Chapter 239

Ethan POV

My senses return as the darkness fades away, and I groan because my limbs feel heavy, and my head aches. Taking several deep breaths, I blink to clear my vision, confused when I can’t move my arms.

Looking around, I find my wrists trapped in heavy chains. I follow the chains to the wall, noting the large screws keeping the chains secured into the cement.

“What the hell?” I grumble while pulling at the chains. My knees dig into the concrete beneath me, and several places on my body ache.

“He’s awake,” someone says, making me turn my head. Alpha Mandra, Aaron, and Maximus all watch me from across the room, behind a wall of bars. Various bruises and scrapes on their faces are healing.

It looks like they got in a fight.

“Have you come back to your senses?” Alpha Mandra asks, stepping up to the bars. Maximus, behind him, crosses his arms over his chest, and Aaron rubs at his bruised jaw. “If you haven’t calmed down, I’ll have no choice but to keep you locked up.”

“What do you mean? How did I get here?”

I have a bad feeling that their injuries weren’t from an enemy attack. The aches in my body tell me that they’re not the only ones who fought.

Aaron scoffs and shakes his head.

“You went ballistic,” he answers, stepping forward and to Alpha Mandra’s side. “One second, you were looking at the pictures of Fiona and the next—”

I jerk forward, pulling on the chains and forcing my legs beneath me as the memory resurfaces. Fiona is waiting for me to save her.

“Woah!” Maximus shouts, holding his hands up. “We don’t need you going berserk again.”

“Get these fucking chains off me,” I growl, yanking my arms forward again. I don’t have time for this. I have to get out of here and find Fiona. She could be going through hell right now and I’m stuck here, doing nothing.

“Calm down, Ethan. You can’t help your mate if you’re unstable,” Alpha Mandra says. I turn my glare on him while trying to force my rage down at the same time. I know he’s right. If I go off, he won’t let me out. I’ll more than likely mess things up, but I can’t get rid of the anger.

It rises, like a tsunami wave, until I roar.

I hunch over, letting the guttural sound tear from my body until it dies down.

“Are you done?”

Lifting my eyes, I take several deep breaths and look at Alpha Mandra. He raises a brow at me and merely watches me as I pant from the exertion of fighting the chains and rage.

“If so, the scouts are ready to talk with you,” he says, moving toward me and unlocking the chains. They thump heavily to the ground, and when I stand up, I rub at my aching wrists and follow him back upstairs. They must have dragged me down here when I blacked out.

“While you were in a rage, they informed me that one of the Alphas they’ve been watching has began gathering his warriors to attack another pack. He seems especially set on gaining more power, which would fit with what you said about Fiona’s captor wanting to be King. Maybe he thinks that if he conquers more packs, he can take you on,” Alpha Mandra explains.

Nodding, I follow him into his office where the two scouts were relaxing. When they see us, they jump to attention.

“Alpha King Ethan, are you alright?” One asks.

“Yes. I apologize for my outburst earlier. Alpha Mandra said you have news about one of the Alphas?” I inquire, trying to think of anything except my outburst.

“Yes, sir. We have two Alphas need to be scouted, and we believe if we take two small groups, we could search their pack houses without being caught,” the one on the right says, nodding. Stealth is the most important right now, so I agree with them.

I don’t need to cause an incident when the Alphas are already on edge.

“I’ll go with one of you while Aaron and Maximus will go with the other,” I instruct, motioning to Fiona’s family. Alpha Mandra already said he would stay here and keep an eye on things from afar, which would probably be for the best. He’ll be close enough that we can call him for help if we need it but far enough not to rouse suspicion.

I don’t want to interrupt the two packs we’re infiltrating. That will only cause issues that we don’t need if they end up being innocent.

However, if Fiona does happen to be in one of the two packs the scouts mentioned, we’ll be able to get in and get out without alerting them. I don’t want to lose this chance to search for Fiona. It could be my only chance to do so without violence.

“Which means I need us to keep a lock on our anger,” I tell Zev. He simply growls in agreement, not wanting to lose this chance either.

So, with our plan laid out, we split up and head to the two suspicious packs. Ian, the scout with me, leads me further North, saying that once we get there, the scout currently in that Redwater Pack’s land will meet up with us. Since Ian is only a runner, he isn’t the one assigned to the Redwater Pack.

It doesn’t take more than thirty minutes until a white wolf joins us, leading us a little more west and stopping just short of the Redwater Pack’s front doors. Hiding within the tree line, we watch as the Alpha of the Redwater Pack gathers his warriors, assembling them to attack another pack just as the scout had told me.

“He started an hour ago, and I think he’s nearly ready to leave,” the assigned scout says, nodding toward the last few men that jog up and join the group. “Once they leave, we could sneak in and search the place.”

Ian crawls forward, back in his human form again, and settles beside me, adding, “I saw the code one of the pack members punched on the back door to get in.”

“When did you…”

He smirks. Right. I didn’t even realize he’d disappeared. I guess their Captain was right. They are the best.

The Alpha of the Redwater Pack yells about taking out their enemy and gaining more land, making me feel disgusted. Anyone who attacks the unexpecting and unknowing is awful in my eyes.

Not wanting to let the man attack an unexpecting pack, I turn to Ian and tell him to run ahead to the other pack and warn them. He nods then takes off without protest, gaining a few minutes head start on the Redwater warriors and Alpha.

If he can make it in time, the pack they plan to attack can at least be warned.

“We can slip in through the back,” the other scout says, rising to a crouching position and jerking a thumb behind us.

Nodding, I follow his lead, keeping quiet as we sneak through the forest. We go around to the back of the large pack house, and I watch as he punches a six-digit number into a keypad.

At this time, everyone should be still asleep since it’s barely six in the morning. If we come across anyone, we’ll have to think of something when we get to that point, but I have faith we can avoid being detected since nearly all their warriors have left.

Once we’re inside, I control my breathing and focus my senses, listening and opening my senses to the entire building. I let them reach out, searching for Fiona’s scent, but I don’t find anything.

“There’s a cellar downstairs. You should go that way, since there’s probably less people, and I’ll go up,” the scout says, and I nod. He’s apparently amazing at sneaking around so it would be best for him to take the area that’s more populated.

Heading down, I search in and out of every room. The gym, a basement, a cellar filled with wine; each of them shows no sign of the dark room Fiona was held in. The next few rooms are full of junk, furniture, and food storage.

No sign of Fiona anywhere.

“Fuck,” I growl, digging my claws into my palms to keep from shouting out. The raging fire within me grows, enticing me to rip this place to pieces until I find my mate, but I dig my claws deeper.

I have to force myself to stay calm.

“She’s not here,” Zev says, and I sigh. The Alpha of the Redwater Pack never liked me, and he may be aiming to take over another pack, but there’s no signs of kidnapping.

I’m inclined to agree with Zev, so if she’s not here, there are seven more packs where she could be locked away.

I guess I’ll have to search each one of them until I find her.