Missy

“Mom, you still doing okay?” I asked her through the small vent that connected our rooms. I tried to be as calm as possible for her, knowing that she will be more stressed if I am freaking out, but it hasn’t been easy. I can hear her stifled m***s occasionally and am worried about her going into labor.

“I’m alright, sweetheart,” she said, her voice strained. I was running out of things to talk about that would distract us from being locked in these rooms. My dad needed to hurry up and find us.

I tried to keep my mind off Vlad. I hadn’t seen him since the very first night I was here. My heart wanted to shatter every time I thought about his betrayal. He was my one. I thought he was my mate; for a long time, I wanted him to be my mate. He made me feel normal. He was my safe place for almost two years, and the whole time he was helping the man that was coming after my family and pack.

Lea didn’t ask about Vlad either. Or Maddox. I suspected she knew it would be too hard to talk about. I knew without a doubt the Maddox would be with my dad when they got here; he wouldn’t leave me like that.

“Unless he found his mate and doesn’t care anymore,” my wolf lamented. She was growing bitter and desolate the longer we were kept prisoner.

“Even if he did, he would come to rescue me,” I told her. I clutched the moonstone necklace in my fist. It was cool even now. After Vlad had left me in this prison, I took off his bracelet and chucked it across the room where it has sat since. I wished I could burn it or break it. No gift or good intention could make up for his betrayal.

“I don’t want a birthday party anymore,” I said aloud.

“Why is that?” Lea asked after a minute.

“I just want to go away with you and Dad and the boys. I just want to be together,” I said. I missed my brothers desperately. When I closed my eyes, all I could see were their teary eyes from the night I helped them pack up their things. Hopefully, Grandma and Grandpa got them to safety.

“We can do that, but we are still going to celebrate your birthday,” Azalea rasped. “You can kick and scream, but your father and I still want to celebrate you.” The amount of food and water we were getting wasn’t enough. And with Lea being pregnant, I was sure it was worse for her and the baby. Her body needed more than mine while she grew a baby.

“It would be fun to take Junior and Leo to the ocean. We’ve never been to an ocean. They would love it,” I said wistfully.

“Let’s go to the ocean then. We can all play in the sand and swim in the waves,” she said.

“Deal,” I told her.

“We can play in the sand if we make it out of here,” I thought darkly. My wolf whimpered.

Liam

I was jostled awake by someone. My eyes snapped open to see it was Damien. He had a sympathetic look on his face like he didn’t want to wake me up.

“Everyone has begun arriving. We are going to start in the next hour,” he said gently. According to our pack leadership, Damien was running the show now. We have yet to say anything to the pack at large, and tonight we would discuss things with the other packs that have agreed to fight alongside us. Then we would decide how best to rally everyone. I knew rumors were spreading, but that was to be expected. Damien has had his hands full trying to determine our best plan of attack.

“Yea,” I grunted, sitting up. I fell asleep on the couch in my bedroom, waiting for Maddox to report on anything he has found. Yesterday, he didn’t have much.

“I brought you something to eat. You should probably shower, too,” he said. I gave him an annoyed look. He put his hands up in surrender. “I’ll link you when it’s time,” he said. He left me alone in my bedroom. I looked around; the whole place felt so empty. Azalea was in every inch of the room, but I didn’t feel any closer to her. I couldn’t even remember what my life was like before her anymore.

The ache in my chest was getting worse each minute she was missing, and my body was feeling the effects. The extent to which a mate was integral to a wolf’s being couldn’t be understood until they have been lost. I felt it now, far worse than the last time she was in danger. My every thought was on her. I knew she would scold me for being so pathetic right now, but I couldn’t function properly without her.

I looked down at the food left in front of me. French toast, scrambled eggs, and some sausages. Had I slept all the way until morning? I snatched a sausage up from the plate as I stood. Going to the bathroom, I chewed the breakfast link while pulling my clothes off. I forced myself under the water and managed to at least wash off the layer of filth coating me. My skin felt better, but my body still ached; only Azalea could soothe it.

I got dressed before sitting back down on the couch and running my hands over my face. I pulled the food towards me, picking at it. I managed to eat a few bites of eggs, and one of the slices of French toast before Damien was linking me to join him.

With a heavy sigh, I stood and took one last look around the room like she was just going to appear or walk out of the closet. I headed downstairs, ready to get this over with and find Warwick.

Damien intercepted me as soon as I reached the door of the conference room. He had an apprehensive look on his face. “I need to show you something,” he said quietly. We moved down the hall away from the conference room where everyone was waiting.

“What?” I asked, vexation lacing my tone.

“We just received this,” he said, handing me an envelope. It was made of some kind of linen paper, and the wax seal had been broken.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Is this from….” I trailed off, flipping it over. In beautiful, script handwriting was the words ALPHA BLACKFUR.

“Yes,” Damien answered. “Read it,” he said. I pulled the stationary from its envelope and unfolded it. My eyes scanned the page.

“He is inviting us?” I asked incredulously as I looked back up at Damien.

He nodded. “This is a direct invitation to meet him blow for blow,” he said.

“Then we need to go. He won’t know exactly when we are coming, so if we go now-”

“No,” Damien said definitively. “We aren’t charging in without a solid plan. I know you want to get Azalea back-”

I growled. “We need to get the Luna of this pack back!”

“I know!” he assured. “But we cannot do that if we rush off haphazardly. We must be smart about this. We can end all of this in one go and prevent dragging this war out!”

“This tells almost exactly where they are! And you want me to sit back and wait?”

“Yes, and if you would think like an Alpha for a minute, you will agree!” Damien began to raise his voice at me.

The logical part of me agreed with him, but it was being outvoted by the instinctual part that needed Azalea. We stared each other down for a solid minute. “Fine,” I finally said. “But I won’t wait more than 48 hours. The longer we wait, the more danger my mate faced. That pup can come at any time!” I waved the letter in my hand around for emphasis.

“I know. We will get everything ready as quickly as possible, but Liam, I need to make sure we aren’t walking into a slaughter. I know you can’t see it right now, but this entire pack is mourning alongside you. Every warrior is ready to fight and get our Luna back, even Lily. But we owe it to them to make sure they will come home to their mates too.”

My chest was heavy. Warwick was playing a game with us, trying to make me choose between saving Missy and Azalea. If I couldn’t get there fast enough, I might not be able to get either of them. I turned and stormed away from Damien, having nothing more to say.

–

I pounded my fist on the door. “Open up, old man,” I shouted. His little cottage was in a secluded corner of the pack land, far away from everyone. Ever since Azalea took over the Inn completely, he wanted to be left alone. She still managed to get out here and visit him, always worried he would just pass away on her.

I could hear slow steps and the thud of his cane behind the door. “Faster,” I growled.

“Don’t hurry an old man. Where are your manners?” he shouted as he opened the door.

“We need to talk,” I said.

“About what?” he frowned.

“Have you not noticed that my mate hasn’t called you for a while?”

“I thought the damn girl finally got the hint to leave me alone,” he grumbled.

“Warwick has her,” I said. His eyes widened instantly before his face turned into a deeper frown.

“Impossible,” he said.

“Possible. He has her and my daughter. I want to know why my father was so insistent on me calling you about this vampire problem,” I demanded. He let out a controlled sigh. “Greyback…” I warned.

“Fine,” he said. “Get in here.” He turned slowly and hobbled inside his little house. I had to duck slightly as I entered. Azalea had this entire place built to suit him when he retired, so the ceilings were lower than my liking.

Greyback slowly made his way into his kitchen and sat in one of the chairs at his table. I stood across from him, waiting for answers. “So, your father told you to speak to me about Warwick, huh?” he said, his voice now low and subdued. I nodded. “The war…” He paused for a moment, looking away from me. “That man took everything from me. My mate, my daughter. Gone like they were nothing.”

“Warwick?” I prompted.

“No, boy. Your grandfather,” he said, his eyebrows scrunching.

“What do you mean?”

“Your grandfather took my mate and daughter then made it look like it was Warwick. He used them as bait, knowing they would be killed. He did it to fuel me to help him take down Warwick.”

“Why?”

“I was his head warrior, but I was against the war. The vampire problem was only made worse by conceited bigots like Warwick and Johnson. In the north, they get along well enough. Leave each other alone and respect the boundaries. But your great grandfather and your grandfather just couldn’t do that. Warwick is by no means innocent in this feud; I would kill him again, given a chance. But your grandfather did some dark things, boy.”

“So why was my father adamant that I speak to you?”

“Because I delivered the fatal blow to Warwick. I guess I thought so, at least.”

“Why couldn’t he tell me this himself?”

“Because I never spoke about it. I came back from the war and left. Moved to the human town. Eventually, I chose a human mate, but she could never fill the hole in me.”

“Then how do I kill Warwick?”

Greyback was silent for a minute. “I left his head hanging by a thread, and it wasn’t enough. Remove it completely and take out his heart. Burn the pieces. Make sure there is nothing left of him.”

“Did any other vampires recuperate like he did?”

“I don’t know. He was the oldest. A lot of his older kin left him during the war. They grew tired of the fighting. We knew surprisingly little about them during the conflict.”

“Did my father know any of this?”

“Can’t be sure. He never bothered me over at the Inn. Left me to my will. Can’t say I would have listened much if he tried. The only time I have been back to the packhouse was for your wedding. Can’t say I was thrilled Azalea was marrying a Blackfur, but you don’t seem to take much after your family.”

“I would never kidnap the mates and children of my warriors to incentivize them to fight alongside me.”

“You wouldn’t need to, boy.”

Maddox

I returned to the cabin, the last place I know she was at. No matter how many times I came here, I couldn’t find her scent anywhere. There wasn’t any of the vampire scent left, but it still made me angry. I needed to find that punk and bring him to Alpha, but I was beginning to think he was taken when the attack happened. No one knew why they took other wolves yet, but none of the theories were pleasant. I shivered at the thought and prayed to the Moon Goddess I would get to Missy before Warwick could hurt her.

I sat on the rickety porch of this little cabin. I hated this place. This was where he spent time with her, where he betrayed her. I was wholly convinced he had everything to do with her kidnapping, and I would make sure he was rightly punished. I would find out the extent of his betrayal and make sure he was punished accordingly.

“Maddox!” someone linked me. I realized it was Luke, a friend who was currently running on one of the patrols at the border.

“What?”

“Where are you?”

“Why?”

“I have someone, and I think its best if I give them to you before Alpha,” he said.

“Don’t tell me you have Vlad?”

“Yes, I do,” he said. “But you need to get here quick. Everyone else wants to take him straight to Alpha and Beta. You need your pound of flesh first.”

“Where are you? I’m on my way.”

–

When I arrived, Luke held Vlad face down in the dirt, his hands tied behind him. He tried coming into the border like no one would question a thing with the pack on the brink of war. The other wolves in his patrol looked angry.

“I’ll take him to the Alpha as soon as I am done questioning him about my mate,” I told the group at large. Vlad flinched at my words. Luke hauled him up to his feet and pushed him towards me. Without any preamble, I reared back and punched him square in the mouth. His head snapped back harshly. When he looked at me again, he spat b***d from his mouth.

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” he said pathetically. I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me toward the packhouse. We had a nice long walk ahead of us, and I knew he would probably end up with a few more bruises.

I pulled him along silently, trying to figure out exactly what I needed to ask him. Alpha was sure to interrogate him, and I was sure Beta would as well, but I also had questions.

“Why Missy? Why my mate?” I finally asked.

“You probably won’t believe me, but I never wanted to hurt her. I tried to keep her safe,” he said. He was struggling to keep up with my pace.

“How long was she targeted?”

“A little while after he realized I was close to her, that I cared about her.”

“And what is the vampire to you?”

“Nothing. He killed my mom and bit me. I survived, but….” he trailed off.

“But what?”

“I lost my wolf. When I finally woke up, I couldn’t feel my wolf anymore. I can’t shift and can’t link anyone either.”

“Then how did she get kidnapped if you were protecting her?”

“How do you think? Warwick used me. He made promises and just as easily broke them. I thought I was keeping her from harm. I thought if I cooperated, he would leave her alone.”

“And the rest of her family was fair game?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like that…” he said quietly.

“Do you know where they are?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then I am finished. You can explain everything to the Alpha and Beta.”

“Will you tell my dad I am alive at least?”

“He will be notified of your treason.”