The Shifter and Her Human Mate

Chapter 8

Daniel Gallagher's POV

"I will never understand how they captured her again at the airport! Typical Ellie, just has to primp and look at herself before all else!" Audra's fussing and downright spite towards our daughter was making her more unbearable than usual.

"Audra please, the more you do this the more you are distracting me. I need to focus and try to find out where she went." I attempted to placate my wife as I searched a never-ending log of flights.

"You foolish man! You give that girl all the freedom she wants, let her run wild, and now look at the consequences! OUR DAUGHTER IS..."

"MISSING! I KNOW AUDRA! And I'm trying to f*****g find her if you can stop your complaining and putting her down for five bloody minutes!!!" Audra stood back in shock.

"You have never yelled at me like this Daniel! You see what she has done to us?!" Audra started to cry but I wasn't falling for it. Waterworks are another manipulative strategy of my mate's. And I took great offence to her last sentence!

"ELLIE didn't do anything but make a bad choice. Bloody hell, you were eighteen once Audra! I know damn well you made stupid choices too. But your mother was always there to pick you up! Don't you DARE accuse Ellie of our issues right now!!" I pointed my finger at my wife. Audra raised her chin at me in defiance.

"BULLS**T! My mother would have given me a thrashing had I acted the way Ellie does!"

"No she wouldn't have Audra, but that's neither here nor there! No matter how far I have to go, I am GOING to find our daughter! But God help me woman, if you are anything but kind and supportive when I find Ellie and bring her home, I will reject you!!" Audra let out a loud wail.

"You would choose your daughter over your own mate!!" Audra shouted at me..

"Without hesitation! I'm fed up with it Audra!! Nothing me or Ellie do is ever good enough for you! I can take your lashing out and your hateful words! But I'm TIRED of you constantly treating your own daughter like your worst enemy! Ellie was f*****g TAKEN by people who want to use her for who knows what! Now you get it together, ACT LIKE A MOTHER OR GET THE HELL BACK TO BELFAST!" Audra gasped and ran out of the room, opening the door to a pale-faced John. Judging from the look on his face, he heard the screaming match between me and my wife.

"I can go, Daniel." John tried to go but I stopped him.

"All that needed to be said. Audra and I have been having problems for a long time, John. She's just wanting someone to blame and Ellie has always been her easiest target." I explained.

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"That last part, what Audra said about her mother. How do you know she isn't telling the truth?"

"Because Audra's mother practically raised me. Audra and I grew up together, John. We realized we were mates before we even turned eighteen. I've never once seen her mother Mary Malone raise her voice, much less her hand unless it was warranted. There were screaming matches that I witnessed, but Mary was usually the one to stop them before they went too far. Audra doesn't know when to stop and can't see when she's in the wrong."

"You say you are mates. What does that mean?"

"It's the person our Fae Goddess pairs us with for the rest of our lives. They are the air we breathe, our soulmates. We feel when they are in pain, when they are sad, and our lives are intertwined in a way not many will ever understand." I explained to John.

"I heard you threaten to reject Audra if she kept treating Ellie badly. Does that mean you would divorce her?"

"Audra and I are married legally, but marriage and divorce are only on paper amongst us Faes. Rejecting our mates means we are breaking the bond the Goddess Aine created for us. It is not taken lightly and once done, especially among us our kind, it's irreversible. And we seldom get a second chance. I didn't make that threat idly. Audra has pushed me to my limits the last few years and I'm starting to see her for who she really is. She isn't the woman I fell head over heels for any longer. And to be honest John, I'm not sure that woman ever really existed." I confessed, a weight being lifted and finally saying the words out loud.

Audra and I have known each other since we were children. I first felt the mate bond to her the day I turned 18, and waited another two years to claim her when she came of age. We have been together for the last twenty-five years and the last seven or so, things have fallen apart to a point I don't know they can be fixed. I'll never know how or why, because Audra can't communicate her needs with me.

No one wants to lose their mates. But I don't want to lose my daughter because her own mother can't stop being such a cruel and spiteful person.

"I'm sorry Daniel. I really don't know what to say other than maybe getting counseling, if that's a thing in your world."

"It is, there are Fae counselors that help with strained mate bonds. But I don't think that will help. Audra is set on her ways. She'll never change. But you didn't come here to play my counselor, Daniel." I smiled at him ruefully.

"I found out some information." John pulled out his laptop and sat down next to me on the couch. "I was able to get the security cameras from the airport around the time Ellie missed her flight. Look who I caught!"

It was the same blonde woman who Ellie had taken a picture at the club of the night she disappeared! "This woman must know what Ellie can really do. That means she's too valuable to them. But the blonde isn't acting alone. Even though it's just a picture, I can tell she's a low level Fae."

"No, she's not. The camera caught this next pic and there is someone else." This time, there was a much older gentleman with Ellie and the blonde. Dread filled me until I realized Ellie didn't look scared. She looked determined.

I inspected that airport bathroom very carefully when Ellie didn't make her flight. There was no struggle, but I knew Ellie had been there. That told me Ellie went willingly because she wanted to stop those who took her.

My girl wasn't doing anything differently than I would have done.

John and I learned much from those photos Ellie had taken the night she disappeared. When I realized the women were Fae, I reached out to my friends Aiden and Anthony Starr. They were actually coming to New Orleans as part of another investigation and when I told them Ellie was taken by a possible supernatural tr*f*icker, they were all too happy to help me.

The older brunette woman was Ariana Boudreaux of Covington, Louisiana. She was the chief matchmaker of Sherman's Ladies, a legal brothel that managed to skirt just above the law. Its main proprietor, Marshall Sherman, dealt strictly in supernatural matchmaking which proved lucrative and made him very rich. According to the Starr brothers, Marshall had a supernatural ability no one really knew much about. No one knew what kind of supernatural he was, just that Marshall had powers that made many shake in their shoes. Ariana's were much weaker overall, and we surmised either Marshall blackmailed her into helping him or she was helping him as a favor.

The blonde was Simone Dupree, banished out of the Fae Kingdom here in the states by King Arlen. Simone's story was he banished her because she killed her abusive fated mate to be with another man. But that wasn't true. Simone was banished and maimed by King Arlen because she was the adulteress. She seduced her lover into killing her fated mate with stories of being physically ab*sed. King Arlen saw right through her, had her lover executed and gave Simone the choice to die or save herself. Whether the King didn't tell her he was going to maim her before Simone made her choice, only he knows.

My phone rang and I didn't recognize the number. "This is Daniel."

"Daniel Gallagher?" A melodic male voice greeted me.

"Yes, speaking."

"This is King Arlen Miller. I have someone who wants to speak to you." I cried out, because I knew before my daughter even spoke.

"Da! Tá mé ceart go leor! Cá bhfuil tú! (I'm alright! Where are you?!")

"Ellie, where are you! We will catch the next flight wherever you are!!" Ellie sobbed, and I heard King Arlen take the phone.

"Mr. Gallagher, I have chartered a plane to fly you and your wife here to my kingdom to collect Ellie. It should be there at any moment." King Arlen gave me the location of where the plane would be.

"Your Majesty, I will never be able to express my gratitude...."

"I have much to tell you, Mr. Gallagher, when you arrive."

"Is Ellie harmed, Your Majesty?" I asked the King.

"No, she's healthy and eager to be reunited with all of you. We will see you soon." I got off the phone and sobbed in relief as John came up behind me.

"She's fine, John. Can you come with me to the Fairy Kingdom to collect her?"

"Of course, if your King will allow me in. But what about Audra?" There was a softness to John's face I had never seen before. Perhaps it was relief at Ellie being found.

I checked my phone and saw that I had received a text from Audra while on the phone with King Arlen.

"Took your advice and am going back home to think things over. I am boarding now." Secretly. I was relieved. Because the last thing Ellie needed was to have the woman who SHOULD be on her side the most screaming about the "inconveniences" Ellie's disappearance caused.

"Well, it looks like Audra is going back to Belfast. Come along, John. I need all the help I can get!" John followed me to find a cab and we made it to the location with just a few minutes to spare. Four hours later, we were descending into the Pacific Northwest where a white SUV waited for us.

A tall blonde man with a petite redhead came out of the vehicle. I knew immediately he had to be the King. The redhead was a human but as I stared at her, I realized she was much more.

"Mr. Gallagher, welcome to my kingdom! I am King Arlen, and this is my mate and Queen, Brynn." I bowed and thankfully, John followed suit fast.

"We will take you to Ellie soon, but we need to make you aware of some things before we do. I'll let my Queen tell you what transpired first." The redhead looked up to me and John.

"Your daughter saved my life. The man chasing her knows her full power now. And rest assured, he is never going to stop until he gets her!"

"How do you know this?" I asked the Queen.

"The man who took your daughter is my grandfather. In name only. I've never actually met him until today when Ellie saved me."

"What else do I need to know?" The wheels are spinning. Marshall is a hardened criminal with vast resources. From experience, I know the only way Ellie has a chance is to stay completely hidden.

I turned to the only man in the world I'd trust with my daughter. "John. I really need your help."