The Pack's Luna: The Pack Series Book 4 novel Chapter 413

Wendy

Spending the night with Alpha Squad when I’m with Hacker versus when I’m with Hijack is completely different.

When Jude was here, we worked to get everything done together, then we’d gone out to join Alpha Squad and listened to their ghost stories. With Hijack, rather than working together, he steps out of the van and gets on a call about another project he’s working on. Since I’m not part of it, I don’t follow.

I finish going through the monitoring process that Jude showed me the previous night, then I look around, trying to figure out where Jude got the sleeping bag that we slept in.

I feel the van dip as Hijack steps back in.

“Did Hacker show you how to pull the beds down?” he asks me.

“Uh, no,” I say.

“Right here,” he says, walking over and showing me the latches for the ‘bed’ that is no more than a cot attached to the side of the van. It pulls down like a Murphy Bed, except much smaller.

“Blankets and pillows are in that bin over there. You should get some sleep. I have some more work to do,” he says.

“Do you need help?” I ask him.

“No. This is working with Vivienne and the group searching for the rogue she-wolves. Until we find Alpha Patrick, Alpha Peter, and Justine, you’re good.”

“Tracker hasn’t found them yet?” I ask.

“No, and it’s really starting to piss her off.”

I get a blanket and a pillow and carefully climb onto the cot. It might be the most uncomfortable place I’ve ever tried to sleep, but I remember what Jude said. This is the job. There will be times when this is where I’ll need to sleep.

Although, part of me wonders if I shouldn’t go sleep out by the fire with the rest of Alpha Squad. The ground wasn’t any more comfortable than this cot is and, if I’m being honest, the only reason I slept last night is because I was with Jude. I felt safe and warm, unlike tonight where I just feel uncomfortable.

I turn away from where Hijack is working at his console. I grab my phone and send a text to Jude.

Me: Hey. How are you feeling? Did my mom get you fixed up?

I don’t get a response, so I hope that means that he’s sleeping.

It’s hours later before Hijack finally finishes whatever he was doing. Based on the number of huffs and sighs he made, I’m assuming he’s not having any more luck finding the missing women than Tracker is finding Patrick, Peter, and Justine.

And that makes me wonder. Where could three people, two Alphas and one pregnant woman, hide? My understanding was that Alpha Patrick’s pack was Justine’s home pack, so her family should reside there. But that doesn’t mean that her mother didn’t come from another pack. 1

“Hijack?”

“What are you still doing awake?” he asks.

“Can’t sleep. Did Tracker check what pack Justine’s mother came from?”

“Yeah, and she’s also checked the pack her grandmother came from. They aren’t there, nor are they in the pack that Alphas Patrick and Peter’s mother and grandmother are from.”

“Where could they be?” I ask.

“That is the million-dollar question, Sphinx. Get some sleep,” he says, and I hear the cot he lowered creak with his weight as he gets on it.

I try. I really try to sleep, but it just won’t come. When it does, it’s short-lived and almost leaves me more tired.

In the middle of the night, I give up, knowing that I’ll never get any sleep on this cot or out here in the wild without Jude here to make me feel safe. Instead, I get up and get on my computer, hoping that I can do something useful.

I start by looking at heat sources around our area, focusing on the ones that don’t look like dens with mothers and babies or ones that are small enough to be beavers in their dams. I stretch my search farther than the two miles I looked earlier, focusing on the area to the south of us, since that is the direction of the river’s current.

I’m about ready to lay my head on the console and try to sleep like that when I see something. It’s on the opposite side of the river from where we are and the heat source looks off, but it’s large.

I zero in on it, trying to figure out what it is. It’s on the edge of the river somewhere between five and ten miles south of where we are. As I watch, I see it slowly begin to move.

The moment it stands up, I realize it’s a person.

“Hijack! Hijack, wake up!” I say, needing to know if I found him.

“Hmm? What? What is it,” he says, his voice thick with sleep.

“Come here, quick. I found something.”

“Son of a bitch,” Raptor says, echoing Hijack’s comment earlier. “I bet that’s him. He probably passed out in the water or got so cold that he couldn’t move and had to wait for the water to wash him to shore. Then he either waited until he woke up, or his body warmed enough to move again. We need to go. This might be our best chance to catch him. Find a bridge so we can cross to the other side, Hijack.”

“The closest one is right here, but there aren’t any roads on the other side of the river. We’ll be hoofing it through the forest,” Hijack says.

“Won’t be the first time,” Raptor says. “Good work, Sphinx.”

Raptor leaps out of the van, and I hear him getting the others up.

“Put the bedding away, Sphinx, and lock the bed, we’re about to go for a bumpy ride,” Hijack says.

When Cipher gets into the driver’s seat, he turns and looks at us. “Which one of you crazies was up working at four in the morning?”

“Her,” Hijack says, sliding the van door closed. “Strap in Sphinx.”

I do and we take off. Once we’re over the bridge, I see what Hijack meant about hoofing it. Without a paved road, the van begins bouncing all over the landscape as Cipher struggles to keep us steady while continuing to move toward the coordinates where I found the person.

I’m thankful that Hijack told me to strap in. If I hadn’t, I’d have ended up on the floor quickly. As it is, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have bruises that Dasha will need to heal where the seatbelt is biting into my hips, chest, and shoulders.

“Keep tracking him, Sphinx,” Hijack says.

“He’s going into the forest,” I say. His heat source still isn’t very strong, but as he’s moving, it’s getting stronger.

Because of the rocky terrain, it takes us an hour to get to the spot where I first saw the body. When we stop, I’m thankful because my entire body hurts.

Cipher and Hijack hop out of the van quickly and I follow behind them. All of Alpha Squad begins sniffing around, trying to find the spot where I first saw the person.

“HERE!” Siren calls.

The others join her and Raptor begins growling.

He looks up at me. “It’s him. You found him. Alpha Squad, we’re on the hunt! Go! Go! Go!”

They take off as Hijack and I get back in the van, trying to keep track of Stellan while Alpha Squad begins their hunt.