The Alpha's Stolen Luna - Chapter 118: Chapter 118

: Lucas
After the progress of the past two days, I found it easier to concentrate on everyday tasks the next day. I had confidence in Ned’s abilities, so there was no reason to dwell on that when there were other things that needed to be addressed. By the time Sutton had joined me in my office, it had been a very productive day.
“Have you heard from Ned?” Sutton asked after greeting me behind my desk.
“No,” I replied, pulling her into my lap. “But I didn’t expect to.”
My hand went to the nape of her neck, my fingers tangling in her hair as I breathed in her delicious scent. The subtle change in her hormones had increased. It still wasn’t enough that I would worry about her being around other males, but it was certainly enough to affect me and Rhonen.
“We have time before he gets here,” I whispered in her ear, my hand sliding beneath her shorts.
Sutton giggled. “I don’t think we have that much time,” she said.
As if on command, her statement was followed by a knock on the door and Max barging into the room.
“Oops,” he said, covering his eyes with a stupid grin. “My apologies. I wasn’t expecting a show.”
“That’s usually why most people wait for an answer when they knock,” I grumbled as Sutton slid off my lap.
Max waved me off, completely unfazed by his intrusion. “Better me than poor Ned,” he said, dropping into the armchair next to the bookcase. “You look ravishing today, Luna, as usual. I hope you’ve been practicing like we discussed since being back?”
My eyes narrowed. “Practicing?” I questioned, looking to Sutton.
She shrugged, her face flushing slightly. “I asked Max to teach me some self-defense techniques while we were at the manor house. I thought it would be a good idea.”
I was impressed and surprised to be hearing about it for the first time. I shot Max a look. He, too, just shrugged nonchalantly.
“I think it’s a great idea, princess,” I told her. “Why didn’t you ask me to help you?”
“There hasn’t really been a chance since I came back,” she said. “And I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”
I took her hand and kissed the back of it reassuringly. “I’d be more than happy to teach you.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” came Ned’s voice as he waltzed into my open office door. “Alpha. Luna. Gamma Max,” he greeted brusquely, heading straight to the small conference table at the left side of the room.
“Ned,” I acknowledged, standing to join him. “Glad you made it.”
He grunted a response as he pulled a laptop from a carrier bag and set it on the table. We took our seats as Ned got situated. He placed the cell phone in the center of the table and projected his screen onto the TV hanging on my office wall.
“The bad news is, I was able to determine that the phone number isn’t registered under any pack member’s name,” he stated as he started to pull up the software so we all could see. “The good news — I was able to enhance my program. I’ve cloned the phone that Alpha Lucas found. I’ll make the call from the software. Now, even if the recipient doesn’t answer, we can at least trace it back to the cell phone tower it is using to connect.”
“How close can that get us to the actual holder?” I asked.
Ned shrugged. “It depends on the tower,” he said. “It could be a five-mile radius. It could be a thirty-mile radius.”
I wasn’t exactly pleased with that answer, but it was better than nothing. I nodded to Ned to go ahead. He clicked a button and the phone quickly connected, beginning to ring. With each ring, the map on the screen shifted, narrowing in on a location.
Sutton gripped my arm as the pulsing dot stopped at its final location. Rhonen snarled, his hackles raised and the hair on his back standing on end. The muscles of my jaw clenched as I stared at the screen.
“We always believed they could be forcing someone to help them,” Max said in an attempt to calm my reaction. “That very well could be the case. And this surely means we’ll have a better chance of tracking them down with the help of the locals.”
“A local would have an easier time keeping this hidden,” I stated coldly.
I could feel Ned looking between us all. “I’m guessing there is some significance to this area.”
“That’s just outside Wildmore,” Sutton told him.
“My hometown,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Ah… I see,” Ned replied. He returned to the map, enhancing its features further. “Is there anywhere that would stand out in this area?”
Being so rural, it was of course a broader span of ground to cover. At least thirty square miles of homesteads, farms, and outbuildings. To my dismay, it even overlapped one of my family’s properties. Not that I believed any of my family was the traitor. Even by force, I refused to believe they’d be capable of it. But we did have heavy ties to the community. It could easily be a friend or acquaintance who was involved.
“How do you want to handle this, Alpha?” Max asked.
“I think it’s time to set a trap,” I stated. “I don’t think our traitor is going to pick up the call. I have a feeling they heard the attack failed and suspect it’s not their contact calling. Let’s give them a new one.”
“How are you going to do that?” Sutton pressed nervously.
“The Dawn Stalker attacker’s name was Colton,” I said. “Send a message stating he was sent back to Anders with a message but that the goal is still the same. Say he’s sending someone else to finish the job and they need to meet. We’ll send a time and place in two days.”
“And if they don’t respond?” she questioned. “If they were being forced…”
“They likely would have destroyed that phone the moment they found out he failed to get to you,” I interjected. “If they were forced to help, they wouldn’t have needed the phone in the first place. Colton would have left a man with them to keep whatever leverage they had. He would have communicated with them instead. I think they’re a willing participant.”