Regretted Rejection : Wrath of the Moon
Chapter 15

"Alright, let's start our work. Ryder can you start reviewing the surveillance tapes of the days onwhich the rogues attacked? Jeff and Andy start mapping which areas of the territory are covered bywireless cameras. Do not split up. We aren't sure about the fighting skills of the rogues. If youencounter them, then do not engage them alone. You will inform us and the Forrester pack warriorsfirst. Understand?” Maya asked.

"Yes, Team Leader." the three of them reply back.

"Marina and I will be checking up a hunch I have. We will be in the records room. Come on peoplelet's get to it.” Maya said encouraging them.

On the Forrester pack grounds;

Andy and Jeff start mapping the cameras at the border of the pack. Occasionally, they encounter aForrester pack warrior but the warriors ignore them and give them a wide berth.

Jeff is holding the map and Andy is checking the visibility on a small iPad. They mark off the areasthat are monitored by the cameras.

They cover the entire border of the pack territory to replace a loophole. However, they realise that atthe border there is not a single area not monitored by the wireless camera. There are no blind spotsthat could be used by the rogues. It puzzled them as to how the rogues were able to enter theterritory without being detected. Soon, they headed back to grab their lunch and report on theprogress made.

The surveillance room of Forrester pack;

Maya's team reconvened and started reporting their work to Maya. Ryder got their lunches in thesurveillance room itself and the team started discussing the case while eating their food.

Maya kept staring at the map marked off by Jeff and she was as stumped as the guys at the entrypoint of rogues. Ryder was talking about his observations in the surveillance footage but he noticedMaya was completely distracted. He cleared his throat and said, "Maya... Are you okay? You seemdistracted.”

"Yes... I am confused.” Maya mumbled and continued, "Ryder, when checking the surveillance tapesdid you replace any children or women sneaking off the territory?"

"Actually... Now that I think about it... No, I didn't see any of the people who left the pack on thetapes.” Ryder replied perplexed.

"This means that there is definitely another way to enter and exit the territory and those who left thepack must know about it as they travelled that same route.” Marina chimed in excited to have founda clue. "1 will place a call to few of them and replace out more.”

"Yes, but I am not talking about that. I am talking how would the rogues come to know about thesecret route? I have been in this pack for so many years of my life and I don't know such a routeexists. How could the people who have never set a foot in the pack come to know about it?" Mayaquestioned.

"Do you mean that there might be a pack member who is betraying the pack?” Ryder questioned."But this suggestion does not hold water. Wouldn't Ken Forrester as an Alpha sense such a person?”Jeff asked Maya.

"Come to think of it, Ken Forrester was not able to sense the decision of about 35 pack memberswho wanted to deflect to another pack. In fact he assumed that they had been kidnapped. He is theAlpha of the Forrester pack, isn't he? How come he isn't able to sense out such things?" Andyreplied.

"Maybe he is losing his touch?" Marina suggested. Upon hearing her words, the three werespeciesmembers of their team turned to her sharply. "What? I was kidding. I know that an Alpha cannotlose touch about such things. Their Alpha sense is a part of their aura and it is a birth right thatcannot be taken away.” Marina rattled off, as if reading from a book. She felt a bit anxious at theirshocked expressions.

"Actually, Marina, an Alpha losing his touch can happen if the pack is being disbanded due to anatural phenomena. It has happened several decades ago. Most of the details are unconfirmed andpossibly inaccurate. My grandfather had told me of such an incident, he wanted to warn me andKen against doing anything that would harm our pack. But how can it happen to the Forrester pack?It does not even make sense. The Alpha is the same... " Maya trailed off.

"Can you explain in detail, please?" Ryder asked.

"Years ago, there were two brothers who were born to the Alpha couple of the Desmond pack.”Maya began.

"There is no such pack existing. I know the names of the packs chronologically.” Ryder repliedinterrupting.

"It existed years ago, but the pack went through a natural disbanding when the Alpha of the packwas changed forcibly." Maya clarified.

"Anyways, of the two brothers, the younger one was a true Alpha, his powers and strength betterthan the older Alpha child. Because of his talent, he was made the Alpha of the pack. The olderbrother was not able to let go of the Alpha title and went away for some time.

When he came back, something had changed and he then started plotting a coup against his ownbrother. The coup was successful and the true Alpha was removed from his position. The Alpha wasbrutally killed by his own brother in front of the pack. The older brother then took on the Alpha titleand made people loyal to him incharge of the important positions.

However, because of the pack betraying the true Alpha, the Moon Goddess Luna was angry. Shestarted a natural dissolution process. There were fewer births in the pack, many of the she wolveshad to suffer miscarriages. Some couples couldn't even get pregnant. Any female or male wolf witha mate outside of the pack left the pack. The children already born slowly left the pack to joinanother pack. The brother who usurped the title slowly lost his powers and couldn't sense any ofthe bonds with his pack members. Soon he was left with a handful of pack members and they wereattacked by the neighbouring packs. Since they had only a handful of people left, they surrenderedand had no option but to be a Rogue." Maya ended the story.

"Is that why you never came back to take revenge on your family?" Jeff asked quietly.

"Yes. There are many innocent pack members who do not deserve to suffer through a naturaldissolution of the pack.” Maya replied solemnly.

"And yet, this pack shows symptoms of the same kind of dissolution.” Marina said deep in thought,"How about if we check the medical records of the pregnant wolves? We can also trace when thesymptoms started showing up.”

"That's a good idea, Marina.” Maya appreciated her. Marina's face revealed a happy expression."While Marina and I were in record room we checked on the visitors file to see if any suspiciouspeople enter or leaving the pack grounds under some pretext. We should match up the visitor logbook against the rogue attacks. Perhaps we can replace something that would rule out the possibilityof a mole.” Maya informed others.

Unfortunately they couldn't continue their talk as the Forrester pack members working in thesurveillance room returned. Alpha Ken Forrester came in after them.

"Maya, can you please step outside for a minute? I want to talk about something important withyou." Ken said to Maya.

"Sure, Alpha Forrester. What is this about?" Maya asked.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Ken held her arm forcefully and asked her, "Did you set therogues after us so that you can come back here?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Maya asked.

"It makes sense. You have connections to the rogues via your job and you hold a grudge against us.You have motive and the means. It has to be you who is set on destroying this pack.” Ken literallyscreamed at her.

Maya threw him a sharp look and stepped back forcing him to drop his hands. "First of all, AlphaForrester, it is Team Leader Wright to you. Second of all, I didn't have to put myself through years ofhardship to get back at you. If I made a formal complaint against Luna Forrester at the Council theywould have backed me up. Afterall, she had left plenty of evidence against herself. It was enough todeem her unfit of Luna position and force her to abdicate along with you. I wouldn't have waitedthree years for it if I wanted it. Alpha Forrester do not push your insecurities on me. I refuse toshoulder them. It is you who is incompetent and lacking.” Maya replied with a bite in her words.Her wolf couldn't sit still at this disrespect and released her powerful aura for all to witness. Everycreature werewolf or otherwise felt the power of her aura. Creatures with lesser aura fell to theirknees, even Ken's legs started shaking. He was having a hard time standing upright and placed ahand against the wall for support.

"Ken Forrester, you are unworthy of the Alpha title.” Maya said, her voice hard and unforgiving.