47. This Is Who You Are

Chapter forty-seven

This Is Who You Are

*AURELIA*

T he van makes it away before Nox and I jump down from our spot. At this point the other teams are aware too, as Eric is already shouting orders.

"We are going ahead," I inform him through my walkie-talkie while already running. "Nox and I are the closest!"

I don't wait for an answer, instead, I turn to Nox. "Keys?"

He tosses them at me. "Here." Then he grabs his phone, opening the map, with the dot representing Tori moving. "Got her."

We make it to the motorbike we had parked close by in case we'd need something to move fast. I start it, waiting for Nox to climb up behind me. "You need to tell me the way," I blurt out.

"Got you. They are moving out of the city. Let's make sure to catch up to them."

"Hold on tight," I mutter before dashing away, thankful for my parents who gifted me the motorbike lessons for my eighteenth birthday. I already had my normal driving license, but I always wanted to learn how to drive one of these babies.

Nox keeps one arm around my waist while he holds his phone with the other, telling me in which direction to drive. How he does that is beyond me, but I don't question it. He better get me to Tori as quickly as possible.

I promised myself I would keep her safe, and although I trust in her abilities to stall for some time, I don't need her in the clutches of this psychopath for too long. Goddess knows what this asshole is up to, and I certainly won't give him enough time to put his sleazy hands on one of my best friends.

"Aurelia." Arden's voice comes through my earpiece. "Where are you?"

"I'm following them," I say.

"Alright, we should be right behind you. Where exactly are you?"

"Nox, where are we?"

"About to drive out of Paris, roughly in the direction of Versailles."

I repeat what he said to Arden.

"Okay," Arden gapes. "You are a lot ahead of us. Please watch out, Aurelia."

"Don't worry," I say grimly. "I'm in my element now. I want to see some heads roll and blood spill."

"Just don't let it be yours," he begs. "You are breaking all speed limits."

"Just make sure Eric covers my tickets," I mutter. "I'll be careful. Make sure you arrive safely too. Is Lion with you?"

"Yes, he is in my car," Arden says.

"Tell him we got this and that he shouldn't freak out," I say. "This is it, Arden. Finally. They will lead us to Léna, Meg, and Coralie."

"I have full faith in you," he says. "You are right, let's get these assholes. Night has been toying with us for way too long."

"See you there!"

Once I say goodbye, I ask Nox for an update. "How far ahead are they?"

"They got some distance between us at the beginning," Nox says. "And they are clearly taking some shortcuts we don't know about."

"It doesn't matter," I assure him. "I will make sure we arrive in time."

"We need to get off the highway," he says. "Too much traffic, and if the police see us we are doomed."

"Your call," I say.

I feel him tightening his grip and gazing at his phone again. "Okay, new plan. Take the next exit."

*LéNA*

I pace around nervously. It has to have been hours since Coralie and I were brought to this place. Fortunately, we didn't see the creeps much. We heard them heading out a couple of hours ago. Mumbling something about having business to do and a high-value customer demanding something from them.

"What's going on?" I mutter, over and over. "What's going on? Why are we here?"

"I wonder more about why we are still alive," Coralie says.

I spin around, feeling dread settling in me. "You think they would kill us?" I whisper.

Coralie looks flustered. "Fuck, it's my stupid mouth again. Don't worry, Léna, I'm just an asshole blabbing nonsense."

"No." I hurry to her. "Tell me what you think!"

"So far, we are pretty sure that these are the guys Arden is after, right?" she asks. "Seeing how it's such a high-security mission he is working on, I'd take a wild guess that these men are very dangerous."

"Vander didn't know much about it," I say quietly. "But he kept saying that his brother is working day and night to save certain victims and to stop an organization from trafficking more werewolves. But that's all I know."

"So, either, we are here to get sold," Coralie says, clenching her fingers nervously. "Or they took us because they want to pressure Arden. At least in your case, that might be true."

"Arden would never let you rot here," I say with conviction. "But I think you might be right with the latter; we are here to put pressure on him."

"But if they don't want to sell us," she says. "They would need to use us for something else."

"Maybe money?"

"I don't think they need money," she says. "Look around how well equipped they are."

"But what else would they want from us?" I ask.

She shrugs. "I don't know."

I gaze at her. "Are you trying to protect me from the truth?"

"We both know I'm not nice enough to do that," she points out.

"You are surprisingly annoying, just on a different level than I thought you'd be," I mutter.

"Yeah, I should probably improve myself," she says.

"I don't think you're a bad person," I tell her. "I think you made one grave mistake and some shitty decisions, but that doesn't have to define you for the rest of your life."

"You really are a goody-two-shoes," she mutters. "No surprise Vander likes you."

"Actually, it still surprises me that he does."

"How come?"

"I'm so normal," I say. "Just look how beautiful you are and how plain I am in comparison."

"If I've learned one thing, it's that not every guy cares about how stunning we are," she says. "Arden didn't love me, but he liked me enough to date me, and certainly not because he found me beautiful. That's the true mystery here. You are cute, fun, and likable, so Vander fell for you. What Arden saw in me aside from a pretty face, beats me."

"But isn't that something to be happy about and work on?" I ask. "He saw something in you, something you couldn't see." I pause. "You tried to defend me," I tell her. "When these assholes abducted me, you tried to save me, and you are still doing it now. I think that's an admirable side about you."

"Hm." She tilts her head. "Maybe you are right, and I'm not all that bad."

I'm kind of amazed by her confidence. She was down, but it took her only a moment to be up again.

"But, before we can find a way to better ourselves, we need to survive this ," she states in a matter-of-fact tone. "Let's look through the room again and see if we find a way to get out of here."

We did that before, already, but neither of us comments on how we didn't find anything on our first two searches. We just do it again. We are still roaming around the room when there are noises and voices at the door.

"Who… Who is that?" someone asks.

"That was Azurite," Coralie whispers. "Get back here, Léna." She grabs me and pulls me behind her.

"Get your stinky hands off me, you bastard!" someone else, a female voice, yells.

"And who's that?" I ask.

"No idea, just stay back." I can see how Coralie's body tenses. For all her aloofness she is probably as terrified of the situation as I am, but she doesn't show it.

The door opens, and I carefully peek at it from behind Coralie. Azurite stumbles inside, and then, to my surprise, one of the guys tosses Tori into our room, a silver chain around her wrist to keep her lycan at bay.

What's Tori doing here!?

Coralie is similarly surprised. This is one of Princess Aurelia's friends. Are they nuts for abducting her? They are taking it up with the royals? It's one thing to take Coralie and me, but this girl!? Before we can say something, Tori has already pushed us all further to the back.

"We need to separate them, Night," the guy who tossed Tori inside says.

"No," the one named Night, the scariest of them, huffs. "Keep them in one place. Easier to control that way. We don't want history to repeat itself like with Opal. We lost too many gems that day."

When Night takes a step inside the room, Tori grabs the chair and holds it up in front of her body while making sure we stay in the back. "Stay away from them, you fucking pedo!" she snarls.

"For an omega she is pretty feisty," the other guy points out.

Night scowls. "We'll deal with that later; she will break, like all of them do." He turns to the guy. "You stay here and keep an eye on them, Sky." He grabs him by his throat. "I swear if you even touch my perfect little gemstone, my Azurite, I will shred you to pieces like I did with PJ," he snarls. "Do whatever you want with the others." He turns to a guy who is standing further behind them. "Let's go, Junior!"

Why are they leaving? Coralie and Tori seem slightly relieved, but I find it weird. They just abducted Tori and now want to leave again. What for? It doesn't make sense.

Night gazes at Azurite. "I will be back, my Azurite. I promise I will be back," he says before he closes the door behind him, leaving Sky with us. Oh shoot, one of the creeps is still here.

"You are Meg, aren't you?" Tori looks at Azurite. "Just stay back, sweetie. I have this."

"She is right." Coralie stands next to Tori now. "He can't overpower us all. Stay back, Léna."

"And have you get hurt again?" I call out.

"Please," Coralie begs. "Just protect yourself and… and Meg."

"Meg," Azurite mutters. "Meg. I'm Azurite, no, I'm Meg—"

"Cute," Sky snickers. "But how exactly, will four wolfless girls stand up against me?"

He grabs the chair Tori is holding, tugging it off her hand and reaching for her. Then in the blink of a moment Sky punches her, making her fly to the ground.

"I'm Meg… I'm Azurite. No!" Azurite, or rather Meg, calls out, grabbing the bottle she brought us so that we have fresh water, and dashes forward, knocking it over Sky's head. "I'm not Azurite!" Sky tumbles at the impact, but with his wolf still going strong, he recovers fast.

"I don't care what the boss says," he sneers. "Even if you are special. You die tonight. I will tell him it was one of you other girls. Worthless trashy little omegas."

"I'm not an omega," Coralie says.

"Not the point," I mutter.

"What?" Coralie shakes her head. "He is an idiot, that's all I'm saying."

The next time I blink, I'm looking directly into a gun, my heart stops for a moment. It's like something cold grips me, the fear so real that my body starts shaking.

Coralie grabs me and Meg and pulls us closer, wrapping us in her arms. "Don't look," she whispers. "Just look at me."

Meg blinks fearfully at us while I try to swallow. "A few shitty decisions don't define you," I tell Coralie. If this is the last thing she can hear, I want her to know it. "Who you were doesn't need to define your life. But this here… this is who you truly are."

I can't believe that's it. This is how I die.