Her Mortal Mate

Chapter One: Taken

Jadea

I don't know why I was having flashbacks of that time, when I was younger and we had been taken into that horrible, hellish place. Maybe it had something to do with the emotional and mental state I was currently in. I knew I was depressed. Emotionally drained. Tired. Hurting. Lovesick. The trauma and devastation that happened last year had poisoned most of the past several months, making my heart bleed black with a saddened sickness.

Walking away from Adam, my mate, last July had been the hardest thing I had ever had to do. He hadn’t been ready for a relationship and, at the time, I couldn’t abandon my own responsibilities to stick around and wait for him.

I had known he wasn't ready to join my world. He had demons he had to face on his own. Wounds and past traumas to work through. I'd tried helping him face them last year when we first met. I had even put him in contact with a trusted therapist. But at every turn and road block we faced, we were always pushed back to square one. He had been on the fence about us from the beginning. And that was okay. It just meant I had to give him space and time to figure out what he wanted without me hovering. Without me pushing him towards something I wanted. We both needed to want this. Otherwise it wouldn’t work.

And so, I'd left California. I chose to give him space to work on himself. I chose to give him time to truly figure out what he wanted in this life. I decided not to be selfish. When it came to us, I wanted him to willingly choose us. I didn't want him to feel as if he had been forced or coerced in some way. Not after the abuse he had suffered at his ex wife's hands.

And so, after our time in California, my pack and I went home to start our healing process after the devastating hunt of the evil immortal, Valdis.

We had initially gone to California to hunt him. My wolves and I were a specialized pack who hunted and killed immortals who had turned to evil and were terrorizing the mortal and/or immortal world. We cleaned up crime scenes, to ensure the immortal world wouldn’t be exposed. We eliminated those beings who became the nightmares that terrorized the night.

The last immortal we hunted had been Valdis. He had been a vampire immortal half breed—a half human, half vampire being. Half breeds were more volatile when it came to falling into that evil spectrum. Something in their genetic makeup made them more prone to turning to the darkness if they didn’t find their mate in time. Each half breed’s internal time clock was different, and therefore, couldn’t really be predicted. It honestly came down to the individual.

Most half breeds knew when they were approaching that terrible precipice and had a plan in place for someone they knew to help them end their life before they fell to the darkness. However, some couldn’t face death. Some weren’t strong enough. And those were the beings we hunted most.

Hunting Valdis had been detrimental to both my pack’s mental and physical health. He had been a half breed vampire who'd fallen into the darkness and became the monster of mortal nightmares. He had hunted and killed dozens of innocent children across the United States for over a year. Me and my pack of wolves had been hunting him since his first killing spree in Maine. He had escaped us at every turn. Had set traps to try and kill us along the way. He'd chosen specific targets to get to us, to get under our skin. It had been a game to him. For a time, we hadn't been affected. But everything seemed to change in California.

We had hired Adam as a temporary escort. We were flying under the radar, using our band as an alias. We had told Adam we wanted to explore the sights, to wind down and work on our new album without drawing the media’s attention which would keep us out of the spotlight. While behind the scenes, we hunted the fallen vampire.

Honestly, Adam had been a blessing in disguise. He had taken his job seriously and had ensured we were all taken care of. It had become complicated when we decided to get intimate and from that intimacy he had started connecting the dots. Things had gotten tense and a little messy for a minute, especially when Blade, my omega, had taken it upon himself to take matters into his own hands and almost killed Adam over a misunderstanding. Thankfully, things had smoothed themselves out and no one had gotten hurt.

My pack and I had done our damnedest to kill Valdis. We had lost so much of ourselves during our time hunting him. We had been worn down. Depressed. Overwhelmed, even before we went to California. But, in California, it got bad. Real bad. We started making mistakes because of our mental health. We were careless.

In an attempt to ensure none of us were killed, I'd set pride aside and asked for help. I reached out to Lucien, my father, who was the Immortal Councilor in charge of the hunting packs, and asked for another pack to take over the hunt. It had been our first time backing out of a hunt.

Two packs had been sent to take our place. Unfortunately, they’d underestimated Valdis and what he was capable of. On their second hunt, Valdis set a trap and killed several of the wolves. My pack and I had had no option. We'd had to step in. We'd had no choice. And in all the chaos that ensued, Adam's daughter had been kidnapped by Valdis. He had taken her as his next and final victim.

Luckily we had gotten to her in time.

Luckily, we had been able to utilize all of our resources and we had been able to end him.

There had been a lot of mistakes made. A lot of unspoken rules and laws crossed in order to see the damn evil vampire dead.

Shortly after my pack and I had returned home, the real s**t show began.

We were summoned to the North American Immortal Council, where we were tried for several deeds of misconduct. Mostly against one of the packs who'd been sent to take over the hunt for us. They claimed we withheld information. They claimed I had intentionally murdered their alpha. They claimed a lot of things. Months of trials ensued. Months of stating and restating the truths, of reliving the horrible moments extended and interrupted our healing process. My pack and I really hadn't had the time we needed to heal, not when we were forced to dig up the hurtful past every few weeks.

Finally, it all ended. We were charged with one small charge. We were given a slap on the wrist. And then we were free to go on our merry way.

Throughout this, my pack and I decided to retire from the hunting business. I'd decided to run for my father's place in the North American Immortal Council. He was in charge of the world's hunting packs. He was the one who determined which packs were the best to hunt certain immortals who'd turned to the darkness. He was the one who ultimately made the hard calls. And he was retiring.

I'd wanted to get out of the active hunting aspect in order to ensure the safety of Adam and his two children whenever he was ready to come back to me. If that was what he wanted.

While I was pursuing that, my pack focused on our other job: writing and producing songs for our band Knight Necromancers. They’d written and recorded an album full of songs, using our own music and some of the tracks Adam had made for us.

Adam, when he was young and reckless, had been in a band himself. He’d wanted to get back into the music industry and we had been that ‘foot in the door’ prospect for him. After some calls had been made, and some good words put in for him, Adam had been given an opportunity to work in a music studio after his time with us.

My pack, after building our album, had then started working with our sponsors and agents to get a tour put together. After making the right calls and booking all of the events, it was announced that Knight Necromancers would be touring the world once again, with our final concert ending in California—the state where everything had started and ended for me.

It had been set up that way on purpose, even if my pack mates claimed innocence. They had been hopeful Adam would get wind of our tour ending in California and call.

Once the tour was over, I would have a small break before I would have to really start campaigning for the spot in the Immortal Council.

The tour in its entirety had been fantastic. Lots of money had been made. Not that I really needed it. I was already a billionaire thanks to who my father was and the position he held within the Immortal Council. The hunting job I'd held had added another million to it and the band's income was raking in even more. I only took a small cut and divvied out the rest to my other packmates.

During the tour, I'd been able to lose myself in the fame and fortune circle once again. I'd been able to momentarily forget the hurt I was suffering from and embrace the lifestyle and culture. Interacting with our fans and listening to their stories had boosted my moral.

But the instant we had landed in California... My entire mood shifted.

I was ready to go home. And not home to Wyoming. Not to the house and farm I'd built with my pack.

No.

I wanted to go home to Adam.

But he hadn't reached out to me, and I refused to break. I refused to go to him because I didn't want to set any of his progress back if he wasn't ready to see me.

It had only taken seconds for everything to change though. When my phone rang, and I saw Adam's name pop up on my screen, my heart had leapt in joy.

The instant I'd answered the call, though, my whole entire world shifted.

It wasn't Adam who had been calling. It was someone who had taken his phone. Someone who had kidnapped him and was holding him for ransom.

"It doesn't matter who I am. All you need to know is that if you do not step down as your father's replacement, Adam will be shipped to you in pieces."

The voice rang through my head.

His threat angering me beyond reproach. I was scared for Adam. I was terrified for his children. I didn't know if they'd captured or killed Aidan and Anika. I didn't know anything other than they had him. And they were going to use him against me.

I was glad I had my pack there to support me. To rally around me.

They loved Adam and his children just as much as I did. Even though he wasn't officially a part of our pack, we still viewed them as family.

They meant a lot to us.

"I'll grab the go pack," Garret announced turning on his heel to rush inside.

"I'll find us an inconspicuous way out of here," Blade added, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"I'll call Mrs. Lindsay to see if she knows anything," Derrick said, turning to go back inside, presumably to get his phone.

Mrs. Lindsay, during our time in California when we had been hunting Valdis, had been hired as the nanny. We had provided many job perks to Adam when he had come to work for us. One of them being paid child care. Mrs. Lindsay had been our first pick because her son was mated to a werewolf. She had been exposed to our world because of that. She was aware of who we were and would understand the abrupt changes in the children’s care based off of Valdis’s movements. She wouldn’t ask questions and she could also provide better protection for the children if Valdis had outright attacked them.

"And I'll contact Sargent Moore. I'll have him do a wellness check of Adam's apartment," Briar stated, pulling out her phone too.

Sargent Moore… If the situation we had found ourselves in wasn’t quite so dire, I might have been tempted to laugh. He had been the main detective working the “Dracula” cases—Dracula being the nickname the media and public had given Valdis due to his signature marks on his victims—and had turned his attention and resources towards us because we had been present at each active location Valdis had killed at. In Maine. Colorado. California, etc. Someone had tipped him off to that information, giving him a detailed list comparing dates, times and places where we had been in conjunction with several serial killers prior to Valdis.

Due to that information, Sargent Moore had tailed us, bugged the house we had been staying in, interrogated us and much more, trying to prove we were guilty. However, he’d ultimately found himself in the crosshairs and had been accidentally exposed to the immortal world. He had been one of the lucky few to remain alive and cognizant of the events and to retain his knowledge of the immortal realm.

“Thank you Briar. I’m going to head downstairs and find a spot for us to shift safely,” I stated. I would also reach out to my father and let him know I would need help, that I would need some extra support for this endeavor. “I'll meet you all downstairs," I stated in their minds telepathically, connecting all of us so we could easily converse with one another at will while we got ready for the hunt.

I snuck out of the party and quickly made my way down the stairs.

"I've got our route," Blade announced, opening his mind to us and showing everyone the route we would take into Modesto.

In our wolf form we would be able to cut across farmland and such. The route he'd chosen would cut down on a lot of time. "Good. Thank you Blade."

I walked out into the crisp, ocean air. We were staying at a hotel practically on the shoreline. I quickly made my way to a dark spot and looked around. This would be a good place to shift. We would be hidden well enough that no one from the line of hotels, houses and businesses would see us shift. And, at the moment, there wasn't anyone walking the beach.

I quickly knelt down and dug a deep hole in the sand before stripping and placing my clothes into the hole to hide. Taking one last look around, I shifted into my wolf form and then reached out to my father.

"Hey squirt, what's up?"

Lucien, my adoptive father, tried aiming for a light tone, but he couldn't hide his concern. I never reached out to him like this unless it was an emergency. "Someone's taken Adam, and they're threatening him harm if I don't back out of the race for the Immortal Council position."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to hunt them down."

"Alright. What do you need?"

I loved how he got right down to business. There was no consolations. No unnecessary talk.

What did I need? I wouldn't really know until I got to Adam's to assess the damage. To see if I recognized any of the scents. I had to presume it was someone I knew who was threatening me. It could possibly even be the pack who had pursued legal action against me. "I don't know," I deflated tersely, momentarily breaking, my focus shifting away from the hunt and refocusing on everything I had to lose. I couldn't lose Adam or his children. Not like this.

Had I done the right thing by letting him go? If I wouldn't have walked away, would he and his children be safe right now? Or would this have happened inevitably?

The what if's were killing me slowly inside.

"Breathe, Jadea," he commanded softly. I held my head up to the sky and closed my eyes and breathed. I needed to keep myself together until I had Adam safely back in my arms. Only then could I break apart. "I'll send Caden and a small team."

"Send Rick. I'll need a strong tracker."

"I'll send Andy too. Together it shouldn't take them long to track him and his children down."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet, squirt. Let's just focus on getting your mate back alive. Tell me what you and your pack are doing right now?"

It helped me focus. Helped me get back into the hunting mindset by giving him a step by step analysis of what we were doing and what our first steps would be. It helped me pass the time while I waited impatiently for the others. "Good. You've got a solid plan in place so far. Make sure Briar brings her phone, that way when Sargent Moore calls you back, you'll have a better idea of what you are walking into. Be safe. Caden and the others will be on their way shortly. They should be to you by mid morning at the latest. I'll have him reach out to you when he gets closer." When I couldn't quite form the words I wanted to say, he continued on in a softer, gentler tone, "You'll get him back, Jadea. I know you will."