Not just the Beta (Oriana and Slade) novel Chapter 105

Slade

It had been years out here searching for Ori and they, it seemed, were no closer to finding her, though they now at least knew she was alive and well. He had thought they’d gotten her, or close to her on many occasions, but now they knew better.

By sheer fluke, while sitting at a university in South Dakota, it appeared to be the university of choice for half a dozen packs across five different states. Palmer had been flipping casually through a magazine, while they sat chatting among themselves and listening to any pack chatter from those wolves around them.

None were even concerned about him and his men, one had even asked where they’d haled from, and he’d been honest, stated Arizona. It was no secret and everyone here appeared to get along as well. They could well, all be allied to each other.

When Palmer had sat bolt upright, “Slade,” had burst out of him, and his own head had whipped around, thinking the man had eyes on her. Technically, he did have, though it was in that magazine.

There she was smiling for all to see, in an advertisement for Ralph Lauren glasses for some optical store.

Her hair was back to her natural colour, though it was only just past her shoulders, still growing it out from her pixie cut, it appeared or perhaps that was how she kept it now.

There was nothing to go on, as to where that photo had been taken, inside a studio they all guessed. That fashion magazine was the current month and years issue, so a recent photo of her.

He’d actually sagged with relief at seeing her picture. She looked good, healthy and happy in that photo. She, he thought, had been laughing at something, and that smile reached her eyes. Had found a way to live and be happy somewhere out there.

Those unmistakable eyes of hers in full colour, full of life for all to see, were enhanced by the dark green frames she was wearing in the advertisement. He’d torn the page from the magazine, to the café owners’ displeasure, and then had apologised and bought the magazine from them.

Though looking up the company, they had found its office resided in Chicago, Illinois, and they were over in South Dakota. He and his unit had headed there to speak with the company’s employees, to try and ascertain her where abouts. This, however, had become a fruitless task. Not only had that picture been provided to them by the optical company, they didn’t know the name of the model that had been used, or where the picture had actually been taken.

He’d learned over the years of trying to hunt her down, that magazines all took from a month to three months, depending on how often they put out their magazine monthly or quarterly. That by the time he saw her in any photo, she was long gone.

Talking to the photographers wasn’t of much use. They saw models all the time, so they didn’t recall her half the time. She was never a regular to any particular photographer or magazine label. The ones that did recognise her, had no idea how to contact her or what agency she worked for.

Those that did recognise her remembered her eyes. One told him that she’d not been on set as a model and had tagged along with another model. They seemed like friends, and he’d simply asked if she would allow him to shoot her as well. It was ad for sunglasses. She’d agreed, though he couldn’t recall her name.

It had been unusual to him.

They’d spend years hopping on flights and traipsing back and forth across the country; were frequent flyer’s on Wolf Airlines, as they headed off to talk to anyone she’d possibly worked with. In the hope that just one of them would know her new name, or where she lived.

He’d started keeping all her photos in a folder, to try and keep track of her movements. Under each one was the company headquarters, and the state they resided in. There were no real connections, and she didn’t just work for one. But at least she was doing well out there. That was the only good thing that came from the pictures; she was healthy.

They’d taken to skimming fashion magazines, though it was mostly seen that she advertised reading glasses or sunglasses, so kept track of eyewear advertisements, online or in magazines. It was all they could do in their hunt. Wherever she was based was still unknown to them.

They were out in Washington state, in Olympia, headed for the Wolf Airline terminal once more, after yet another picture of her had been seen. Just walking casually along when one of the electronic rolling advertising boards had shown her face, she was in a group photo with three other women, all wearing ski gear, then it was gone.

That was very annoying to him, and to his unit. To find the scent only to have not be attached to the one they were looking for. Though so far all of them had been women, but they all varied in age, and one that they’d not known or seen had scented inside a pack unknown to them. And it never left that pack, not in a week, so they’d had to go to the pack, request a meeting with the Alpha himself, because they needed a visual of the she-wolf and couldn’t get one. The Alpha had come to the gate and stared at him, stated simply and clearly “State your business.”

He’d stated simply, honestly that he was trying to track a missing pack member from his home pack, that she smelled like chocolate and coconut, and that in passing by they’d picked up that scent within his pack. That man had stood there and stared at him and Vance had stated “she’s beta-blooded. My half-sister.” And they’d shown that man a picture of Ori with Slade and the boys. They didn’t have one of Vance and her.

The Alpha had stared at him after looking at the picture and shaken his head. “Not here, sorry. But to alleviate your concern that I might be hiding her, I’ll have the one that smells like that come down here to the gate.”

A she-wolf appeared on the road, coming this way, and Hail picked up her scent easily. She had that chocolaty coconut scent but was older and had brown eyes. He’d got an introduction to a pack elder who was 163 years old. Lived within the pack always.

He’d nodded and apologised for the interruption to that Alpha and his elders’ day, and they’d been on their way once more, another bust on their mission to find and bring Ori back to the pack.

They needed a new strategy of some sort, he’d thought at the time, but Vance and Palmer had both shaken their heads and told him it was still the best way to go about this. They’d roamed over a hundred packs now and only come across 10 that smelled anything like her. That her true wolfen scent wouldn’t change, only the pack scent did.

That 10 she-wolves out of like 50,000 wolves if they averaged each pack to just 500 wolves, meant that it was still only 0.02% of wolves out there that smelled enough like her to warrant further investigation. It wasn’t so common a thing to warrant them dismissing their original plan for something else. It was still a good, strong strategy, one that made sense. There were just more packs out there was all.

They were also convinced now that she was within a pack, because she couldn’t go off out of the country or to any photo shoots and leave her child unattended, and not once had any photographer mentioned a child or answered that question with a ‘yes, she had a child with her’.

Though they only asked that, if there were no other wolves or otherworldly.creatures about, so the conclusion was that she was leaving her child with someone. It was being looked after, therefore should be safe inside a pack.