Chapter 22 - Tyler
Dominic and Nicholas stare at me in shock, and I glance between them, noticing how they recognize the extent of what I just told them.
I told them everything.
Not by choice, but because Delilah brought it up with a passing comment on her way out when she stopped by before heading home.
Damn her for pushing me into this corner!
Yet, it feels as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. As if I'm not entirely crazy for being shocked to learn that I'm a father. As if I'm not crazy for being angry.
My friends are shocked, too.
“Shit…” Dominic raises his brows as he stares at me. “That's a tough one. You beat me to it, then. Congrats,” he chuckles as he raises his glass.
“Nice of you to make light of my predicament,” I snort, turning to Nicholas, who only shrugs.
“Don't ask me what I think. Unlike you two, I'm a free wolf,” he muses as he stretches his arms over his blonde head. “Ain't no true mate, fated mate bullshit holding me down. Though you have to admit, Arianna being a witch is hot.”
“You're not helping, Nick!” Dominic grinds through gritted teeth.
“I'm just here for the booze,” Nicholas snorts and pours another glass of bourbon.
“I'm not complaining,” I shrug nonchalantly as I pass my empty glass to him to be filled.
“Apart from being angry for obvious reasons, how do you feel about her?” Dominic asks, and I shrug again.
“It's complicated,” I sigh as I sip my drink. “I didn't want a mate to begin with after my brother died, and then there's my parents who won't approve of someone without a high rank.”
“And how do your parents feel about you not wanting a mate at all?”
A shiver passes through me. “They don't approve of it, naturally. They want me to sire an heir, the next alpha for this pack. They want me to have a…”
My voice tapers off into a groan as realization comes crashing into me in waves.
I already have a son, and that thought squeezes my heart, my chest tightening, and it forces me to look up at the kitchen window with a frown. The fine hairs on the back of my neck prickle at attention, an escalating sense that something is wrong.
Automatically springing to my feet, I ignore Dominic and Nicholas's questions when I'm drawn to the front door, pulling it open to the sound of thundering footsteps approaching.
I blink to clear my vision, for a moment wondering if I'd consumed too much of the wolfsbane and bourbon mixture, and I'm imagining Arianna rushing over with arms flailing urgently.
“Tyler! Tyler, please!” Arianna yells out as she comes rushing forward, breathless when she grabs the rail at the corner of the porch. Her eyes are full of desperate tears, her face contorting with pain. “He has Noah! James has Noah!”
Panic floods my being just as my friends come out to see what the commotion is all about, Arianna's desperation quickly sobering me up. Something inside me snaps, shifts, and has me picking myself up and putting all the pieces together in a second.
I am a father, and for the first time in my life, I feel how profound that title is when my son is in danger. To add to that, my true mate's panic sets me off, and I can't stand to see her troubled.
Our son has been abducted. I turn to my friends, that strong sense of protectiveness coming over me and fueling the alpha within me.
“I need to find my son,” I declare boldly, fiercely, my fists curling at my sides.
Dominic and Nicholas both nod firmly, and there's an unspoken command that sets us in motion as we race down the porch, and I grab Arianna's arm, pulling her toward the woods.
“I'd tell you to stay back and let me handle this, but I know you won't listen to me.” My nostrils flare with residual anger as I say this. “We'll need to follow his scent.”
Arianna nods fervently, already preparing to shift into wolf form the second we near the ingress of the woods.
Noah's faint scent lingers in the air, and I shift to fill my wolf lungs with the breadcrumb trail.
My friends do the same, and before long, we're racing through the forest with Arianna keeping up beside me as we follow Noah's scent toward a neighboring human town.
“Over there!” Arianna yells through the mind link, stopping on a hill, her sharp nose pointed toward a dilapidated industrial building positioned on the outskirts of Falmouth. “That's where he took Noah. I can feel him.”
I turn to my friends and nod once, having a brief flashback of one of our black ops missions, when we infiltrated a building similar to this one up north.
A group of mutated rogues was plotting to overthrow a werewolf pack and conquer their land, but we intercepted their plans, driving some away and killing a few.
As adrenaline pumps through me, I suspect that this is no coincidence, and my intuition leads me to throw my head up and howl to draw out the rogue wolves from inside.
My suspicions are confirmed when a handful of mutated rogues emerge from all corners of the building, charging toward us on the hill overlooking the building. Their gut-churning smells are strong, burning my airways as I turn to Arianna.
“I'm going inside. Noah must be there,” I tell her telepathically.
“I'm coming with you!” she yelps as she follows me down.
“No! Stay with Dom and Nick! They're gonna keep you safe!”
“No!” Arianna shakes her head. “That's my son in there! I have to save him!” she growls, and I can't help but admire her determination.
My wolf heart flutters with the recognition that this she-wolf is my true mate, my fated mate, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Sure, she's not a high-ranking wolf, but she's brave, strong, a willing fighter who loves fiercely.
I was so wrong about her, and I see it now.
When she said I was her mate, it must have broken her when I rejected her, and turned her into something she's not. But in the face of danger, she becomes her true self.
A she-wolf determined to fight alongside her alpha, like any luna would be.
I only respond with a nod when my friends charge for the rogues, keeping them busy with attacks so Arianna and I can sneak off to the side and race toward the warehouse.
As we come to the large steel doors, I charge forward, crashing through the lock and sending one door clattering to the ground.
Noah is locked in a cage no bigger than him, wearing a frightened expression, eyes glazed with tears, and cheeks crusted with the ones he'd shed. A dark-haired man stands beside the metal cage and smirks sadistically, lifting dark, hellish pits at me.
I instantly shift into human form, my heart pounding with fear and desperation to save my son.
“Please! Let Noah go!”
The man, I assume, is James, who throws his head back and roars with dark laughter. “Let Noah go?! And why should I do that?” He stalks forward slowly, narrowing his eyes at Arianna. “Though I'll be willing to make a fair trade for your mate.”
He says the word with bitterness, and Arianna shifts into human form.
“What do you want from us, James? Why are you doing this?!” she demands, and James pulls out a pocket knife, metal slicing the air when he flips it.
“Have you ever heard of the saying…an eye for an eye?” He raises a brow as he stares at me. “You took my mate's life, so it's only fair that I take hers…” He points the tip of his knife at Arianna, and I immediately step in front of her.
“So, you're from the group of disgusting mutts we dealt with a couple of years ago,” I scoff. “It won't be a problem killing you, like we did with the others.”
James chuckles. “If I remember correctly, you were very close to dying, my friend.”
“I'm not your friend, mutt,” I growl, keeping Arianna behind me with a protective arm as James comes closer. “And if you're still alive, it means you ran away when we fought your friends. You're a coward.”
“I'm a coward?” James sneers. “If I were, I wouldn't have orchestrated this elaborate plan to get you here,” he snickers. “How do you think I found out who your mate is?” He swishes the knife through the air. “I grabbed some of your hair when we fought the last time.”
I stand tall and protectively in front of Arianna when James comes closer, calculating each of his steps so I'll know exactly when to attack. “So, all of this is revenge?”
“Revenge for killing my mate,” he concedes with a snarky grin.
“But the warlock promised more if I delivered the hybrid child to him.
You see…once they used your hair to identify you, they found that you had a true mate, and she was a witch from a coven they'd been to war with. We kill two birds with one stone if I lead them to the witches and bring them the precious child who is destined to have great powers. They promised me—”
“I don't care what they promised you!” I roar, disgusted by these revelations, my claws distending from my fingertips as I prepare to attack. I speak to Arianna through the mind link. “Get Noah!”
When Arianna inhales, I shift into wolf form, lunging for the mutated rogue wolf who shifts into his wretched form. My claws lash at him as I attempt to get his throat, majestic howls and roars ripping from my chest as we fight.
Arianna rushes toward Noah, and I keep James distracted long enough for her to free our son from the cage. Once he's safely in her arms and they escape through the back door of the warehouse, I growl and tear into the disfigured creature, slicing its furless neck with my sharp claws.
James whimpers as he collapses to the floor in a pathetic heap, his last breath drawn out as his malevolent spirit leaves his body and his human form spreads out.
I breathe a sigh of relief as I shift into human form, just as Dominic and Nicholas enter the warehouse to see James's dead body.
“We've taken care of the others,” Dominic informs me as they both come to stand beside me. “This group won't be a problem anymore.”
I nod thoughtfully as I remember what James said. “They may not be a problem, but he mentioned a dark warlock who was behind all of this.” I continue explaining what James told us, and Nicholas pats my shoulder.
“We'll have to speak to Delilah about this. She will know who the witches’ enemy is.”
“Yeah,” Dominic agrees as he glances at the door Arianna left from. “For now, you need to protect your family, Tyler. They need you.”
I gulp hard as I nod, knowing full well that Dominic is right.
No more walking on eggshells around Arianna or my parents.
I'm going to man up and take my responsibilities seriously, and tell my parents exactly what I want as soon as they return tomorrow.
Because what I truly want and desire the most is standing outside the warehouse, waiting for me.