The One The Whole Town Abandoned

Chapter 21 Getting Rid Of The Problem

Dominic's POV

We are running towards the house and as I get close enough, I see wires here and there to set off traps. I, of course, avoid those traps, looking around the house more for a weak spot, even though I'm sure he has traps on all those areas since he has planned this out. I look at the back door and I can tell he has it rigged up with traps as well, so I have to figure out another way in.

I'm sniffing and observing the area as I sneak around to the side and almost to the front. I can smell Ashleigh's caramel scent but I can't see her. But I do see Aurora getting to the car as Stefanie picks her up and puts her in the car, then backing up and driving off.

Aurora is in safe hands with Stefanie... Now let's get the Luna.

I inform them as I hear from the doorway, "Well, now that it's just the two of us, how do you want to spend the night? Because I have some ideas, some are sexy for me and some are fun for me... Which would you prefer?" The door gets shut and locked only a moment after that question... f*#k I have to get into there!

I can't get in through the front door now unless I bash down the door... there has got to be another way in.. maybe a basement. I'm circling the house with so much stealth when I hear a loud slap and grunting from Ashleigh.

F*#k We have to get in there. He is hurting her!

Miles says with so much panic in his voice.

We keep circling the house as I finally see a tiny window that must be for the basement. It's small and I don't know if I can fit into it, but I have to try.

The back door is rigged with traps and the front door is locked, so I'm going to try to get in through the basement window that's on the side.

I always like to make sure I never go anywhere unknown... My team always has to be up to date about my whereabouts just in case. This is just a safety issue.

Yes, Alpha, I'll try to figure out another way in, but I'm thinking I'm just going to have to go through a window or just bash down the front door since we know it's not rigged.

I hear another loud slam and gasping... I need to go now! I open the window, wedging myself into the small opening. I keep pushing myself over and over again trying to get through the tiny window. My claws dig into the soil as I push, helping give me the little bit more of help that I need.. until I finally squeeze myself through the snug opening, falling onto the basement floor and landing on a knife that stabbed through my leg.

F*#k!

Miles yells internally and I let him, as I bite the inside of my cheek so hard that I can taste the blood. I can't make a sound in here.. he can't hear I have made it inside or he might do something drastic to Ashleigh. He did set up traps down here as well, hence the knife in my leg. So I carefully get up, limping my way across the room and avoiding the other traps and weapons that are down here on the floor... Mostly just more knives.

I get to a safe spot on the stairs, so I can stop and deal with this knife in my leg... I can't shift with the knife in my leg because it will make the pain so much worse, possibly making the wound worse... So I bite at it continuously and after a minute or so, I can pull the blade out.

I hear slaps and squeals coming from above me but they sound like muffled screams. Slaps over and over again, the slaps are so loud but I don't even hear Ashleigh, which scares the hell out of me. I sneak up the rest of the stairs slowly as I come to a door. I shift into my other form so I can grip the door knob and slowly open the door for myself as quietly as possible. I shift back into Miles since I'm smaller, quieter and faster this way than my human form, just to be able to sneak through the house with all the stealth I can muster up, even with an injured leg.

I get to the hallway, and walking quietly through it looking into each room I pass.

I hear another slap and muffled cries as I hear him say, "Ooh... You think you're tough.. ok we will have to step it up a notch, huh? Since you won't scream this way to put your mate through pain, maybe I can get you to scream for your mate another way." I hear chains moving but I can't see them because I'm still just trying to navigate unseen and unheard through the house. I need to make sure I'm not noticed, especially with a wounded leg.

I hear chains constantly moving as if she is tugging on them or maybe he is. I keep sneaking through trying to figure out what room they are in. I finally get to the kitchen, and I hear. "Welp I guess it's the perfect time to see how much you missed me, huh?"

I get out from behind the wall and take a look around the room until my gaze lands on my Luna bent over and chained to the kitchen island that is in the middle of the room... His pants are all the way down as she is shirtless and her pants are being pulled down. I see her struggle trying to get out of the chains. I hear her crying as she struggles more.

You can't let this happen to her again!

Miles yells at me as I just jump out growling so loudly, getting his attention away from her.

"Hmm, I was wondering when you would show up... I was hoping to get your attention with the screams of your beloved mate in pain, but come to find out she is really strong now, surprisingly... I was planning to make her scream my name in other ways to get your attention instead. But of course, you had to show up before I could have all the fun I wanted."

I keep growling at him as he smirks at me, checking out my hurt leg, saying. "Hmmm... Alpha, did you have a hard time getting into the house or something? What you didn't like about the traps I left for you? I heard one of your men did."

I growl more as he whips his belt in his hand while he turns, quickly smacking Ashleigh with it as she lets out a muffled groan of pain.

I bark and growl so fiercely at him as I inch closer, looking for my opportunity to attack. "What?! Even though she is crying I'm pretty sure she liked it." He says still staring at me as he slaps her hard with the belt again. She squeaks in pain as I hear her crying more. I see that slap broke the skin and she is now bleeding more.

I look around and see rigged-up chains and straps everywhere around the opened-up house. He notices my gaze and comments. "You like the setup I have made? It's my little s*x cabin... I brought your mate here many a time to have some fun with her before I finally got what I wanted from her of course.. she knows this place all too well and I'm sure she missed it." He says to me as his hands gently trails up her leg and to her ass as he grabs it possessively.

I hear a banging coming from the front door. Over and over again, gaining both of our attention. He backs up away from the door and me, as he pulls his pants up. I keep inching closer to him the farther away he gets from Ashleigh. I jump up on the counter over the top of my beloved to try to protect her as much as I can right now.

I look down at her and I'm livid beyond belief at the sight I see. She has swollen welts on her back with bits of skin broken open from being whipped, but what makes me even madder, is to see the scars that look the same as the wounds she endured today.. but they are healed up, showing she had this same treatment done before.

I turn, growling at him as he laughs a malicious-sounding laugh that sends a chill down my spine as he states, "What? You don't like my artwork? It's beautiful because she will keep it with her forever, reminding her of me and the times we have had together.. just the two of us."

I'm about ready to just jump on him to tear him to shreds when I see him pulling out a gun, the same gun from before. But he is not pointing it at me, he is pointing it at Ashleigh's head, which's hanging down. I growl at him as he smirks over at me while backing up more.

A loud crash echoed through the place as the window beside us shattered. I quickly lay down on top of my luna trying to protect her from the glass flying all over the place. When I can, I look up to see Lucas has crashed through the window behind Dan and landed on top of him as he hastily shoots Lucas. I take this opportunity to jump off of the table and lock my jaw onto his arm, breaking the bone quickly as he screams in pain and he drops the gun. Nate blasts through the front door, sending shards of wood all over the room. He turns to the fight at hand, attacking Dan, by breaking his neck and killing him instantly as I held him down by his arm.

All 3 of us shift back to human form as I see Nate freezing in shock at the sight in front of him. I follow his gaze and it's locked on my beloved. You can see the scars across her back and the newly given gashes across her beautiful skin. She is bleeding and still chained to the counter, almost naked, still shaking, and silently crying. I can only see the tears hitting the ground but I can't hear them. She is so strong to be able to endure this, not just once, but multiple times. He looks so guilty, feeling as bad as I feel about sending her back here.

Man, I'm so sorry...I knew she had a rough past, but look at all the scars on her back, she has had it way worse than today... Maybe we should have kept this bastard alive just to torture him as he has done with her?

I hear this through mind link from Nate because he doesn't want to say it out loud, but he is just as mad as I am.

Nothing we can do about it now. He is dead... I'm just happy her nightmare is gone, so thank you for helping with that.

I say, trying to feel better about the situation, but I don't. I go to her, trying to undo the chains. I can't get them undone so I check out the dead body to see if he has the keys to the lock on the chains on him and he does not.

I get Nate to go to the other side of her, grabbing the chains with me as we pull them in opposite directions with all our might, breaking them apart. I throw the chains to the ground as I slowly peel the duct tape off to try to make it as painless as possible.

Her skin is bleeding around the wrists from the chains and tape around them, with the help of the pressure of her body weight on them as well.

I pick her up, flipping her torn-up and bruised body around as she feels so weak and limp in my arms after all the torture she endured. Her almost naked body is covered in blood and swollen welts and I feel bad even touching her because I'm sure it probably hurts her.

She doesn't care though, because she crashes her body into mine without hesitation and is filled with gratitude. She wraps her arms around me, snuggling into my loving clutch. She cries into my chest, as I hold her tighter to me in my protective embrace.

Words cannot describe how bad I feel for her right now... No one deserves this and to have to endure it again after how many ever times... makes me feel a hundred times worse. "I'm so sorry Ashleigh, I tried to get in sooner and I'm so sorry."

I look up to see the gazes of Nate and Lucas. They both look away as they start to grab a towel to put on Lucas' arm which has been shot.

I keep looking at the guys, making sure they are meeting my gaze before saying, "Please go grab Wes, help him out of that bear trap and we will head back and out of this hell hole."

They both nod and respond, "Yes Alpha." As they walk out of the front door, leaving us to be alone.

I can feel her shaking in my hold as she is trying to calm down. I lean in closer to her ear.

"Baby you're ok, he is gone and the Luna is gone.. all your problems are gone. Now we can be together the way we wanted. You're safe now." I coo into her ears softly, trying to help her calm.

I can tell it's starting to work a little as I continue, "You're so brave, you walked straight into your real-life nightmare to save your baby girl and she is safe and sound now, because of you. I'm sorry you had to go through this again, but now just know, you will never have to endure anything like that again. Especially if I have anything to say about it. You're safe now my love, and so is your baby.. all because of your sacrifice. You're the strongest woman I have ever met and the perfect Luna for my pack. I can't wait to take you home to be safe with me by my side, where you belong." Her breathing is almost completely calm at this point. She keeps taking deep breaths in and then letting them out.

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes and running down her face still, as she says softly to me. "Thank you for coming for me and not leaving me here."

"Of course, I would never do that to you, my love. I'm just sorry it took me that long to get to you. I tried getting in sooner but he had traps set up everywhere and I got clipped by one, but I'm so sorry.. it took longer than I wanted." I say back without hesitation as she shakes her head and replied, " It's not your fault... I made it worse on myself with him. He wanted me to scream out in pain to hurt and distract you from your task at hand. I didn't, so he hit me harder and worse to try to get it out of me. But I never gave in to his demands or games. He said it was a fun game trying to get a sound out of me and when it didn't work.. he was going to try to... you know.. to get me to scream for you... But I wasn't going to let him win this and me doing that, made things worse for myself." She says sadly to me as I now shake my head at her.

"You are so strong my love, you have endured so much and not giving in to his demands makes you so much stronger and he even said that. I couldn't be more proud of you. You're amazingly strong and never forget that." I ensure her, kissing her lips with so much passion, trying to show her how much I love her and how proud I am to call her mine. I break the kiss as I set her down on her feet gently.

I reached down, helping her pull up her pants and buttoning them for her. I stand then turn away from her, looking around the room. I see a light blanket on the couch across the room, so I quickly grab it and drape it around her body, covering her up. She still has a bra on but I still don't want anyone to see her half-naked body.

I pick her up, carry her out of the house, and walk towards the sounds of my men. We go to the right side where the guys are getting Wes out of the trap. It takes them both holding the teeth of the trap apart, just so he can slip his mangled foot out of it.

"Lucas, can you call someone to send us a vehicle since most of us are injured?" He nods and I see his eyes glazing over.

When his eyes go back to normal, he looks at me and says, "I got one of my warriors heading out here, he should be here soon and I told him to bring 4 pairs of shorts for us too." I nod at him in thanks.

Nate and Lucas help Wes stand up, being his support to walk. I'm still holding Ashleigh in my arms so she doesn't have to walk at all, she has endured enough. We walk slowly toward the front of the property together. Once we get there, we see the vehicle pulling up as a man jumps out of the driver's seat grabbing shorts for us. We keep walking up to the vehicle as the warrior opens the door for me, so I set Ashleigh down on the seat gently.

I turn around grab a pair of shorts from the warrior saying a soft "Thank you." as I slip them on. I go to the other side of the vehicle, opening the door for the guys as they help Wesley into the back. We hand him a pair of shorts as well so he can slip on. Then Nate and Lucas put on their shorts, then climbing in. I slip into the back right next to Ashleigh as she turns and snuggles into my side in silence. I wrap my arms around her, holding her so tight as if she would disappear if I even loosened my hold just a little bit.

We drove for a little bit until we got back to the pack territory. When we pull up, the Alpha is out front with his son at his side. Stefanie and Aurora are right next to them, along with some warriors. We park only for a second before we notice the Alpha that's running to the side of the car. I open the door and step out first so I can help Ashleigh out. He quickly grabs for her to pull her into him so he can hug her tight.

"Ashleigh are you ok?!" he asks her as she holds the blanket tighter to her body and responds. "I'll be fine I just need to get cleaned up and get some clothes on." As we hear from behind us. "I went to your place and packed all the stuff for you and Aurora that I could. I didn't want either of you to have to go back there. Especially with there being bad memories and blood still in your place." Stefanie says this as Ashleigh smiles and nods at her. Stefanie and Aurora are by her side at this point as they all hug her in a tight family hug. I can see she is crying, but this time I think they are happy tears.

They let her go as Aurora turns to me saying, "Daddy thank you. I love you!" I felt the tears running down my face as I pick her up, hugging her while I kiss her cheek saying, "I love you too princess." I set her down gently on the ground.

I look up at the Alpha and say, "If we can sir, can we please stay the night here and we will take off sometime tomorrow for our pack?" The Alpha looks a little sad at this, I think he wants to spend more time with Ashleigh since he now knows that's his daughter, but he agrees saying, "You can stay as long as you want... no rush out. We will have dinner ready for you, whenever you want to eat. But go get cleaned up and try to relax for a little bit and we will have you all taken care of, for at least tonight." I nod as I lead Ashleigh past everyone and into the pack house. They follow us in as I ask.

"Stefanie, can you please watch Aurora for us until I can get Ash all cleaned up?"

"Yes, of course, take good care of her and we will see you soon." I nod and wave at her as I lead Ashleigh up the stairs, getting to the room that I have been staying in. Time to get cleaned up.