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Blake
Iwokeinthe morning to empty arms and an even emptier bed. My wolf was on alert and as I scented the room, I knew why. Kaine’s scent was in Kade’s bedroom and Kade’s tangerine scent was hours old.
In a blink, I was out of bed and across the hall, hammering on the door to the room my brother was sleeping in. I didn’t need to check the house. My heart already knew what had happened. My wolf was in uproar, my mind trying to deny the truth. Kade had been taken and Kaine had betrayed us.
“Axel, get out here!”
He didn’t reply. The family link between us pulsed with my panic. Axel read it on my face as soon as he opened the door.
Moving into the comfortable sitting room, I saw a spell pouch in the middle of the floor and cautiously picked it up and sniffed it. The magic was long gone, and I’d need a witch to identify it properly, but I could already guess what they used it for. “Kaine drugged us to keep us asleep.” I reported to Axel, trying to find solace in facts. We could work out where Kade was, and we would get him back. Thinking anything else was just... I.. Fear, cold and hard, slithered down my spine. I’d failed him. Failed my omega. How could he trust me to protect him when my own pack mates had turned against me?
Taking a deep breath, I tried to get my shit together, but it felt like I was drowning. I didn’t know what to do. Who to trust. There were only two other people in my pack that I could count on aside from the omegas and they needed to protect our young. We needed to get a warning to the omegas that they could be in danger.
Think,I needed to think about where he would be. Rincoln had clearly taken him. He’d gotten to at least two pack mates, Kaine being one. The other must have been at the other gate since I didn’t smell Rincoln when we picked up Kaine. I should have realized that he was too eager to come with us. Too compliant. Kade had shown discomfort around him and had only let him into my house because... why had he?
“Kade must have assumed because we took him with us that Kaine was okay. We’re both at fault here. We didn’t work through the pack quickly enough. There wasn’t enough time.” Axel reasoned.
“I was distracted, you mean.”
“You just met your fated mate, and he wasn’t ready to bond. You were doing your best, little brother. They attacked us all and took him. There was nothing you could do.”
“We’re going to need help. I don’t even know where to start, but you need to get Deke here. Tell Chase to watch the pack and warn the omegas that unfriendly alphas could target them next.”
“We don’t have the numbers. There’s no knowing who all is involved.”
“Then we contact the council. Shifter law dictates that taking a bonded omega, even a partially bonded one, is a crime that can be punishable by death.” I’d studied pack law extensively as a young teen and facts stuck in my memory easily. Just knowing that the council would back me eased something inside, my wolf settling fractionally.
“They could take days to arrive and that’s if we speak to someone that isn’t with Rincoln on this. I know you said you thought he was getting help from someone high up.” I thought back to the information request and the strange delay in it. Intuition at the time had told me something was off. Axel was right. We needed to approach the council carefully.
I felt the blood drain from my face. There was no way to guarantee quick help. There was no way that I could leave Kade in their hands for days while I found allies. Then I remembered Kade’s protector. “What about the bears? Dakota will help us. I know it.”
“Great idea. We need his number, though.”
“I, uh, might know Kade’s cell passcode.”
Axel laughed, the sound so strange in the tension filled room. “Of course you do. This time, that crazy brain of yours is useful for something other than random trivia facts.”
Heading back into the bedroom, I picked up Kade’s phone. It needed charging, and I plugged it in before opening it up and finding Dakota’s number.
“Kade? Are you okay?” Dakota sounded tense as he answered the phone. Hearing the concern for my mate was what finally broke me and I sobbed. Great big heaving sobs as everything overwhelmed me.
“Who is this?” Dakota’s tone sounded sharp.
“Dakota, help, please.” I finally managed to get out.
“Blake? What’s going on?” Worry filled his voice.
My brother took the phone from my hand and slung an arm around me, pulling me against him firmly and ruffling my hair. “Dakota. It’s Axel. We need your help. Kade’s been taken from his house and our pack was in on it.”
There was a brief silence. “”Are you still at Kade’s?” Axel made a noise in the affirmative. “I’ll be right there.” Axel flung the phone onto the bed, the call finished, and sighed heavily.
“We’ll get through this, I swear it.” Having Axel with me was a balm to my frayed edges. I wasn’t sure how I was keeping it together. He gave me a hug and left to make calls to our pack. We were too far away for the pack link and we couldn’t trust things not to be overheard.
I couldn’t bear to sit in the room where I’d slept as my mate was stolen and I wandered the small house, trying to find comfort in all the little touches that reminded me of Kade. Sitting heavily on the sofa, I pulled a throw around me, basking in his citrus scent, and a piece of paper fluttered to the floor from its place on the coffee table.
My heart picked up its pace as I read the note from Roan. I didn’t want to know what to believe. Roan was Kade’s ex. I knew that much, but if what his note said was true; he had a lead on him. Could I really trust that the council had tasked Roan with watching over his former betrothed mate? Why would they do such a thing? Where did we stand? He had to know that Kade and I were bonded, well, only partially, but still. We were fated mates. It was difficult to come between such a pairing and, given their history, there was little chance that Kade would take Roan back.
