Reclaiming Herself—Completed

Chapter Ten

Patrick.

Practically jolting out of his seat, Patrick was awoken by a very loud thud. Looking up, he met the eyes of his beta, Matthew. Groaning, he reached for his phone and saw that it read only 5:45 in the morning.

“Why?” he grumbled.

“Because you are out of control.”

“What do you mean?”

Matthew sighed and plopped himself down on the couch, clearly exasperated. He shook his head at his alpha.

“It’s been a week. Have you even showered? The Alpha Summit is tomorrow night. You need a real night’s sleep before we go! You need–”

Patrick interrupted, “I get it. Can we skip the lecture today?”

“Only if you’re going to take me seriously.”

“I always take you seriously,” Patrick countered.

Matthew raised his eyebrows and gave his alpha a look. “Is that where we’re going with this conversation right now? For real?”

“What?” Patrick asked innocently.

“You can fool the pack, but you can’t fool ya boy. I know you’re worried about your mate being with Richard. And you want to save her and whoever else is trapped in that goddess forsaken pack, but dude, you have to make sure that you’re going to make it to that point.”

Patrick nodded. “I know. I know…”

“You need to take care of yourself for her now. Half the plans you’ve concocted have been…less than ideal. You can’t rush into this.”

“What if I can’t get to her in time? What if he sells her off before I have a chance to get to her, and I don’t know where she goes? What if she gets into trouble? Or some guy touches her? Or–”

“Pat, man, you can’t go down that road. You can’t let yourself think the worst and worry about what you don’t know. Yes, she’s in a s**t situation with a completely f****d up alpha, but he may not even think twice about her. You don’t know.”

“Then why the hell was she kept in a cell that had a silver door? What was that all about?”

Matthew shook his head. “Again, dude, you’re over-thinking all of this. You don’t know that she was the only one in there.”

“There wasn’t another scent. Just hers.”

“My man!” Matthew chuckled. “I bet you were so blinded and shocked by her scent that any other woman’s scent wouldn’t even register. I’m sure she’s just fine and is probably flying under the radar. Above all, you need to let this go, at least until we can figure this out. We need a solid plan of attack and maybe even approach the New Council with our suspicions before we can just barge in and attack. And save your girl.”

Patrick rubbed a hand through his hair and stared at the papers piling up on his desk. “I just want to be enough for her. I was to be there for her. I want her here, where she’s safe, and I can get to know her and love her. I almost gave up on her being real and out there, and then to stumble upon her in the manner in which I did just breaks my heart. If he hurts her in any way, not even the Moon Goddess will be able to save him from me.”

“I know, dude. I’ve seen you when you’re in full on alpha mode. All I’m saying, at least for this moment, is to put your mind at ease enough to sleep for tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, especially since you already hate these shin-digs as it is.”

“Well, they aren’t for discussing real matters anymore. When my dad told me about the Alpha Summit when I was young, he always talked about how long the meetings were, and how dedicated the alphas were to bettering their packs and relationships with each other. This is just a party all for show now. We don’t discuss anything of note. We don’t actually talk to each other. It’s just the lunas trying to impress one another and alphas just showing off. It’s sickening. It’s the worst day of the year, if you ask me. It’s a waste of time.”

Matthew stood. “Yeah, you say this every year. I could practically quote you at this point. But, can you promise me one thing?”

“Maybe.”

“Take the rest of the day to relax. Let Aero out for a run or something. Don’t stay cooped up in here pouring over a plan that may or may not work. Freaking sleep in a bed once this week. Just, take care of yourself, man. For her, for your luna.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Alright. I’ll go sleep, right now.”

Walking towards the door, Matthew grinned at his friend and clapped him on the back when Patrick came nearer the door.

“Thank you for being my luna stand in,” Patrick laughed.

“Anytime. Though, I can’t wait until she can take the title from me. You’re a lot to handle,” Matthew chuckled back.

Exiting his office, Patrick watched his friend for a moment before heading back up to his room, stripping, and crashing into his bed. His body was exhausted, more than he had even realized. He was asleep before he could even fully question why he hadn’t slept in his incredibly comfortable bed all week.

“Help! Please, someone, anyone! Help!” a voice called out.

All around him hundreds of faceless women called out for help, for Patrick to help them. They reached their arms out, their hands grasping onto his shoulders, his hands, his torso, his legs. Every inch of his body was being pulled in different directions.

“Please, just help us. You’ve helped so many others. Why aren’t you helping us? Why have you forgotten about us? Do we mean so little to you? Will you let him sell us? And f**k us? And kill us? We are the forgotten ones, the hidden ones, the ones you failed.”

“I’m so sorry!” he shouted back at the faces. “I’m trying! Just give me a little more time! That’s all I need. Just a little more time.”

“It’s too late. You’ve failed us. You’ve failed her.”

“No! No, I’m sorry. I’ve only just found out about her. But, I’m doing everything in my power to get to her, to save her! I’ve made so many plans to save her and save you all.”

“It isn’t enough!” the voices shouted back.

Patrick fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. The women pressed in on him, breathing down on him and continuing to pull him in different directions. He felt like his body was being pulled apart.

Suddenly, the women stopped. A spotlight lit up in front of him and beamed down on a lone woman. She was lying on her side, face down. Her red, fiery hair was covering her face, and she was wearing a bright white silk gown. Her hands were tied behind her back and her feet were as well.

“Help her,” the voices sang at him. “Save her.”

“I will. I want to,” Patrick pleaded back at them.

“Help her before it’s too late. She won’t last much longer,” the women shouted at him over and over again.

Patrick covered his ears as the voices grew louder and sharper until everything was silenced. Looking around, all the women were on the floor beside him. All of them were dead, with their eyes plucked out and their hands tied together. Blood covered the floor, and when Patrick looked down at his own hands, he saw them covered in their blood. In her blood.

“It’s all your fault,” one voice cut into his head. “It’s all your fault.

Patrick woke up, breathing heavily. Sweat was pouring down his brow and his sheets were stuck to his body. His head was pounding. The room was completely dark, so he groped around on his bed side table for his phone. Once he found it, he tapped it in order to see the time, which read 8:23 at night. His eyes shot up in surprise as he realized he’d slept for over 12 hours. He really hadn’t been taking good care of himself.

Rolling out of bed, he made his way over to the bathroom and turned on the shower. His thoughts began wandering to the party the next night and what it would entail. He wasn’t looking forward to the small talk with the other alphas and pretending like everything was amazing in the werewolf world.

Things weren’t wonderful. There was a growing, seedy underbelly that the New Council was purposefully turning a blind eye towards. Patrick couldn’t understand why they didn’t strike the black market down. Innocent lives were being stolen and ruined because of their ignorance or avoidance.

“It’s all your fault.”

Patrick jumped, looking all around. He quickly finished showering and practically ran out of the bathroom, wrapping his towel around his waist. He stumbled into the bedroom and checked all around it. Finding no one, he let out a hesitant and shaky breath.

“I must be losing my mind,” he mumbled.

Like forever ago.

Patrick rolled his eyes and ignored his wolf. He didn’t need to take his wolf’s sass today.

Yeah, don’t care. Imma give you my opinion whether you want it or not. Comes with the territory of being a werewolf. Also, you can’t save them all.

“What do you mean?” he replied to his wolf, unable to help himself.

You’re letting your subconscious guilt trip you into believing that it’s your job to save every single woman, child, person imprisoned by the black market. Yes, it’s unfortunate, but it’s not your personal job to save them all.

Patrick was quiet and contemplative. He knew his wolf was right to some extent, but he couldn’t help but feel responsible for helping everyone he could.

“Hey Matty,” Patrick mind-linked.

“Yessir,” he responded immediately.

“What are you doing? What’s happening? I’ve been out for a while, did I miss anything?”

A moment passed before Matthew replied, “Well, I knew you needed your sleep, so please don’t be mad.”

“Tell me, now.”

“There’s someone here to see you, and, uh, he has a lot of information you’re going to want to hear.”

Patrick frowned as he dressed in a simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. He didn’t like Matthew’s tone because he knew his beta was still hiding something.

“Where are you?” he asked through the continued mind-link.

“Your office.”

Patrick was out of his room seconds later and arrived at his office in record time. His heart was beating wildly, and for a moment, he believed that perhaps his mate had happened into his pack somehow.

Barging into his own office, he saw Matthew standing over another man, who was sitting on the couch, nervously bouncing his leg.

Matthew turned with a broad grin, “Alpha,” he greeted.

Patrick nodded towards the two but remained silent. He took in the man, with his skinny frame and bruised face. His brown eyes looked timid, and his hair was unevenly shaven. His clothes were patchy and dirty, and clearly did not fit him. All in all, he looked beaten down and broken, and Patrick felt for the man.

“Alpha, sir,” the man said, standing abruptly and bowing.

Patrick held out a hand and shook his head. “There’s no need for any of that here. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

The man shook his hand and nodded, saying, “My name is Caleb, sir, and I’m from the Silver Sliver. I’ve come to help you take down Richard Degrano.”