Denderick’s POV
For long seconds, there was nothing but silence in the room.
“Are you…. Are you certain of this?” I aaked quietly. Liam did nothing but nod in assent.
I stood up and paced the length of my study, the tension in my muscles coiling tighter with each step. Liam’s whole revelation had stirred a fury within me. But the news that one of the pregnant women had been captured-it was both a shock and a potential turning point.
“Liam, where is she?” I demanded, stopping abruptly and facing him.
Liam hesitated, a shadow crossing his face. “She’s being kept in one of the lower rooms, Alpha. She’s in bad shape.”
“Take me to her,” I ordered.
Without another word, we left the study and made our way through the brightly lit corridors of the pack house. The air grew colder and the walls narrower as we descended to the lower levels. My footsteps echoed off the stone floors, mingling with the distant drip of water. The scent of dampness and mildew filled the air.
We stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. Liam produced a key from his pocket and unlocked it, pushing the door open with a creak. I followed him inside, my eyes adjusting to the darkness.
The room was small and sparsely furnished, with only a cot in the corner and a single, flickering candle casting long shadows on the walls. On the cot lay the woman, her body frail and battered. She struggled to sit up as we approached, and I could see that her movements were slow and pained.
I took a step closer, studying her injuries. Bruises mottled her skin, dark and angry against her pale complexion. Her left arm was bandaged crudely, blood seeping through the fabric. Her face was gaunt, and her eyes were hollow with fear and exhaustion. Each breath she took seemed to be a struggle, a rasping effort that made my chest tighten.
“Who did this to you?” I asked, my voice softer than I intended.
She looked up at me, her eyes dull with pain. “Logan’s men,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “They took me… hurt me… all to find her.”
My jaw clenched. Logan’s reach was further and more brutal than I had anticipated. “Where did they take you from?” I asked.
The woman winced, her face contorting with agony as she shifted on the cot. “My home… my pack… they came at night… dragged me away…”
Liam stepped forward, his expression grave. “We need to know everything you can tell us. Any detail, no matter how small, could help us stop him.”
She nodded weakly, tears welling in her eyes. “They… they kept talking about her… about the breeder… I didn’t know anything… I swear… but they wouldn’t believe me. They…. they seemed to have a plan. They seemed to be torturing me for…. for a reason….”
Her words were punctuated by gasps of pain. I felt a cold anger settle in my gut. Logan had to be stopped. This madness had to end.
“Did they say where they were taking you? Where they might be holding others?” I pressed.
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. “No… they moved us around… kept us in the dark… I don’t know…”
Her voice trailed off, and she began to tremble, her body wracked with sobs. Liam moved to her side, trying to offer some comfort, but there was little he could do to ease her suffering.
I looked around the room, taking in the stark conditions. The damp walls, the cold floor, the single candle struggling to illuminate the space- it was a far cry from the comfort of the pack house above. Yet it was all we had for her now.
“Liam,” I said quietly, “make sure she gets whatever medical attention we can provide. And find out if there’s anything more she can tell us.”
Liam nodded, his face set in a grim expression. “Yes, Alpha.”
The woman’s breathing grew more labored, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment before she forced them open again. “Please,” she whispered, her voice barely a breath, “find them… save them…”
I leaned closer, my heart heavy with the weight of her plea. “We will. I promise you, we will.”
Her lips curved into a faint, fragile smile before her face suddenly contorted in another wave of pain. Quickly, we rushed forward, but it was obvious that she was taking her very last breath. All we could do was watch, helpless.
“Find… them!” She gasped. And then she fell silent, forever.
*********
I stood there for a moment, staring at the lifeless form of the woman, feeling the weight of responsibility settle heavily on my shoulders. Her pale, still form forced my heart to shatter into a million pieces.
It was all I could do to gather myself and speak again.
“Liam,” I called, “Get some guards to find out what pack she is from and take her body back there. We need to ensure her death is not in vain. Double the search efforts immediately. We need to find Aria and end this madness.”
Liam nodded. “I’ll gather the team and expand our search perimeter. We’ll find her, Alpha.”
“Good,” I replied, turning away from the tragic scene. “Also, increase security around the pack house. If Logan’s men are this brazen, we can’t take any chances.”
“Understood,” Liam said, following me out of the dark room.
“We’ve been focusing our efforts around the known locations of Logan’s operations, but it’s clear we need to widen our scope,” I uttered as we walked. “We need to think like Logan. Where would he hide these women? Where would he feel most secure?”
Liam sighed, his brow furrowed in concentration. “We’ve already covered the routes his convoy takes and the surrounding areas. What about the outskirts? Abandoned properties, remote locations?”
“Good thinking,” I agreed. “We’ll divide our forces and cover more ground. We need to be thorough and efficient.”
We stepped back into the study, where I saw a guard standing in wait for me. The sight of the man took me aback, and I frowned in confusion.
“What do you want here?” I asked.
The guard stepped forward, pushing a piece of parchment into my hands. “This was delivered for you, Alpha.”
I collected the parchment from his hands and opened it. My eyes quickly scanned the words, as a sense of dread settled on me.
“I am quite content with where I am, Dendrick” The words read. “LEAVE. ME. ALONE.”