26. Micah

"Where's Lucy?" Micah demanded.

"I don't know," Gavin said, plastering an innocent look on his face. "I haven't seen her."

"That's the problem. No one has seen her," Micah said.

"I told you that she was bad news. She just up and disappeared on you. If I were you, I'd count the silverware and any other valuables that she might have taken with her," Gavin said.

It took every ounce of willpower Micah had not to punch the smug look off of his father's face. Micah knew that his father had something to do with Lucy's disappearance, but he couldn't prove it. He just hoped that she was still alive.

Michelle told him that she literally got to the hospital ten minutes after Lucy called to say she was being discharged. Lucy intended to go home. But somehow, in that ten-minute time frame, she managed to disappear off the face of the earth.

Hospital security showed an orderly, wearing a scrub cap, scrubs, and a face mask, helping Lucy into a wheelchair and pushing her into the elevator. They came out of the elevator on the first floor and the orderly wheeled her outside. The cameras did not capture what happened next.

Micah roamed all over the mountain, wondering if she had been taken there and killed. He was relieved when he didn't find her remains, but at the same time desperate to find her.

Sean said he never saw her come into Howlers' to use the portal. No rental car agency had any record of her taking a car. The Uber folks said that she hadn't contacted them to take her anywhere. Her bank account hadn't been touched. It was as though she had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

After two weeks, Mason, the man in charge of the trio who kidnapped Lucy, finally decided to talk, since the penalty that Zac threatened to impose on him would have been very painful and permanent.

Mason and the other two guys sat in the conference room with Micah, Zac, Ian, Conner, and Sean, as well as the pack elders.

"Gavin Hoffman gave us each ten grand to kidnap and kill the woman. He promised us another ten grand each once she was dead. That was why we were so anxious to send him the pictures of her lying on the cave floor tied up." Mason sneered and said, "If we hadn't left her to find a signal, you would have never found her body."

Micah clenched his fists and leaped over the table. Conner and Ian grabbed him and pulled him back to his seat.

"Not yet," Micah said. "Do you have proof that Gavin paid you?"

"He gave us cash," the second man said. "But I put nine thousand of it into my mother's account since the government is notified of deposits of ten thousand and more. You can check that. I put the money in the same day that we kidnapped her."

The other two men still had the cash in their houses, because they never had time to do anything with it. Zac sent people to their houses and found the cash.

Pushing pen and paper toward the three men, Zac said, "Write out your statements and sign them."

Mason looked at Zac and said, "No."

Zac smiled and said, "In that case, Micah, you can take him to the same spot on the mountain where he took Lucy. He's all yours."

Micah stood with a murderous look in his eyes and grinned. Mason quickly started writing, much to Micah's disappointment.

"Where is she now?" Micah asked.

The two henchmen looked at each other with a scared look on their faces and then shrugged their shoulders. "We don't know. We just got out of the hospital not too long ago. Neither of us have done anything. You guys damn near killed us."

"It's too bad we didn't," Micah snarled.

"Mason, what do you know?" Zac asked.

"I swear. We had nothing to do with it."

Micah believed him.

Once the men had signed the confessions, Zac said, "You are sentenced to a life sentence at Gray Rock Island."

Gray Rock Island was a very harsh prison camp where exiled shifters in the human world were sent to perform hard labor. It was in the middle of the ocean and the only way off the island was death.

"But we didn't kill her," Mason protested.

"You came very close to killing her and her unborn babies. Your intent was to kill her. The decision is final," Zac said.

Mason and his two buddies looked at the elders for reprieve. However, they stared back with hard looks.

The men were led out of the room and taken to the airport where a plane was waiting to take them to their final destination. It wouldn't take off right away, though, because there would be an additional passenger joining them soon.

Gavin was brought into the conference room and forced to sit in the same chair that Mason had just vacated.

"The three men that you hired to kidnap and kill Lucy just confessed," Zac said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Speaking straight to Micah, he said, "Son, everything I did was for you. She was no good for you and was hurting your reputation."

"Where is Lucy now?" Micah demanded.

Gavin pressed his lips together and looked away.

"Don't make this harder than it already is," Zac ordered. "Where is Lucy?"

"In the shifter world. Caroline's friend works at the hospital and called her when Lucy was being released. Caroline called me. I just happened to be in the area, so it was convenient to grab her then. I was planning on forcing her to go home anyway. It just happened that all of the dominoes fell into place."

"Sean said she never came in to use the portal," Micah said.

"I had a key made to his back door. I told her if she didn't go in quietly that I would kill her and the babies. She went. As far as I know, they are alive."

"You will be joining Mason and the other two on Gray Rock Island for the rest of your life," Zac said.

"But I did it for you," Gavin cried out to Micah as guards dragged him out of the room. "I love you, Son. I was trying to do what was best for you."

"You are not my father," Micah said.

After he was removed from the hall, Zac said, "For her part in sending the poisoned cake and for being in cahoots with Gavin, Caroline is banished from the pack. She will be notified immediately."

Micah went to the house where he grew up and found his mother sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee, and staring off into space.

"Is he gone?" she asked.

"He is. Zac sentenced him to life on Gray Rock Island," Micah said.

"I see," Rose said.

"You are welcome to come live with me at the mansion. There is plenty of room for everyone," Micah said.

She was quiet for a second and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think so. I have a chance to get on with my life and do what I want to do. I can have friends over and enjoy life."

"Sounds good," Micah said.

"What are you going to do about Lucy and the babies?"

"I'm going to go get them," he said.

Micah went to the portal and was surprised as he looked around the shifter world. He was expecting to come out into someone else's basement, but instead, he was in the middle of a wooded area next to a large rock.

A woman stepped out of the brush. "State your name and your business."

"Micah Hoffman, wolf shifter. I'm looking for Lucy Sawyers, a member of the Thunder Claw Bear Clan."

She studied him for a minute and then said, "You'll have to talk to the alpha at their ceremonial hall. You can walk west for about a mile and you'll be able to call for a ride to get you there."

The alpha of the clan was an older man named Evan. He listened patiently as Micah explained that he wanted to find Lucy and ask her to go through the mating ceremony with him. Micah told him about the events that led to her fleeing back home.

Evan studied Micah for several minutes and then nodded. "Blake, take this man to the Sawyers' home. If they don't want to see him, escort him back to the portal."

Micah was tense during the ride. After everything that his father had put Lucy through, he wouldn't blame her if she turned him away.