The Hidden

The Family

Daniel sat in disbelief holding his trembling, weeping mate. During his life as a servant, he had never felt this type of suffering. His masters had been kind.  They had been treated with respect. His father. His father had gone crazy, power hungry when the fourth pup of the masters had been born. When her birth was celebrated and the announcement made that she would be the next Alpha leader of the pack due to the special circumstances surrounding her birth and her fated mate, his father snapped. The idea of raising the next leader and it being a female was too much. This was all his fault.  It had been his plan. It had been his anger. He was the one that convinced the servants to revolt and try to take over the pack. He wanted to kill he Alpha and Luna of the pack and their children. He wanted to take over. It all went terribly wrong. Dozens of servants died. The Alpha was injured but obviously it was not fatal. In the end, his father escaped with the baby Alpha. He expected they would be tracked quickly and would bargain the baby’s life for their own. Now here they were, 26 years later. They had mistreated that girl. His father made it clear no kindness would be shown to her and she would be treated as a servant. He wanted her to suffer as he had. He did not realize, they had never really suffered. They had enjoyable work, the work load was light. There was plenty of food, housing, medical care - in short - they had all they needed or wanted. They had good lives under a fair Alpha. Now they were going to be hunted and killed because he could not just give them the damn girl. He made them send Meagan. Spoiled, sweet Meagan would cry when she was younger because she wanted to play with Dyann. She wanted to do chores with Dyann. Now she would be killed because she helped hide Dyann. As his mate cried he came to a decision, he would take Dyann home and he would accept the consequences. As long as he saved Meagan, he believed his mate would survive his death. Even if she did not, at least Meagan would have a chance at a life and finding her mate and being happy. It was worth whatever happened to him. Honestly, Dyann deserved those things too. She should have found her mate years ago. They had robbed that girl of so much. 

He whispered to Annie, “I will fix this. I am taking her home.”  With that he peeled his wife off of himself and headed upstairs. His parents were still yelling and screaming. His mother was cruel. She had wanted to kill Dyann years ago and now she was enraged. She was arguing to kill the girl and send her body back home. Thank god his father still had enough sense to say no. 

Daniel slipped upstairs and tapped on Dyann’s door. There was no answer so he knocked again. When he opened the door to her empty room he was puzzled but not overly  concerned. She was in the bathroom.  As he walked to the bathroom down the hall he realized Meagans door was open. He stepped inside feeling overwhelming sadness. Then he saw the open window. He called for Annie and raced back to Dyann’s room. She did not have many belongings and it was easy to see they were gone. She was gone. The girl ran away. Without her he could not bargain for Meagans life. Annie appeared in the doorway and sensed the trouble through their bond. She burst into a fresh wave of tears and collapsed. 

He had to find her. He had to track her down and tell her the truth. He had to make her understand. 

He kissed Annie’s head and walked her to their room. Once he had her tucked in and resting, he was heading to the car. His father stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?  Don’t you think we need to talk?”

Daniel huffed. “I’m going to find her and take her home.”

“What do you mean ‘find her’?”

“I mean, she is gone. You have tortured that girl and drove her away. Now I have to find her before I can use her to save my child.”  His voice broke. He was trying to hold it together. 

“We are going to find her and kill her. We will send her body back and when they kill Meagan, we will attack!  I’ll have my revenge.”

Daniel lost it. His canines became more pronounced and his claws began to grow. He could feel the familiar itch of skin stretching to allow the shift. His wolf was taking over. “Revenge for what?” He screamed. “We had a good life. We were treated well. They did nothing to you! You are killing my daughter and for what?” He was growling and he knew he could not control his wolf much longer. 

His father started showing the same signs of shifting. His wolf was closer to the surface and all but unstable. “They took everything from me and gave me nothing”, he was growling. He was visibly shaking. “They allowed my brother to improve, to move up, they made him a warrior!  They gave me nothing!”

Daniel turned to leave. “Im going.”

His father ran at him and shifted mid air. He landed just short of his target and scratched Daniel down the back. Daniel completed his shift as he turned. He went after his father. All of his pain and anger poured out. He viciously attacked. If it wasn’t for his mother intervening he would have killed the old man. As it was, his father was injured. His mother was screaming. His wife was sleeping off her shock and grief. All Daniel had left was to put on fresh clothes and begin his search for Dyann. It was his only chance to save Meagan.