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*****
*Jayden*
I winced as moving caused my neck to crack painfully when I tried to open my eyes. My first thought was wondering why the hell I had slept on the floor, before I realised it wasn’t a floor. I was on rough, cold concrete. Even small movement caused my body to ache and my face was pounding. It was almost hard to open my eyes as the left one felt unusually heavy and very sore. When I finally managed to blink enough to open my eyes, it hit me.
I was in a dim little room only lit up by small rays of sunlight that managed to make it through the cracks of the boarded up window across the room. The light was barely enough to see in, but it was enough to make me certain that I definitely wasn’t in my or any other house I had been in before.
There was also wire that surrounded me so I lifted my hand to trace it along the squared wire but winced and quickly pulled away as my finger burnt a little even though it had not even touched the steel yet. I looked around and realised that I was in a cage… Sitting up showed that my feet were bare though I did not know how that happened and did not take a second to think about it, instead squinting my eyes to study the cage as I traced along it until finding the lock. It was glistening in the light and I did not attempt to touch it as the stinging scent of wolfsbane filled my nose. It seemed to cover the entire cage and lock.
I was an Omega, it was impossible to teach me magic if I wasn’t born with the ability to use it so there was no way of breaking the lock without touching it first, but wolfsbane was an incredibly harmful and poisonous plant to werewolves and with my healing ability touching it would surely lead to more harm than good.
I shut my eyes remembering what happened. Tamia had to be safe, she had to have gotten to the chamber… but Eli… Where was Eli? I felt helpless as I whispered my son’s name before noting that I was alone in the dark room. There was another cage but it was empty. Where was he? They wouldn’t have let him go…
My wolf growled softly inside my head. Where the hell was I? I felt overwhelming fear at the realisation that my son might be with my father… and Mike.
“E –” my voice came as a squeak, “Eli?!” I shouted hoping that if he was taken, he would be in a room nearby and able to hear my shouting. He couldn’t be there, not with them.
I needed to find him but instinctively pressed myself against the wall, into the corner when the sound of a hinge moving came from the door. My eyes stung as light flooded into the room when the door was shoved open. A single room? There was no other rooms. But Eli…
“Oops.” I felt myself get weak with fear as Mike chuckled. I knew that even as I tried to hide how much he scared me, he could see it. Heck, he could probably feel it. It was that much.
It was unbelievable how in the few hours I had known that Mike and my father were alive, they had managed to break nine years of built-up strength without even coming near me, without even saying or doing much. I a little kid again. That fragile, broken, terrified little child he had made me and I could not hide it.
“You hungry, Jayden?” I watched as he knelt down to my level as the cage wouldn’t allow me to stand in it. He was holding a bowl of what smelled and looked like potatoes. “You’re not talking to me, Jay? Come on, it’s been nine years. Is that a little bit of muscle I see?” He gave a chuckle as his eyes ran over me and I pushed myself further against the corner that the wall provided me hoping to sink into it as my stomach twisted under his gaze, my hopes were crushed as my back just scraped against the wall.
“Where-where’s Eli?” My voice was shaking but I didn’t care, it made Mike smirk at me.
“Missed me?” He ignored my question.
“Don’t touch him. Please-please, don’t hurt him.” I felt tears burn my eyes as panic filled my chest. I didn’t want them near him.
“I’ve never hurt anything, Jayden.” I nodded just to keep him from getting angry and possibly hurting my son. Probably hurting my son…
“I-I’ll do whatever you want, just leave him alone, let him go. You can do whatever to me, but not him. Mike, please, please.” I must have sounded pathetic, but I didn’t care. The only thing I needed, the only thing that mattered was that they let Eli go, that he was safe. I couldn’t imagine them doing what they did to me to him, didn’t want to.
He smirked. “Your son is somewhere safe, he can’t hear you if you call out to him. He’s been asleep; we have a spell keeping him that way. Don’t worry, Jay Jay; it’s not him we want. It’s you. You behave, he’ll be fine. You don’t, well, you know.” He chuckled shrugging his shoulders before adding, “The little brat needs some discipline anyway.” He mumbled what sounded like a spell and the food appeared in front of me, in the cage before he gave me a smile. “Eat your food, Jayden.” I didn’t want to; didn’t even want to touch anything he had touched, let alone eat anything that he – or my father – had made, but I wasn’t going to risk making him angry and having him hurt my son, so I reached out and picked up the bowl.
“Okay.” I muttered. He watched as I put a spoon of the potatoes into my mouth before I began chewing slowly, cautiously.
“Relax. We aren’t going to kill you, Jayden. That’s no punishment. It’s going to be so much worse than death for you.” He said. “And guess what?” He smiled at me. “While you’re here, who do you think is comforting your mate and that little girl of yours?”
Carrie…
Corey must have been freaking out about where I was, she would be with him if he didn’t figure out that she knew my father and Mike.
“See you later, Jay.” Mike chuckled before he got up and walked out. I put the food down and felt tears sting my eyes. I couldn’t just leave my son with them, but I was too weak to do anything.
—–
*Corey*
I was pacing back and forth in front of all our Deltas and the Inferno leaders as well. It had been a day since Sean and I got back and I still couldn’t feel Jayden’s pull, I had not slept at all because of worry and the possibility that the spell might drop while I was not paying attention.
“I’ve got Titan helping us. There’s more than three hundred wolves looking for them now.” Jason said.
“Them?” I looked at him.
“And Jayden, Corey.” He said.
“You’re not going to find them.” I muttered shaking my head. Mike and Jayden’s father could not possibly be stupid enough to hide somewhere where they could easily be found.
“We’re doing everything we can here, Corey. I don’t know what more –”
“Off shore, bomb shelters, underground.” I cut Sean off. “You’re not doing everything you can! There’s so much more we could be doing! So much more we could be looking at! For all we know he’s already dead because we’re taking so long to fucking find him!” My voice cracked. I shook my head as I sat down trying to calm down. If I could just feel that part of him, if I could just know that he was still alive…
“Cor –” Zeke began.
“I need – I need Marcus to do that thing he did when you were looking for Izabella, Sean. Call Marcus. Wait, no, Bianca’s more powerful, call her.” I said jumping to my feet again. I ignored the concerned looks on everyone’s faces at how I was acting.
“I’ll call both of them, Corey.” Kaden said pulling his phone out as he walked out of his office.
Sean looked around, obviously linking to everyone and blocking me out in the process because I could not access what was being said between them. He also seemed to link to Kaden who then linked to his Deltas because everyone walked out leaving Sean and I alone despite nothing having been said out loud about anyone being dismissed.
“What the hell did you tell them? Why did you block me out of it?” I asked him as he shut the door behind the last person to leave.
“To keep you from interrupting. You’ve got to get it together, Corey. I’m not sure if you realise this, but the entire pack was attacked. Some of our houses destroyed. Those people we killed in Sweden, their packs aren’t just going to sit back and accept what we’ve done, they barely have anything to lose now. We have to find who attacked us. I know Jayden’s gone, but you’ve got more than one person to take care of. You’ve got eight hundred. Everyone’s shaken, I need you and me to be the two people in this pack that look like we know what’s going on, to look like we know what we’re doing, or everyone is going to freak out and everything is going to break apart.” I clenched my jaw listening to him carefully speak, “You have to be Beta right now. Everyone’s looking to us. I know you’re worried about Jay, and we’ll find him I promise, but you’re not going to find him if you’re like this, Corey. Pull yourself together before you become a bigger mess because we can’t have that right now. I mean, you’re even making our Deltas worried about this situation, pull it together. Now, Beta.” He said. I wanted to tell him to go to hell, wanted to storm out and continue looking for Jayden with or without the organised help from our and the other packs but I controlled my urges and gave a nod. He was right.
“Right.” I took a deep breath. “I hear you.” I said.
“Great. Is Eli up to training?” He asked, “If he is, we’ll have to get someone else to do it because we’ve got way too much work right now.”
“He probably isn’t. Just let him have today off.” I said.
I did not exactly know how Eli was doing because the truth was that I hadn’t seen him and Tamia since I woke up, about sixteen hours ago, and even then it had been 4 AM and they had been asleep. I was losing my mind slowly and I knew I wouldn’t be able to act like I was fine in front of them, I did not want to scare them further. It was easier to just keep busy and speak to no one except the Deltas around me. I was going to be professional and I was going to keep it together for our pack, but if I saw my children again, I knew there was no way I wouldn’t break and that would do more harm than good for them at the moment.
“Alright, I’m getting some dinner –” Sean was saying.
“Just give the twins some too and have Izzy put them to bed, I have to call and find out if they’ve found anything on our grounds.” I said.
“Corey –” he began but I had already walked out of the office.
I sprinted through the pack house avoiding the one room my kids had yet to step out of and not stopping for anyone in the hall. When I was outside and far enough from the house, I slowed down to let out a deep breath and leaned against a tree.
My breathing became erratic and I tried to calm it down, calm myself down as I ran my hands through my hair but there was a suffocating feeling in my chest that caused tears to sting at my eyes.
Was this me losing him? Was this how it felt to have my mate murdered?
No, he was fine. I was overreacting, I would feel it if he was gone. I was going to find him. Just because I couldn’t feel his pull didn’t mean they had done it. He wouldn’t give up that easily. I had to find him before he broke… before I lost him… before they killed him.
“Corey?” I let out a growl to myself. I couldn’t deal with her right now.
“Please, go away.” I felt drained and wasn’t going to yell at her. I could not at the moment.
“Hey… I’m just checking if you’re alright.” She Said.
I clenched my jaw. Why couldn’t she take a hint? “Carrie, listen to me.” I muttered adding some venom to my voice, “Leave.”
“Corey, I’m not here to fight.”
“Well than what the fuck are you here for?” I snapped turning to her.
“To say sorry!” She yelled back.
I clenched my jaw as she stared at me. Was she expecting an ‘I forgive you, marry me?’ from me or…?
“I’m sorry, Corey. I’m sorry I lied to Jay and I’m so sorry he’s gone. I-I don’t know… I just want to help you find him.” I snorted a response at her as I turned my back to her.
“You want to help? Leave.” I said.
I almost growled feeling her hand take mine as she walked in front of me to look up at me again.
“Corey…”
“Leave, Carrie.” My voice cracked and I wanted to hurt myself. How could a Beta look and sound so weak? I shook my head. “Please, just go.” I could not deal with her.
“I’m sorry, Corey. If I had known… I’m so sorry…” I didn’t move as her arms circled my neck.
Though it was from her, and I hated her, the hug was slightly comforting. It felt like I wasn’t alone. It was a tiny bit of relief and the only thing that kept me from breaking down in front of her. I shut my eyes for a second making no move to return her hug. I needed to find him… I was going to go crazy without him… I needed him to be safe.
*****
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