“Wow, so that really just happened” Alpha Blake stated.
“Yes, that did. That’s my best friend. Always full of surprises.” Talia says “So how do we find her? I don’t want her with those creeps any longer than necessary.”
“She said she smelled the ocean and could hear the waves. I think Tamaska was right about them being in California.,” Sam said. “Remember that last shifter we caught mentioned a safe house on the coast in California. Let’s get a team in that location. Alpha Blake, don’t you have a team on the ground over there? Umm Alpha Blake?”
Everyone turned to look at me. I'm sitting here awestruck and lost in my thoughts.
I think she is my mate. Could it be possible that I have a second chance mate? I never even expected that. I thought I would take a chosen mate eventually to have an heir, but now all I can think is, "wow."
“Umm, Alpha Blake, are you ok?” Drew asks.
“Yes, I am. I need a second. Umm guys, I think your cousin is my mate.”
“She is,” Onyx links, “Her wolf was sending me a message to let me know to find her. Only a mate can find their mate through the bond. That is why she said we have a special bond. All I need is for you humans to get me closer to her. Tamaska and I have been trying to strengthen the bond so we can communicate. Just keep working with her family to find her and I will do the rest but hurry because if something happens to my mate, I will burn this world down.”
Onyx went back to his favorite place in my mind, but he is restless and ready to tear the world apart.
“Why do you think my best friend is your mate? You have never actually met her. Don’t get me wrong, I think you two would be great together, but this is a little weird.” Talia says.
“Onyx pretty much just confirmed it. Her wolf was sending Onyx a message to let him know. I don’t think Seleste is aware that I am her mate. Her wolf told her that we have a special bond and that I will be able to find her through our bond. I had to think about it, but the only bond that is strong enough to locate someone is the mate bond. The only way I would be able to sense her would be through a mate bond. I believe her wolf sent her to me to start the bond so Onyx and I would be able to find her.”
“Ok, I guess that makes a lot of sense and honestly, I was so worried about my cousin, I didn’t even think about it.” Drew said. “So, how are you handling all of this?”
“Truthfully, I’m scared shitless, and Onyx is ready to burn the world to find her. You asked about California right?”
“Yes,” Sam said. “Don’t we have a team near the coast?”
“Yes, we have operatives in that area, and they are already checking some locations. Let’s call them and let them know what is going on so they can be on the lookout. I’ll also have the jet and multiple teams ready to move once we know she is there. Do you all have any other areas to search? We need to consider all coastal locations that are 8-10 hours away from Utah by vehicle. We have enough manpower to search multiple locations.”
“Let’s do a conference call with our alpha, the council, and the bears. I think Trevor and Alpha Clark are still at the den. We may be able to do some aerial surveillance with the bear's help.” Drew said.
Seleste was very smart to come to the twins out of everyone looking for her. They are the best trackers in the kingdom without a doubt. I am confident that they will leave no stones unturned. There is not a hole anywhere on this planet that they can go that we won’t be able to find them.
We enter my office and I get all the parties on the phone. I asked the twins and Talia to keep quiet about me being Seleste’s mate. I am not sure if she is aware yet. I think she and I should acknowledge each other before I start announcing it to the world.
“Hi alphas and councilmen. Thank you all for meeting at such short notice. The reason I asked all of you to meet with us is that Seleste projected herself to Talia, the twins, and me. She gave us clues to where she is being held.”
“Is my baby girl ok?” Gamma True asked
“She was when she appeared before us. The men that had her were questioning her wolf who was pretending to be her while she was talking to us.” Drew stated.
“From what I gathered, her wolf was giving them a hard time and telling them that her daddy was going to kick their asses when he found them,” I said.
“That is true. They signed their death warrant when they touched my baby girl. The king told us to tell you all to use whatever resources you needed to find her and deal with the culprits anyway you see fit.” Gamma True said.
“What information did Seleste relay to you?” Alpha Keenai asked.
“She said that she was drugged, but the drug had no effect on her wolf. While Seleste was unconscious, her wolf was aware of what was happening.”
“Good that means that the supplement we were giving her after the first attempted kidnapping worked to counteract the effects of the drug. The first time when we got her to the den, she was pretty out of it.” Alpha Zozi said. “We need to get to her before all of the benefits of the supplement leave her system. She had two days at the most.”
“What do you mean the first attempt? Do you mean they touched my baby girl before, and no one told me?” Gamma True asked angrily.
“She did not want us to tell you. She thought you would make her come home if you knew. She wanted to make sure the kingdom was secure.” Rose said.
“She is right I would have had her home with me in no time if I knew.” Gamma True says.
“We are getting off track, and time is running out,” I say. “Her wolf told her that they were placed in a van with blacked-out windows. She believes it was parked in the back service entrance of the restaurant. The kidnappers drove for 12 hours, only stopping three times. One was to change vehicles. She did not say what, but I’m guessing it was another van to keep her hidden. She also said that they did a lot of turning for the first hour of driving, then drove straight for 8-10 hours. Seleste said that she can smell the ocean and hear waves. Her wolf believes that she is in California. The twins and I have reason to believe that she is correct. We have been tracking a group of rebels from Florida to California. We believe they have a safe house on the coast in California.”
“We at least have something to work with. Now we can go back over the surveillance from the restaurant. We went over it before, but we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We can go back now a follow up on all the vans leaving the service area.” Alpha Keenai said.
The technician pulled up the feed so all of us on the conference call could see it. About two hours after she was taken, we see a laundry cart being pushed out and loaded into a van. The workers never returned to the restaurant after loading the cart. When the van pulls out, we can see the dark windows. The license plate is also blacked out, so tracing the van is almost impossible. Alpha Keenai contacted the laundry service to follow up. They did not have a pick-up from the restaurant on the day of the kidnapping. We are sure that we have the right vehicle now. The technician got clear pictures of the workers pushing the cart and forwarded them to another technician to work on identifying them, while he worked on using traffic feeds to follow the van. Just as Seleste’s wolf said, the van drove around town for about an hour to see if they were followed. They then went on the highway. We saw the stop once for gas, and a new set of people got back in the van and continued driving. We got photos of the second set as well and sent them for identification. Several hours later, they stopped again and followed the same pattern. A new set of drivers took over. When they stopped the third time, we got a glimpse of Seleste being moved to a different vehicle, It was another van, as we suspected. Since we were now following them via satellite feed, we lost them out in the desert; however, we confirmed that they were heading to California.
“We had intel that they had safe houses in Ventura and Oxnard. Alpha Blake has already sent teams to watch both properties in those towns.” Drew Said. “Councilman Barinel, Seleste told us that she felt the aura that is unique to councilmen in the building they are keeping her in. She said that it was one who does not know her true identity.”
“That helps a little. We can rule out five of the council members, but that still leaves at least 6 and a couple of junior members. I will get together with the five senior members of the council and see who has been acting a little suspicious or see if any members have been asking questions about the protector.” Councilman Bari said. “Also, Alpha Blake, the council has a house in San Diego that is rarely used and never monitored since it is a vacation spot. It would be a perfect hiding spot because it is the last place anyone would look.”
Councilman Bari sent the address to the home in San Diego to all of us. Gamma True let us know that he was leaving to meet us in California. I gave him the address to my beach home.
“Gamma True, I’ll have my helicopter on standby to meet you at the airport. It will fly you to wherever we are when you get here. I will have a second helicopter on standby to help us get Seleste away from the kidnappers once we find her.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Councilman Bari says. “I am also heading out to California. Alpha Keenai is sending a couple of techs with me with surveillance and communication equipment. I am also bringing special weapons with me. We are going to send these rebels a message that when they mess with one of ours, there are consequences. I’ve already linked the other senior council members and they will be meeting me there. Gamma True, we should all arrive about the same time. I will travel with you by helicopter. The other councilmember will travel with the weapons in special transport. They will also have more warriors with them.”
“Ok, Councilman and Gamma True, we will see you both soon. For everyone else, we will link back up once all the techs get here so you all can see everything in real-time.” I said.
We all log off and get ready to go. I check in with my guys out in the field. So far, there has not been much movement in either of the safe houses, but that is not surprising. Seleste said they were just questioning her. Since it is late, they may have stopped and put her out for the night. I hope we find her soon. Onyx is very anxious, and so am I. I have to trust that the moon goddess did not give me a second chance mate just to take her from me.
[Chapter 51] —Rescue – Alpha Blake
It’s been several hours since our conference call. Gamma True and Councilman Bari have made it here. We are all at my beach house waiting for the technicians to set up all the equipment. My beach house will serve as a secondary command center. Alpha Keenai will be able to assess all of the systems we have here and run things remotely when we all leave to go in the field. It was late night/early morning when everyone got in, so we took a break for everyone to get some rest. I couldn’t sleep so I’ve been up talking with my teams out in the field. I found out that there has been constant movement at the Ventura house and the Council house in San Diego. We are not sure which house they have Seleste in, but we believe it is one of those. The other house has remained quiet, with no one in or out for the last couple of days.
The sun is beginning to come up and I can hear everyone moving around and getting dressed. I am so ready to get the day started. Onyx has been driving me crazy. He can feel Tamaska. The connection is not strong enough to get to her yet, but he can feel her. The only thing keeping him from losing his shit is that Tamaska seems calm right now. I don’t know what will happen if that changes. I still haven’t figured out how to tell Gamma True and the councilman how I will be able to track Seleste. At this point, it shouldn’t matter. All that is important is finding her and keeping her safe. These people are so dead. I have already told my people to show no mercy. We only need one kept alive. Hopefully, we can catch the councilman there or at least someone who knows who the councilman is.
Just as I have breakfast set up on the table, everyone trickles into the room. The conference room is serving double duty today. My warrior omegas who travel with me will be cleaning and changing the room over for us so we don’t have to move until it's time to move out. I’ve also had the omegas turn the office next door into a weapons room. This will make it easier for us to grab the weapons and move out. We are going all out with weapons blazing. We won’t be able to shift since the homes are located in a human-populated area, although the house itself is fairly isolated we can’t take the chance of being seen by regular humans. Alpha Keenai and Councilman Bari contacted their people in government and had this area blocked off from local law enforcement so that only shifters respond if humans call law enforcement about the battle we are about to have.
Just as we start to go over the information we have, Seleste projects into the room with all of us.
“Holy shit Seleste. Can you give a girl a warning?” Talia says.
“I wish I could, Talia.” Seleste answers with a smile.
“Baby girl, are you ok?” Gamma True asks.
“Hi daddy. I am ok for now, but I need you all to hurry. They are talking about moving me or getting rid of me. I can’t teleport out right now because it will give away that I have powers. Tamaska said if you all get close enough, we may be able to teleport some of you to our location.”
“Can you give us any more details about the area you are in? We think we have it narrowed down. Onyx can sense you, but it's not strong enough to find you yet.” I say.
Seleste looks at me for the first time. I can see the recognition in her eyes. She knows what I am to her. We just look at each other for a moment.
“I was able to do a spirit walk this morning before they started moving around. The home is on a beach. There are no other homes close to it. It’s a 3-story, ocean blue home. There are a lot of windows, but they all have a protective film on them, so you can’t see in.”
“That helps a lot. We will be with you soon.”
“Just hold on Sweet Pea. I promise we will find you.” Gama True says then looks at me.
“You will explain to me later how you can sense her.” Gamma True says.
“Chill dad. It's all in the goddess’ plan.” Seleste said.
She pretty much just told them that we are mates.
“I have to go. But before I go I need to tell you this.” She says and looks at Alpha Clark via the screen. “We were right. There is a leak in your pack. At first, she provided my location unknowingly, but as of last week, she started willingly working with the rebels. She is obsessed with you and has agreed to help them if they help her get you.” Seleste said.
The female sitting next to Alpha Clark growls when Seleste mentions the female wants him. I’m guessing that is his mate.
“Do you know who the female is, Seleste?” Alpha Clark asked
“No, I don’t. They did not say a name, but I bet if you and your sister Yvette think about it, you will be able to narrow it down. The whole time I was at your pack and when we went to the vampires, she spent a lot of time at the bar complaining about the attention you were giving me. She has been obsessed with you for a long time and has been trying to get your attention. According to the rebels here, she was very vocal about her desire to be your luna and not letting anyone get close to you.”
Alpha Clark and Yvette looked at each other and both said “Tracy”.
According to them, Tracy has been obsessed with Alpha Clark since high school. He took her on one date, but nothing ever happened between them. He told her from the beginning that he was waiting for his mate. She tried several times to seduce him. He had to bar her from his area in the packhouse and threatened to kick her out of the pack.
“Alpha Clark, we will leave you and your Luna to plug that leak.” Councilman Bari says. “The council supports anything you decide to do. We understand that treason is punishable by death. We would not stand in your way if you decided that way and you do not need an official trial since we pretty much have an earwitness. Once you confirm it's her, do whatever you want with her. Since this meeting is recorded, this can serve as my official stand.”
These rebels and the people who help them will learn that we will not be showing them any kind of mercy. They came after our kingdom and after we get my mate back, we are coming after them.
“Seleste, the twins and your dad will be with me. I confirmed that the description you gave is one of the houses we were watching and were planning to attack anyway. Talia will link you when we are close enough to that location. I will be one of the ones breaching the house so that I can quickly get to your location inside of the home. Only teleport us in if things go bad. If your life depends on it, I need you to do whatever you have to do to survive. If you have to teleport out once we get there, do so. We won’t be leaving anyone alive, and we will be blocking all communication, including mind linking, so the word will not get out.” I said.
She nods her head and fades out.
“Ok everyone, my team is already in position. We’ll take the helicopter to the town and then get close to the home with SUVs. Let’s get our gear and head out. Councilman Bari, we confirmed that there is some unusual activity at the council house. We would understand if you wanted to detour there.” I said.
“No, I want to get to Seleste first and then take care of the snake in the council. Can you keep a team on it and report to us? Can we also get video coverage so we can identify the members meeting there? Even if they are not part of the rebels, they are meeting illegally and did not register their use of the home.” Councilman Bari says.
“We can do that and with the new technology we just got from the bears, we can also get you sound. You will be able to play back what they are saying as well.”
The councilman, Gamma True, the twins, and Talia all follow me to the helicopter. I will be flying us there. There is no room for a pilot anyway. Everyone else is already in place. The rest of the council will meet us there, but they are only going to be part of the clean-up crew.
The flight takes only about 25 minutes. We land and load up in SUVs. The mood is very tense. Onyx is bouncing around in my head. He can feel Seleste now. We are definitely close to her. I asked Talia to try to link Seleste. They can establish a link. The rebels are in the process of interrogating Seleste. She agreed to leave the link open with Talia so we can keep up with what is happening with her. Onyx can feel a little of her anxiety. Talia told us they just threatened her with wolfsbane and torture if she does not tell them where the protector baby is and who is in charge of the child. Seleste is telling them that she does not know of a baby protector being born recently, which is true. Seleste is telling them that she is a gamma of her pack and the descendent of an original, she is much too young to worry about babies. She reminded them that her dad is going to kill all of them when he finds her. That is also true.
Talia says that Seleste is now trying to negotiate her freedom. She told them that her parents are very wealthy and her pack will pay a ransom to get her back. She told them that it would be better for them to get a ransom, take the money and run. That is the only way they will live. They are laughing at her. They think that there is no way anyone can find her and they think she is just a weak little she-wolf. They are wrong on both parts. We tell Talia to let her know that we are only about 5 minutes away. We’ve parked the vehicles and are coming in on foot. I have told the team that is there to surround the building. The bears have already blocked all means of contact. We had Talia warn Seleste before we went silent. Which is a good thing because they had started to threaten Seleste, and I think me and her dad would completely lose it if we heard the threats being made.
We made it to the house. The bears have taken out all of their alarms and cameras. I feel a sharp pain on the side of my face. Onyx takes over at that time and orders everyone to breach. My men immediately set up a perimeter in the house and started taking out every rebel they saw. Onyx is running to the second floor. He is following the bond between him and Tamaska. Tamaska is telling him to hurry, they are trying to drug Seleste again. They have already hit her a couple of times. Onyx is trying to take some of the pain from her. Tamaska told Onyx that they were told to kill Seleste if we found her. I make it down the hall. I entered the room that I thought she was in, but it was empty. I feel her near me, but don’t see her. I tell her dad and the team to search all of the rooms. So far, we have come up empty. I can tell that Seleste is fighting them now. I can feel her anger mixed with fear.
After we have searched all of the rooms on the second floor, I go back to the original room and start looking again. I open my senses and I know that she is here. I let Onyx lead me to where he feels her the strongest. We ended up in the closet. I open the closet with her dad, and I enter. We go all the way to the back of the closet. I use Onyx’s vision to see any gaps that could be a hidden door. I find the door on the back wall of the closet. I indicate the door to Gamma True, then radio the team members close to me to let them know that I am going in. Gamma True Kicks the door open. The shifters inside charge at us. Seleste trips one of them. Gamma True is on him immediately and rips his throat out. I grab the other one and Onyx rips his head off his body. We saw Seleste’s blood on him. He had to die immediately.
Seleste told us that a couple ran into a tunnel under the house. I had my men pursue them. We only need one left alive so they can kill or capture the two in the tunnels. It does not take my men long to find them in the tunnel. Once they dragged them back to where we were, Seleste told her dad that the one closest to him was the one trying to drug her. Gamma True grabbed him.
“I told you my dad was going to kill you,” Seleste said as Gamma True pulled his head from his body.
I looked at the other one.
“I guess it is your lucky day. You get to live a little while longer. How long and how well depends on what you tell us.”
“You might as well kill me. I’m not telling you filthy dogs anything.” He says.
“Famous last words. You can tell us voluntarily or involuntarily and then you will die like all the others.”
We drag him out of the house and head back to my beach house.
Now that things have calmed down, I can take a moment with my mate. As soon as we get out of the vehicle in front of the house, I grab her and pull her to me. I just need to feel her in my arms and smell her scent. Her dad is looking at me like he wants to snatch her back from me, but the twins tell him that I am her mate, so he lets us have our moment. He goes to call Seleste’s mom to let her know that Seleste is safe and I’m guessing he is also telling her about me being Seleste’s mate.
“Alpha Blake, I hate to ruin your moment with my cousin,” Drew says, “But we need to get her checked out. Can you take her inside so the healers can look at her?”
I’m not ready to let her go, so I carry her bridal style into the house.
“I can walk, you know.” Seleste says.
“I know, but I need this contact. Onyx is not ready to let you go yet.”
“So, does that mean that you and Onyx accept us?”
“From the moment Onyx figured out the message Tamaska sent him, you have been ours and we have been yours. I don’t know why the moon goddess blessed me with you as my second chance mate, but I will spend my life loving, protecting, and supporting you.”
“You understand that I will not be a typical Luna for your pack Alpha Blake. I belong to all supernaturals.”
“First, I am your mate, you never have to call me Alpha, and second, I am aware of your purpose and destiny. I want to share that destiny with you. My pack has worked with the protector for generations, so it is an honor for my pack to have the protector that we have always served as their luna. That means they will fight harder and protect you with their lives.”
“The moon goddess truly knew what she was doing when she gave me you,” Seleste says just as the healers walk into the room.
I step back so that they can examine Seleste. They found no serious injuries. The marks on her face were already healed. Seleste was given a clean bill of health.
Gamma True came into the room as the healers were finishing up. He congratulated us on being mates and then told me that if I hurt his baby girl, Alpha, or not, I would answer to him. I know what he is capable of.
“I have no intentions of ever hurting Seleste. The moon goddess blessed me with a second chance. I would never jeopardize that. Seleste is everything to me.”
“Good. Keep it that way son and we will get along just fine.” Gamma True says.
“I love you, daddy,” Seleste says.
“I love you more, baby girl. Your mom sends her love. It took a direct order from Alpha Connor to keep her from being here right now. She said you better video call her later.” Gamma True said.
Now that everyone knows Seleste is ok. We set up a conference with everyone in an hour to go over the video we got from the council’s house. Hopefully, we will catch another traitor. Alpha Clark will also give us an update on the traitor at his pack. For now, I’ll just show Seleste to my room so she can freshen up and change clothes. Her dad brought some of her clothes with him. While Seleste is getting ready, I head down to the conference room. I am so ready to catch a traitor. He will wish that he never thought to grab my mate.