Ian’s POV:
“Talk,” I demanded immediately as we were in the office.
Larson, Tamara, and Kylie were in the living room while the rest of us were in the office, looking at Lee and waiting for him to give us answers.
“You see, by that man’s movements, build, height, and aura, we all could tell that he wasn’t a regular person, say human. And the fact that Roxanne couldn’t pick up his scent or act in time meant something was wrong. She either knew him or realized something about…” He cut his sentence short when the door loudly opened and Kyle rushed in, naked and with labored breath.
“Is it true?” he asked loudly.
Amelia stood up and walked to him, her gaze lowered to the ground. She took off her coat and handed it to him to wear, which he quickly put on with an embarrassed expression on his face.
We were so used to seeing most werewolves nude after their shift, but that didn’t mean we were comfortable having them walk in front of us. It was kind of annoying and disrespectful.
“Forgive me for barging in like that, but I need to know if Roxanne was truly kidnapped by some unknown men!” he exclaimed.
“Who told you that?” I asked seriously.
He scratched his arm, then looked at Jeannie for a second before shifting his gaze to the side.
“Are you implying my wife did it?” Lee asked coldly.
“He’s not implying, boo, he’s actually telling the truth,” she answered, surprising us all.
When did she even have time to call that side when she was with us the whole damn time!
“I actually called to inform Nana, but the one who picked up the call was Kyle. I’m sorry,” she said in an apologetic tone.
I hit my forehead with my hand, then dropped it. Getting angry wasn’t going to help us in any way, although I wanted Kyle to know nothing of this.
What if the kidnappers were after him too? She could have easily put him in danger without us knowing a damn thing.
“Honey, when did you return home?” Amelia asked softly.
“A while ago. I thought you guys would be worried,” Kyle answered without looking at her.
“I still can’t believe that you would tell him something like that,” I said while glaring at Jeannie.
“She said she is sorry, my love,” Amelia whispered through our mind link.
“I know, but what if she did exactly what the kidnappers wanted her to do, bringing Kyle here?” I asked.
“We would protect him with our lives. You know that,” she answered as I slowly calmed down.
“Son, what Jeannie told you is the truth. Your sister was kidnapped by some bad guys, and right now we are trying to figure out how to rescue her. So if you don’t mind, can you go into the living room and wait for us to finish our discussion?” I said seriously.
“I do mind, father. She is my sister, and I’m going with you to rescue her. Don’t forget that I too am an alpha,” he said as I angrily growled at him.
“Can’t you see how hard it is for us to lose Roxanne? We are trying our very best to hold ourselves together as it is! Do you think we would be sane if you end up being kidnapped like she did?” I growled out, startling him.
“Don’t dare say you can take care of yourself when you are weaker than your sister. So now, be a good pup and go sit your ass down in the living room!” I yelled furiously.
He blinked back the tears that were forming in his eyes, then looked at Amelia, who gave him an apologetic look.
“I’ll do just that, Alpha,” he whispered and then turned and walked out of the office.
“Ian,” Chase called in a low tone.
“What?” I answered coldly.
“You were very harsh with him, deep shit,” Felix said as I glared at her.
“Don’t give me that reaction, stupid. We all care and are worried about Roxanne because we are family,” she spat seriously.
I brushed my hand through my hair, then moved closer to Amelia and linked my hand with hers. When the tingles spread throughout my body, I instantly relaxed.
“I’m sorry, everyone. It’s just that each passing minute makes me feel angry and scared. I have no idea what the kidnappers want from her, all I know is that she must be scared and so lonely as we speak, if not hurt or… de…”
“Enough,” Aurora’s voice came through.
I looked at Amelia and noticed Aurora was in full control.
“Ian, if you feel like you can’t handle everything that’s going on with a clear mind, then let Axel take over. Your words are slowly breaking Amelia’s heart, and she’s losing herself despite putting on a front,” she said as I felt disappointed in my own actions.
“You know she’s right,” Axel said seriously.
“I’ll let Axel take over, but for now, please let me hear what Lee has to say,” I answered sadly.
“Alright then, as I was saying, the man who held her first wasn’t human at all, and those two men who had lifted her up didn’t seem human either. The good news is that I could feel and sense the full presence and form of those two men. As for the first man, I am not so certain what he is, but I believe those two men were vampires while the other was a lycan. The sad news is, they aren’t alone. They have a very powerful witch who is protecting them. That’s why the illusion couldn’t go further. The witch is making sure we see nothing beyond what she wants us to see. If we want to find out who the man is or at least find a way past the witch’s powerful protective barrier, we should ask for help,” he said.
“Lycan?” I asked seriously.
How the hell did a lycan find its way near Felix’s house? Moreover, what the hell did it want with my daughter?
If he was a vampire like the rest, I would have thought that he wanted revenge for what Blade and the others had done to the coven, but he wasn’t. That meant there was a reason why he wanted her.
“I too don’t understand what a lycan would want with an Alpha queen. Moreover, we have never come across one in our lives,” Neo said in concern.
The door opened, and Kyle walked in with an apologetic look on his face.
“The only possibility that I see would be if he was mated to my sister,” he said as I took in a sharp breath.
His words meant a lot, and that was possible. But then why would he kidnap her rather than talk to us?
“Father, if you think he would have done a better job coming to our pack to talk to you, then you are wrong. Just him stepping into our territory would have made our warriors attack him. Moreover, you couldn’t have accepted him or let him be with Roxanne because of the fact that they are different beings,” he said as I breathed out loudly.
I didn’t like the fact that the boy knew me too well.
“If that’s the case, then what do we do?” Blade asked.
“As I said, we will need to seek help,” Lee answered.
“Help from who?” Aurora asked seriously.
“Do you mean help from Lexi?” Toni asked as well.
“No, right now we don’t know how powerful the witch on the other side is. If we involve Lexi and the witch ends up being too powerful, she could have a miscarriage or something bad could happen to her unborn baby,” he answered.
The whole room went quiet because his words were very serious. No one would want her to sacrifice her first unborn child for Roxanne. The twins would lose their minds, and we would all feel guilty about it.
“Lexi is out of the question, so who would help us?” Aurora asked, as Lee nervously shifted his gaze to Chase.
“What? Out with it already!” I ordered.
“You won’t like it, Ian and Neo, but I’ll tell you everything. There is a very well-developed pack in a certain territory, not far from your own, that can help us. The pack is filled with banished and abandoned rogues from other packs that we know, and it’s run by a strong Alpha and his Luna. Because they take in all kinds of wolves seeking refuge, they acquire information that is hard to find. In short, they are like the central library of all wanted supernatural information,” Chase answered.
“Just because they are a pack of rogues doesn’t mean we would hate asking for help,” Neo pointed out, as I shook my head in agreement.
“Ian, what Chase is trying to tell you is that the Alpha of that pack is mated to your ex-Luna,” Lee said, as I frowned.
“What are you saying?” I asked seriously.
“Sherry, your ex-partner, is the Luna of that pack,” he answered, as I felt my knees weaken.
I quickly moved to the couch to sit down before I could fall.
“What!” Neo exclaimed loudly.
“I too found out because of my family. They wanted some information about the secret family crest that got stolen. That’s why I had to ask Chase to go with me on that side, in case they weren’t a decent pack as we had heard. But to our surprise, Sherry was his Luna, and she seemed surprised to hear that we knew her. When we explained who we were, she became friendly and even asked her mate, the Alpha, to help us as much as he could. She seemed to have healed from the banishment you gave her and held no grudges,” he explained, while I kept quiet.
I didn’t know how to react because the Sherry I knew held grudges. She had no genuine love or care for anyone else besides herself. She was obviously using the Alpha since he was her second chance mate! Going there would clearly be suicide because she would use that chance to take her revenge on us. Not only did we kick her out of her home, we took away her wolf and eyes. No one in their right mind would easily overlook that and forgive.
“Lee, I don’t know if you realize this, but I am the one who took away her sight, and Ian was responsible for her banishment as well as the death of her wolf,” Neo pointed out.
“I know, Neo. That’s why I’m telling you that she looked and acted differently. Also, I couldn’t feel any evil intentions from her,” he answered.
“Chase, did you not feel any evil intentions too?” Felix asked seriously as Chase looked at her.
“No, her heart was pure,” he answered, shocking me.
“Then I believe she did change,” Felix said.
I looked at Aurora to see how she felt about this.
She nodded, then looked at everyone.
“It’s settled. Tomorrow, Ian and I will go there,” she announced.
“No, I’m not letting you go alone to that wretched woman’s pack. If you are going, I’m coming along. Moreover, I’m your beta and I need to stay by your side in such cases and situations,” Neo said.
“I’m coming along too,” Felix announced.
I knew everyone was going to try to insist on coming along, so in order to stop them, I needed to decide who was allowed to actually come along or stay.
“Ian!” Whitney’s voice came from the passage.
I stood up and looked at everyone.
“If we all go that side, it won’t seem like we went there to ask for help. It will actually seem like an attack on their pack’s Luna. That’s why I prefer a small number of us to go that side. That being said, I will now say who will come along based on their skills, ability, and experience, and who won’t,” I said, then went on to call out the names.
“Aurora, Neo, Toni, Lee, Chase, Felix, and Whitney will come along,” I said as Whitney walked in with Leo and August.
“The rest of you will remain here and wait for our phone call or any sort of communication. If anything goes wrong on that side, I can still be at ease knowing that some of the best warriors and protectors who remain will take over the task of finding my kidnapped daughter and bringing her back,” I said.
“We understand,” Blade answered when he looked at Kyle.
“Leo, I’ll fill you in on everything with Whitney and August. After that, we will start preparing for our departure,” I announced.