I was halfway down the stairs when I felt it, a wave of emotion hit me. I grabbed onto the handrail and doubled over. Zane would be here any second, and if I feel this bad, he would be ten times worse. Forcing myself back up the stairs, I shoved past everyone.
“Alpha Reid, what’s going on?” I looked back at them. Trent looked up at me alarmed.
“I need to get to my Beta,” I gasped out, forcing my legs to keep moving up the stairs. I had just walked out to the diner’s dining area when I saw Zane’s car run straight into a telegraph pole out the front. The howl that resonated through the air chilled me to the bone. I ran to open the door just in time for Zane’s wolf to break through the door of the car, ripping it clean off. His howls agonised as he threw himself at the ground.
I ran towards him, Zane had no control left, his wolf taking over as I felt Christine’s teether to us break, her life slipping from us. Zane’s agonised screams resonating through my head at the loss of his mate. And our Beta female. I hesitantly walked over to him; his wolf was whining, completely devastated.
“Zander,” I called to Zane’s wolf, he lifted his head at the command of his Alpha, he took a step towards me, teeth bared, I knew he wouldn’t attack me. I knew his wolf well; he made a noise that sounded strangled. “You need to give Zane control.”
His wolf whined and then howled, I could hear how broken he was, I could feel it. I looked back towards the diner. Alpha Trent and Abel were watching a knowing look on their faces. I didn’t have to explain anything. The sounds he was making told everyone what broke him. But right now, I needed him to focus, move through the pain he still had to find his daughter.
I put my hand on his head. “Zander, give Zane control, we still need to find your pup, your little girl buddy come on.” He whined before I watched him shift, Alpha Trent walked out with a towel Zoe had given him. I threw it over his naked body. Tears running down his face as sobs wracked his body. I had never seen him like this, my strong best friend, now broken. Alpha Trent helped me get him up and inside the diner.
We placed him on a chair, Abel came out with a change of clothes and handed them to him. He took them with one hand. His eyes looking at us were empty and hollow. It was like looking into the eyes of my father, nothing left, just an empty vessel.
After a few more minutes of silence, he pulled himself together and stood up pulling the pants up before doubling over again. I turned around horrified praying to the goddess it wasn’t Amber, but then I felt it too. My breathing becoming harder, my skin burning, my eyes watering. Something was terribly wrong. I could hear Trent yelling at his men to do something, anything. He wasn’t prepared to deal with this, none of us were when we realised we were all linked to Aria the way we were. I didn’t even have a chance to warn him before both Zane, and I passed out. The pain becoming too much. If this keeps up, we were never going to have a chance to find them. My last thought was trying to mind link Aria.
“Keep fighting, stay alive, so we can find you.”
Aria’s POV
I tried to fight it, tried to hold my breath, but the wolfsbane burning my flesh had me screaming only to inhale its toxic gas. Just as I passed out. Reid’s voice popped into my head, he sounded weak and in pain.
“Keep fighting, stay alive so we can find you.” His words giving me comfort as I succumbed to the darkness.
When I came too, I was strapped to a gurney. I turned my head to the side to see Lily in the cage. She was awake and observing everyone walking around the room. I rolled my head to the other side to see Wendy strapped down along with David. Amber was missing. I tried to ask Lily where she was, but my voice was completely gone. I must have breathed in more than I thought. Lily was covered in burns, the skin on her face all blistered. Her hands blistered, but I was surprised to see she was awake.
The only conclusion I could come to was that her wolf kept her alive, I just hoped Amber was still alive. Wolfsbane was extremely potent, and I am surprised by the amount that has been used on us repeatedly that we were all still alive. I was immune to death, but the rest of them, they weren’t. I heard Wendy awaken beside me. She looked over at me panicking when she realised we were strapped to tables like some science experiment. Whatever was coming next, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
I tried to look around. We were in the same room only the table was gone and, in its place, the three gurneys we were placed on.
“Where’s Amber?” asked Wendy. I shook my head, not knowing when Lily spoke.
“They took her,” I looked at Lily, her blue and gold eyes gleaming back at me, but she didn’t look scared or sad. She looked angry. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at Lily or her wolf, it was hard to tell the difference with her eyes remaining like that. Her voice did sound different though older then the six-year-old girl she is.
The door opened and in walked Kade. A woman walking in with him. Her red hair tied tightly in a bun on top of her head, glasses perched on the end of her nose, she was around my age. She carried a small case in her hands and a clipboard.
“Start with the Hybrid,” he said, looking towards me and pointing. She nodded her head and walked over, standing beside me. I wondered how she could justify doing whatever it was she was about to do, to women and children; did she feel nothing towards us. I couldn’t imagine watching a child and other woman being tortured, I wondered how she sleeps at night. Peacefully or restless? Do her sins weigh heavily on her? She opened the box pulling out two syringes one filled with a green liquid. The other was empty. She jabbed the empty syringe in my arm before drawing blood. Her eyes met mine, and hers quickly darted away guiltily, yes, I knew she didn’t have a clear conscience and that her sleep haunted her. I could smell her fear and something else. Guilt.