Chapter 17
· King Soren ·
There is a sinking feeling in my stomach, something telling me everything is wrong, an intuition that she is in trouble.
I haven’t felt this stomach dropping feeling since Max went missing or when my wife died.
I knew that feeling back then and I ignored it, and I have regretted that day ever since.
Had I truly listened to my gut, listened to the change in the air and that nervous energy that radiated from her.
. She was nervous but insistent that I still go, saying we would talk about something when I returned, that she needed to be sure of something first.
We never had whatever conversation it was that had her on edge and I often wonder what it is she had to say.
Now I fear history is to repeat itself, that there will be no final words from Bree, that all I will have to remember her by is her last text message.
That can’t be the last thing I get from her, I need her.
Despite what she has done, I’d rather have something to build back up again than to have something to regret.
I’m not naive, I know my feelings will change, that distrust will take over once I find her but for now I’d rather have her home safe and be angry with her, then hurt or worse.
Frustrated, I tap my phone screen again, the harsh blue light illuminating my face in the dim light of the car. Still nothing from Bree. The silence is deafening, each passing second feeling like an eternity as we drive through the night.
“Soren, honey, maybe you should try to relax,” my mother says softly, her brow furrowed with concern, her voice coming through the Bluetooth speakers of the dash that is connected to Damian’s phone, her face peering at me through the small screen.
I shake my head, unable to tear my eyes from the device. “I can’t, Mom. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.” She looks at me worriedly through the phone and unable to take her gaze, I peer away.
“You’ll find her son,” she tells me, and I nod. I don’t doubt finding her, I’m just worried about the condition she’ll be in when I do.
“You are not the only one worried about her, she probably just needs time, just worried about her father,” she adds. The nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach says otherwise.
My father clears his throat, his deep voice steady but tinged with worry. “Son, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Give her some time,” he says, and Mother moves over slightly so I can see him on Damian’s phone.
“Grandma!” Max calls out from the background somewhere.
My mother glances over her shoulder, and I see my son rubbing his eyes.
She sighs heavily. “That lasted all of two seconds,” she mutters before handing the phone to my father.
I had tried reading him a book over the phone but like I suspected, the moment he could no longer hear my voice he woke.
“Max, you are supposed to be sleeping,” my mother starts, My father peers over at them and my mother picks him up coming over to my father with Max perched on her hip.
“Anyway as I was saying, Soren, you’ll find her. I will also spread word about her missing; she has been all over the news, she has nowhere to hide.”
“I’m not worried about her hiding, I… I can’t explain it.” I tell him. It’s just this knowing I have. I know Bree, she would have replied by now, she would have called. Even if it was just to check on Max.
As much as I want to believe my father, the knot in my stomach only tightens.
“We know you care about her, sweetheart. Sometimes people need space, though,” my mother adds.
I shake my head, frustration bubbling up inside me. They don’t get it. They don’t know Bree like I do. My mind races with possibilities, each one worse than the last. What if she’s hurt? What if something happened to her father? What if—
Max’s humming cuts through my spiraling thoughts as he hums along to the TV in the background before the tune playing from the ad stops abruptly, cutting to some news article.
“Try to get him back to bed, we’ll call if we hear anything. He should be asleep.” I still can’t shake the feeling something is terribly wrong.
“Hey, I know him,” Max says, pointing at the TV. My mother glances over and I see the news anchor, who is on for late night news every night.
“Hmm, yes, sweetie,” my mother answers. “We should get you to bed.”
“But, Grandma, I saw the blood sucker, he…” his words trail off his brows crease and my father shakes his head.
“Poor boy, I hope he doesn’t have night terrors,” my father mutters.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed, you can steal Pop’s side,” my mother tells Max and my father’s lips part.
He huffs. “I happen to like my spleen, your mother clearly does not, call us if you need us,” my father grumbles, as Max talks about some blood sucker as he calls the news anchor from the TV.
He has his wires crossed because that man is werewolf; I’ve seen his face on the news and even at the council.
My father bids goodbye, hanging up the phone.
“Pull over,” I tell Damian and he does, stopping on the grass alongside the highway.
I shove open my door, pocketing my phone.
“I need some air,” I announce, climbing out.
The moment I do, the wind is whipping at my face, and we are surrounded by utter darkness.
The trees in the distance creak from the wind as their branches twist and bend, the grass laying flat and springing back with each gust.
The cool night air is a welcome relief from the stifling atmosphere inside the car and the annoyance radiating off of Damian.
He reckons I’m wasting my time, yet time will never be enough when it comes to Bree.
She is my time, the time worth tracking without her is pointless.
I am pointless. She taught me to love again when I thought I would spend the rest of my life hollow.
She filled the cracks I thought were bottomless.
Damian stops the engine and climbs out, pulling a pack of smokes from his pocket.
“Soren!” he calls out across the roof of the car.
I glance at him biting back a growl, worried he will add his two cents worth on this situation but he only holds up his packet of smokes.
I nod once and he tosses me the packet. I hardly smoke however I could damn well use one right now.
I catch the packet and he tosses me the lighter.
“Maybe she’s busy running?” my brother suggests, his voice carrying over the wind that has picked up marginally. “You know how she gets when she’s stressed.”
“No. She wouldn’t leave me hanging like this without a reason. By now, she would’ve calmed down enough to take my calls. She would have checked on Max.”
Damian draws on his smoke and I light my own, taking a huge drag on it and coughing at its harshness. “So we find her then what? The media will tear you apart if you still marry her.”
“I don’t care! They aren’t marrying her, I am. You don’t have to like her but I fucking love her and that should be enough for you, as my brother, to accept her, Damian.”
“It’s not that I don’t accept her, I…” he trails off. “I don’t want to lose you again,” he murmurs and I peer over at him, my arms leaning on the roof of the car.
“You lost your wife, Max lost a mother, the kingdom lost their queen, but I lost my brother that day. I don’t want you to go back to that shell of a man you were.
I can’t watch that again!” he growls at me.
I look away hearing the crack in his voice.
“It was never about hating her, trusting her, yes, trusting her with my nephew, our kingdom; I cared about that. But I mostly cared about trusting her with what was left of you.”
“I didn’t want to see you get hurt, not when you had only just started to function again.”
“She lied, Damian. Her intention was never to hurt us. She could have, but she didn’t.” I lean against the car. “You drove her away.”
“That wasn’t my intention, I just wanted to know what hers was. I wasn’t misguided, I knew something was off and it was. Yes, I added to all this mess but my intention was only to protect you!”
“How can you say that when you did everything to pull me away from her!” I yell at him, he shakes his head, his anger dissolves instantly.
“You are all I have, you and Max.”
“What are you talking about?” I snap at him knowing that is a lie.
“You were born royal, Soren. I am the royal bastard child, one not eligible for succession, your shadow despite being older than you.”
“You want to have this argument, right now? That has never been an issue for me, I don’t care who your father is! Neither does Dad!” I growl at him, he is being ridiculous.
“That is not what I mean, I couldn’t care less for the throne, nor do I want it.
As for Dad, I know his position, he sees no difference between us, I’ll always be his son.
But everyone else, they don’t see us as equals and they are right, we aren’t.
I’m always the shadow, the outsider, my only purpose is to serve you.
Mom likes to joke she will steal your throne and hand it over, same as Dad.
The council would never allow that and neither would I.
It's just we’ll never be equal, I will never have what you have. ”
“What are you saying, Damian, you’ve lost me.”
“You are the only one who sees me as equal. Mom and Dad say I am and treat me no different from you, their love has never come under doubt, I also know I’m her biggest pain and his.
But you… I’ve only ever been your brother, no judgment, no resentment.
They hide it well but I know Mom regrets my father, regrets me, and I know Dad regrets not stopping him sooner.
With you, I don’t have to see that regret, I can just be.
” he draws back on his smoke that’s nearly finished.
“When I realized she was lying and hiding something, I wasn’t going to risk losing the only person who sees me, risk losing the only person who doesn’t see me as the stain on this family. Or as your shadow.”
When he puts it like that I understand it, however it changes nothing.
It saddens me that Damian feels he has no place unless it’s at my side.
That he feels like an outsider, and I can see why he feels that way.
Mom started over, he is a piece of her old life which he believes has no place in her future.
“Mom doesn’t regret you, or resent you. Neither does Dad. I think they mainly don’t want to put too much pressure on you in case you decide to leave. They know I have my kingdom holding me here but you can walk away; I think that scares them.”
Damian sighs heavily, nodding before flicking his smoke. “Once we find her, I am seriously putting a tracker on her, and you and the brat. Maybe a collar and remote.” I glance at him. He shrugs.
“Let’s see you both run if I can jolt your ass to the moon.” he laughs and I roll my eyes at him, a hint of smile tugs at my lips.
“Has her car moved?” I ask him and he leans back into the car to retrieve his phone, the screen lighting up his features in the night.
“Yes, she is driving,” he answers while his fingers trace and zoom in on his phone as he tries to get a more accurate location.
“Where?” I ask. As he holds up a finger cutting me off.
“Give me a minute, Soren, I need to try to pull up another satellite to pinpoint her,” Damian responds, his focus evident in his clipped tone while his fingers move swiftly over his phone.
I run a hand through my hair, tugging at the strands in frustration.
The silence stretches, punctuated only by the rapid-fire clicking of keys and my own ragged breathing each second warping time along with my patience.
. I glance at my brother over the roof of the car.
“Damian?” I growl, he doesn’t answer, just ignores me and continues to fiddle with the screen of his phone.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, “Got it. I think she is heading to Blackwood Hospital.”
There’s a pause, then he continues. “We’ll call on our way to confirm, I think we need to head there now. That’s also where the AirTag is saying she was yesterday.”
Relief floods through me, quickly followed by a surge of adrenaline. “Let’s go,” I say, already tossing my smoke that I barely smoked and opening the car door. “I need to find her. I need to know she’s okay.”
Falling into my seat, I slam the door and Damian quickly climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the car.
He plugs his phone in so the map with her location pops up onto the screen so we can watch her movements.
My fingers tremble as I pull out my phone, I search the directory for Blackwood Hospital. .
“Soren…” I glance at him before scrolling on my phone. How could his pack have so many hospitals? Looking at Damian’s screen, I tap on the hospital closest to the direction she is going in and see its Blackwood private hospital.
“What?” I mumble, finally finding the correct number.
“Alpha Rhett said he cut a deal with Jefferson, right?” I look at him, but say nothing, I don’t need to, he has been present for all my meetings with Rhett.
“He promised to hand Jefferson’s daughter back in exchange for the contracts,” he tells me “That’s why she was able to fight back when she had Max, how she protected Max when the rogues came for her,” Damian states and I know he is right.
“She’s an Alpha’s daughter,” I say, it only now clicking.