Chapter 95

Carol’s POV

I stared at him, shocked. The man who shot him also looked shocked. Realizing that they were distracted, and nobody was holding me, I turned and started to run as fast as I could down the hallway, which wasn’t very fast considering I was still so weak.

Then I heard the clicking of a gun and the shot being fired down the long hallway. I felt the sting of the bullet in my shoulder just before I hit the ground, grunting in pain. The shuffling of feet behind me told me they were on my tail. I whipped around, wincing in pain from the bullet embedded in my shoulder, trying to ignore the blood soaking through my shirt and I stared up at them.

“Don’t hurt me!” I yelled with confidence and anger fueling my words.

They both froze and I saw that green glow surrounding them both in that instant. They were completely frozen as they stared down at me. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I somehow knew they were under my control. I had power over them.

“Put the guns down,” I ordered. They both dropped their guns on the ground and waited for further command. With a shaky breath, I whispered. “Get me out of here…”

Both the men ran to me and wrapped their arms around my body. One taking my upper half and the other taking my lower half. They shuffled down the hallway and around the corner, going through multiple doors. They weren’t quiet, nor were they sneaking, and I worried that Morgan would soon find them escaping. Or maybe they were taking me to Morgan, and this was all in my head. I was getting so groggy, and my mind wasn’t clear at the moment.

I was in and out of consciousness, fighting to hang onto that last part of myself. We reached the final door and when they opened it, we walked into a very dark room. One that I couldn’t see anything in. For a moment, I thought maybe my eyes were just closed and that this was it for me. Maybe I had finally died.

The man who was carrying my legs, released them, making me nearly fall with a thud. I heard him climbing what sounded like a ladder. After a few moments, I heard the unlatching of a door and then the door of the room started to open.

Light shined in through the room and I realized we were under the ground. That door leads to the outside.

The man still holding me brought me to the ladder and without saying a word, helped me up the steps. I used the remaining strength I had left to climb the ladder, ignoring the shooting pain from the bullet in my shoulder and ignoring the weakness I felt in my bones. Sweat formed on my forehead and upper lip as I fought to keep consciousness. The man who was already on the top of the ladder reached down and grabbed my arm. I nearly screamed in pain as he pulled me up and through the door.

I managed to bite my tongue though, not wanting to alert Morgan that I was escaping. I had no idea how this was happening or how this was even possible, but I managed to use some kind of power to get these goons to release me and help me escape.

As soon as I broke the surface and was welcomed by the inviting moonlight, I felt like I could finally breathe. It was nice taking a breath of fresh air and not the mildew I was becoming accustomed to.

He threw me to the ground roughly and I nearly screamed in pain. Both men stood in front of me, staring at me with that green glow still surrounding them. They were waiting for further instructions, but I had nothing left for them. I knew if I released them from whatever hold I had on them though they would grab me and bring me back downstairs, telling Morgan what I had them do.

No, I couldn’t be that stupid. I wasn’t going to release them just yet.

“Go back downstairs and sit in the cell that you locked me in,” I ordered them through my teeth. “Wait for Morgan to find you there.”

Without a word, they both turned and walked back down the ladder, leaving the door open as they went. I struggled to sit up, pain coursing through my body and grabbed the edge of the door, slamming it shut.

Then, and only then, I let out a cry of distress and pain. Blood was soaking my shirt at a rapid speed, and I could hardly grasp what was real and what wasn’t. My vision was becoming blurred, and my breathing was manual.

I knew I couldn’t stay here though; I needed to keep moving or else they would find me, and I would be as good as dead.

I needed to get back to Aiden.

….

Aiden’s POV

“Maybe we should go back and start from the beginning,” Oliver suggested.

We were back in our human forms, and we’d been aimlessly wandering the forest for hours.

It was the middle of the night, and I knew most were tired from their long search. The game had been over for a while now and I’m not even sure if they won or not. I didn’t care. All I cared about was finding Carol and bringing her home safely. Fear was consuming me, and my wolf wasn’t going to return home without her.

“You can go ahead,” I said, shaking my head as I continued to walk around the forest grounds. “I’m not leaving without her.”

“You can’t even pick up her scent,” Oliver reminded me. “We’ve been at it for hours. The police’s trail is now completely cold. We should probably go back and get some rest. Start fresh when it’s daylight.”

“I’m not leaving without her!” I said again, turning to face my friend and Beta with fire in my eyes.

He knew when I got like this that it was better if he just kept his mouth shut. He clamped his lips together and bowed his head, defeated.

“Okay, so what’s the plan now? We keep walking around the forest and hope that her scent just magically appears?”

Honestly, I had no idea what my plan was and what I was going to do. I couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was getting to Carol and holding her in my arms again. I felt sick to my stomach thinking something terrible had happened to her. I’m not one to admit it when I’m afraid, but I was terrified when I saw that blood in the trunk and even more terrified when I realized it was hers.

If something happened to her, I would never forgive myself for not taking better care of her. I should have had bodyguards surrounding her after the first attempts at her life. When those men were released from prison, I shouldn’t have taken any chances.

What was wrong with me?

“I know that look,” Oliver said, studying my face. “Don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault, man.”

I shook my head, unable to hide the hurt from my eyes.

“I shouldn’t have let her go without protection,” I murmured. “I let her leave the stadium without anyone with her. This was my fault.”

“You were in the middle of a game,” he reminded me. “Who knew they would have taken her at a packed stadium.”

I snapped him a look.

“Has anyone checked the security footage at the stadium?” I asked, pissed at myself for not thinking about that sooner.

Oliver nodded.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t helpful. We saw those three guys who were released from prison snatching her. They hit her over the head and shoved her into a trunk. It looked like one of them injected her with something and then then closed the trunk door and drove off.”

So, it was those three. That made me feel even worse knowing I didn’t take the right precautions to protect her.

“Any witnesses?” I asked. “Anyone to hear where they would take her.”

He shook his head.

“Not that I’m aware of, but I know some of the police remained at the stadium to ask questions and review the footage. They didn’t mention anything about witnesses and in the section that Carol was in, nobody was there. A couple of people were outside smoking, but Carol was in a shadow region, and they didn’t notice anything unusual.”

My heart clenched from his words. I tried to think of something more to say, anything that could help this case when my wolf’s senses heightened, and he perked up.

I froze entirely as I sniffed the area. Carol’s scent invaded my senses, and I whipped around in that direction.

“What is it?” Oliver asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

“I can smell her,” I said and without another word, I ran in the direction of her trail. Oliver followed me, running almost as fast as I was but allowing me to take the lead.

I wasn’t sure where we were going, but my wolf senses were never wrong, and my wolf knew exactly where my mate was. I broke through the small clearing in the woods and my entire body froze when I saw a small figure lying face down in the middle of the forest.

My heart fell deep in my chest.

“Holy shit,” Oliver gasped as he saw what I was looking at. “Is that—”

“Carol!”