Chapter 138

Mia’s POV

I dash into the forest, not knowing where I’m going. Any direction is a good direction, though. Whatever gets me away from that terrible place I’m leaving behind.

My heart races, I’m terrified. But I’m also exhilarated. I’m free.

I need to get to Mom. I need to warn her about what these bad people are planning to do. When she knows, when she’s safe, then I can let myself feel safe…

I can calm down and everything will be okay.

Racing as fast as my legs could carry me, I hate that I’m not older – old enough to run faster, or be able to more easily defend myself.

I miss my mom. I wish she was here to help me. I don’t know how to do this on my own.

Tears start to blur my vision, even as I continue to run. My legs start to hurt, and so does my chest, but even then, I don’t slow down.

Yet, just as I hope I might be escaping, a strong arm roughly wraps around my waist and yanks me backwards.

“Where do you think you’re running off to?” a male voice gruffly says. I recognize it, in horror, as the voice of my kidnapper, George.

“Let me go!” I cry, tears streaming down my cheeks. I struggle, but his grip is strong. He’s learned since last capturing me. He doesn’t hold me in any kind of way where I can bite at his hands.

“Quit struggling!” George snaps, but I don’t listen. I keep fighting him as he drags me all the way back to the house.

Once we are there, he plants me down on my feet facing the house. Lilia and Nanny stand on the porch.

Lilia shouts at Nanny, “You lazy, good-for-nothing! You were supposed to be watching her! What would we have done if she’d gotten away?”

Nanny seems dazed. I can’t tell if she was actually listening.

George holds me by the shoulders, keeping me still, even as I try to squirm. “She’s here. Easy enough to track down with her little legs.”

I grow so angry that my face turns hot. If I was bigger, I could easily make my escape. But I’m not, so I’m stuck here. It’s so frustrating!

Without receiving any reaction from Nanny, Lilia turns toward me instead. She steps down from the front of the house, approaching me with a mean look in her eyes.

I try to put on a brave face, but my bottom lip is trembling. It’s all I can do not to call out for mom or for dad or for Ethan or even one of my uncles.

“Did you think you could escape?” she asks me. “Did you truly believe that we would ever get away?”

“I will escape!” I tell her, shouting.

The corner of her mouth twitches. In a flash, she slaps me hard across the face.

It stings really bad, bringing tears to my eyes. My whole body moves. It’s only because George is holding me so hard by the shoulders that I don’t collapse.

I’ve never been hit like this before, by someone who wants to do me such harm. A new wave of fear coils up in my belly and I can’t stop myself from sobbing hard.

I want my mom!

“There is no escape, you little brat,” she tells me. “You aren’t going anywhere, so you better get used to it.”

I want to go home!

“Stop your whimpering!” she shouts in my face, which only makes me cry harder. Then she sighs and grunts like she’s already sick of me. “Get her back in the house George. You watch her this time. I’m tired of looking at her pathetic face.”

“Yes, love,” George says and pushes me toward the house.

I’m so scared and sad that all I can do is obey.

Alaric’s POV

Cara might never forgive me for what happened here, but even if she does, I will never forgive myself. This is my estate, my home, where I invited my family to seek refuge, believing I could keep them safe. They all trusted that I could. So did I.

My hubris must have led us here. If I’d been more cautious than confident, perhaps Mia would still be here with us.

Instead, she was taken, and is now out there somewhere scared and alone.

It’s all my fault.

Cara has been putting a brave face on for Ethan, but I can tell how truly worried she is. I hear her pacing, and once I found her crying alone in her room. I pretended I didn’t see, for both our sakes.

She has refused to talk to me, though occasionally I feel her eyes on me. She’s probably waiting to see what I will do.

I don’t know how much she sees, but the truth of it is, I’ve dedicated my every moment to finding Mia.

I haven’t slept since it happened. If I eat anything, it’s only something I can carry with me as I look over the maps or the makes and models of cars. I take long vigils, racing up the road the kidnapper took, searching in all directions.

But since I don’t know what I’m searching for, I can’t find it. I don’t know how long they drove, nor which direction they took.

In defeat, each time, I return to the house with nothing to show for myself.

I would search out there forever, but whenever I get too far, I worry about what could be happening at home. I’ve increased security, but what if the kidnapper returns. What if he sneaks through like before or takes Ethan. Or Cara. Or hurts them.

My priorities are torn between being out there searching, and being home to protect my pack.

I’m stuck in uncertainty. I only know I feel in over my head. This is not a typical feeling for an Alpha King, and I’ve truly never felt it before.

I need more people here. More Alphas, strong enough to protect my family. But they have to be ones I trust. People who love Cara as much as I do, even if in a different way.

Noel has already been added to our security list, having discovered what happened when he came to visit Cara. I don’t know if I can trust him, but Cara does. Given everything that’s happened, if she feels she can trust him, I cannot doubt her.

But even his additional presence doesn’t feel like enough.

Returning to the house once more, I walk straight into my study, where I close the door behind me. I search for a phone number, then, lifting my phone, proceed to dial it.

“Hello?”

“Eamon,” I say.

“Alaric,” Eamon says. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you. Took you long enough.” He’s pleasant enough on the phone but I can hear the undertones of annoyance. And of worry.

“I need a favor,” I say.

“I suspect you do,” Eamon says. “What do you need?”

“Help,” I tell him. It pains me to have to ask the Alpha King of another pack for assistance, even if that other Alpha King is Cara’s brother. It hurts my pride. But I can swallow my pride. I can stamp it out entirely for how little it means to me in this moment.

Finding Mia is the only thing that matters.

“I’m glad you asked,” Eamon says. “Because my brothers are already on their way.”