barking like a bloodhound who had just treed his first quarry. Dunne saw him as well, shedding his backpack as he ran toward David trying to find his gun in the bottom. By the time he reached David’s tree the wolves have been replaced by three angry naked men and David who was heading down to meet up with them all. Dunne had still not found his weapon.
With a leap that would’ve made any Olympic athlete proud, David jumped from the tree, over the trio and landed right beside Dunne who happily patted him on the back when he rose. Dunne could immediately tell that this whole set up was an invitation to a fight. Never one to back down, with his cousin by side, he said to the trio, “Well then… let’s get this over with.”
“Oh, we’re not going to kill you,” said the largest of the three. “We’re just going to make you wish that you were dead… before we turn you over the boss.”
David was expecting that part, the fighting and the torture, though he still didn’t know who the boss was. Or why these three wolves wanted to start up a ruckus in the first place. But he did know it would be just like most Alpha’s to have someone else do their dirty work for them. He didn’t know what happened to the other two but he did know that these three were not going to be enough – especially not with his cousin Dunne here to help him. Not tonight!
Just as the big guy finished his sentence, the other two large, muscle bound, dangerous looking men ran toward them with the third right behind. Then the fight broke out – MMA worthy for sure. Dunne and David demonstrated just how good they were as far as fighting was concerned by responding to every move the naked men made with the perfect defensive blow. They blocked punches, landed several punches of their own, tossed the guys about like they were toddlers, pushed them into trees, tossed them onto boulders, you name it. It was quite a battle but the cousins seem to have it all under control.
They both fought with incredible agility and strength and in less than three or four minutes the cousins had all the intruders unconscious on the forest floor. Debris from the scuffle was thrown everywhere and it would be obvious to the naked eye that a battle had occurred here. David looked to Dunne, and just as he was about to say something to him, two very large wolves, much larger than the ones they had just fought, jumped them both from behind, biting them cruelly.
The two surprised men screamed bloody murder at the attack and instinctively tried to pull off their attackers. Dunne managed to unceremoniously grab his attacker by the throat and tossed him over his head and toward the nearest tree. David was not quite so lucky, though he did manage to let out a growl as his fangs enlarged, pissed off at the sneaky move. He did grab the Wolf around the back of his head with both hands and used all of his will to throw him to the ground. And just as the Wolf headed earthbound David lifted his knee into the wolves face – blood splattered everywhere.
Groggy, both wolves managed to get to their feet before both changed to human form. The cousins patiently waited, and took a few steps back, waiting for the battle to continue. David’s attacker was the first to get overly emotional – his lips pulled up into a snarl uncovering sharp canines despite the fact that he was human now. And the other wolf stood frozen at this point, unwilling to move another inch, clearly not expecting the battle to have turned out quite this way.
The big guy charged Dunne with an open mouth yelling as he ran toward him. Dunne, expecting this to be an easy win just stood there as he looked over to David and winked. His cockiness this time would cost him, because just as he looked away the big Wolf hit him full speed throwing him to the ground where he hit his head on a large sized rock. He was knocked out cold!
“Dunne, you ass,” was all David managed to get out before the other wolf pounced on him. Obviously enraged at the earlier blows and highly pissed off at the way the fight was going, the wolf grabbed David in a choke hold. David knew he was in trouble and that this wolf was just about as strong as he was – things were starting to turn gray.
The second Wolf, the one who had knocked Dunne out, decided to leave his prey and to join in on the fun. Only seconds later David realized he was at the business end of a barrage of heavy kicks to his abdominal region while he was being simultaneously choked. Things were not looking good for him.
Then everything went black…
Moments later, who knows how many, he suddenly realized somewhere off in the far distance… he could hear something – what was it? Growling? Yelling? And he could sense movement and the presence of other beings… he tried to sit up in his weakened state but instead fell back, struggling for breath. What was happening? And then he heard a familiar voice yelling at him… Dunne? Were they really yelling at him? He was still completely confused from the effects of the choke hold he was in only moments ago.
His cousin was now battling the other two wolves. You had to give them all credit for persistence. David’s blurry sight was beginning to come back to him now and his hearing was clearer as well. He looked over just in time to see Dunne, a softball sized bloody lump on the right side of his head, plant his fist right into the larger wolves face, busting his nose in the process. Blood and scratches covered the combatants. The other wolf, sneaky little bastard that he was, jumped on Dunne from behind again right after he punched the big guy in the face.
“Dammit… who taught you guys how to fight?” said Dunne under his breath as he tried to peel the second guy off of him.
Instinctively Dunne reached up with both hands in an upward thrust, in between the sneaky guys arms and pushed out in attempt to make him lose his grip. It worked – as the bastards arms flew out Dunne brought his right arm back over, halfway twisting his body and punched him right in the throat. Sneaky guy, his face shriveled in pain, dropped to the ground trying to catch his breath. Seconds later he passed out from lack of oxygen.
Just as Dunne was turning around to go check on his cousin the other guy landed a sweeping kick into his face that brought him right off his feet. He then landed on his face right next to the sneaky guy, halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness. He fought to stay awake but it wasn’t to be tho
ugh since the big guy had picked up a large branch knocked down during the fight and started taking his frustrations out on him with it.
David, still gaining consciousness, saw everything. Patiently waiting his turn he engaged the big guy long before he should have in order to save his cousin. And big guy was ready for him. The big guy picked David up to eye level like he was a toy and that’s exactly when David took advantage of the situation and sunk his teeth into the neck of his attacker. He sucked the life out of the man in his half conscious state long before he wandered off to pass out in the bush. By the time the fighting finished it was completely dark.
When David woke up next, he was wet and laying face down underneath some bushes and an old downed tree, all by himself. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out, but it was obvious that it had rained sometime while he was unconscious and judging from the look in the bright morning sky above it might possibly do it again. It was hot and sticky and he wasn’t sure what he was doing out in the woods by himself.
As best, he could tell he was covered in scratches and cuts and gashes, he had a large bump on the back of his head, he was having a hard time catching a good breath, his nose felt broken, his eyesight was blurry, he had a massive headache and there was a ringing in his ears – was that it? “Where am I,” he thought to himself as he lay there on the ground. “How did I get here?”
But somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he had to just keep moving, so that’s what he did. Slowly, he managed to get up to a semi upright position and started walking – he had no idea where he was going or where he was but he knew he had to just keep moving. Then way off in the distance, maybe a mile or two away, he heard yelling and a gunshot, followed by another.
David felt a new surge of energy flow through his body after hearing the gunshots and he picked up his pace in his new, bent over, grandpa pose. He managed to safely cross several downed trees but was repeatedly tripped up by kudzu vines and rocks on the ground. But he almost felt high, for lack of a better description. Maybe this was just his flight response kicking into gear as he moved away from those gunshots, which really helped him in getting up a steep embankment and cross over a ditch faster than he might have otherwise.
The Alpha's a Bitch: Rise Of The Pack Princess Complete: A Paranormal Werewolf Romance Page 13
