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*****
*Corey*
“Alright, so we’ve narrowed it down to here and here, they’re what’s left of the packs we met in Sweden,” Sean said pointing to two red circles on the map.
They looked like rather large places to survey, but we had looked everywhere else and found nothing so even if it was a shot in the dark, the areas were worth looking into.
I nodded having a closer look at the map, the areas were a little far away but with the number of wolves we had with the help of Titan and Inferno, we would be able to clear the place out pretty quickly and find Jayden… if he was there.
“So what happens when we find them? We take out all of their members?” Maya asked.
“No, we infiltrate. See who’s willing to surrender, tell us where Jay is, and offer them a spot in our pack and then take out the rest of them.” Sean looked at me to second his words. I gave a nod but clenched my teeth as I tapped on the map.
“Sounds good in theory but… What if they’re not there?” I asked, “How do we find Jayden then?” I added.
Sean’s facial expression let me know that he was out of ideas and I let out a slow sigh trying not to let my frustration and worry show.
Actually being around my kids was making everything a little more bearable, I thought they would make it harder for me to keep it together but they were helping so much without even intending to. Yet, even with that little bit of relief, I still felt like I was dying.
The more hours that went by, the more I knew Jayden wouldn’t be the same if he was still alive – and he had to be. I knew he’d be back to how he was when we were younger, if not so much worse than that. I knew it was going to be so much harder to ease his fear or get close to him again.
‘Corey.’
I looked up at Sean and his eyes flickered to my hands causing mine to drop to where my hands were resting on the table. I gasped pulling them away after realising I had pretty much burned handprints a centimetre into the wood. So much for not letting my emotions show.
“Uh… I… Uh… I’m going to wash my hands…” I mumbled dusting the ashes off of my skin.
“Good idea.” Zeke nodded.
I gave a nod and walked out of the office before jogging to the bathroom where I began to wash my hands. I smiled when small arms circled my waist.
“Tammy, what are you doing up?” I asked turning around as I dried my hands. It was pretty late at night, everyone was busy during the day and we knew we wouldn’t have unnecessary disruptions if our meetings were when pretty much everyone was asleep so it seemed like the best time to congregate after dark.
She coughed into my stomach before looking up at me apologetically. I just gave a chuckle, or at least I tried to, before I knelt down to her level while lifting my hand to her face. She still felt hot and looked terrible, it caused a panicked feeling in my chest as I wondered if going to a human doctor would help since nothing we did was working.
“I can’t sleep.” She whispered before looking down, “My head hurts and…”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’ll get better, I promise.” I kissed her temple. I’d figure it out.
“I… I want…” Her eyes returned to mine as she narrowed them thoughtfully, “Uhm… I’m tired.” She mumbled.
“Let’s try to get some sleep.” I lifted her into my arms. She leaned her chin on my shoulder and let out a heavy sigh that made me pull back to look at her still pensive features, it looked like she was trying really hard to think about something, “Tammy, what is it?”
“I miss… um…” She drifted sounding utterly exhausted as she closed her eyes while digging her face into my neck. I lifted my free hand to pat her head gently.
“Who?” I asked. I knew who she meant, I just wanted to know that she wasn’t afraid to talk about him. He wasn’t gone. He couldn’t be.
“I don’t know.” She mumbled.
My eyebrows rose at that. “What, Princess?”
After listening to her breathe for a few seconds while receiving no reply, I realised she had fallen asleep and shook my head. I shouldn’t over-think. She was barely awake. There was no way she had forgotten who Jayden was.
—–
After putting Tamia to sleep, I headed downstairs to finish some work; reading over the progress reports from the building and trying to find specific spots of where those packs could be on the map areas that Sean had circled so that I could look there first. Eli had already passed out by the time I took his sister to their room so all that was needed for him was some tucking in.
I currently sat in the dining room because I was less likely to run into anyone than if I had done work in Kaden’s office, but had gotten distracted by my thoughts and ended up watching the ice melt in my glass of water. I missed him so much… I shut my eyes trying to deter the voices in my head that told me that I was never going to get him back, that it was already too late.
I grit my teeth sighing and moving my eyes back to the screen in front of me. Thinking wasn’t helping me, but trying to focus on work was not working.
Tamia wasn’t getting better and I could not help but assume she was only getting worse. She still didn’t want anyone but Carrie and I close to her, so with my working on finding our ambushers with Sean – because he now knew I had given orders to destroy our old houses and didn’t care – I had no choice but to leave her with Carrie and I hated it even though everyone that I made keep an eye on them said Carrie was being very careful and gentle with my daughter. I didn’t want her near my family, didn’t trust her which was why I always had someone watching her while she was with Tamia.
“Daddy?” A soft croak made me look towards the door and I offered Eli a pathetic attempt at a smile but gave up seeing no response on his tired, worn face and just shook my head letting the ‘smile’ drop. I turned away from the desk and held my arms out to him.
He stared at me uncertainly before running into my arms. I felt a tiny bit of relief as I held my son tightly while lifting him onto my lap where he promptly buried his face in my neck. It felt so comforting. I realised it would feel even better if Tamia was there too, but I wasn’t going to wake her so that I could feel better. When Eli looked at me, I smiled at him again before kissing his forehead, it made me pause immediately afterwards as his face morphed and he let out a sob, quickly leaning back against me.
“Hey,” I spoke softly, confused as I attempted to pull him back away from me but he locked his arms around my neck preventing that. I figured that he was trying to hide his face from me.
“It-it’s my fault.” He sobbed.
“Eli, you can’t –” I began to deny that because I figured he meant that it was his fault Jayden was gone.
“Tammy-Tammy’s sick because C-Carrie used – Carrie’s using magic on her.” He said. I stopped moving for a second before pulling him so I could look at him, but he used his hands to hide his face. I took hold of his wrists and carefully pried his hands away, clenching my teeth as I saw how afraid and worried he looked as tears ran down his face. I was going to kill her…
“Eli…” I mumbled.
“I-I… didn’t – She said if-if I told anyone she would make Daddy go away a-and she did, a-and I-I didn’t want you to-to go away too b-but she keeps hurting Ta-Tammy and I can’t – I can’t st-stop her magic – I’m not g-good at that –” He sobbed.
I held back a growl and pulled him back into a tight hug. My chest began to burn as pulsating anger ran through me that caused my eyes to begin to blur as my wolf almost forced a shift but I controlled him. It was not a good idea to let him take complete control like he had when we ripped Mike apart nine years prior because it would be dangerous for everyone else in the house.
“Eli… You don’t have to. I’ll take care of her.” I muttered as my son hold onto my neck again. I had never seen him so scared and it was making me so hurt and angry. How could I let her do that to him? How didn’t I notice that she had cast a spell on my girl? Oh, right, I had been avoiding my children.
I was such a fucking idiot.
Wait.
‘She said would make daddy go away and she did’
Eli’s words played in my head and I had to tighten my arms around my son to try to stay calm as I thought about it.
They were dead… but they were now alive… She knew who they were, I had told her. She was crazy… she knew what they did to him, she knew how to bring them back and get rid of him…
I couldn’t stay calm anymore.
“Wait here.” I put Eli down on a seat.
“But –” he began.
“Eli, stay here.” He nodded at how serious I looked and I turned to head out of the dining room, clenching my fist as I sprinted through the house following her scent before I slammed the door to her room open once I reached it.
She jumped up from the dresser chair shocked before quickly grinning as our eyes met.
“Corey!”
“Where the fuck is he?!” My shout immediately wiped the smile from her face, “And don’t fucking mess with me, Carrie. I will kill you, I swear to God if he’s hurt I will kill you right now!”
She stepped back stunned before I saw her eyes flare with anger.
“It doesn’t matter where he is! You have me! We’re both here, and the kids are too! We don’t need him!” She yelled, “We can be –” she was saying.
“Shut the fuck up. You’re insane! Where are they?! How could you do this to him?! To anyone! Do you know what they’ve put him through already?!” I shouted, my vision darkening so I had to blink but it felt like I wouldn’t be able to keep control for much longer and I did not really want to anymore.
“Who cares?! You’re mine! You were never supposed to be with him! They could do whatever they want to him! He deserves it for taking y –!” I lost it and launched at her but felt myself slam into the dresser when someone tackled me before I could reach her; I would have certainly killed her and whoever had stopped me if I did not see Izabella’s face.
“Corey, calm down, calm down –”
“No! No! She-she brought them back! She’s the reason he’s with them! And-and she hurt Tamia, she made my daughter sick. She’s the reason we might never get Jay back!” I winced as the words left my mouth and I fought to control my tears. I attempted to carefully shove Izabella away seeing Carrie backed into a corner but felt more hands grab my arms to keep me away from her.
“Cor –” Hayley began.
“We’re meant to be! How can you still –” Carrie’s words drowned from my ears as I aimed my hand at her.
If they were not letting me near her, I was just going to use magic to fire at her from where I was. Or at least I thought so until my power was cut off by Sean’s hand on my wrist. My eyes widened when Carrie fell to the floor gripping her bleeding stomach anyway.
I hadn’t fired at her…
“Where’s my Dad?!” Eli yelled.
I looked at him and all my anger disappeared seeing his tear-stained face. His eyes were bloodshot and a sobbing Tamia stood just behind him.
“How-how could you do this to me, baby?!” Carrie yelled at Eli shocked.
“You’re not my mom!” Eli yelled.
I pulled myself from Izabella and Hayley’s grips to walk over to my kids before kneeling in front of them, blocking most of their vision of Carrie. I then took hold of Eli’s wrist as he prepared to fire at Carrie again and cut off the power supply to his hands so the ball of blue fire died instantly.
“No, she’s not worth it, Soldier. I’ll find him, I promise.” I whispered brushing his blond hair from his face before turning to Carrie. “What’s the spell breaker?” I muttered. She clenched her jaw staying silent as everyone watched her and I balled my fists again. “I swear to God I will rip your heart out if you do not answer me right now, Carrie. I don’t care who sees it.” That would just as effectively break the spell and I could always use magic to make Eli and Tamia forget they saw it once she was healthy enough again. Carrie’s glaring eyes burned into mine for a few seconds before she began muttering the spell. I quickly pulled Tamia into my arms and repeated the spell breaker knowing she would have a pretty huge fever after the spell on her was broken. As soon as I finished, Tamia basically collapsed and I quickly lifted her off the floor.
Looking back at Carrie, I muttered a muting spell wanting no more trouble involving magic from her. I’d be happy if she never spoke or took a breath again in her life.
‘Corey, what do we do with her?’ Sean linked to me.
“I don’t care, Sean,” I replied walking out of the room while pulling Eli along.
I let Eli sit down on the couch and placed his sister down next to him while checking her temperature again. She was still very hot.
“I need Marc to help her,” I said rubbing her back.
“We’re pretty close to finding Marc, I’ll see if he will pick his phone up.” Jason replied.
“No, put Eli to bed. Zeke’s got Marc, Izabella please keep an eye on Tammy.” I said watching as Ashton frowned as he climbed onto the couch beside a worn-looking Eli.
“I’m not going to bed,” Eli mumbled laying down beside his sister.
“You’re going to get sick too, Eli. Boys, go to bed. I’ll see you later.” I kissed Tamia softly before doing the same to the boys, they didn’t argue.
“Where are you going?” Eli jumped up as I got up. Tamia tried to sit up but I instantly pushed her back down onto the couch gently. “Don’t go.” Eli grabbed my hand.
“Please, Papa,” Tamia whispered.
I felt a pang of anger at myself seeing how afraid my kids were that I would not come back to them because of how I had been neglecting them. I knelt down and pat Tamia’s hair softly.
“I’ll see you later, I promise.” I kissed her temple before doing the same to my son. ‘I’ll find Daddy.’ I linked to them.
Their faces suddenly hardened and even Tamia looked fierce despite her sickness. They were going to kill her.
‘Keep my children away from Carrie they haven’t calmed down.’ I linked to Jason. The instruction was not because I cared about her, I just didn’t want my kids to have her death on their conscience… Not that they would ever regret killing her. I wasn’t going to take the chance, though.
*****
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