Chapter 137

Cara’s POV

The moment Alaric returns, I can tell that something is very, very wrong. His face is tight and his posture straight as a rod. With me and the kids, he usually takes on a softness, treating us gently and with compassion. Right now, he looks every inch the Alpha King he projects for the rest of the world.

He is all business, angry but determined.

I brace myself for the worst, with only moderate success. This is my daughter we are talking about.

By now, we’ve moved to the front of the house, with Ethan and me sitting together on one of the benches on the front porch. Ethan is curled up against my side. For now, the tears have halted, but he shakes with the same fear I feel inside of myself.

I’ve spent the past several minutes, since Alaric’s departure, trying to soothe him, but no matter what I said, Ethan continued tremble. I wish I could be more convincing. I’m trying to be strong for him.

But if anything has happened to my little girl…

“Cara,” Alaric says to me. His gaze softens as he looks at Ethan, but then he closes his eyes. When he opens them again, his gaze is firm once more. “I’d like to speak to you privately please.”

“I want to hear,” Ethan says.

“That’s not a good idea,” Alaric replies.

A sharp pain stabs through my chest. For him not to want to share what he knows in front of Ethan could only be bad news.

Alaric gives me a look that asks for support in this.

I call over one of the nannies. “Stay with Ethan, please,” I tell her.

“But Mom,” Ethan starts to argue.

“I need to talk to your father,” I tell him.

“But –”

“I’m sorry, Ethan. Just wait here for me, okay?”

Ethan crosses his arms, looking very upset, but fortunately, he listens to me. He stays put as I stand, trading places with the nanny. Then I follow Alaric a few feet away up the driveway. He must know I’m not willing to let Ethan out of my sight, while also wanting to ensure that he doesn’t hear anything.

Yet, even with this distance, Alaric now hesitates, as if he doesn’t want me to know. I need to know. I need to hear it.

“Is she alive?” I asked, my own voice cracking.

“She was taken, kidnapped while the guards were searching for Ethan,” he tells me. “She was alive when the kidnapper put her in the trunk of his car.”

I cover my mouth with my hand while wrapping my free arm around myself. It’s taking everything in me to try to keep myself pulled together, when all I want to do is fall apart.

“K-kidnapped?” I repeated.

My poor little girl. How scared she must feel!

My fear and worry quake within me, but that’s not all I feel. In addition, I feel a deep disappointment directed solely at Alaric.

I trusted him to keep my children safe, but Mia is missing. Taken.

I think I’m going to throw up.

Alaric must know how I feel, because though he stands tall, his face is twisted with grief and guilt.

“I’m sorry, Cara. But I swear we will find her.”

“Find her? She never should have been taken in the first place!” I say the words too loudly. They are punched out of me, driven by my overwhelming emotions.

Unfortunately, Ethan hears every word. He runs toward us, pulling away from the nanny that tries to stop him.

“Mia’s been taken?” he asked, worry in his voice and tears in his eyes once more.

Alaric looks at Ethan with regret, but then he nods once, giving him confirmation.

Immediately, Ethan begins to crumble. “This is my fault…!”

I drop to my knees, and pull him into a hug once more. Yet before I can speak, Alaric does.

“This is not your fault,” Alaric says. “It’s mine. Mia was a guest in my home, and I was charged with protecting her. I have failed in this responsibility. So do not blame yourself, Ethan. Blame me.”

I don’t think this blame game is particularly helpful, but when I notice Ethan isn’t crying anymore, I pull back to look at his face. He’s staring at Alaric with something like respect in his eyes.

This is the first time I’ve seen Ethan look at Alaric like this. Perhaps because he has been so willing to accept responsibility? I I’m not sure.

“I will find her,” Alaric says fiercely. “This I promise to both of you. I will find her and bring her back to her family.”

With how much conviction he held in his voice, I start to believe him.

Mia might have been taken on Alaric’s watch, but if anyone can be trusted to bring her back, it’s him.

Of that I’m certain.

Mia’s POV

The scary man and woman put me in a separate room with the older woman, who I’ve only heard them call, Nanny. It’s more a title than a name, but that’s okay. She’s quieter than the others, and seems a little nicer too, so I’m okay with this shift.

While Nanny doesn’t yell at me, she does talk to herself a lot. She keeps talking about how she’s been exiled, like she’s trying to talk someone out of exiling her.

“If you’d only listen to me…” she says under her breath. “I am the beloved of the Alpha King… I’m not his wife but he loves me…” Rubbing her hands together, she continues, “I can’t be exiled… Not from the BloodyMoon pack… not from my beloved… and my daughter! My daughter…”

Nanny seems lost in her own mind, maybe trapped in a past somewhere. I don’t really understand it, what she’s saying or what it means. But I can tell that she is so distracted, she isn’t really watching me.

Nor is she watching the window.

I glance at it and then back at her. She stands totally still, not paying attention to me at all. So I inch over some, closer to the window. I look at it and then at her again. She still seems distracted.

I move another inch, and then another. I keep moving until finally I’m sitting right under the window.

Nanny, sitting on her rocking chair, rubs her hands together, mutters to herself, and rocks back and forth, back and forth.

Her gaze is on her hands. She’s not looking at me.

I want my mom, and my brother, and my dad. I don’t want to be in this place anymore.

I have no idea what’s waiting for me outside of this window, but it has to be better than what’s inside of it.

So far I’ve been threatened, but so has my mom.

I have to warn her! I can’t let these people hurt my mom!

I wait another moment. Nanny continues to ignore me.

I stand. She doesn’t move an inch.

Then, deciding, I make my move. Turning, I push open the window – it isn’t even locked!

With it open, I hoist myself through it and land on the rock driveway on the other side.

My heart in my throat, I look around. I have no idea which direction will lead me to safety, but any direction has to be better than here.

So I pick one at random and I start running.