"How long have you been there?" Ethan asks him. He is still standing on the rickety stair but he is no longer trying to make a descent.

　　"Just now, we need to leave here. It isn't safe." Mike warns again.

　　Ethan turns back to look at the welcoming darkness deep below and then back up to Mike. He heaves a sigh and returns his foot onto the corridor. He would have to come back into that basement some other time.

　　"What happened here?" He asks Mike as they walk out of the corridor.

　　"Crazy folks thought they've seen a ghost, they ran out, and ever since then no one dares to come out here," Mike explains with a chuckle.

　　Ethan didn't see the joke in the tale. If someone thinks their house is haunted that is not an avenue to laugh, we should rather support and find help for the person and not retort to mockery.

　　"As the gamma did you bother to come out to verify the story?" Ethan's voice booms with authority as he asks the question.

　　Mike morphs his face into a frown. "The folks were crazy, there was nothing to check."

　　Ethan could not believe his response. He stops walking and stares at Mike, long and hard. Mike stops too but he looks straight ahead like a diligent soldier on a mission, not wanting to rile his officer up.

　　"Mike, you were not appointed here as a jester!" Ethan snaps. "The lives of these people depend on you and you don't even do a simple task such as investigating a claim one of your members made!"

　　Mike remains standing in place unable to defend himself. He thought of the matter as a minor thing. Who cared about some crazy folks that ran away from their own home? He didn't pursue them, why should it be his problem?

　　Ethan feels his nonchalant attitude towards his work and he takes a step closer, looking at him in the eye. "You will investigate this matter during my stay here. I will like to know what exactly happened here. No one leaves their home in a hurry for a baseless matter." Ethan growls, using his Alpha voice.

　　"Yes, Alpha!" Mike grumbles.

　　Ethan walks past him to the entrance. He steps out to find Max at the front porch of the house together with some pack soldiers, -which Mike, would have brought along with him.

　　As they see him approaching, they all bow slightly in respect, and Ethan waves his hand asking them to straighten up.

　　"Can someone tell me why this whole side of the town is deserted?" Ethan asks. He is barely clothed, but the authority that emerges out of him is enough to make any man of wolf cower in fear.

　　The men look helplessly around, looking for the best way to respond to their Alpha's question. Not like they didn't know the reason for the desertion, most of them were just scared of speaking out. Afraid their gamma might punish them for speaking out of line.

　　Ethan waits patiently for any one of them to come up with an answer, yet none does. They seem to be staring at the person behind him and he understands. He may be their alpha, but their loyalties remain with Mike, their gamma. But that is going to change. He will have to show them who they all answer to.

　　"Okay, since no one is going to tell me, I guess I'll have to send you and your gamma back to that basement below. We need to know what happened down there, don't we?" Ethan smirks, staring closely at each of them to decipher who is weaker amongst them. That is the person he will send down the dark basement.

　　His smirk grows larger when he discovers they are all scared of going. They all look weak!

　　"What's the matter, grown men like you are scared of going down there?" Ethan sings, pacing between them to choose the sacrificial lamb. His eyes finally find the one he is looking for, the youngest amongst them. A boy that should not be more than sixteen human years. The boy's teeth are clattering as he looks at anywhere but at Ethan.

　　Good. If he is this scared, then this loyalty test won't be hard at all.

　　Ethan locks his eyes with the boy as he moves closer to him, just as he reaches the boy, Mike yells.

　　"Stop!"

　　An evil smile curls up on Ethan's lips and he turns around to Mike. "Finally, your gamma wants to safe you all!" He says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What do you want to say?"

　　"Alpha, I think we should focus on why you came to town and try and sort that first. I promise we will-" His words die down in his mouth as Ethan raises his hand, silencing him.

　　"Do not tell me what to do Mike! I know I came here to solve a different problem, yet another one sits right at your doorstep yet no one sees it. There are cries of anguish and all around the place and you want me to ignore it?" Ethan growls using his Alpha voice.

　　They all lower their heads in shame as they look at their feet, unable to meet Ethan's angry eyes. Ethan was right. How could they have ignored this problem right under their doorstep?

　　"Alpha, we promise to look into it, this week. Don't worry, about it," Mike says trying to appease the anger of their Alpha.

　　"I will let it go for now, but you will have to look into it under my supervision," Ethan finally accepts their condition. "For now, let's go see the sick people and make sure to arrange a room for me and another for Max, we have come a long way."

　　With that Ethan walks to his car which Max has already positioned closer to the strange house he entered. He sits and waits for Mike and his men to start driving so Max can follow them.

　　"Sir, your phone," Max hands him his phone before he starts the car and follows after Mike and his men.

　　Ethan collects the phone and drops it on the seat, he should call Peter and inform him of this strange development but he holds his calm. There is more to it and he is going to find out.

　　They soon emerge into the main town and this one is not as empty as the previous one but it's also doesn't look as welcoming as the last time Ethan visited. The few people that roam the street look sick and pale. Most of the houses are one-story buildings with faded and greying paints. It is like a picture straight from a haunted novel. It pains Ethan to realize that this dead hole is a town under his jurisdiction.

　　Anger curls under as skin as he begins to realize just how badly Mike had been treating his people. Ethan provides enough every month for their welfare but they looked like people that only get scraps from the main table. Mike had been cheating his people on their rights.

　　The cars slowly park in front of the only bright house in the town. A large white building that boasts four floors. It is painted in white color and flowers even adorn the balconies.

　　So, Mike takes all the money and fixes his own home rather than helping the people?

　　Ethan furiously jumps out of the car and walks to where Mike is waiting to accompany him to his room.

　　"The two billion budget I signed and released to you a few months ago, what did you do with it?" Ethan begins as soon as he gets within earshot of Mike.

　　Mike visibly gulps and tries to find a way around the truth. But Ethan speaks before he can come up with anything

　　"You told me it was for the restructuring of your town and to improve on the education supply and general standard of living, yet all I see around me is a negative tale with none of these things you mentioned."

　　"I was about to start that project Alpha but we had to stop when this disease befell us..." Mike stutters.

　　Even without reading his heart rate, Ethan can tell he is lying but decides to handle the problems one at a time.

　　"Let's go see the sick." For some reason, Ethan is beginning to even doubt the existence of this disease Mike has been ranting about. The only disease Ethan can see around here is corruption and nothing more.

　　Mike takes the lead once again and directs Ethan through long corridors and doors until they get to the dispensary, which is on the first floor of the building.

　　Inside, Ethan visits each of the people Mike claimed to be infected with this incurable disease. The first is a young man in his early thirties at most. He lays on the bed with an oxygen mask attached to his face. When he sees Ethan he begins to struggle, as if wanting to say something.

　　"What's wrong with him?" Ethan asks the nurse in the ward.

　　"Oh, it's nothing Alpha. He gets really riled up whenever he sees new faces, "  the nurse says as she administers an injection into his arm.

　　Ethan watches the man struggle with the nurse but the effect of the drugs soon pulls him into a subconscious state.

　　They move on to the next patient and this one is a female. Just like the first man, this one also starts struggling on the bed. Ethan observes her closely and notices how there is a darkened vein running along their arms.

　　"What is that?" Ethan asks pointing at the vein.

　　"Alpha, that's the virus, it's spreading. Once it gets to her head, she will be dead," The doctor explains.

　　"What is the mode of infection?" Being in the mafia business thought him a lot of things and one of those was the various types of drugs in the black market. The effect of this virus is very familiar with a particular drug, he and Peter once came across.

　　"Mostly, it's contagious, " the doctor says turning to look at Mike.

　　Ethan furrows his brows, "contagious? How can it be contagious when we are all here without protection? What sort of virus is this?"

　　He looks between the doctor and Mike and none of them meets his eyes. They are lying, but why make him come all the way out here for a lie?