Chapter 38 - Down
Brent POV:
I was seething at the information I was given. I was tensed and ready to shift, but I knew I had to keep my mind about me to find my family. It took every ounce of control and training I had to contain my blind rage. However, I didn't know how much longer that control would last. It was hanging on by a string.
I arrived in Ryan's office, where he pointed Maci out on the cameras. She was walking up to the pack house.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, "What the fuck?! How in the actual hell is she still coming on my fucking land and no one was able to locate her!" I didn't wait for an answer and I flew down the stairs myself meeting her just as she entered the doors.
"Brent!" She smiled and jogged the rest of the way to me, "just the man I was looking for I got -"
I cut her off and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her forward, "where the fuck are my mate and daughter?" I asked threateningly through gritted teeth.
She looked at me stunned, "what are you talking about? I was just coming to bring you a drink. I was in town and decided to grab you your favorite," she said as she offered me the cup in her other hand.
I took it from her and chunked it across the lobby, sticky brown liquid dripping down the wall, "I don't want your damn drink, I WANT MY MATE!" I roared, just inches from her face as she began to tremble with fear. The close proximity allowed me to notice her scent had been hidden, realization hitting me square in the chest at how she was able to go undetected.
"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about, I-I swear," she stuttered, fear rolling off of her in plumes.
I glared at her, unwavering, "yes you do," I spat, "just like you knew that you weren't my actual mate and used black magic to make me your mate and even now you have something covering your scent," her face going pale as my words sank in.
Shaking her head she tried once more to convince me of her lies, "Brent, I don't know where she is and I don't know what you're talking about! Please, let's just go to your office and talk," she was becoming hysterical.
"The only place you're going is the cells," I growled lowly, my wolf ready to gut her on the spot.
She fought against me trying to pull her arm away from me, "you can't do this! I've already told you I don't know where they are! I just came to talk to you!"
I ignored her and began walking her out the door and pointed us in the direction of the cells.
"On what grounds do you have to throw me in there?" She screamed and once again tried to get away.
"Trespassing."
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Brent's POV (later on) :
After my encounter with Maci, I shifted and searched for twelve straight hours, followed by beating and interrogating Micah on their whereabouts until I could barely lift my arms, physically and emotionally depleted. Which gave me nothing as he had no clue where they'd been taken. I was now sitting at my desk, eyes swollen with emotion and blurry from exhaustion as I held my head in my hands. They had been gone for almost two days.
I had searched and sniffed for hours on end, my wolf's nose had even become raw and began to bleed from the constant sniffing at the ground just trying to find her. We roamed and wandered in every direction we could, even risking rouge territory trying to find their scents. I was on the edge of psychosis at the prolonged separation from my mate, especially under these circumstances, I could feel my mind beginning to slip.
Anderson had been in many times trying to get me to eat something, but I couldn't, not while I was desperate to know if she had been able to eat or not, knowing regardless of where she was, her body would quickly shut down from lack of nourishment due to her carrying our son.
I sat up, grabbing the heavy crystal paperweight on my desk as I held it in my hands, turning it over and over as my worries continued to mount.
The paperweight hit the wall with a deafening bang, as I threw it across the room, sending it shattering throughout the room. I then slammed my palm on my desk. I had to find them, I had to! I was their protector, and I let them down, just like I let her down at the hospital.
I crossed my arms on the desk, and lay my head down. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.. trying to drown out the chaos .
I slowed my breathing, feeling as though I could fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. My last vision was of her beautiful face staring at me from the photo on my desk as I slipped away, succumbing to the mind numbing delirium.
I dreamt of my daughter mindlinking me, and it startled me awake. I rubbed my eyes and looked over at the clock, realizing I had slept for 2 hours and I nervously worried I had missed something.
'Daddy'
I remembered my dream so vividly. It was haunting me as I left the room to see if there were any updates.
'Daddy, are you still there?' Her sweet voice trailed through an open link .
'Te-Tenley,' I hesitantly asked.
'Yes?' her little voice questioned.
I about fell over, having to hold the stair railing. What I assumed to be a dream must have been her linking into my subconscious mind while I was asleep. I'd heard of some wolves having the ability to do this, but I'd never actually had it happen personally to me, and I'd never heard of anyone so young mastering it. There were not many wolves that could do this, but it appeared my daughter could, and thank Goddess.
I stopped in my tracks, my feet frozen to the floor, 'Tenley? Tenley baby is that really you? Are, are you there?'
'Yes, silly goose we was talking,' s he giggled back.
I faltered, 'oh, baby girl I am so happy to hear your voice. Are you okay? Who are you with, is mommy there? '
'I told you she's still asleep by me, but hers been asleep a really long time daddy, and I'm really hungry. My old dad won't give us any food,' she whimpered.
My fears confirmed, they were with Dalton. My wolf bristled at the thought of what that shit stain had done to them.
'Sissy, I maybe already asked this too, but please just tell me again, do you know where you are?' I pleaded.
'No, I don't know, it's a really really old stinky house place.'
'Can daddy look in your mind and see a picture?' We hadn't worked on sending images yet, but with her consent, I would be allowed to see her viewpoint.
'Yes, that's okay,' she lightly whispered back, sounding sleepy so I rushed into her mind to see where she was before she fell asleep.
I noticed that the room was definitely old and dingy, and it definitely appeared that they were in some sort of weird, old home, but where? I had a rough estimate of the time from when Alyssa and I linked, to about the time they were taken, to the time Maci showed up today. There was not much time at all for them to have gotten all that far, not to mention if my daughter could link me. They had to be on pack land, but where the hell was this? I had never seen this place and I knew, or at least thought I knew, every corner of this place like the back of my hand. I'd have to ask Anderson, he and Jess were big hikers on his days off, maybe he would know.
'Daddy, please hurry, I really want chocolate milk.'
I choked back the sob forming in the back of my throat, now was not the time to get emotional, I had to get to my family.
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Alyssa's POV:
"Mommy, wake up, daddy is really worried about us," I heard as little hands patted my cheeks. I had been in and out of sleep since we'd arrived however long ago, I had truly lost track of time without having a way to see anything with the boarded up windows in this dingy house, more of a shack actually. The drugs, along with the fact I had barely eaten in what was probably several hours kept bringing me in and out of consciousness.
I nodded and snuggled her to me. Dalton had been in not too long before and had finally thrown two pieces of toast at us like we were dogs. Tenley had her whole slice and I gave her one of my halves, only taking what I needed to give myself a little bit of energy. My face still stung from his rough pinch at my cheek as he left. My eyes tearing up at how tender the spot was. He had laughed wildly after he exited the room. I'd never understood what he got out of torturing me, but he always seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
"I'm sure he is baby girl, he'll come for us." I kissed the top of her head, I just hoped it wasn't too late.
"Mmmhhmm, he said he was going too," she nodded assuredly.
I scrunched my brow at her choice of words, "he said he was going to? What do you mean baby?" I sat up slightly, my heartbeat quickening, but I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up.
Her little hands played with the ends of my hair, and she nodded once more, "daddy kept asking me the same questions a bunch, too, but he told me he was coming. We talked, I mean linked, while you were sleeping. I kept my lips closed though." Her tone was so matter of fact, she had always been so wise beyond her years .
My eyes grew and tears welled, he was coming. I knew he would, but the fact that he was actually coming gave me such relief.
I took in a deep breath and did my best to calm my racing heart, "sissy, let's stay so quiet about this okay? I don't want Dalton hearing any of this, okay?"
She had referred to him as Dalton from the moment we got here. Never once referring to him as her dad. She had been so scared the first few hours after she'd woken up. Scared to death he would come in at any moment and yell at us again. Surprisingly he had not yelled since we'd made it here, and other than the pinches to my cheeks when he had come in the two different times, he hadn't hurt me beyond that. I was still on alert, knowing he could change at the drop of a hat. I had seen it too many times and knew not to trust his passiveness. She had been so strong though and hadn't cried at all since that last time. I now knew I had Brent to thank for that. I couldn't wait to be back in his arms.
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Brent's POV:
'Anderson, where are you? I need you in my office, we need to talk, now,' I pushed through the link.
'Headed your way, boss,' he quickly responded and shut the link.
I was so grateful that I had been able to talk to Tenley, but I was still shocked that much of it had been in my subconscious while asleep. So strange, yet so amazing.
While I was awaiting Anderson's arrival I linked with Alyssa's lead guard, Jared, and made him my interim top warrior, and told him to get the forces rounded up and ready to roll in the next 20 minutes .
"What's up, Alpha, you sounded urgent? Have you heard something?" He looked at me expectantly with his hands on his hips.
"I need to show you something. I'm wondering if you know where this is," I said as I pushed the image immediately through the link.
He smirked, "yup, fucked Jess in that dingy little thing early in our mateship."
I rolled my eyes, but was elated to hear he knew where this was, "take me there, now."
"Of course, Alpha, but why do you need to know where it is? Is that where they are? Did you hear something?" He fired questions at me like bullets from a gun, his hope visibly growing.
I quickly nodded, "I heard from Tenley, I need you to take me there, now." I was vague, but I didn't have time to talk about this, we needed to get moving. Maci refused to give us any details despite our questions, maintaining her innocence. This was my only new lead in about 15 hours and I needed to act now.
He lifted his head back up, sniffing back the tears and clearing his throat, "what did she say?"
Anderson and Tenley were extremely close, much like an uncle and a niece, and seeing her blood on the floor had affected him worse than seeing the Luna's. He had been in hell right along with me, but I brushed him off once again and walked to the door.
"Never mind what she said, we're racing against a clock and I need you to get me to that place, now," I reiterated. "The warriors are down front waiting, let's go. "
He flanked me on the right and we headed down to meet the warriors, my wolf surging at the battle in front of us, we were both ready for a fight and we would not be the ones going down.
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Alyssa's POV:
My stomach growled again, reminding me once more that I'd only had half a piece of toast since getting here. Tenley was doing her best to keep it together, she had started crying again in hunger and Dalton had screamed manically at her as I begged him to stop and pulled her face into my chest, covering her ears to try and drown out the vile things he was saying.
Ever since then there was a ton of banging and moving around as he seemed to pace the length of the shack cussing and shouting things about the fact that his mate should've been back by now, at one point I heard him shout, "mindlink me you fucking bitch!" I guess it was safe to say that no matter who he had as a mate, his attitude toward them would never improve.
I let out a breath, the pain of hunger making my stomach clench with nausea as the migraine I already had seemed to worsen, which I couldn't believe was even possible at this point. Just then the door was thrown open, the light from the hall made me groan in pain.
"Oh shut up you whiny bitch, you know you're who she gets that shit from," he said, pointing at Tenley.
"Always griping or whining about some damn thing," he sneered at me as he pulled me from the bed.
"No mommy! Don't go!" Tenley screamed.
"Dalton stop! Please! You don't have to do this!" I didn't know where he was taking me, but it couldn't be good. I begged him to let me go, but pleading with a heartless man got me nothing but a slap across my face.
"Shut up! I do have to do this because it seems the Moon Goddess keeps mating me to the world’s most useless she wolves and I need to get on my way to Reign Moon with or without her, but I need the girl for them to believe my story," he grinned sadistically at me.
"My uncle is the interim Alpha! He will never believe you!" I screamed at him.
"There's nothing for him to believe if he's dead," he shrugged, no emotion crossing his face.
My heart dropped and I went numb, he was going to stop at nothing.
He continued to drag me, Tenley chasing after us as I begged her to please go back to the room.
He pulled me outside and thankfully shut the door to prevent Tenley from following. I didn't know what awaited me, but I didn't want her seeing any of it.
He walked me through the trees. Branches and shrubs tore at my legs and the rough forest ground dug into my bare feet. He eventually brought me to what appeared to be an old well hole, my fear rising impossibly higher as he shoved me to the ground, attempting to push me over the edge.
"Dalton, please! Please!" I shouted as I dug my nails into the dirt, clinging to whatever I could to save myself and my son. I could feel him rolling around in my stomach and I was devastated at the lack of control I had in protecting both of my children. My screams made my already dry throat ache .
He continued nudging me to the edge as I fought and prayed for a miracle, but once my legs slipped over the side my hope slipped as well.
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Brent's POV:
'DADDY! DADDY! HELP!' Tenley's cries rang out to me as we charged in her direction.
'Baby, I'm here, what's wrong?' My heart was racing with adrenaline and panic.
'Dalton took mommy! She was screaming so loud, daddy please hurry,' she sobbed hard and her fear coated the parental bond in a thick cloud, clutching at my chest.
My wolf howled loudly, urging the men to pick up their pace, 'I'm coming baby, we're coming.'
I closed our link to reach out to Anderson who was flanked on my right, 'how much further?' I growled through the link, we had chosen to run in wolf form to make the trip faster.
'Not far,' Anderson sent back.
'We need to pick up the pace, that fucker has taken the Luna somewhere, Tenley is beside herself. We need to move!' I growled at him, pushing him impossibly faster as we both outran the rest of the warriors.
The shack finally came into view, my girls were a mere 20 miles from my pack house, 20 fucking miles. I couldn't let myself latch on to that guilt right now though, I had to get to them.
We came closer and lowered ourselves to our stomaches, hiding to take in the scene .
'Tenley, is anyone else there with you?' I pushed through, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible so that I didn't worry her further.
'No, daddy,' she whispered back.
I immediately shifted and pulled the shorts from the bag at my ankle and threw them on, Anderson mimicking my motion. I linked Jared to surround the house from the trees and remain hidden as we walked up to the house. I tested the door handle and realized it was locked so I kicked it in, quickly entering to look around the area, and found my terrified little girl huddled in a corner.
I ran to her, "baby it's daddy, it's me, you're safe," I cradled her in my arms as she sobbed into my chest. I stood up with her in my arms and began searching everywhere for my mate.
"She's not in here daddy, he took her outside," she choked on another sob, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.
I walked back through the shack and out of the front doors, attempting to find Alyssa's scent, but like Tenley's, it was hidden.
"Looking for us?" The voice of evil itself stated, making me turn around.
I handed Tenley to Anderson and told him to get out of here with her, she'd seen more than enough of this, and I went to charge after him, "ah ah ah," he said, wagging his finger at me, "I don't think that would be very wise," he disgustingly taunted as his claws elongated, placing them over Alyssa's bump, and making me freeze in my position.
I took a moment to look at her. These two days had felt like an eternity. Her face was covered in bruises, and her lip was busted. Her fingers appeared to be bleeding and her hands were caked in dirt and she looked as though she could barely stand. His clawed hand across her stomach and his arm around her neck held most of her weight as she warily looked in my direction and closed her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek. So many emotions rattled my body and mind, my jaw clenched tightly as I planned what to do next. He was going to pay for every single bruise and injury on her perfect body.
"I'll make this extremely easy for you here, Alpha ," his tone anything but respectful, "give me the girl and you can have the skank."
"You are getting neither of them," I growled through gritted teeth, ignoring his attempt to rile me up. I didn't want him to hurt her any further.
Laughing, "Oh, I already have your mate, and I've had your mate. Dirty little thing, she never was very good at keeping her legs closed." His insinuation sent hot anger flowing through my body as he licked his tongue up her cheek, making her visibly shutter. I glared at him with fisted my hands at my sides, planning my move. The fucker was going down.