Reuben POV
My wolf was pressing just beneath the surface, nervous that we couldn’t also. get hold of Noah as well, if you couldn’t get hold of the alpha, you should at least get hold of the beta.
“That’s not good enough!” He growls at me in my head. “I know it’s not good enough.” I retort back at him, fucking werewolf!
I try her number for a second time but it goes straight to voicemail, again. I try the Silver Moon alpha home number in the off chance that they lost their phones or the batteries have died. I know it’s a long shot but I need some hope here.
I dial the house number praying to the moon goddess that Evelyn is safe and will answer it, but of course that’s not going to happen is it?
It rings a couple of times, and I have to redial. It is the early hours of the morning after all and no one would expect a call at this time in the morning.
“Hello?” Miss Smith’s croaky voice answers my call.
“Miss Smith, it’s Alpha Reuben.” I’m grateful that she actually offered to stay behind and keep Evelyn updated on news of Beatrice and Donnie. The lack of the pack link in attending the ceremony really vexed Evelyn.
“Alpha Reuben? It’s very early…”
“Did they return home last night?” I rudely push past her comment.
“Who dear?”
“Evelyn and the kids?”
“No, they are at the Blue Moon pack.”
“No, they came to my pack last night but they left, they should have returned hours ago…”
“Hold on dear, I’ll mind-link Head Warrior Donnie to see if he knows. It may be they went back to the Blue Moon pack…” She tries to ease my growing concern but her efforts are in vain.
I know for a fact that they wouldn’t have gone back to the Blue Moon pack, Noah knew how important it was to get them back to Silver Moon lands.
I am kept waiting on the phone as Miss Smith reaches out to Donnie in the early hours of the morning, not the easiest task to wake a tired warrior.
“Alpha Reuben?” He’s slightly out of breath from racing over to the alpha house. “Donnie..please tell me you know where Evelyn and the children are?
Even Noah and Cassandra?”
His silence speaks volumes.
“They aren’t here. I didn’t know they were due to return, last I heard they were with you at the Blue Moon pack. What’s happened?”
“Some news has come to light and I ordered that they return immediately.”
“When did they leave?”
“I don’t know, I’ve been up all night working. Maybe 9-10pm? I really couldn’t tell you the exact time but I know for damn certain they should have arrived home by now.” My palms were sweating as I continued to hold the phone to my ear. The level of anxiety for their welfare was uncontrollable.
“Give me five minutes, I’ve got trackers on their phones. Let me find out where they are?”
“Donnie?” I growl at him for presuming I can wait five minutes. “Alpha Reuben, I’ll call you straight back. Five minutes!” He says before cutting the call with me.
“Any news?” Nate walks in with my Head IT man, who is holding another folder. Great more paperwork to add to the walls. My patience was wearing thin now and I wanted to find out where my family were.
“We’ve found sites that Alpha Odin owns but kept off the radar. He also owns land that the majority have shipping containers stored away from prying eyes. One of which is the shipping container master Rex was traced to when he was kidnapped.”
“What are you suggesting? That my own father kidnapped my son?”
“No, I doubt he knew of his existence because Vicky didn’t know back then, not until he got moved to the pub. But she used his land for hiding on, which means Vicky knew he owned it and most likely sought him out. We need to be careful here Alpha.”No shift Sherlock.
I start to pace the floor, my hair a mess from the number of times I’ve pulled at it. Fuck I don’t care anymore. I pull out a cigarette and light it, I’ve got no chance of quitting, an alpha’s life always coming with stresses. Or was it the life of being a father now? Both seemed to come with stresses.
If he so much as touches a hair on their heads I’ll rip his head off but only after pulling his heart out. My phone comes to life and I answer it in the first ring, “Donnie?”
“Alpha, I’ve found their last known mobile signal.”
“Send it to me!” I demand not caring how abrupt I may sound, how much of a prick I was being. He’ll understand being a Head Warrior that time is of the essence.
“Got it!” I say as my phone buzzes from the message. I open up the location to find it is only an hour’s drive from here.
“I’m going…” I respond readying to hang up the phone.
“Wait, I’ll come…”
“Fine, make your way in this direction. But I’ll keep you posted on whether to meet me there or here. If they aren’t there, you need to prepare for battle Donnie. I’m talking warriors, weapons and armour.” As much as it pains me to say the next part, I have to. I have to do it for her, to ensure her warriors are ready.
“The Silver Moon pack is currently facing the potential probability that both your Alpha and Beta are down. You need to raise the alarm across the alliance and have packs and their warriors on standby. As it stands, you are in charge Donnie, don’t make me regret trusting you.’
I could hear his breathing down the phone as I turn to Nate who holds a frown on his face. “Understood Alpha!” Donnie’s firm voice confirms what is expected of him before I end the call.
We rolled out as quickly as we could. I demanded that my men dressed appropriately for battle and granted them full access to the armoury, carrying silver royal swords was a- given.
Nate offered to drive but the only way I could keep my wolf under control was to drive and lead the convoy myself. He was itching to shift and hunt them down himself, impatient with the waiting for our warriors to arm themselves.
An hour of our journey in and the directions take us off the usual highway which was odd, why would they have come off here? I told them not to stop, for anything. So why the fuck did they come off the busy well covered by cctv highway?
We take a few turnings, and I think we are never going to find anything until my heart stops.
I slam on the breaks, all cars behind following suit. Before me is a sight I can’t seem to accept. A burnt out crisp car, only showing the left over shell. I can hear Nate calling my name next to me, but blood has gone to my ears and I can’t hear him over the constant thudding.
I manage to step outside of the car, the morning sunshine beaming on my face …confusing me. The sun is acting like today is going to be a good day, but it won’t be, not for me.
“Alpha, it’s the warrior car. No sign of survivors I’m afraid but look tyre tracks leading this way…” Nate points and I signal for us to return to the cars and get moving again. We’ll have to come back to remove the car and any evidence of what happened here this night.
I drive us down another road, my foot pressing down on the gas pedal when I see a car upside down in the distance. As soon as we reach it, I know it is the car they left in. I rush to it, stupidly calling their names, as if they made it out and hid nearby.
“Reuben…” Nate gasps, using my name rather than my title. A softness to his voice, trying to prepare me for the worse.
No! Blood smeared all over the front passenger window, the seat Evelyn was in. The car had been flipped, severe damage to the side, her side, showed how forceful the impact was.
It would have felt like an oncoming train rather than a car. The blood follows onto the front driver seat, they must have pulled her out after removing Noah.
Thankfully the children’s car seats seem still intact, which sends some sort of hope through me that the kids are still somewhat okay.
On eye value there’s nothing else here, no evidence to help us find out where they were taken. But my men were the best and they’ll find clues quickly, and will also hack into the local cctv cameras or government satellites to find out where they were taken.
I’ll get them back, even if it’s my last dying act. Crouching down I touch Evelyn’s blood with my fingers, cursing internally at the fuckers that had done this to her. The ones that have already signed their death certificates.
Something catches my eye in the back seat and I reach in to grab it. A little sad looking, I brush my hands through its softness, bringing it to my nose and taking in an intake of its scent.
My Elspeth’s bunny, left behind. She’ll be terrified without it. I promise Elspeth I’m going to tear down every building, every property that he owns until I find you all.
