Chapter 136

Alaric’s POV

To have Ethan back, only to discover that Mia is the one truly missing now, is like a punch straight to the gut right after trying to catch my breath. The wind is totally knocked out of me.

Fresh fear flashes through me, but there is no time to fall victim to it. As long as Mia is out here somewhere, she is in danger.

“Search the grounds. Every nook and cranny, under every tree and in every bush,” I tell all of my servants, anyone who will listen. “Mia is missing and we cannot rest until she is found.”

The staff move at once, sensing my urgency as well as likely feeling some of their own. In the short time she has been here, Mia has captured the hearts of nearly everyone. What’s not to love? She’s such a kind little girl, so giving and sweet, with those doe eyes of hers.

“Was she with you?” Cara asks Ethan. She’s trying to keep her voice calm, likely for Ethan’s sake, but she can’t hide the tremor in her voice very well. “When did you get separated?”

“She saw me packing,” Ethan says. There’s fear in his voice, making it tight. It triggers a fresh wave of protectiveness in me. My children should not know fear like this. “She wanted to come with me, but I told her no. She was supposed to stay at the house.”

“Did she follow you?” Cara asks.

“I don’t know,” Ethan replies. Tears swell in his eyes. “She was supposed to stay in the house where she was safe.” The tears fall now. “This is my fault…”

“No,” Cara says at once, and pulls him back into a hug. “You mustn’t blame yourself. We will find her. Everything will be alright.” She gently rubs Ethan’s back as he sobs loudly into her shoulder.

Meanwhile, she lifts her gaze up to me. We share a look and an understanding. We have the same fear.

Yet neither of us will voice it aloud, not until there is proof.

“Alpha,” says the butler. Cara and I both turn to him at the same time. “There’s something you’ll want to see.”

“Did you find her?” Cara asks.

“No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll go,” I say, and give Cara a new look. I’m hoping she understands it.

Stay with Ethan, it says. He needs you.

She nods subtly, and I know she comprehends what I was trying to say.

I turn then and follow the butler to the back of the house. We have a security room there, were all the cameras of the house feed into a room. There’s always someone stationed there, watching.

That guard seems frantic now. “I heard the call to search for the kids, so I left the room… I shouldn’t have left the room!”

Walking by him, I follow the butler into the room. Whatever that guard has done or not done, I will deal with later. Right now, I need the facts.

The butler directs me toward one of the cameras. He goes back in time in the footage and then presses play.

Suddenly, there is a dark sedan just outside the back wall.

As I watch, with growing horror, I see a man carrying my little girl over the wall to the car.

Mia bites on his finger, and almost escapes, but she’s such a small, dainty thing. The man grabs her around the waist and throws her into the trunk. Then he slams it closed over her, locking her within. When she’s secured, he moves to the front of the car and drives away.

With the way he’s parked, the license plate of the car is hidden. At least we have the make and model, but that doesn’t seem like enough.

“Call the police,” I say, my voice ice cold. There’s no time for feeling now. Not yet. When Mia is safe, I will let myself feel the weight of this moment. For now, I let the ice blister inside of me, freezing me over, preparing for what I must do. “I want everyone down here.”

“They are already on their way,” the butler says.

When I find the person who took my little girl – and I will find them, I’m going to kill them myself.

Mia’s POV

I’m scared, but none of this actually feels real just yet.

I didn’t want Ethan to go alone. I knew he’d be lonely so I followed him. I was going to try to convince him to come back, I swear!

Someone grabbed me from behind the minute I slipped out the window and onto the grass. As he dragged me to the back wall, I struggled, but he was so strong.

Now I’m in the trunk of a car. The car is moving, I can tell from the wall the carpet beneath me rumbles, knocking me around a bit. The car must be going very fast.

I hate the dark, but now I’m stuck inside of it. There’s not even a crack to see through. Wrapping my arms around myself, I try to give myself comfort.

I don’t know where I’m going and I’m scared, but my mom and dad will be coming for me. My uncles too. Whoever has kidnapped me might not realize their mistake, making enemies of the Alpha Kings of both DuskWood and BloodyMoon packs.

I’d tell my kidnapper, but he won’t hear me now. I can barely hear myself over how loud the road and the car are.

Eventually, after what feels like forever, we stop somewhere. The car turns off, and I brace myself.

Even braced, I’m not ready for how blinding the sky is when the kidnapper opens the trunk again. I squeeze my eyes closed.

The man grabs me roughly around the waist and yanks me out of the car. My feet hit gravel, and I’m glad I thought to put on shoes before I followed Ethan out that window.

Grabbing me roughly by the shoulder, the man drags me forward. When we are in a shadow, I blink my eyes open. Before me is a double wide trailer, but we are out in the woods, not in a trailer park. The man shoves me up a set of stairs. He kicks a screen door open and then tosses me into the trailer.

There are two women there, sitting on a small sofa. I can’t really see them as my eyes try to adjust once again to darkness this time. But from the sound of their voices they don’t seem familiar.

“Look who it is, Nanny,” says a voice. “A little lost sparrow.” She singsongs the first part, but her voice hardens as she continues, addressing the man. “George, you asshole. You were supposed to get both kids.”

“With how well that place is guarded, you are lucky I got just this one, Lilia.”

The names aren’t familiar to me, but I take them to heart. What I don’t know is, who is this Nanny? Did they hire a Nanny for me?

I’m too afraid to ask questions. I feel like my voice has been stolen from me.

“Well you better get comfortable, sparrow,” Lilia says. “You are going to be with us for a long time yet.”