Agent Alpha Ch. 01

"What about your predator population? Mountain lions? Bears? Wolves?" She continued fluidly.

"All of the above," he answered. "Why?"

"The cult often attempts to cover their tracks by making the abductions appear to be an animal attack. Generally speaking, they prefer wolves as their cover of choice. Obviously, it makes a lot more sense in an area where such predators exist naturally, ergo their attraction to this location. Seen a lot more wolves than you are used to lately, Captain?"

Rhys saw his singular opportunity to get this cleaned up without jeopardizing his pack. "Yeah," he said with a surprised nod. "Hunters been taking them out of the hills for weeks now," he added for good measure. "I didn't think it was related..."

Shepherd shrugged it off. "Most don't. That's the point. I'm going to need to request you redirect your search parties to the areas where the wolves have been spotted. And that air support, Captain?"

"I'll see what I can get together," he acquiesced. "But I'm gonna need some more information on these people if I'm sending my volunteers into those hills," he added. He needed to know what she knew about werewolves, even if she didn't realize that's what she was dealing with.

Shepherd was tired of interruptions. "They are exceptionally strong," she told him frankly. "Most experts on the matter believe that the high protein diet is a factor. They will be young men between the ages of 18 and 30, various racial backgrounds. They also will have trained wolves with them. For a shock effect, many of the young men do not wear clothing either. Animal traps have proven effective in the past for dealing with the wolves." She offered the last part without blinking an eye. Inside, Rhys was cringing at such brutal techniques.

"Well, I'll let them know then. And I'll let you know how the search goes," he added.

"No need, Captain," she answered, folding her file shut and pulling her jacket from behind the chair. "I am participating in the effort."

Rhys offered her a chuckle. It was all he could do to keep from cringing further. "Begg'n your pardon, ma'am, but this isn't the city. You'll snap an ankle in those," he said with a nod toward her 4 inch heels. He tried his best to make it sound as condescending as possible. She was dressed for a power meeting in time square, not a search party in western Wyoming.

Shepherd rolled her eyes at him and offered a smirk; the first half effort at a smile since she arrived. She was really quite pretty. "Oh don't you worry your sweet little head over me, dear," she replied with precisely the same tone. His mental image revived the notion of ripping her arms off. Shepherd crossed over to a small duffle bag slung over the back of a chair. She swung the bag over her shoulder before round the table for the door. "The women's dressing room, captain?" She inquired as she passed him on the way out the door.

"Down the hall to your right," he told her through a frown. She signaled that she got it and soon disappeared. The lieutenant joined him from behind, still looking bewildered about her presence. "Watch her," was the only order Rhys spared the man. It was so deathly serious; he might as well have been another person.

A few minutes later, Agent Shepherd emerged from the changing room wearing jeans, sneakers, and a zip up sweater with the words "Princeton" displayed across the chest in bold letters. She was tugging on a rain jacket and holding her badge in her teeth as she left. On her hip was a holstered Glock. Rhys hadn't told her that they were about to begin their next wave of searches, though, she seemed to already know.

Agent Shepherd snagged a map as she turned and left the precinct, presumably heading toward her car. Rhys thoroughly regretted what he was about to say, but knew there was little other alternative. "You need a ride, Agent?" He offered, torn about how he wanted her to respond.

The woman stopped and looked at him for a moment. She seemed to be torn about the same thing. "Yeah, I guess," she finally let out. Shepherd was, of course, weighing her options. The Bureau's position was that she was to take her own vehicle and remain as separate from the locals as possible. Of course, with the amount of ground they had to cover, there was no way it would happen without the locals assistance. So long as she could remind Captain Forester that she was in charge, and not him any more, being sociable with him and his could work to her benefit in eliciting cooperation.

She hopped into the beat up old truck and pulled the door shut without another word, busying herself with her seat belt as Rhys hopped into the driver's side. The other police cars were following suit, waiting to follow the Captain's beat up truck.

"So," Rhys finally said after several minutes of deafening silence. "Princeton."

Shepherd cocked an eyebrow at him, trying to pretend that she was involved in her case files. In truth, reading in the bumpy vehicle was making her car sick and she would never admit that the idle conversation was a welcomed remedy. "Yeah. What about it," she answered non-committally.

"Awfully fancy school," Rhys responded with the same level of enthusiasm. "You join the Bureau straight away or did you do any real work first?" He hadn't meant it as it came out and he cringed slightly on the inside. This already was starting poorly and he needed her to think he was cooperating completely for his idea to pull through.

"Real work, huh?" She replied. He expected as much. "No I don't suppose you would consider graduate work at an ivy league institution to be real work, would you Captain?"

"Sorry," he retreated a bit. Agent Shepherd couldn't have known that he had only ever apologized to a handful of people in his life, sincere or otherwise. "Didn't mean it to sound like that. What'd you study?"

"No offense taken," she replied smoothly. "I studied criminal justice, specializing in the occult."

"Then you're somethin' of an expert about these folks who you think made off with Alison? You ever see one of 'em?" Rhys was mildly curious. Humans wouldn't know it, necessarily, but once you knew what to look for, there were defining physical characteristics which all werewolves shared.

Agent Shepherd shook her head, which oddly came as a relief to Rhys. "Most of the extractions and raids happened when I was just a kid," she told him. Rhys bit his lip slightly. Age with humans was always hard for him to figure out. He had guessed she was probably in her early twenties, but hearing that she was an FBI agent and now some sort of academic as well meant she was likely a lot older than that initial estimate. "There was one near my home town, actually," she revealed. "That's how I got interested."

"I get it," he answered, nodding slightly. "Gotta taste of somethin' bad and felt helpless so now it's your life's goal to make sure it doesn't happen again?" He was thinking out loud, really, and, not really thinking at all.

"Something like that," she said dismissively. "Your files on the Reed girl don't indicate that anyone has interviewed her friends," she changed the subject rapidly. Apparently he hit a nerve.

"Girl didn't have many," he answered.

"She'd have had at least one," Shepherd countered. "A sister, maybe? Best friend? These girls are quiet types and extremely private. They tend to fly under the radar. Many of them aren't noticed missing for days after they are taken; it's part of the reason they are selected."

"That's sad," Rhys commented absently. He meant it, too. Suddenly, he wondered about the girls who had joined the pack in the last thirty years. "Selected, huh. Like these fellas are stalking these girls before hand?"

"Something like that," she answered.

"See, I figure we'd have noticed some strange naked boys runn'n around watch'n girls. Maybe we're just a bunch of amateurs."

Shepherd rolled her eyes and scoffed at him. "Well I would hope you would have noticed that," she answered in full sarcasm. "They like to remain hidden. They would probably be lurking in the woods right in front of you and wouldn't even know it. Given how easily they manage this, I seriously doubt any inexperience you or your force may be dealing with has anything to do with it."

"They're just that good, huh?" Rhys continued. "Then why'd they send only one of you and not a whole crew?"

"Don't worry, Captain Forester," she replied in a smooth and utterly condescending voice. "You and your men will get all the credit you're due. I am simply here to guide the investigation and provide insight in the event it's the cult. You'll have plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty."

The truck pulled off the road into a small gravel turn off. Shepherd had been tapping at her phone with a frown for the last several miles. "Don't get no signal out here," Rhys told her curtly.

Shepherd had a sour look on her face for a moment, but decided to put the phone away anyway. She stepped out of the truck to where the others had gathered, momentarily pausing to take in the environment. Under any other circumstance, this place would have been stunningly beautiful. Tall ponderosa pines blanketed the mountain for miles, unblemished by civilization. The heavy smell of pine tar hung in the air as her sneakers crunched on the soft, needle covered ground beneath her feet. A dense fog had settled over the valleys and with the exception of a few stray birds, and a rather irritated squirrel, the vast wilderness was oddly quiet.

Shepherd only took a minute to assess the place. She stepped over to where the men were gathered, instantly flashing her badge. "Agent Shepherd, FBI," she announced, preparing to pull out the map.

"FBI?" Let out one man in surprise. "Well, hell, I didn't know we was that important?" It was Jameson, one of the pack omegas. All of the search party were wolves from the Forester Pack. There was no way Rhys was taking volunteers who couldn't handle what was out there.

Shepherd ignored him. "Intel on the people responsible suggests a certain preference toward locations, here, here, and here, " she said, circling the best possible locations with a red sharpee. Naturally, one of them was the Den's main house. Shepherd was good. Very good. "I suggest we focus on these three areas first. Are there any natural cave formations in any of these areas?"

Rhys shook his head. This was, of course, a lie. One of those locations did have a natural cave; his den. That she was able to identify quality wolf habitats, though, was rather of interest to him. They hadn't considered looking in places they themselves would like, and even if they didn't find anything, after she left it gave the pack alternative hunting and living grounds in the case of an emergency or if the Den were ever discovered. Shepherd had just proven valuable, as far as his pack was concerned, and his internal beast relaxed on seeing her as a threat.

"Fine," she answered, "I would have expected there to be some, but ok. My research indicates that this location here is the best starting point, barring any caves or cave systems." It was not the Den and everyone discretely relaxed. "We should start there, fan out, and meet back here in six hours to report. Does everyone have radios?"

"Ma'am, radios don't work too good out here. Hills mess 'em up," another omega, Micah, chimed in. "But we got a good way we worked out few days back. Just whistle real loud like this," Micah demonstrated, not at all realizing how critical Shepherd's expression had become. To Rhys, it was obvious: she thought Micah was a complete idiot. Fortunately, she masked the expression well enough.

Rhys was mildly embarrassed, but also had come prepared. "Might be easier with these," he commented absently, pulling out a handful of police issued whistles. Shepherd seemed less opposed to the notion and the others were visibly rather excited to receive the item.

The group spread out, though Rhys did not let Shepherd out of his sight. He was largely worried that she would accidentally stumble upon evidence of his own pack, instantly make the connection, and then turn that fancy Glock on her hip against one of his family. For a city girl, she was handling herself well in the rough terrain.

Mostly, the group was silent as they trekked along and it wasn't until Shepherd slipped on a wet rock that Rhys had any reason to interact with her. Before he had even considered it, his hand shot out to latch onto her arm, preventing the spill by pulling her up slightly. The woman stumbled a bit more and ultimately ended up fully embraced in Rhys's grip. A flutter raced through Rhys's heart and his keen senses noticed that her own pulse had elevated. She smelled like lavender and woman and the scent of her immediately caught his attention as unique.

Rhys frowned instantly. In reality, he hadn't expected such a response and it only served to confuse him. "Better watch your step there, Ma'am," he grumbled as he let go of her arms and turned to continue his search.

"...yeah," she returned, in much the same grouchy tone as he had used with her. "I think we are getting off baring," she piped up.

"What makes you think that?" He called back in disinterest. He knew they were; that was part of the plan. He needed to keep them away from the pack. He would send Brody and his team to scout this area later; the formality of this search party was merely to appease Agent Shepherd and possibly acquire information to aid Brody later.

"Because we're heading too far south," she replied, pulling out her compass to verify what she seemed to already know. "We need to double back at the top of that ridge. Don't suppose you have some way of whistling that to your buddies, do you?"

Rhys shook his head. "You and I can head back that way and then meet back up with them at the rendezvous if you're interested." He was hoping she was not.

"I guess," she answered, already adjusting her heading as she continued up the hill toward the ridge. "I suppose we're still in ear shot for these whistles of yours," she added. "Were you able to ascertain when Miss Reed was abducted? The case file said it was in he evening but I did not notice a specific time."

"Your cult only kidnaps girls at certain times?" He asked, genuinely a little confused.

"Of course not," Shepherd replied as if the notion was absurd. "It does tend to be near full moons, but we suspect it has more to do with night time visibility than any mythos associated with it. Not like we're dealing with werewolves or something here," she added with a chuckle. It was a good thing that Rhys was walking in front of her or else she'd have seen him go white with the comment.

By the time the pair made it to the crest, Rhys realized that they were indeed well out of ear shot. It made him more uncomfortable to wonder if his omegas would potentially miss something than it did to consider that anything might happen to him or the agent here on this ridge. "Don't see anything here," Rhys announced in his usual no nonsense tone. "We should head back."

Shepherd was frowning. "Come take a look at this," Shepherd replied sternly. The woman had bent over and was examining fresh tracks in the mud. "Have you ever seen a print this big?" She asked, almost to herself. It was a wolf print, but no ordinary one; a werewolf print.

Rhys frowned. Judging by the size, it was an alpha male. There were others nearby which clearly made up the rest of this rogue pack that had invaded his territory. The alpha male was likely to be comparable in size to Rhys. This was not a welcomed discovery. "No," he replied without thinking about it. "Looks like a wolf track though."

Shepherd looked up at him, indicating that she had paled. Internally Rhys felt a bit of vindication to see her intimidated, though he himself was too pre-occupied with the implications of her discovery to truly appreciate it. "I'm sorry, Captain. I think the cult is here." Shepherd pushed to her feet and started jogging down the hill to where they should have gone to begin with. "We've got to find the girl and fast before they do something to her."

"Wait, what?" Rhys replied, bordering on angry. "Do what to her? You left that part out!"

"No shit, Sherlock," Shepherd replied as she raced down the hill, her eyes darting every which way to absorb as much of the landscape as she could in hopes of finding a trace of the missing girl. Rhys turned sour at the remark. "I didn't want to concern you in the event that this did not turn out to be the cult, and, I didn't want to effect the investigation. They have some sort of chemical or something that they use on the girls. Makes them believe they are actually animals or something. I've never seen a rescued girl cured from whatever they do to her."

"Is it contagious?" Rhys yelled after her. He of course already knew it was. He also knew it wasn't a chemical so much as a hormone with almost parasitic-like characteristics. It was a chemical found in the saliva of all were's and it took a full month before it completely turned a human. Shepherd's comment about the full moons providing light was entirely correct. Night time hunts were easier with that light source in place and in ancient times, this was when rogue's often hunted humans. If the human survived, he or she would experience his or her first turning exactly one month later; on another full moon. Thus, the mythos was born.

"Only if they bite you," she replied as she slid down an embankment to a glade approaching a creek. Rhys was right behind her, intent on yelling at her, when he picked up the scent. Three wolves were in this area and none of them were his own.

Shepherd's face contorted slightly. "Something's not right..." she muttered to herself as she slowly pulled her hand gun.

Rhys's frown mirrored hers. You're damn straight, he thought dismally, now wondering how he was going to protect Shepherd, fight these rogues, and keep the Agent from figuring out anything else in the process. It seemed hopeless. Following suit, Rhys pulled his revolver, albeit non-committally. He had a much more effective way of dealing with this particular threat than a gun. "Don' suppose I'm need'n silver bullets?" He whispered to her half-heartedly.

Agent Shepherd frowned and held up a hand to silence him. Again, Rhys's inner wolf growled dangerously at this presumptuous woman. Mixed with her scent from before, he was now torn between tearing out her gut or bending her over. Neither option was acceptable and it only served to frustrate Rhys further.

The pair quietly crept along until they stopped at an abandoned camp-site. The rogues had heard them coming and left the vicinity. Likely, they picked up on Rhys's scent before that and were long gone. Shepherd's tension did not abait, however, she did re-holster her gun as she examined the camp-site. It was nothing more than a hastily extinguished fire pit and some abandoned camp gear from a bygone era.

Rhys was too busy scanning the woods around them to even take notice of the camp. He had definitely picked up three wolves, but they had moved too quickly to have had Allison with them and he wasn't sure he had scented any females either. If they had been Alphas, they'd have stayed and fought Rhys. In a way, their behavior only made him more bold and he swallowed the desire to shift and chase after the cowards.

As he turned back, Rhys saw Agent Shepherd stooping and examining a locket. Her face had gone deathly white and for the moment, she was unaware of anything but it. "What's that?" Rhys asked gruffly, harshly re-holstering his revolver.

"A locket..." She replied, as if she were in a dream. "It... it was my sister's...."