The Linchpin (Tundra Wolves Book 3)

by Maggie Walsh

  When he moved out of his fathers’ house, the alpha had taken him in and encouraged Alex’s writing. He had never been so happy as he had been in that year he lived in the alpha’s house. Then his dads both died in a battle with one of the other wolf packs when they tried to take over some of the York lands.

  Yes, he had been sad when his fathers died, but Alex had also been relieved, they had been intense, controlling bastards. One was an alpha/beta and the other a beta/delta, but they both acted like they were king shit and never let Alex forget he was a disappointment to them. A month after their deaths, Alpha York had told him that his fathers’ house was his to do with what he wanted. Alex had the place torn down and spent the money they left behind, which was his inheritance, and had his little house built. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him.

  As Alex tried to control his anger, Cilly had said something, but Alex had no idea what it was. “What?” he said.

  Cilly rolled his eyes, irritated and repeated, “I said, it’s a free country and I can walk on the same roads as you.”

  Now Alex was confused and his brows drew down. “What the hell does that mean?”

  Cilly put his hands on his hips and huffed. “You asked what I was doing here. I’m just walking home. And now that you so rudely stopped me, I’m going to be late making my men their dinner. So, if you’ll excuse me.”

  “Hold on a minute. You’re going home to where, Tug’s place? And you’re making them dinner?” Alex asked.

  Cilly gave him a droll look then replied, “Yes. Did you get hit on your head? Of course I’m going home to Tug’s, it’s where I live.”

  Cilly turned away and started walking down the street. Alex watched him go, then realized he needed to follow the little liar, so he slowly walked behind Cilly, but kept his distance. As they walked, he realized they were going in the direction of Tug and Raiden’s house, and suddenly Alex felt fear and pain rise within him. He didn’t want to question his mates’ honesty and it felt wrong to doubt them, but Cilly was walking right for his mates’ house. What the hell was he supposed to do? What the hell was he supposed to think?

  CHAPTER 13

  “Don’t tell me he’s not here yet... again?” Raiden said, buttoning up his shirt as he walked into the kitchen.

  Tug gave him a worried look, then turned his attention back to the vegetables he was cutting. “Yup, he’s late again. I hope this is not a habit of his, or I may have to force that to change,” Tug grumbled.

  Raiden moved closer and placed a kiss on Tug’s arm, then went to the fridge as he replied, “Dell did warn us that Alex gets lost in his work sometimes.”

  “Yes, and we thought that was the issue last time, but it turned out not to be,” Tug argued, as he started chopping the cucumbers faster and harder, slamming the knife down.

  “Can you not lose a finger, please? I happen to love all your digits,” Raiden said, as he moved back to Tug’s side and reached out, placing his hand over Tug’s on the knife, then gently pulling it from his man’s hands. “I have to agree with you on this though. Alex has been doing great all week meeting us. He’s never been late. He told me he now makes sure to set his alarm when he starts working, so that he knows when to stop. Maybe he forgot tonight?”

  “No, you’re right. I remember him telling us that. Maybe because of being with us all week he needed to catch up on work and now he’s just running late.”

  “How about I just call him and see what’s holding him up?” Raiden suggested, as he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket then dialed Alex’s number.

  The phone rang twice and Alex picked up, whispering very low, “Hello.”

  Raiden’s brows dropped into a deep V as the hairs on the back of his neck rose. He knew something was off. “Hey, sweetheart. Is everything okay? Tug and I were just wondering if maybe you got lost in your work.”

  “No. I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon. Actually, I can see your house, so I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Alex whispered.

  “Okay, sweetie. Alex, is something wrong?” Raiden asked in concern.

  “He’s here again. I’m following him. He’s going right to yo--”

  “Alex? Alex? Who are you following? Alex?” Raiden started feeling the panic rise.

  Tug grabbed the phone from his mate’s hand and spoke. “Alex? Babe? Are you there? Alex?”

  Tug looked to him and Raiden could see the question in his eyes. “He said he could see the house and he was almost here, then he said he’s here again and he was following him.”

  Tug’s brows now drew down as well, then rose high right before he moved quickly, running for the front door. Raiden hurried behind him. Tug grabbed the knob and quickly pulled the door open, then stepped out onto the porch. Raiden joined him at the rail and they each looked around the neighborhood, but found no one. Alex wasn’t there and neither was anyone else.

  “Fuck. Where did he go?” Tug demanded, as he headed down the steps onto the pathway and walked to the street.

  “I don’t see him, Tug. He said he was right here. That he could see the house. So, where the hell did he go?” Raiden asked, as he walked quickly to catch up to Tug.

  “I don’t know. If he was coming from his place, then he should have been over there. Let’s go see if we can scent him or find him somewhere nearby.”

  He and Tug walked down the street both sniffing for Alex’s scent, but found nothing. Turning in place, Raiden scanned the empty street. Something off to his right, coming from the cross street caught his eye and Raiden headed in that direction. Once he reached the spot and his gaze landed on what had caught his attention, a chill ran through him as his heart froze. Bending, Raiden slowly reached out for the item and picked it up. Alex’s scent was all over it and it was still warm.

  “What is it, Raid?” Tug asked, coming up behind him.

  “I... it’s Alex’s cellphone,” he replied in a whisper.

  Tug came to stand in front of him, then reached out and slowly pulled the device from Raiden’s grasp. “It’s still warm, so where the hell is he?” Tug asked, as he turned his head from side to side, searching the area.

  “He was just talking to me, Tug, and then he just stopped, and now all we can find is his phone. If you noticed this is Delancey, not Hughes, which is where I would have expected Alex to be coming from if he was coming from home.”

  “You’re right. So what was he doing over here? Who was he following? And where did he go?” Tug asked absently.

  “Alex said he was coming toward our place. He got cut off in the middle there, but I think that’s what Alex meant. That whoever he was following was walking right to our house. Do you think it was this Cilly guy?” Raiden pondered.

  “My gut is telling me yes. Let’s follow Delancey and see what we can find. Wait, shit, I left the oven on.”

  “Run back and lock up, I’ll start heading this way. Catch up,” Raiden said, as he took Alex’s phone from Tug and started walking.

  “Lock up? Since when do we lock our doors when not in a pack-wide lockdown?” Tug asked.

  Raiden turned to look at his lover. He was right, no one ever locked their doors unless the alpha called for it because of danger, but with some psycho out there following Alex, he didn’t want to take any chances. His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Tug just nodded, then turned and jogged back to the house. Raiden spun back around and headed up Delancey. He sniffed the air as he went and immediately caught Alex’s scent, but there were two other scents as well. He was familiar with one of them, but at the moment he couldn’t pinpoint who it was. The last scent was completely foreign to him.

  Slowly, Raiden made his way up the road until he got to the next cross street and two of the scents shifted, Alex’s and the one he didn’t know. Raiden turned left as he continued to sniff the air.

  “Anything?” Tug asked, as he jogged up to Raiden’s side.

  “Can you smell them? Alex and someone else. Do you have any idea who it is?” Raiden aske
d, but never stopped walking.

  Tug raised his nose into the air and sniffed as he kept up pace with Raiden. “I smell Alex and someone else. Someone... familiar... wait... who is that? I know that smell,” Tug said, as they continued on. “It’s getting stronger here,” Tug continued as they got closer to town.

  Suddenly, Tug stopped as he grabbed Raiden’s arm. Raiden turned to look at his lover. “What is it?”

  “That scent. It’s Charles.”

  Raiden’s brows rose so high up his forehead he thought for sure they mingled with his hairline. “That high maintenance, over the top twink, so desperate for attention he would do anything anyone asked of him?”

  “That’s the one. Now it makes sense,” Tug said absently.

  “What makes sense?”

  “Cilly. He told Alex his name was Cilly. Charles Silbey. But, what the hell is he doing telling Alex all those stories about us, and now this? Alex was right there, almost at our home, then they went this way. Together. Why? And why did Alex drop his phone?” Tug replied.

  “I think the only way we’re going to get answers is if we follow their scents,” Raiden suggested.

  “True, except that it’s getting fainter. It was stronger here, but now it’s not. We need to move,” Tug replied, then took Raiden’s hand and the two of them headed right into the middle of town.

  As they walked down Main Street they each looked in all the windows of the shops lining the streets. There weren’t many, but enough. Most of them were dark, being closed at this time of night, but the few that were still open, like the sandwich shop, only held a few people and none of them was their mate.

  Once they made it to the end of Main Street, Raiden blew out a breath of air in frustration. “It’s gone. I lost their scent way back at the beginning but hoped they had gone this way.”

  “Me too, but they’re not here, so now where do we look? Should we head to Alex’s house? Maybe they went there,” Tug mused.

  “Seeing as we have no other ideas, let’s go there. Maybe Alex got spooked again by something Cilly... Charles said, and ran home,” Raiden said.

  They turned left down the next street heading toward the side of the pack lands where Alex’s house was. After they went a few blocks, they were passing the alpha house when Raiden saw Dell standing on his porch watching them approach. He smirked as their gazes met.

  “Lose him again?” Dell shook his head as he started down the steps, heading in their direction. “At this rate you two will never claim your mate, or one another. So, tell me what happened this time.”

  They explained to Dell everything that had happened until this point, as well as figuring out who Cilly was. Raiden watched Dell’s eyes get darker and darker as they spoke. Once they were done, Dell closed his eyes and sighed heavily. After a minute he opened his eyes and Raiden almost dropped to his knees, exposing his throat to his alpha from the intense look in Dell’s eyes.

  “Once we find him, you two better stop the pussyfooting around and claim your mate before you lose him and each other for good. Now let’s go,” Dell ordered and walked around them.

  Silently, Raiden and Tug turned and followed Dell as he walked back toward Main Street. Once they reached the other side of town, Tug finally spoke, “Dell, Alpha, where are we going?”

  “To find Alex of course,” he replied simply, in a harsh voice.

  “I get that, but we’ve already been here and haven’t found him. Raiden and I were just heading to Alex’s house when we ran into you,” Tug said.

  “I know, but in your haste you forgot there is another side of town,” Dell replied, and crossed the last street at the end of the main drag. His stride was strong and sure, like Dell knew exactly where he was going. “So tell me, Raiden, since when is your shop open this late at night with you not being there?”

  Dell’s words were confusing and took him by surprise until his gaze snapped to his garage that sat two blocks down and he saw a light on.

  That was strange. He thought. “Never.”

  “Exactly. I think if we go there, we’ll find your mate, but something is telling me we need to hurry,” Dell said, quickening his pace, his long legs eating up the distance.

  “Fuck,” Tug hissed, and Raiden looked at him. “Their scents are stronger than the other way through town. Why the hell didn’t we see that?”

  “Because, when the heart is involved, sometimes we don’t see clearly. Or in this case, scent clearly,” Dell said, as they crossed the last street and were only a few yards from his shop. Dell stopped and held out his hand for them to do so too.

  Raiden and Tug stood still and looked around but saw no one on the streets. Looking to Dell, Raiden asked. “Why are we stopping? I can smell him. He’s here,” Raiden said excitedly. Now that he could smell Alex close by, Raiden just wanted to run to his mate and hold him in his arms.

  “Calm your excitement and your fear and scent the area. Alex isn’t alone. And if you calm down, you’ll be able to scent that he’s afraid,” Dell said, in a low voice that Raiden could just barely hear.

  Raiden did as his alpha said and tried to calm down enough to not let his emotions rule him. Once he did and took in a deep breath through his nose, Raiden caught Alex’s delicious, unique smell of mango with a hint of sweet magnolia, but it was tinged with a sour smell that his wolf was not liking. Usually Alex’s scent drove him and his beast wild with need every time Alex was near and Raiden just wanted to roll around in that smell, but now it was making him anxious, almost panicky and was causing his wolf to growl and snarl. Dell was right, Raiden could scent Alex’s fear.

  “Fuck. He’s scared and my wolf doesn’t like it. He wants to come out and hunt,” Tug stated.

  “Hold your beast... for now. We need to advance slowly and silently,” Dell said, then carefully closed the distance between them and the building. Their alpha moved so silently that Raiden couldn’t even detect one sound, and he was standing right next to the man.

  They made it to the front door and Dell checked the knob, finding it locked. He then peered into the window beside the door and pulled back turning to them. “The light is coming from the rear of the building, past the garage.”

  “That’s where my office and stockroom are,” Raiden replied.

  “Let’s head around back,” Dell said, and motioned with his chin for them to follow. Silently they went around the building to the rear and stopped when they approached the one window there. A glow from inside was spilling out onto the ground. Dell pressed his body to the side of the building and inched his head over to look inside. A deep, primal growl came from inside his chest, the sound making Raiden nervous.

  Dell pulled back and looked at them. “Alex is inside with Charles and Timber,” he declared in a very low voice.

  “Timber? Why the hel…” Raiden started just as low, but then stopped as he remembered something. The third scent from before, by their house. He knew it was familiar, but in that moment he hadn’t been able to place it. Now that Dell had said Timber, Raiden knew who it belonged to. In a soft voice he relayed the information to Dell.

  “We’ll discuss the why’s and how’s of it all later. Right now, we need to get in there and get Alex out. Timber has him tied to a chair and his mouth gagged. Charles is... let’s just say on his knees for Timber,” Dell said, his tone disgusted.

  “Sounds like you’ll be needing a few more hands,” Jude said, as he stepped out of the shadows.

  “Jude, what are you doing here?” Dell asked, with a raised brow.

  “Last time I checked I’m your first beta, so my place is standing by my alpha when there’s trouble. When I saw you three stalking up Main Street looking like madmen on a mission, I figured you may need some help.”

  Dell sighed as he closed his eyes. “Thank you, Jude, but I can’t―”

  Jude took a couple of steps closer as he shoved his hands in his front pockets and cut Dell off. “Yeah, I know. We’ll file this under ‘more shit you can’t tell me that I just
need to accept until you can’. So, why the hell have Timber and Charles taken Alex hostage?”

  “That’s the question of the year,” Tug grumbled.

  CHAPTER 14

  Alex didn’t know what to make of all of this. First, just as Cilly was about to step on Tug and Raiden’s property, someone had grabbed Alex from behind and covered his mouth. He had been on the phone with Raiden and was ready to scream out, but with his mouth covered that wasn’t happening. Then, there was the fact that he had smelled Timber and hadn’t thought he was in any trouble, but it had been just the opposite, actually.

  When he had scented Timber, Alex’s heart soared, thinking he had a friend there that would help him with Cilly. Alex was confused about Cilly saying he was going to Tug and Raiden’s house, but then he quickly remembered all the time he had spent with his men, and knew Cilly was lying. He decided to follow him to see what he was up to. When Cilly headed straight for his mates’ house, Alex was even more confused, but worried Cilly was there to start trouble, and there was no way he was going to allow the guy to continue on with this shit against his mates.

  Then, when Timber showed up, Alex was happy to have someone else there as a witness to what might happen, as well as another person to help if need be. But when Timber had suddenly wrapped an arm around Alex’s waist and hoisted him off his feet, fear had started to take over. Then, when Cilly spun around to face them, a triumphant smile on his face and quickly ran in their direction, Alex knew he was in trouble.

  He kicked and fought as hard as he could, but Timber shoved a cloth in his mouth and wrapped both arms around him, holding Alex’s arms tight against his body, then Cilly grabbed his feet. The two held him tight as they moved fast back down the block away from his mates. He squirmed and fought the best he could to not make it easy on the two twatwaffles, and when his phone slipped from his hand, Alex screamed behind the gag for two reasons. One, because he thought not having his phone meant more trouble for him as he at least could have maybe used the device to call for help, and two, because he didn’t want Timber or Cilly to hear it drop to the ground. With it being left behind, there was at least a chance his men would come out looking for him, especially after he had told Raiden he was almost there, and hopefully they would find his phone and know something was wrong.