Let The Alpha Fall 101

Lori grabbed the witch again. She was livid.
“What do you mean?! Tell me what you mean?!”
Gabriel had to pry her off the witch, the witch retreated to a corner, her face ridden with fear. Then slowly, Siobhan
narrated her encounter with Sabine.
How Sabine had offered her money for her special services. A lot of money too. And how she had jumped at the offer. How she met Astra and tested her while giving her the deadly potion that made her irrational and kill, and how she had
made more to give Sabine a night before the Alpha’s Summit so it could be used on Lori.
Lori felt weak in the knees just listening to everything. How Sabine had come back a few hours ago and asked that Jack
be tested, and gave her his blood to a werewolf to test out it’s strength.
And how she had fled right after.
“Do you have any idea where she could be?”
Siobhan shook her head.
“I don’t know where she went to, but all I know is that some people came to pick her up. They wore black suits, they
looked like they worked with secret service and they disappeared in an armoured car.”
Gabriel watched her intently, he was listening to her heartbeat to see if she was lying. So far, she had not lied yet.
“From your scent, it seemed like you lingered in the apartments even after she left, why did you do that?”
Gabriel asked.
Siobhan sighed.
“She knew you were coming. But there was no time to clean up, she tasked me with cleaning up and promised to pay if I
did a good job of leaving no traces. But I was scared she only said that because she was trying to get rid of me, so I
hurriedly took my stuff and left.”
“I was planning on laying low for a while… that was before you caught me.”
“As you can see, I only just arrived here barely an hour ago.”
She said as she pointed to a bag on the worn out sofa.
Lori looked on weakly, her mouth too tired and her jaw too slack to even come up with a coherent sentence.
Another dead end.
Oh how many more of these could she take. Would she ever find her son?
“Can you somehow track him? The boy? Or Sabine? With your powers?”
Gabriel asked urgently.
Siobhan shook her head.
“I don’t think I can… not even Sabine either. Tracking spells don’t work that well and I’m not that kind of witch.”
“But do you think he could still be here? In New York.”
The witch looked unsure but she nodded her head slightly.
“It is a possibility, but I cannot say for sure.”
Lori turned and stared at Gabriel.
“Can you track her scent? Like you did with her?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“It’s way too weak to track. I only found lingering traces of it in the apartments. Nowhere else. That wouldn’t work.”
Lori sighed.
“But we have to do something!”
She exclaimed and Gabriel nodded.
“I know. I know.”
He turned to the witch.
“I want to let you go… but I cannot guarantee that you wouldn’t make some of that deadly black magic potion stuff and
use it to hurt more supernaturals.”
The witch fell on her knees.
“I wouldn’t. I swear on my mother’s grave.”
Gabriel didn’t look convinced..
“I don’t believe you. And you swearing means nothing to me.”
He looked around again.
“You have no coven, or so it seems, but I do believe there’s a witch council that deals with rogue witches like you…”
“I happen to be very good friends with Hecate who is on the witch’s council.”
The witch’s face paled.
“No. No please.”
“I… I… I’m not a rogue.”
“Really?!”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
“Performing experiments on babies, using black magic, testing on nephilim… that all sounds pretty rogue to me.”
“Please! Please! I promise I’d never do it again.”
The witch’s voice was strained, desperate, Lori ignored her.
Gabriel gave no reply as he turned away, beckoning to Lori. Together, they both left.
Lori was too exhausted to do or say anything as they walked out of the apartment. She had been devastated by the fact
that it was just another dead end.
Gabriel made a quick call while she was zoned out.
“Who was that?”
She asked as they entered the streets.
“High lady of the witch council Hecate.”
Lori raised her eyebrow.
“I thought you weren’t going to call her.”
Gabriel sighed.
“I listened to her heartbeat when she said she won’t create the potion anymore, the witch was lying.”
“Besides… she tortured one of your kind. She should be put away for that.”
Lori nodded.
“So what would happen to her now?”
She asked and Gabriel shrugged.
“Witch prison I guess. I’ve given Hecate a solid lead, she’s going to be on her tail now, pretty sure her minions would be
here any minute.”
“What do we do now?”
Lori asked after a while.
“We have to go back home.”
Gabriel answered. Lori looked at him with surprise etched in her features.
“Home? But what if…”
He turned to face Lori.
“Knowing Sabine, she’s probably long gone, the best thing to do right now is to go home and restrategize.”
“We’ve been doing that, it hasn’t been working.”
Gabriel sighed.
“We can’t stay here Lori. You know there’s no way she’d actually still be here. She fled because she knew her location was
compromised.”
“And from her patterns, she never stays in the same city or location twice.”
Lori sighed. Gabriel was right, there was no way she would still be around. But leaving also felt like they were giving up.
She couldn’t explain why it was so hard to do. The had been so close this time. Extremely close.
****************
“Welcome to Caine Inc. How may I help you?”
The receptionist said as she looked up and saw the tall mysterious man clad in a dark blue suit.
“Axel Walker. I’d like to see your CEO, Gabriel Caine.”
The woman raised her eyebrow, clearly confused by his reply.
“Do you have an appointment?”
She asked and he shrugged.
“No. But I’m sure he’d be very eager to see me.”
The woman looked at her computer.
“I’d be sure to leave a message for you at the CEO’s office but I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment.”
Axel nodded.
“Okay then, be sure to give him a message for me.”
“I will.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope.
“Here it is. Please make sure it gets to him.”
The woman collected it and laid it aside.
“Thank you.”
He murmured as he started walking back to the exit, a silly smirk on his face.
His plan was already in motion. He just needed to move a few pieces on the board.
******************
The flight back to Denver was long and tedious. Lori was tired physically but even more tired mentally. She and Gabriel
had not said a word to each other on the way back. The stress, dead ends and the disappointment was beginning to take
a toll on their relationship. Lori had thought that would never happen, of course she loved Gabriel and she completely
adored him and knew that he felt the exact same way.
But it seemed that they were spending every waking moments thinking about other things. Sabine. How to defeat her,
how to find her son, how to catch her. They barely had time for each other, both of them always so exhausted at the end
of the day that they go straight to bed.
And anytime it seemed as if things were getting better and they were finally settling in a comfortable routine, everything
got ruined again. It was frustrating.
They arrived back home late in the night, the two of them exhausted. Lori managed to check on Emilia, then she
stumbled back into her bed.
She was awoken the next morning to the sound of Emilia and Gabriel, she had a short sleep. She had fallen into a
troubled sleep at first then woke up wide eyed and unable to sleep, she tossed and turned for at least two hours before
she fell back asleep. She only got four good hours of sleep.
“Good morning…”
She murmured as she rubbed her tired eyes.
Gabriel leaned and gave her a kiss on her lips, Emilia was gurgling in his arms.
“You were tossing and turning all night, you should get more rest.”
Lori sat up and shook her head. She swung her legs over and put on her slippers.
“I don’t want to. I have a lot to do.”
She murmured as she walked over to Emilia who was in Gabriel’s hands and grabbed the baby. Emilia squealed in
happiness. She was already at the stage where she could at least babble and no, she didn’t stop babbling really, she was
very active when it came to that.
“What do you want for breakfast?”
Gabriel asked and Lori shrugged.
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go to work?”
She asked and he shook his head as he walked alongside her.
“Not today. I have a meeting with the Elder’s council. It’s about the Luna rites.”
“Oh.”
Lori simply said as she walked to the kitchen.
She craved coffee.
Desperately.
A part of her felt like it was still asleep.
“Want some coffee?”
She asked him as she plugged in the coffee maker.
“Sure. Are you training with Myra today?”
Lori shook her head.
“No. I just want to stay in with Emilia for a few days. Training can wait.”
Gabriel watched her intently, one hand on the baby’s back and the other free hand making coffee.
Something was off with the way she was acting and he tried to talk to her through the mind link but found himself shut
out.
Gabriel was stunned.
“Lori…”
He called out quietly, she glanced at him.
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong?”
He asked and she chuckled.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t talk to you.”
“You are talking to me right now.”
“No! No! not that. I can’t reach your mind, you shut me out.”
He said in shock, he didn’t even know it was possible to shut out the mating link. He wouldn’t even know how to do it if
he tried.
Lori looked equally surprised too, she didn’t know she could do that.
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
She murmured as she relaxed. She felt a wave of Gabriel’s emotions and wondered how she had missed them earlier.
She didn’t know it was possible for her to be so guarded that she would block Gabriel out of her mind, but now that she
realised it, she quickly stopped it.
“I’m sorry… with everything going on.. I can’t seem to think straight, I think a part of me didn’t want you to worry about
me either.”
Gabriel inched closer to her.
“We’re mates. We are supposed to share each others wories and burdned, no matter how heavy.”
He said softly as he stroked her hair.
Lori found herself tearing up. She sighed deeply.
“I can’t take it anymore….”
She whimpered.
Gabrile pulled her in for a hug, she could smell his aftershave and the familiar scent that was him.
“Let it all out.”
He whisphered in her ear and she started crying.