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“You got the council involved?” Pete asks, looking in the living room.
“Well, clearly, you can’t control your workers, and when it comes to Addie, I won’t risk her safety because you are incapable of controlling your own.”
“Sam would never hurt Addie. He loves the girl,” Pete says, and I motion toward the stairs to the basement.
He sighs, walking down, and I can see he is confused as to why I want to take him down there. I follow him before he suddenly stops and gasps, shocked by what he’s seeing. The exact same reaction we had when we discovered it.
“Good god,” he says, looking around and moving around the basement.
He looks at the photos and the notes he has written, some poems and just overall disgusting, vile things he wanted to do to her, about some imaginary life Sam has conjured up in his head.
“Still think he won’t hurt her?” I ask him, and he looks at me, his mouth open in shock.
“Eli, I swear I had no idea he was this unstable. If I had known, I would have done something,” he says, looking at me before pushing past me and racing up the stairs.
This is bad for the hunters’ organization. This could destroy alliances between both councils. Mates aren’t to be messed with. They are off-limits because it can cause a major rift between both organizations. I follow him back upstairs, and he starts slinging orders at his men.
“Check the tracking device on his car and phone now,” he tells a man with a beard that he grabs as he walks past him.
The man nods, and Pete lets him go, looking around. I can see the stress on his face, the fear. They are supposed to be tested yearly for psych evaluations to make sure their workers are stable. They even periodically check their homes to make sure no one turns into vigilante extremists. They should have picked this up, and the fact they didn’t now leaves Pete’s head on the chopping block.
“Car has already been found burned out. The phone’s been disabled,” I tell him, and he nods.
“I want paper trails checked now, all financial records from the last ten years checked. He must have some place he holds her captive. Find out where Samuel is now,” he tells his workers, and they rush off with phones in hand and laptops.
Pete is by no means a pushover, has worked his way up to his position, and is well respected by both organizations for his negotiation and leadership abilities. He is the longest to have lasted in his position besides Michael, Addie’s father.
“This is bad, this is really bad,” he mutters, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We will find her. I give you my word.”
“Yes, you will. Because if anything happens to her, I will kill every goddamn one of you,” Cyrus says, walking over to us.
“We will find your mate, Cyrus, and we will deal with Sam.”
“Deal with him? I am going to fucking kill him when I get my hands on him.”
“He will be punished. I can assure you,” Pete tries to tell him, but Cyrus shakes his head.
“He is fucking sick in the head. Did you not see what was down there? That shit ain’t normal. You better hope you find him before I do because there won’t be anything left of him when I am done,” Cyrus says, walking out.
I follow after Cyrus, needing to calm him down before he goes into a rage and kills everyone. His bloodlust is taking him over the angrier he gets, and it will do us no good if he kills those trying to help us get her back.
“Cyrus, calm down,” I tell him as he goes to the car.
“Calm down? He is doing god knows what with her, and we can’t even feel her. And if we do, it is brief. I should have let you kill him. This is my fault. I should have believed you when you said something was off about him.”
“Nobody saw this happening, Cyrus. You can’t wear the blame for it. We will get her back.”
“Yeah, and in what state? What if she resists him? He could hurt her,” Cyrus says, remembering the disgusting pornographic images Sam has drawn of Addie.
“Addie is smart. She would have figured out something was wrong with him by now. Her instincts would be setting off alarm bells,” I tell him, and he nods.
Addie is pretty observant, even if she doesn’t realize it; she knows Sam, and I can almost guarantee she knows something isn’t right by now. Her fear that we got briefly was enough to tell us she knew something was up. Now we just need to hope she won’t piss him off, or he may hurt her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Adeline
Waking up, I become instantly alert to Sam dressing me. I have some movement back as I try to flex my fingers without him noticing. Opening my eyes, he is leaning over the top of me.
