Kevin’s POV
The meeting had ended and I watched as the men dispersed out of the room towards their various homes. I sighed as I looked around and noticed that Liam had stepped out of the room.
I frowned harder as I stepped out of the meeting room, looking for him. Something was definitely wrong with him even if I hadn’t noticed at all during the meeting. It was customary for the alpha and the beta to walk home after a meeting so they could talk of how it went, the reports and what they had to do next but Liam was boycotting custom and leaving before me. That could only mean one thing. He was trying to avoid me. I wondered why that was and what could have happened that made him that way.
Was he avoiding me because he hadn’t been able to think of an excuse to keep Ella away from the witches on my behalf and was ashamed of telling me that?
I felt like smiling in amusement as I wondered if that was truly the case. He could have waited for me and would have found out the truth. I would have told him that he didn’t have to worry as there was nothing else left to hide.
I ran out of the meeting room, not bothered about who might see me running. Luckily, I found him as he was about to leave the path that led to where we usually had our meeting.
“Liam,” I called out to him.
I knew the moment he heard me because there was a pause in his movements but he didn’t turn back. I didn’t have to wonder if he would turn back or leave as I knew he was obligated to not leave unless I asked him to once he heard me call for him and Liam was a sucker for duty. I didn’t know any of men who was so focused on being responsible as much as he did.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked the moment I caught up with him and was by his side. “Why are trying hard to ignore me?”
“I wasn’t trying to ignore you, my lord.”
“Is there something you are keeping from me then?” I asked, staring intently at his face.
He gulped and was about to respond when one of the boys nannies ran towards us. I stared into the distance, wondering what had gone wrong that made her come all the way here, running and sweating.
My heart skipped as I thought of the boys hurting themselves. Had one of them injured themselves while playing? That still didn’t answer the question of why she was here as I wasn’t a doctor. If the boys had injured themselves, the ideal person to go to would have been Ella. She was their mother and a doctor and would have nursed them back to health with care. They would have been in the safest hands if they were with her.
“What happened, Elayne?” I asked as she stopped before me, panting.
She struggled to catch her breath before speaking and I wondered how fast she had run to get to me. It must have been urgent.
“What is the problem?” I asked again.
“I can’t find the boys.”
I smiled, knowing how bad she must be feeling. “Maybe they are with their mother. I also couldn’t see them before I left the house.”
“That was what we all thought as they were with the Luna after leaving us but that is not true. The Luna is also missing from the house.”
“What do you mean by the Luna is also missing from the house?” I gasped.
I wasn’t asking for her to give me an explanation but she did it anyways. “The Luna and the boys aren’t in their rooms or anywhere else in the house.”
I was already running home before she finished that statement, fully aware that Liam was at my heels.
I got home and dashed into the boys’ room first, searching everywhere including under the bed. Elayne was right. They weren’t there. I stubbornly held on to hope and refused to believe what Elayne had said as I marched towards the bedroom I shared with Ella. It was possible that they had missed one another. Ella might have been up and inside with the kids while the servants were searching outside the house.
I barged into our room and sighed as I entered and met it empty. This was a sad sight and I could feel my heart cracking at the edges as I stared at the empty room. I decided to check the wardrobe and under the bed even though I knew that Ella couldn’t be there. She couldn’t be playing hide and seek with the boys in here as silent as the room was. I would have heard their cackles.
I went to check the bed and my hand flicked the pillow as I was straightening up. My heart leaped with joy as I saw the letter, hoping that it contained a clue to where they were.
I sighed, feeling deflated as I read the letter. It did contain a clue to where they were but it wasn’t where I wanted them to be.
Off to get your ten years back.
The words weren’t much but the damage they did to my heart was much more than anything I had ever felt. I let the letter drop to the ground and rushed to the wardrobe. I had heard the words right. Ella had packed for a journey and left without telling me.
How did she know how to find the witch?
I turned back and met Liam reading the letter. His facial expression seemed tortured as he dropped the letter to the ground.
Before I suspected what he was about to do, he dropped to his knees before me and started weeping.
“I’m sorry, my lord.” He cried. “I’m sorry, Kevin.”
I remembered how he had been avoiding me at the meeting, how he had paled when Elayne told us that Ella was missing and how he had stuck closely beside me as I searched the room, looking like he was praying for me to find her and connected the dots. He hadn’t been acting strange without a reason and hadn’t been searching with me because he was only a concerned beta. Knowing who Liam was, he knew something was up before it happened, before Elayne came to find us.
I whirled in on him. “You knew about this?”
He sighed as he dipped his head to the ground, looking ashamed to face me. “I knew she was going to do something like this but she promised me that she wasn’t going to do it.”
“She?” I frowned, sagging on the bed as my knees went weak under me. “You mean Ella? You talked to her?”
He shook his head, his face filled with regret. “She came to find me at the house and asked me about the deal you made with the witch. She wouldn’t let go until I gave her the address to where she was. I’m sorry, Kevin. I know this doesn’t make it better but she ordered me to tell her the truth.” He sighed, muttering his next words under his breath but I heard it. “I should have said nothing till the end.”
“It’s fine, Liam. I know how Ella is and don’t doubt that she gave you no choice. I wouldn’t have liked it if I had found out that you disobeyed my mate.”
He sighed. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m open to being punished. I will obey anything you want and agree to anything you want to do to me.”
I snorted at his words. “Is that how mean you think I am?”
He sighed. “I should have known that this would happen and tried my best to avoid it. I’m the general of the pack.”
I snorted. He was being too hard on himself. “What should I do if you feel this bad about what happened? I’m the alpha of the pack who was silly enough to let his wife leave on a wild journey. I should have known what she was capable of doing and locked her inside her room and stationed two guards at the door. It was the Luna of the pack who gave you no choice so you shouldn’t feel too bad about it.”
He exhaled a long breath and I was happy that my words were able to comfort him.
“What do you plan to do?”
“I am going to go after her and you, my friend, are going to go with me.”
He nodded. “I don’t object to that but how will you do it? There is a long list of responsibilities for you to do as the alpha before you can even take a vacation. How do you intend to go on a journey you don’t even know when you will return without affecting the pack?”
“I will find a way around it and that is what you are also here for. We are going to fix this mess together.”
“Your command is my wish.” He bowed.
I sighed, wondering how I was going to go after Ella and bring her home safely as I knew how dangerous the journey was for her and the kids.
Why did she have to be bold and reckless?