Chapter 1: The Re-emergence of Imogen

Katherine

The week after the Hunters came for us, everyone was subdued. In some ways, being attacked and fighting together made all of us feel more like a pack. But it also displayed our weaknesses.

Orion was right. We’re a pack now and we need to act like one. That means building a packhouse that can house all of our pack members, having a kitchen large enough to cook for the number of people we now have in our pack, having a full-sized dining room so people don’t have to eat outside by the firepit all the time, and creating sufficient indoor plumbing so everyone can shower more easily.

Sin tasked Uzumati with coming up with plans for the packhouse. In a lot of ways, the tribe acts like the omegas of the pack. They do most of the shopping and cooking for our group of people. Now, they will also oversee the plumbing and electrical lines for our new packhouse, pouring the foundation and then building our new home. I wasn’t sure how they would take that, but they all seemed very excited.

Even though he never became part of our pack, we had a memorial for Riddler. He had helped us by working with Reaper and his group, and while Sin would have been fine leaving it, I wanted to acknowledge what he had done for us.

When Reaper and Craze had gone through his things, they’d found that he’d purchased a plane ticket to some island in the Caribbean. He had planned to leave us, to run, but he never got the chance.

“Why was he so afraid of us?” I asked, when they told us. “I mean, yeah, Sin can be intimidating, but Riddler was terrified from the moment we brought him in.”

“I’m not sure you realize how much of an aura all of you put out. For someone like Riddler, someone who was bullied his whole life, being around such powerful energy would have been difficult. I didn’t realize just how nervous he was, but I’m not surprised he was planning to leave. He never would have felt comfortable here,” Reaper said.

“Does anyone else feel that way? Should I be doing a better job of making people feel welcome into our home?” I asked.

Sin had come up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. “Kitten, you can’t take care of everyone.”

“Of course I can. That’s what Lunas do, isn’t it?”

“Speaking for myself, I can tell you that it’s very intimidating when you first get here. Not only is everyone already part of a pack, but there isn’t enough room for everyone. You’re crammed into a small space with people you don’t know, and as Reaper said, your energy is heavy in the air. Sometimes, you speak a language that doesn’t make sense to the rest of us until we have your same heightened senses. Things that aren’t comfortable in the human world, such as nudity, are commonplace here. Growling is nearly constant and if you don’t know the differences between the growls, they all sound intimidating and angry. I have Orion now, so it’s been an easier transition for me. The tribe was used to being outside, so moving here probably didn’t have the same impact on them, plus I think most of them already knew of the existence of shifters. But I can understand why Riddler would have been scared. It’s not an easy transition, especially when it isn’t your choice to come here,” Gemma says.

That, more than anything, confirmed for me that we needed to build a packhouse. We also wanted to expand our land, so Sin tasked Paragon and Ashkii with finding out who owns the land around ours and if we can purchase it.

The day after the battle, the news of King Mitar broke worldwide. King Amir, as he told Sin he would, took full credit for ‘overthrowing the terrorist’. Beside him, Velizar Petrova stood proudly. King Amir announced that it was King Mitar who had ruined the peace talks that Petrova had worked so hard to create. He insisted that the country put Petrova back into power and let the peace talks resume.

The media indicated that Princess Imogen had not yet been found. Vagabond found her plane ticket to the States a day before the media announced it on air. However, no one has seen her, and no one knows where she is.

“Well, we know where she is. We just don’t know where Alpha Max's dungeon is,” Reaper says.

“If she’s in his dungeon, she may not even know that her father is dead,” Maddox says.

“The other interesting thing is that her flight plan included another passenger,” Craze says.

“What passenger?” Sin asks.

“Alpha Max.”

“But he was here,” Tahki says.

“Yes, but his brother wasn’t. She either doesn’t know he has a brother, which would mean that they are identical twins, or she does and she’s helping to keep their secret,” Sin says.

“Didn’t you say that Imogen got Alpha Max the position at THG?” I ask.

“Yes,” Reaper says. Everyone stops to look at me while I think. I’m not sure if Sin told them to wait, or if they’ve started to realize that I need a moment to think through things sometimes.

“So, they were close before he started working there,” I say softly.

“What are you thinking, Kitten?”

“I think Alpha Max has an identical twin and that Imogen knows it. She would have realized that Alpha Max was still working back here when she took the brother home with her. There’s no way she could have pulled it off that he was Alpha Max if she didn't already know they are identical twins.”

“They’re sharing her?” Orion asks.

“It’s not unheard of for identical twins to share a mate,” Sin says, watching me.

I look around at our group. “Are we sure that Imogen is human?”

“Yes. I smelled her when she went into the THG building about a month ago. She’s definitely human,” Orion says.

Sin holds up his hand, telling everyone else to stay quiet. “Kitten?”

“Sinopa, you and Gemma joined our pack after being marked by your mates. When that happened, you said your senses increased even more, right?” I ask.

“Yes. They were stronger when Maddox marked me, but joining the pack enhanced them even more.”

I look at Sin, but he stays quiet, watching me.

“How strong would her senses become if she was marked by two Alphas?”

I hear the others suck in air. Sin looks around at the group, assessing their level of heightened senses.

“I’d say her senses would be pretty fucking close to a shifter’s at that point.”

“I agree. It would make her even more dangerous than she already is.” None of us say it, but it also means it would make it harder to kill her.

Towards the end of the week, we received a call from Alpha Bradley.

“Alphas, I want to thank you again for exposing Alpha Max and THG. Have you heard the news?”

Sin looked at me, but I shook my head, looking at Reaper.

He shrugged and began typing quickly. “Oh shit.”

“What news?” Sin asks.

“THG has closed their doors. Permanently.”

“No way,” Ronin says, overhearing the conversation.

“Why does he say that?” Alpha Bradley asks.

“Because, they have too much to lose without the cover of an organization doing their dirty work for them. All five members of the board are dirty. The NEED the organization,” Sin says.

“Well, it won’t be THG,” he says.

“Cloak and Dagger Enterprises,” Craze says.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“The parent company of THG. They ‘withdrew’ their funding for THG which is why they closed their doors. However, it looks like they’re about to invest in a new company, Moonlight Revelations, Inc. And guess who the President and CEO is?” Craze asks.

“Imogen Rhees,” Sin growls.

“You would be correct.”

“Did you hear that Alpha? Let your brother know that he should not send any wolves to work for that company,” Sin says to Bradley.

“I’ll let him and our allies know. Fucking bastards.”

“This could be a good thing, Alpha,” Sin tells him.

“And why is that?”

“If they have a company, we can watch them. It will make it easier to find Alpha Max and his brother.”

“You sound confident that there is a brother. Did you find him?”

Sin tells him about Max and a family member finding our pack, and about my theory that Imogen knows about both of them.

“Interesting. I’ll leave it out there that I want them, both of them.”

“There are enough to go around, Alpha. I’d be happy to pass those two on to you and your brother,” Sin says.

“Thank you, and please keep me in the loop. If you need any assistance at all to help take these assholes down, Brodie and I will help.”

“Thank you,” he says, before hanging up.

It was another couple of days before Reaper came racing into the dining room.

“You’ve got to see this!”

While he pulls up his tablet, Craze turns on the television in the living room so everyone can see.

When it turns on, it’s a media announcement. Imogen is standing in front of a group of microphones while cameras flash around her.

“Holy shit,” Kinnison says.

“I guess they’re not hiding anymore,” Shay says.

Behind her, standing on either side of her like sentries, are Alpha Max and his identical twin.

“The unnecessary violence, the murder of my father and his men, cannot go unpunished. I will not sit back and idly accept the lies that King Amir has spoken about me and my father. He is the true terrorist and he must be brought to justice.”

Even with her makeup on, Imogen looks wrought with grief. But that isn’t what captures my attention.

“Sin …” I say, pointing to the image of Imogen on the screen.

“What?” Gemma asks, looking from the screen to me and back again.

“She’s been marked,” Orion tells her.

“By both of them,” Sin confirms.