Lost

Reprisal

                                                                                     ENZO

        Calling out as I kick through the front door, rushing to search, I hear her grunt and go completely silent.

        Sniffing the air, the iron and metallic scent of her blood fills my nostrils, igniting my rage.

        Did he just hit her?

        Running through the house, I get to the back door in seconds but they’re already through the trees.

        Shifting into my wolf, I let out a howl, so Ash knows I found her and am chasing them. Just as I’m gaining on them, I feel a sharp prick in between my shoulders. My blood feels like acid rushing through my veins, the most pain I’ve ever felt. It takes a minute to go away, by then I’ve shifted back and everything is so blurry I can barely walk. Men appear on both sides, grabbing my arms and dragging me along quickly.

                                                                                     ASHER

        When Bailey screamed, I whipped my head around and saw a figure standing behind her. White hot fury engulfed me, but I had to keep my head on straight. I used my mental link to tell Enzo to keep her safe while I chased after the men we were talking to.

        They used Bailey’s scream as a distraction and ran. Eventually catching up and tackling one to the ground, I drag him back to the bar, tying him up. Hearing Enzo howl, my anxiety lessened… until I tried to link with him, and was only able to connect for seconds, what he did say was incoherent at best.

        Grabbing my father, Val, and Elias, along with some of my gammas, we go to Town Hall.

        Alright. You’re the Alpha, this is serious. You can’t let your emotions get the best of you. You need to be rational and logical right now.

        Mate. Save. Mate.

        Bailey. Mate. Save.

        Angry. Kill. Save.

        Kill. Kill. All.

        I know, we’re both angry. We will save Bailey, killing every last one of those men, but we have to do this right. We can’t just go running after them not knowing where they are or what they want. Trust me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

        “This is what we know – four men got away, the one we got tied up’s officially a prisoner. Bailey and Enzo have been captured – “

        “Enzo’s been captured too?” Val interjects, shocked that her cousin even could be captured.

        I am too. The way he sounded… they must’ve drugged him somehow.

        “Yes, I believe he was drugged. Bring in the prisoner.”

        Ethan and Noel, two of my most trusted gammas, throwing him on the floor next to the table.

        “Where are your friends taking her?” I ask, sitting him up against the table. More like shoving him against the table, but I mean, he upright now. Same thing.

        “I-I don’t know.”

        Before I can control myself, I’m on top of him, punching repeatedly. My father has to pull me off him and calm me down.

        So much for not letting my emotions control me.

        “Let me try.” Elias steps in, crouching down in front of him. Placing one hand on his forehead, the other on his chest. The guy tries desperately to squirm out from under his touch as he chants in some language I don’t understand, fingertips starting to glow a bright green against his skin.

        “Where are they taking her?” Elias’s voice is smooth, comforting.

        “I don’t know. Only the two in charge know.”

        “Why do they want Bailey?”

        “They were given money to bring her somewhere to hand off to someone else.”

        “Who?” I shout at him, jumping into his face.

        Elias shoots me a glare and asks again.

        “I don’t know his name. An alpha from up north.”

        “Dorian…” hatred and anger seep from my voice like poison.

        Walking over to the window, I look outside and try to think of what to do.

        “Ask him if they have any weapons.” I hear Val say.

        “Elias,” I call out, turning around once I’d gotten myself under control. “this spell you’re using, what exactly does it do?”

        Turning on his heels, he looks up at me and smiles.

        “Essentially he has to tell the truth, answering any question I ask him to the best of his ability. Can’t lie or hide something even if he wants to, the only thing he can’t tell us is what he doesn’t know.”

        “Ask him to tell us everything about their plan. What they brought with them, how many people other than the four we saw were included, weapons, magic, traps, etc.”

        Turning back around, he does what I asked. I mind link my father and tell him I’m going to the house to go through some of Bailey’s stuff, see if there’s anything that could help.

                                                                                    BAILEY

        My head is throbbing, it takes so much effort just to open my eyes. When I finally get them open, I don’t recognize anything and I’m locked in some kind of cage. Looking around, it reminds me of a barn, there’s hay everywhere, but it looks more like a work shed than a barn… just with barn stuff in it. I don’t know. Everything’s still fuzzy, but I’m trying to focus as much possible.

        How did I get here?

        Where is here?

        Before I can answer either question running through my head, I hear a groan. Looking around the room I find nothing.

        After a few seconds I hear another groan, this time I hear floorboards shifting too. Focusing on the direction of the noises, I search for something – anything.

        Then I find it.

        Enzo.

        When he comes further into view, I see he’s not in a cage, but his wrists are bound, and ankle chained to the wall.

        What the f**k is going on?

        That’s when it hits me – everything.

        Ugh. No wonder my cheek hurts.

        Where did that creep take us?

        “Hey,” I whisper quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear. “Enzo. You okay?”

        Grunting, he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck before looking up at me.

        He sure does grunt a lot.

        Not that I blame him.

        “Yeah, I’m just peachy.” His voice is hoarse, raspy. Carefully sidestepping junk on the ground, he walks to my cage, checking it out from top to bottom.

        “Let me see your face, come here.” He says, holding his hands out by the bars.

        Putting my face up to the bars, he grabs my chin, turning my face from side to side.

        “You’ll be okay, it’s gonna hurt for a while, but it’ll be fine.”

        “I’ve had worse,” I chuckle, but it dies when I remember how worse. “I’ll be fine. I’m sorry you’re in this mess too, it’s me they wanted. You didn’t have to chase me.”

        “Are you kidding?” he laughs, genuinely this time. “Ash woulda killed me if I didn’t come after you.”

-----

        Sitting silently, we observe and study this place, watching men pass by outside. There’s two ‘windows’ cut into the wall, no glass or anything, just holes. A few men have walked by occasionally and we try listening to them, Enzo mainly because of his shifter hearing. No one’s came inside to check on us, which I’m just fine with.

                                                                                       ASHER

        Looking through Bailey’s room, I couldn’t find her cellphone, hopefully between her and Enzo they have one. We might be able to track it and find them, but I want to have backup plans in case.

        I’m getting them back. Even if it kills me.

        Grabbing a few of Bailey’s items and stuff in the kitchen, I head back to Town Hall, hoping for some information.

        As soon as I walk in, Elias runs up to me.

        “We know everything he knows now, I put him into a deep sleep and locked him in the storage room.”

        “Alright, I brought back what I could.” Handing him everything I brought from home. “What did he say?”

        As we walk to the back office in Town Hall, the one I’m supposed to use but rarely do, he fills me in.

        “They don’t have any weapons except wolfsbane. It’s been liquefied and they can inject it into someone or put it on the tips of darts, to shoot shifters. Being shot with a dart won’t last as long and won’t be as strong as being directly injected, but it’d still be effective.”

        “That must be what happened to Enzo, they wouldn’t have stood a chance if they faced him like men. Cowards.”

        “I know. But it won’t matter, we’re gonna get them back.”

        Motioning for him to continue as I unlock the door and walk into the office, waiting for my father and Val to get here.

        “They’re rogues that formed their own ‘pack’, they do anything for others for money, favors, etc. They don’t really have standards or morals, and they’re on the North Carolina side of the border.”

        “Alright, did he say if he had any ideas of where they might go? Like anywhere close to where they live that might be convenient?”

        “No, and it wouldn’t make sense for them to go back down to North Carolina if Dorian is the one who hired them, right? He’s the opposite direction.”

        “Yeah… you’re right. So, we’re back to no ideas. Great.”

        “Let me try the tracking spell while Val tries tracking their phones. We might get lucky.”

        Speaking of Val, here she comes with my father.

        “Alright, Val, you’re good with tech stuff, try locating their phones.”

        “I’m on it, boss.” She nods, giving a sympathetic smile.

        Is it that obvious I’m losing my s**t right now?

        “I’m gonna go check out where they were last.”

-----

        Heading over to where I heard Enzo howl, I notice broken twigs and see drag marks behind the tree line. Next to the drag marks are footprints, there are three different sets.

        I follow it for at least thirty minutes before it stops, and just a few feet away I see tire tracks from where a car had been sitting a while. Shifting, I put my nose to the ground and follow the tracks.

        Follow. Find. Kill.

        Protect. Mate. Home.

        I know, buddy. We’ll bring her home.

        The tire tracks end once I reach the highway. Usually I can track on roads, but highways have more traffic more frequently.

        That doesn’t really help. It looks like the tires turn right, but it’s so slight I can’t tell for sure. Hopefully the others are having more luck.

                                                                                        ENZO

        We must’ve been here a few hours at least, the suns going down now, and I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve been listening to all the conversations around us, but nothing is interesting or useful. There is one voice I’ve heard that sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.

        “Hey,” I quietly call out to Bailey, careful not to bring attention to us talking.

        “I’m gonna lay back down and listen some more. If anyone comes in, don’t interact with them. Pretend you’re sleeping, if they know you’re not, pretend you don’t care. The worst thing you could do is show them they have an effect on you. Don’t forget I’m right here with you.”

        Smiling, she sticks her hand through the bars and fist bumps me, making me chuckle. Once I’ve gotten back to where I woke up, I quietly lay back down and focus on the conversations around us.

                                                                                        BAILEY

        I’ve been sitting against the bars for what seems like hours. Enzo’s been laying on whatever it is that’s over there for just as long. I hope he’s having more fun listening to people’s conversations than I have just sitting here.

        Sliding down a little, trying to get in a somewhat comfortable position, I lean my head back against the bars and close my eyes. With nothing better to do, I focus on my hearing, trying to enhance it.

        Maybe since I’m a True Royal and all that other stuff I’ll be able to get my shifter abilities a few hours sooner.

        Worth a shot, there’s nothing else to do in this cage.

        I don’t know how long it’s been – it could have been hours or minutes – but eventually as I’m listening to everything and focusing, I start to notice something. Everything gets quieter, except a thumping sound. Like… a heart beating.

        It’s not mine, but I don’t know who’s it is.

        Maybe it’s just my ears ringing.

        Then the door crashes open, and just like that everything sounds normal again. When the door opens, I keep my eyes closed but pay attention to where the person is walking and how close they are.

        Is that… the clicking of a heel?

        Discreetly sniffing the air, I smell something so sweet it makes me almost gag.

        Definitely a woman. Whoever it is uses way too much perfume.

        As the click-clacking of high heels gets closer to me, I’m so tempted to take a subtle peek, but I don’t want them to know I’m awake – or interested in them.

        “Baileyyyy,” she drags out my name in a sweet and innocent voice that’s clearly fake, I almost laugh but catch myself before I move. “come on, Bailey. Wakey, wakey.”

        In seconds, she gets impatient with me ignoring her or ‘not waking up’ and kicks the bars right next to me. Continuing to ignore her doesn’t bode well for me, because next she kicks me. Right in the ribs. The ribs that never healed right, thanks to Dorian and his lovely wife.

        Opening my eyes, I look directly at this woman, careful to keep my face looking bored, or at the very least neutral. I don’t say anything, just stare up at her with an unimpressed expression, crossing my arms, and rolling my eyes for emphasis.

        Sometimes I can be such a dramatic b***h.

        I love it.

        Clearly annoying her, she tries to kick me again, but I quickly grab her foot, pulling it through the bars, causing her to fall backwards.

        As she gets to her feet, I do too, and she looks at me with fury in her eyes.

        “You little b***h!” she yells in my face, “how could Ash ever like a scrawny, ugly, useless b***h like you?!”

        “You know Ash?” I ask, confused.

        If she knows Ash, why would she be here?

        But then it clicks. The look in her eyes, the tone of her voice with what she just said. She’s jealous.

        But why? We’re not together.

        “Of course, I know Ash! He’s my boyfriend!”

        That word hits me like a ton of bricks.

        Boyfriend.

        Boyfriend.

        Boyfriend.

        Replaying over and over in my mind.

        But If she were his girlfriend, I would have heard of her at least once by Val or one of the guys. And I don’t think she’d be jealous like this, she’d know he’s the most loyal man alive.

        “Riiight,” I say, dragging out the words for dramatic effect, “Ookay.”

        “I am! Don’t you dare talk to me like that!”

        I notice Enzo quietly walking up behind her, but I refrain from looking at him, so she doesn’t notice. When he’s only a foot or two behind her, he leans close to her ear.

        “Why are you lying, Tess?” he asks with a smile, clearly enjoying this.

        He definitely doesn’t like her.

        That thought makes me smile.

        Almost jumping in the air with shock, she turns around and pales for a moment.

        “E-Enzo… you aren’t supposed to be here.” Slowly she regains her composure. “Oh well… I’ll figure it out.”

                                                                                        ASHER

        “Is everything ready?” I ask Elias and Val, anxiety building the longer I sit here watching as the suns about to go down.

        “Ready.” They both say in unison.

        “Alright, Val run the GPS.”

        For a few moments everyone is silent, hoping it’ll work. When the computer beeps, I stare at Val, waiting for her to speak.

        “Well, either they don’t have their phones anymore or their phones are off. I don’t have a current location, but I do have their phones last location before it shut off.”

        After a few seconds go by, I can’t take the suspense anymore.

        “What are they?”

        “Just a second, it’s finding the most accurate area.”

        Thirty seconds later, I’m clenching my fists so tight I almost draw blood.

        “Alright, the last location is Wayne County, West Virginia.”

        Oh man…

        “That’s a little over four hours away… but it makes sense, it’s going north. Let’s just hope they’re not driving all the way to Montana.”

        Dad places his hand on my shoulder in a comforting way and Elias comes over.

        “They’re supposed to bring her to a location and wait for someone to come pick her up. So, we just have to find out where they’re waiting, and because that’s four hours away already, it’s probably not much further from there.” Elias says, trying to reassure me.

        “Yeah, you’re right. Can you try the tracking spell now?”

        “Yeah, for sure.”

        With both Bailey’s and Enzo’s personal items, along with some other ingredients, he starts chanting. It continues for a few minutes, and then everything’s quiet.

        “Remember guys, I’ve never done this before so if it works, I don’t know much about what’s gonna happen.” He mumbles.

        That’s reassuring.

        Within seconds, a bright blue light raises into the sky and flies out of the room.

        “Is that it?” I ask as Elias starts chasing it.

        “Yup!” he yells over his shoulder, laughing.

        When we get outside, it’s stopped about fifteen feet away. I send a mental link to my most trusted gammas and all five of them hop into an SUV, meeting us in the lot as we jump into Val’s mustang. Once we start following the light it starts moving again.

        “I think it’ll only go like twenty or thirty feet ahead of us, so at least we won’t lose it!” Elias yells over the wind.

                                                                                    BAILEY

        “Why are we here?” I’m tired of hearing her whiny voice, I wanna just get to the point already.

        “Oh, right. How rude of me,” she says, turning to face me. “you are here because you’re getting shipped back to Dorian. Unfortunately, Enzo wasn’t part of the plan, but now that he’s here, he’ll either go to Dorian with you, probably for manual labor since he’s a strong guy. Or he’ll be gotten rid of.” She shrugs, like what she’s saying is no big deal.

        “Why are you doing this?”

        “How have you changed so much in only a few years?” Enzo asks at the same time as me.

        “One at a time, please. You’ll both get your answers.”

        The way she acts so superior and superficial is just gross.

        “Now Bailey, your answer is easy. I want you gone. Then Ash is mine. And Dorian wants you so he can get all the benefits of mating with a True Royal, he’d love having an heir who’s superior to everyone else.”

        “But… he’s already mated. And he already has an heir.”

        “Oh Bailey, don’t be so naïve. He could just kill Charlotte and mate again, and if you’re referring to his son Holden, he’s no longer the heir. You’ve so much to get caught up on.”

        She’s just as psychotic as Dorian… she acts like this is just everyday gossip.

        “And you,” turning to Enzo, she smiles but there’s something else there. Maybe hurt? Betrayal? I’m not sure. “it’s funny that you have to ask how I could change. After all, you were part of the reason. You, your brother, your cousin. You would never let me and Ash be together. You always had something against him being with me, his first love. Of course I had to take matters into my own hands!”

        “What?” he looks genuinely confused, but also angry. “Are you serious? We never kept Ash from being with anyone. What are you talking about?”

        “Don’t play dumb with me! We had an amazing moment together, a beautiful and passionate kiss, the start of our beautiful love story. But the next day, after you three took him away from me and brought him home, he wanted nothing to do with me!”

        “Are you talking about the Summer Solstice party three years ago?”

        The shock in his voice matches the shock I’m feeling.

        Three years ago? She’s been simmering for a long time, no wonder she eventually boiled over. Something is definitely off with her.

        “Sorry to interject,” I say, not sorry at all. “but I could recommend a wonderful therapist, I have a feeling you might definitely need one.”

        I definitely don’t know any therapists, but I thought it’d be funny.

        “You b***h!” she yells running at my cage, reaching inside as far as she can, trying to grab me, I can’t help but snicker.

        Guess she didn’t find it funny.

        Looking over to Enzo I see how hard he’s trying to keep his laughter in.

        “Tess, quit it. Leave her alone. I still wanna hear how any of this has to do with us.”

        Taking a few seconds to get herself together, she acts like nothing just happened and goes on talking like normal.

        “I know that after that party when you guys took him home you talked him out of being with me. Don’t even try denying it.”

        “Dude. He was so drunk he could barely stand, he said he didn’t even mean to kiss you, that he stumbled into you and when you caught him you kissed him.”

        “Liar!”

                                                                                            ASHER

        Val has always driven crazy, but I’ve never seen her drive like this. Ethan is driving the SUV behind us and he’s used to driving fast but even he’s having trouble keeping up.

        We’ve been driving for about two hours now, and the light changes from bright blue to purple.

        “Why did it change colors, Elias?”

        “From what I’ve read when it changes that means it’s closer to what we’re looking for.”

        “Good, we need to get there as soon as possible.”

        Suddenly the light takes a sharp left into the woods.

        How are we supposed to follow it into the woods?!

        Val, apparently unfazed by this, takes just as sharp a left into the gods damned woods. Luckily, there was somewhat of a trail that we could just barely fit in, hopefully the SUV doesn’t get stuck. The trail is bumpy as all hell, and I’m sure we’re gonna crash, but Val seems confident.

        After a while, the trail finally ends and thank the gods we could see the tree line a ways away, because it took Val about twenty-five yards to stop without throwing us all out of the car.

        “What do we do from here?” Elias asked.

        “We shift. Well, we shift,” motioning to the rest of us. “You can ride on my back, but you’ll have to hold on tight.

        Of course, he’s smiling from ear to ear. He’s wanted to ride one of us since we were kids and he learned about shifting.

        As we run through the woods at full speed following the light, another twenty minutes passes and the ball turns green and gets dimmer.

        “We’re almost there, the light only changes three times. The final time means we’re really close, we should be cautious.” He says quietly near my ear, and I tell the others through our link.

        Slowing down, I stay in front and keep sniffing the air, trying to scent other shifters. Eventually I smell them and we all shift back, going back a little bit so they can’t smell us.

        “Elias, I need you to mask our scent, including yours. Can you do that?”

        “Yeah, I can definitely do that.” After a few moments of him chanting over each of us and then himself, we sneak forward looking for traps and other shifters, we eventually make it to the tree line. There’s an empty abandoned looking cabin and a shed about sixty yards away.

                                                                                        BAILEY

        Sitting against the back wall of the cage, all I can do is listen to this crazy b***h prattle on.

        “Don’t worry, it won’t be long until they come to take you to Dorian. You’re gonna love – actually no, you’re gonna hate it there. But Dorian will love having you there.”

        “Pfft, yeah right. I’ll believe that when pigs fly.”

        “You’re right, I should say he’ll love using you as his personal breeder and whatever abilities you get.”

        It’s disturbing how much she enjoys the thought of someone getting tortured and abused.

        “Ya know, I can see why Ash would never want to be with someone like you. You’re an actual psychopath. You hate me just because Ash and I are friends, and you can’t date him? Like, I’d understand being jealous but this is crazy, and we’re not even dating.

        “I am not psychotic!” She continues to surprise me with how loud and screechy her voice can get. Seriously, she puts Charlotte to shame.

        Suddenly, there’s a huge commotion outside and we all turn to the noise.

        “Looks like your transportation is finally here, enjoy being Dorians mate.” The smugness in her voice makes me nauseous.

        When the door is kicked in and Ash walks through, her face drops.

        “Tessa. What have you done?” Ash’s voice is filled with disbelief, anger, betrayal, and death.

        “I-I was making it so we can be together finally, I love you!”

        Stalking over to her, he closes his hand around her throat, squeezing so tight her face turns purple as he slams her into the wall.

        “Let me make one thing clear. We,” gesturing between himself and her, “will never be together. Even if Bailey didn’t exist. Even if Enzo, Elias, Val, and anyone else didn’t exist. Even if we were the last two people on the planet! We would never be together!” screaming in her face, it gives me an odd sense of pleasure to see her recoil into herself. Before turning to me, he throws her against the wall and she doesn’t get back up.

        Is she dead?