Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-one
Phoenix
I raced into the pack, running faster than I had ever done in my entire life, and even snarled at my dad, who tried to slow me down. “Alpha, Son,” Which was probably the only word that could stop me, and I shifted instantly.
“Where is he? What happened?” I practically dragged my dad over by the scruff of his neck.
“It was the silver-skins. We had no chance, Son. I’m sorry. I thought they would snap Simeon’s neck.”
“Tell me exactly,” I demanded, and Dad did exactly that.
I took a breath as Kaylan, Matthew, Bayer, and Isla ran into the pack circle, all fully shifted. They shifted to human and donned the clothes that the pack tossed them, then surrounded me like a guard. I appreciated it, but I didn’t need it.
“Alessandro’s looking for his son,” Simeon said after they’d both shifted to heal themselves. “He seemed to think Emery knew where he was.”
I thought hard. “No, I think if Emery had seen him again, he would’ve told us.”
“He’s under a lot of strain,” my dad said gently.
I looked at him. “He’s not a liar.”
Dad immediately lifted both his hands in a surrender gesture.
“No, he’s not,” Simeon said, which surprised me. That Simeon came to Emery’s defense so readily. “So what do we do?”
“We find a silver-skin,” I said.
Which was a lot easier said than done. An hour later, we were no closer, but I kept catching a scent of something both unfamiliar and not something I could put a name to, which made me wonder if he’d been here and left.
I looked around at the faces surrounding me.
Dad, Simeon, Matthew, Isla, Kaylan, even Bayer, although I didn’t know how he was still standing, and tried to think.
I even wondered if there was a way Esther might know…
then I realized as I looked around at the faces that Esther was missing and instantly knew why.
I glanced at Kaylan. “Get Bayer fed and rested before he falls over. Use the pack house.” I turned to Simeon.
“I want a perimeter check. We still might have bears looking for Bayer.” Simeon nodded and moved away.
I glanced at Isla and Matthew. “I want guards doubled. Matthew, I want to know how far away from completion we are on all our construction projects. I don’t want wolves leaving the pack until further notice. ”
I glanced at my dad as the others left, then lowered my voice. “I’m going to visit Esther. Stay downwind, but alert.”
Dad’s eyes widened, but I was touched that he didn’t challenge any of my orders.
I walked over to Esther’s cottage, knowing Dad was following me but discreetly.
A silver-skin’s sense of smell wasn’t as good as a wolf, and they couldn’t differentiate.
It was something to do with blood that nobody except them really understood.
The closer I got to Esther’s cottage, the more I was convinced this was where Rhys was.
There was no other reason Esther wouldn’t have been there when I got back.
I strolled to the bungalow like everything was alright with my world and knocked. “Esther, it’s Phoenix.” Which was totally unnecessary, as she would’ve known it was me.
I took in the scene as I stepped through the door, closing it behind me.
Esther was sitting at her kitchen table, hands laid on her lap, perfectly composed like she was out for afternoon tea or some shit, and a teen was standing behind her, his hand extended to her neck, his expression trying for menacing or even uncaring, but failing miserably at both.
He trembled slightly, and every bit of my anger drained away.
“Rhys,” I said calmly, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “I understand you’ve met my mate, Emery.”
He didn’t answer for a few seconds, but then his jaw firmed, as did his hand around Esther’s throat. “I’ll kill her.”
“Why?” I asked in bemusement.
“Because, because…” But then his eyes filled, and his shoulders drooped, and I watched in utter awe as Esther turned and pulled him down on the chair next to her as her arms went around him, and to my amazement, he hugged her right back.
And cried. He didn’t even notice when Dad let himself into the cottage and put the kettle on the stove.
He didn’t calm down until we were all sitting with tea in front of us.
“Just so I’m sure,” I said calmly. “You’re Rhys? Alessandro’s your dad?”
He shrugged, utter misery stark on his alabaster face. “He’s not my dad,” he said.
I met my dad’s gaze, who looked as surprised as I was, but Esther clucked sympathetically. “You probably call him your sire.”
“We don’t have dads,” he whispered. “Not like you do.” Then he glanced at my dad, and I introduced him.
“Emery’s missing,” I said, because that was really the crux of everything. “Your—Alessandro took him. He thinks we’re holding you hostage.”
“I don’t want to go back,” Rhys blurted out. “I want to stay here.”
I leaned back and rubbed my tired eyes. Shit.
I glanced at Esther. I had no fucking clue what to do.
We needed Emery back. His safety had to come first, but I knew full well if Emery found out I’d traded a child’s life for his, I needn’t worry about what Alessandro would do; Emery would eviscerate me where I stood.
“I heard the alarm when I was on my way,” Rhys admitted reluctantly. “I slipped in while it was still ringing. I didn’t know they’d taken Emery.”
“He’s pregnant,” I said softly.
The kid gaped, then scowled. “You’re lying.”
Esther squeezed his hand. “We’re not lying, Rhys. I promise you.”
“But he’s a guy,” Rhys said like he’d just called Em a robot or something equally as unbelievable.
“It’s rare,” Esther agreed. “But it’s true.”
“And we need him back before Alessandro finds out,” my dad said.
Rhys looked down at the table. No one spoke.
I wanted to rage because I knew what I was asking.
The sacrifice I was asking a child to make.
It was wrong, but I was completely out of ideas.
Someone needed to advocate for Rhys, and I had a feeling it was going to be me.
Not that Alessandro was likely to listen to a word I said.
Then he raised his face and met my eyes. “My sire will already know.”
“But your hearing isn’t as accurate as mine,” I said, half as a question.
He nodded. “Not in the same way, no. He will know Emery’s blood volume has increased.
It’s something we’re taught as offspring, to hear the blood, to sense it…
and what causes it to increase.” He whispered the last words guiltily, and I was forced to stand and walk away from the table.
We’d known the silver-skins in years gone by targeted the pregnant she-wolves.
We thought that evil practice was to decimate our numbers further, not because a victim would have more—
Fuck. I couldn’t even say it. Alessandro was sick. And how such an evil, twisted creature had produced such an innocent child was beyond me.
Rhys withdrew his hand from Esther’s, and Esther made a pained sound. “So, how will we do this? If I just return, they’ll have no reason to release Emery.”
I sat back, stunned. “You would do this?”
He stared at me. “Emery’s my friend.”
Esther shook her head. “Alpha, you cannot value one life over another.”
I knew that. Of course I did. I also knew why Esther had called me by my designation and not by my name.
That one word reminded me I had responsibilities to all.
Normally, the mate bond would trump any other, but I was an alpha, and that made things a million percent difficult.
“I know, Esther,” I whispered, pain in my throat as the words seemed to come with barbed wire attached.
“And if you have a solution, then I’m all ears. ”
“My life isn’t at risk for another sixteen years,” Rhys said, and we all turned to him.
“You mean when you take over leading the coven?” I clarified. But how would that affect his life?
He was silent for a moment, then looked at me with eyes way too old for a child. “Thirty is when I go through separation.”
I glanced at Esther, hoping she would know what that meant, but she shook her head slightly. My dad didn’t seem to know either. “Separation of what?” I asked after a moment.
He met my gaze and then shrugged as if it was unimportant, but I doubted there was a person there convinced.
“Separation of what?” I asked again, my voice gentle.
“My soul.”
None of us knew how to answer that, but Rhys carried on. “I’m important, vital even, until I get to that point.”
“And after?” I asked, not sure what I wanted the answer to be.
“After, I simply won’t care.” He stood before any of us had absorbed what that meant. “I will agree to return so long as you keep your promise, Phoenix Colton.”
“What promise?” I wasn’t aware I had made one.
“That you get me out of there before that day. If you don’t, you won’t need to worry about your pack. You’ll need to worry about the world.”
We spent way too long trying to come up with a threat sustainable and long enough to get Emery free.
The problem was, one side would have to cave.
One prisoner would have to be released first, or at least simultaneously.
In the early hours of the morning, with Rhys’s explanation of how to accomplish it, I sent a message to Alessandro insisting on a prisoner exchange and how it should be done.
Rhys had shocked us when he’d said the exchange should happen in human territory.
Apparently, despite what Alessandro insisted, he wasn’t eager to have the humans discover them yet.
The US military and NATO were still a force to be reckoned with as the silver-skins numbers had declined, as well.
It made me question the original theory about the silver-skins being responsible for our females not going into heat.
It made no sense if their own were equally affected, but as Emery would say, that wasn’t a today problem.
Today, I just needed him home. Tomorrow, we would worry about everything else.
In the end, I’d decided on meeting at the motel I’d originally collected Emery from when he’d gone into heat.
I didn’t want any attention drawn to Emery’s friends, so Molly’s, anywhere near the town, the school, were all firmly out.
No one took any notice of anything at that place, so I wasn’t worried about being seen.
I also didn’t worry about the pack being heard.
A show of strength was probably what we needed, so at six p.m. that evening, I might’ve been standing alone next to my open truck, but I knew there were another thirty pack members standing just out of sight.
I knew Alessandro would know they were there, but I wanted to keep them out of sight from any unsuspecting human, not the silver-skins.
Without any warning, and completely on his own at precisely six, Alessandro walked—glided almost—from the trees surrounding the parking lot. Rhys was hidden with my dad and Isla, and I assumed he’d taken the same precautions with Emery.
But then I noted Alessandro’s stoic mask. Except from what I was expecting, it wasn’t so stoic. If I was going to be fanciful, I would have said worry flashed across his features and dread coiled in my gut. Something was wrong.
“Alessandro.” I didn’t make it a question, even though I wanted to grab the creature by his pristine collar and shake the information out of him.
“Alpha Phoenix,” he responded evenly, whatever emotion I thought I’d seen already quashed, his voice even and completely bland.
“I have your son. You have my mate. Let’s do this.”
And there it was again. Something in his eyes.
Something he knew I wasn’t going to like.
I strode forward right in his space and clicked my fingers.
“That’s how long it would take for one of my alpha wolves to rip out your son’s heart.
I want to see my mate right now.” I growled the last two words, my wolf so close to the surface I could feel the brush of fur.
And then Alessandro shocked me. He put up his hands in a universal surrender motion. “Your mate hasn’t been harmed by any of my coven.”
But? I screamed mentally.
“But for whatever reason, he began to bleed internally,” Alessandro said. “The risk to both him and the child was imminent.”
I could feel the blood draining from my face. They’d turned him. They’d fucking turned him.
Alessandro shook his head as if he heard my thoughts. “We didn’t make him ours, and your daughter still lives.”
I opened my mouth to roar my anger to the world, but Alessandro stepped close. “Come with me. We will make no attempt to secure my heir until you are satisfied, but Emery is weak. I dare not transport him. You need to see for yourself.”
And even though I knew it was a trap. Even though I knew it would be the biggest mistake of my life and I would likely die for it…
Because I loved Emery with everything I had, I took Alessandro’s outstretched hand and watched the world blur as Alessandro took me to whatever he had planned.