“Who are you!”
Ella shot away from him, tumbling herself in a malfunctioned way across the ground.
His growl came from the darkness and formed words she hadn't been expecting. “Is my son dead?”
Her brain flipping to Braxton made her hope he'd escaped. “I don't think he was attacked.”
“What do you mean?”
“I hope, I got ahead of him. I wasn't-”
“Crest was under attack?” The longer their conversation continued, the darker and angrier his voice became but with her strained remembering, she didn't notice.
“We weren't under attack, we were just in the woods, after that party.”
His reply came in the form of an annoyed sigh. “The cocktail party, she still had that?” It was true about his parent's cold relationship, Gale sounded as enthusiastic as Azalea was about him.
“I don't think Braxton was happy about it.”
“And you know so much because?”
Somehow the formal introductions had been forgone and she played catch up. “I'm your son's mate.”
The man in the darkness went quiet.
“So, you are Gale? You're not dead.” She tried to move the subject, unsure of his feelings about her.
“And Braxton is Alpha now?”
She didn't detect any hostility, so she felt okay answering him. “They think you're dead but... Braxton, I don't think he believes it.”
Gale's laugh ended with a growl as he sunk deeper into the darkness away from her. The chains on her ankles clanked from her restlessness and she reached down to examine them.
“They're silver.”
Ella froze. “What?”
“It's how he's keeping me here. It's highly advanced, it must have taken years to develop.”
She swallowed, “It stops us from shifting?”
“You might as well be human.”
“But why...” she whispered.
“I'm still trying to figure that out.”
“You don't know who this is?”
“No and I know all of my enemies.”
She had nothing more to say, if Gale had no idea who this kidnapper and murderer was then she felt her and the entire pack of Crest was at a loss. It was up to Braxton to help them and that she could only see happening if the invader slipped up. She hated to think ill thoughts about her mate, but even his alpha father hadn't been a match.
“Does this guy ever come back?”
“I'm guessing once a day, just to make sure I haven't died yet.”
Ella didn't like the way he hinted that an end was near. She didn't want her end to be near at least not before she'd had a chance to live at all. All that was in her mind was how she hadn't met Colten and Abigail's son and just how right her uncle had been, how she never took him seriously and always had to learn a lesson from it.
She shifted her ankles in the chains. Whoever the kidnapper was, he must have been close to getting what he wanted or at least, it's what she feared.
#
Braxton dropped the spoon to the empty bowl that sat amongst the laid out maps.
“You're expelling so much time on these searches.”
“What do you expect me to do, mother?” He'd been staring at the same maps for the past four days. They had burned into his memory but he still stared, thinking he'd missed a ridge or a mountain face that would have worked for near hiding.
Azalea tapped her manicured nails on the dark granite counters, watching her son. “It won't bring them back.” Though her voice was still unemotional, her face said it all. Jay had been found dead, just like Gale's beta. Which meant, the attacker only seemed to want a few important members of Crest in his quest to demolish their pack.
He knew he was likely next.
“Do you honestly believe she's been kept alive?”
“Yes. I do.” He refused to look up and speak to her directly. Since they'd recovered Jay, she'd been even harder to deal with.
“They are not alive, Braxton.”
“Until I find out otherwise, they are alive.”
She snorted, turning to walk out of the kitchen as the front door of Alpha House slammed, freezing both of them in their tracks.
Braxton waited for it, knowing what was coming wasn't going to be calm information.
“We have breech!” A young man ran into the kitchen.
“Where?”
“The front gate and our guards aren’t going to stand long against them.” He was panting, he'd obviously run from the front gates to Alpha house in a matter of minutes.
“Who is it?”
“They....” He buckled over his knees, gasping, “They said they're looking for our Luna and-- shit's about to go down, if we don't let them in.”
Braxton's brow creased, “Who are they!”
He paused, creasing his brow as he tried to recall names. “Colten Turner and Grayson Holtz.”
Braxton threw the map aside and walked straight for the front door, “Let them in! Now! Before they actually start ripping heads off.”
The younger boy ran to catch up with him. “You know them?”
“Where's Aaron?”
“At the gates, he sent me to get you.”
Braxton grabbed his car keys before heading out the door and leaving the boy behind him to catch up.
Down at the gates was chaos but once Braxton showed up, guards parted and tried to give him a low-down on their intrusion.
He didn't listen, he just walked straight out of Crest's gates and into the middle of two very pissed off Alphas.
He gulped as Colten set sights on him right away.
“Where's my niece!”
Braxton glanced at his Beta and back to them. “We'll let you in but you need to stand down.”
The alpha behind Colten was tall and bulked in muscle, he stepped forward with a challenging grin. “Stand down? If we wanted to, we would have this pack dismantled in five minutes. You're just a baby Alpha, you don't have a clue what you're doing.”
Braxton tensed, holding back his want to shift and challenge the Alpha wolf that would have him beat before he could even try.
Aaron growled and Colten's sprightly beta; Peter smirked at him. “Oh, don't like a challenge do ya?”
Braxton sneered, “I don't want to fight.”
“Smarter than he looks.”
Colten glanced at his ally. “Only sometimes.”
“Where's Ella?” Peter demanded.
Braxton stiffened. “There's been a problem. I'll let you in but I don't want any fighting.”
“That should be the least of your worries.” The straggly man in the back with bleach blonde hair snickered. “We've got your whole territory surrounded. You're plain outnumbered.”
Braxton's shoulders slipped from their squared off stance. “Can we talk about this calmly?”
“Really depends on where our niece is?” The large Alpha snapped.
Braxton flashed his eyes to him. “She's your niece too?”
“Nice to meet you.” He snarled, “I'm Grayson Holtz, Alpha of Tribune.”
“Shit.” Braxton swore under his breath.
“Where's Ella!” Colten was loosing his patience.
The blonde man pacing in the back started humming the jeopardy theme song as Braxton tried to form the words.
Grayson turned and smiled at him. “Enough, Mike. That will only be mildly funny before we kill him.”
Peter and Mike shared a snicker.
“Start talking, boy, before he take over!” Colten shouted at him.
Braxton nodded. “We were out in the woods together, I lost her – she went missing.”
“You lost her!” Colten came at him, grabbing him by his shirt and sending him walk backwards into a vehicle. “How exactly does one managed to lose their mate!”
“I didn't mean too!” Braxton argued, “I was right behind her.”
“Why were you behind her!” Grayson was now at Colten's side, both Alphas face to face with him.
He swallowed. “We just were.”
“I call bullshit!” Mike sung from behind.
Braxton growled at him as Colten shoved him against the car again.
“Picking fights with my Beta will get you in a whole lot of trouble,” Grayson warned.
“I was right behind her!” Braxton argued.
Colten stared at him. “So, you have no idea where Ella is, that's what you're saying?”
“I've been looking.”
“You've been looking?” Colten let him go and stepped back.
“Was that before you had your morning cereal?” Grayson chastised. “I thought my mate died, before I'd mated her, I almost killed myself in the process of trying to find her.”
Braxton sighed. “I'm trying.”
“Everyday you held off telling us, is one less day our niece could be alive.” Colten's voice had darkened with anger. “She could be dead.”
“We don't think so.” Aaron said from the sidelines.
“Shut up!” The opposing Beta's shouted together at him.
“If we cared about your opinion, we'd ask for it.” Peter finished.
Braxton held his snarl.
“This is what's going to happen...” Grayson stepped up to him and lowered his voice, “You're going to let us on your territory and take over, or we'll just strip it from you.”
Braxton nodded, “Fine, take over.” He knew Aaron would be angered by his mercy, but Braxton wouldn't stand a chance against the two Alphas and their packs and he didn't want the war – he just wanted his mate back.
“Good.” Grayson looked pleased and turned with a clap of his hands. “What a peaceful invasion!”
“So, you're going to help me find her?”
Colten narrowed his eyes at the young Alpha. “You better be more concerned about when we find her. We're not giddy new Alphas that have no sense of wellness for our pack and Lunas, maybe you need a lesson in that.”
Braxton lost his temper from the insult. “She was in heat!”
“Oh-” The spindly looking beta by the name of Mike, chuckled from behind in the darkness. “The plot thickens.”
“You better not have been running her.” Colten's growl made Braxton fill with regret. “That's not how you deal with Alpha female heats!”
“Everything was fine--”
“You idiot!” Grayson roared. “You're stupider than Colten said you were!”
“I'm sorry!” Braxton shouted. “I screwed up.”
“Yeah.” Colten nodded. “And because of that, however we find Ella, is how you'll find yourself.”
Braxton would take the hit for his mate, wether it meant death or not, he didn't care anymore. “Yes, sir.”
#
“Hello.”
The bright torch made Ella squint as she moved off her side. This was when she noticed, she was not totally naked but in a ragged up shirt.
Her vision came to her as the moments passed with the moving light of the fire. She saw Gale across the cavern, he was leaned against the stone wall, his eyes narrowed on the moving shadowed man.
“When someone says hello it's polite to say hello back.”
Gale remained quiet and it gave Ella a chance to study the hard looking man that shared similar looks to her mate. He appeared tough and athletic, it must have taken more than a few to take him down.
Ella looked back to shadowed figure as he stepped into the light of the torch. He was a sea of darkness, his angled jaw and bright eyes were familiar and when he turned toward her, she was that more unsettled.
“Daniella,” her name slimmed his tongue in a visceral tone.
Her eyes darted to Gale with worry, he felt certain to her but this man, the one that stood in front of her with the savage expression, he was all kinds of terrible. She didn't need her wolf sense for that conclusion.
He crouched down in front of her and took her chin, his cold eyes sweeping over her blubbering lip. “I've been waiting along time for you to be out of the care of Colten.”
The breath in her lungs exited and did not return.
“But then you went and got yourself protected, so I had to eliminate a few unforeseen obstacles.” He dropped his grip on her as he stood again, glancing over his shoulder to Gale. “I still have one more.”
“My pack will kill you.” Gale wasn't afraid of him, even if he'd been beaten and shackled for almost a month, he didn't show his fear.
“I've survived much worse than your pack.” The man smirked and turned back to Ella. “And anyways, would you consider your mate competent? He did let you slip away.”
“He was right behind me.” She felt her eyes want to tear.
“Ah, but not fast enough.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “What do you want us for?”
“I don't want him. He was just leverage to you.” His words were fast and dismissing.
“Then...” She wasn't sure she wanted to say the rest of what she was thinking.
He continued to smirk at her.
“Why do you – why do you want me?”
“He wants Crest.” Gale interjected.
The rough man of scars and leather skin turned to the shackled alpha. “I want nothing to do with your redundant self-important pack!”
Gale growled at him with the lower of his jaw.
“I want her!” He spun back to Ella. “You're my unfinished business, Ella. You're my revenge.”
She stared at him as crouched back down in front her, his eyes washed in delirious excitement. “W-what?”
“Yes,” he began to laugh, “My revenge on your uncles and what sweet revenge this will be.”