41. The Childrens Secret

It's freezing, my clothes are still wet, and it feels like I'm chilled to my bones. The boys are trembling too. We haven't talked at all, just sit the furthest away from the cell door we can and lean against the wall. There is a bit of blood on Felix's forehead, but other than that he seems alright.

Heavy footsteps are coming closer, and the guards in front of the door move slightly, making space for a dark-haired man with broad shoulders. He is tall and looks strong, and surprisingly well put together. One of the guards opens the cell door, making me freeze in fear. Dario and Felix instinctively pull me behind them.

The man just tosses a bag into the cell before having his men close the door again. "I still need you," he sneers. "So better not die of pneumonia yet."

"Alpha," one of his men mutters. "What to do with the boys?"

"Keep them for now," he says. "The dark-haired one is pretty; maybe we'll have some use for him."

Felix takes a step closer. "What did you say about my brother?" he hisses.

The alpha just sneers, his lips curling into a dangerous smirk. He doesn't say anything further, though, so at least that's that. Once he is gone, Dario carefully retrieves the bag, emptying its contents. It's dry clothes for us. Dario and Felix don't hesitate and swiftly change. I give them privacy by turning towards the wall, but once it's my turn, I can almost feel the guards' gazes on me, my skin crawling with disgust.

No way… I would rather stay in my wet clothes.

"What's wrong, little bunny?" one of them grins.

It looks like Felix is about to say something, but Dario holds him back. Instead, he rips his and Felix's wet sweaters apart and ties them together into one big piece of cloth. He holds it out in front of me. "Go ahead," he says quietly.

He doesn't need to tell me twice. Who knows what the guards will do if I waste this opportunity. They might come inside and take the fabric away from Dario. I've never changed so fast and soon find myself in dry clothes. It's like my skin takes a sigh of relief at finally being relieved of the cold and damp clothes.

The instant I'm done, I hurry back to the corner of the cell with the boys soon following me. We sit next to each other in complete silence, none of us saying anything. There is just this crippling fear around us, our nerves stretched thin.

I don't know where I am.

Or why I'm here.

Who are these men?

What do they want from me?

My heartbeat rises when I think about how they looked at me when they knew I needed to change, bile rising in my throat. Their alpha said he still needs me, but what for? The possibilities are endless, and every time I think of something new, it's worse than my previous thought.

Are Dante and Ella searching for me? Tears sting my eyes when I think of never seeing them again. My stomach clenches. It's like a black hole opening up and trying to swallow me. Night seems endless here and time is just a concept, as there is no light coming through any of the windows.

Against my intention, I feel a draining and numbing exhaustion settling in, pulling me into slumber while I curl up on the stone-hard ground. The sounds around me seem to become dull, that is, until the door opens again. I just hear it screeching, not sure what's going on. Then Dario yells something, making my eyes snap open.

"What…"

Dario's body is being slammed against the wall, blood dripping from his nose and face. "What are you doing with him!?"

My foggy mind finally makes sense of what's going on. One of the men has grabbed Felix, dragging him along and out of our cell. I chase after them, but the man closes the door before I can run through it.

"You stay here," he sneers. "And behave."

Dario and I remain frozen; neither of us move. We both keep standing there, unable to say or do anything. I don't know how long it takes, but eventually, one of the guards returns with Felix, tossing him into the cell. His left eye is swollen, and there is blood dripping out of his nose. He doesn't say anything, just curls up on the floor and groans.

"What did they do!?" Dario blurts out, hurrying towards his brother.

I follow him, kneeling down at Felix's other side. He is clearly hurt. My heart clenches when I think about what could have happened there. "What happened?" I whisper.

Felix opens his eyes, exchanging a gaze with Dario I don't quite understand. "It's not too bad," he mutters, sounding strained. "They just want to intimidate me."

Not too bad my ass!

Also, their intimidation is clearly working because I'm fucking terrified.

I don't know how much time passes; an hour, maybe two, and they are back. This time they drag Dario along with them.

"We just need to stall," Felix says. He tries to sound calm, but the way his eyes are clouded in worry for his brother gives it all away. "They need you. They want something." He pauses. "They want something," he repeats.

"We need to buy time," I agree, more to reassure him. Dread is settling inside me, though. Felix said they need me, and the alpha said that too, but to them, Dario and Felix are disposable.

It doesn't even take Levi an hour to return with Charlie's friends and their parents. Ty's father is one of our best warriors, a calm and diligent guy. Now he looks pretty stern. Austen's mom looks similarly worried, whereas Gisela's is her usual self. She is a single mom and a bit of a free spirit. Her being here at least lightens the atmosphere a bit.

Liam doesn't waste many words. He explains quickly what's happened today. He doesn't give too many details but hints that his brothers and Charlie are probably in grave danger. He also makes it clear that the kidnappers snuck to the pack grounds because they knew the routes the kids took.

He stands up to lean against his desk. "Do you know anything about that?" he asks the three kids directly.

Austen's arm is still in his cast, but he takes a brave step forward. "We did sneak out occasionally," he admits.

Gisela nods. "We do it sometimes. It's a bit of a thing here…"

"Fantastic." Liam sighs. "So, it's not just the three of you?" He looks serious yet tries to remain level-headed and understand them. It's obvious they are scared of him and his reaction, but at the same time they aren't downright terrified.

He is really good with kids. Maybe it's because he is the oldest brother of six. Even Alpha Jace's twins saw him as their big brother.

"Why?" Liam wants to know right at the moment Annie comes into the room. It's good that she is here. As the luna, it's easier for her to smooth things over. "What's so interesting out there? The pack is so big. What is out there that caught your interest?"

The three of them look at each other nervously before Annie clears her throat. "You need to tell us everything," she says with a warm smile. "We don't hold it against you. What we want at this point is to reassure that the pack is safe."

"The… the pack is great," Ty mutters nervously, looking at her now. "It's just… out there is an abandoned skating and parkour area."

"You go out there to do sports?" Liam asks, surprised.

We exchange a gaze. He probably thought the same as I did… that they went out to party and drink secretly, but they are sneaking out to skate? That's just unexpected. On the faces of their parents, I can see a hint of relief.

"What's wrong with the parkour area on pack grounds?" Annie asks. "We have one."

"It's… beautiful, Luna," Ty stutters.

"But?"

"You can't skate without getting hurt," he admits.

"I admit I don't know much about this type of sport," Annie says.

"If I may, Luna?" Levi asks. When she nods at him, he continues. "Ty is right. It's like learning self-defense and expecting someone to never get bruised."

"Okay, these are valid points," Liam says. "We will make sure there is an area for those of you kids who like to skate or bike, but I want you to take first aid classes and learn how to fall. Furthermore, I want you to understand that you can't just sneak off pack grounds. It's dangerous and unsafe. I don't mind listening to the concerns of the pack youth, but to do that, I need to hear it."

"They could vote for a representative," I point out.

"Not a bad idea," Liam says. "We will think about this later. I have one more question. How did you know how and when to sneak off the pack grounds?"

Gisela and Austen remain eerily quiet, while Ty looks nervous and downright scared. Very unlike him. Liam has noticed too. "Please give me and Beta Dante a moment with Ty alone," he says.

There is not really an option to defy his order. Ty's father knows it too, but he still looks worried. Annie approaches him, reassuring him that we won't hurt his son, just talk with him. Once we are on our own, Liam turns back to Ty.

"Ty, I understand that you are scared," Liam says. "But you need to tell us what you know."

"Dad will be mad," he admits, looking both terrified and guilty. It takes me back to the time when I was a teen and thought the world would end if I fucked up. "Charlie got taken because of me."

"I understand how you feel," Liam says. "And I can't tell your father not to be angry. But although what you did was questionable, this here… Charlie being abducted, is not your fault. It's the fault of some evil men. Not yours. You are older than Charlie, and she looks up to you. Now, I need you to be responsible and brave and tell us what you know."

Ty swallows thickly but then nods. He tells Liam and me when and how they snuck off the pack grounds, the routes and the times, also the place of the old parkour area, and he admits that he got the information from his father's notebook.

Liam and I stay quiet at his last words. Ty looks down at his feet. "That was stupid, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Liam says. "Pretty stupid and reckless, but I think you know that already."

"Are you going to tell Dad?" he asks nervously.

"I will leave it up to you if you tell him or not. Your father is a great warrior, Ty, and does a fantastic job. Keep in mind that what you did could have fallen upon him. In another pack he might have lost his rank for it. Depending on the alpha it could have ended with him imprisoned or even cost him his life."

Ty pales at his words. "It's not his fault."

"I know," Liam says. "But you are his son, a minor, and you messed with his work." He sighs. "Beta Dante will work on proper password protection on the files from now on. So at least we learned something from it."

Ty looks seriously miserable. "I'm so sorry," he says quietly.

"I know," Liam says. "However, Beta Dante and I appreciate your honesty."

"I agree," I say. "I'm sure you will make better choices next time."

Ty nods, looking a tad bit relieved. "I, I promise."

"Good," Liam nods. "You can go, Ty."

He nods in relief. "Alpha…" he starts nervously. "Is Charlie okay?" he asks. "You will find her, won't you?"

"We won't rest until we have found her," Liam says before he sends Ty away for real. Silence engulfs us before I sigh.

"Wow," I mutter. "Well, at least we won't waste any more time looking for how they came onto pack grounds. Who would have thought they just spied on the kids?"

"It's good to know that we don't have a traitor," Liam says, shaking his head. "But these kids…" He sighs. "We will deal with that later. But now that we know there is most likely no traitor in our pack, we can risk it to ask Julianus and Richard to get into action."

The door opens slightly, making me turn around to look at it. Liam's father steps inside. "Did you hear what happened?" Liam asks him.

"Annie filled me in," he says. "I just talked to your mother," he continues. "She is coming. And she is ready to take some heads."

"Isn't she scared about having to follow the rules, as she calls it, and not intervene with fate?" Liam wants to know.

"She said that when it's about her family she doesn't give a shit about the rules," Elden says. "And I agree. My gift doesn't work on family, but part of hers always works. She is just trying to keep the balance. However, I don't want her to feel any repercussions for using her power. So, I'll give your plan a chance," he says. "But if it's not working, I won't take any risks."

"Fair enough," Liam says. Before we can discuss anything further, Ella knocks at the door. I know it instantly when I see her, by the dangerous glint in her eyes.

Something happened.

She is holding a sheet of paper in her hand. "This was sent to me via email without a sender. I briefly contacted Dalila, but she told me it can't be tracked."

"Is this a message from the kidnappers?" I ask, hurrying to her side.

"Yes." her lips curl into a dangerous sneer. "They want me in exchange for Charlie. Finally."

"We can use this to our advantage," Elden says.

"Yes." Liam straightens his back, his eyes glossing over. "And this will be the perfect opportunity for Julianus and Richard to do something too. I told a guard to bring them to us. Ella was last seen at Aloysius's castle and with Julianus. We'll make it look like Julianus and Richard are working together… and have Ella."

"I'm ready, but I want us to act tonight," Ella says.

"I agree," Elden says, furrowing his brows. "While I don't think rash decisions take us anywhere, I think in this case we need to act fast. The fact that someone came onto pack grounds to snatch away a minor shows how desperate they are, and I don't want to take any risks." He pauses. "Did you find the necklace, Ella?"

"Yes," she says, pulling it out of her pocket. Seeing it now close up makes curiosity fill me. That's the item they want… but why?