Chapter 163

Xaden’s POV

My head was whirling by the time we left Alpha Burton’s house. My father told him that we would deal with him later, for right now, we needed to find Maeve.

It wasn’t often that my father and I agreed on something… but in this case, we were both completely on the same page. Maeve was in danger, and we needed to get her back and out of the clutches of Alpha Kenneth.

If he knew that Maeve was giving birth to an Enigma, then that meant she and the baby were both in danger. We met up with Lucas, Princess Mia, and some of the Vixen warriors, near the Dawnguard Pride borders. That was where her scent kept leading us to, but then it would go off in different directions. I noticed it when we started the search a couple of days ago. I hadn’t slept… none of us had slept, so I knew we were all exceptionally tired, but it still wasn’t making any sense.

I just hoped that Lucas had good news for us.

“I think they are sending us on a wild goose chase,” Princess Mia surprised me by saying. “The Vixens are the best trackers in the world, and we are all over the place. Her scent keeps changing locations.”

“He has help,” Nicholas said as he approached from the pack borders. I hadn’t noticed him approaching until he spoke, but once he neared, I narrowed my eyes.

“What are you talking about?” I asked before my father had the chance to ask himself.

“Maeve isn’t there,” Nicholas told me. “One of the guards blatantly lied to me. Told me that he didn’t know where she was, and he thought she had returned to the Capital. If my father is recruiting Gammas to lie for him, that means he could have other help as well. Regardless, the Gammas in the Dawnguard pack are all corrupted.”

Anger surged through me.

“Is there a place your father would keep a prisoner?” King Arlan asked, stepping around me to shield me from Nicholas before I ripped his head right off his shoulders. “Somewhere nobody else could find her?”

Nicholas thought about it for a moment, the wheels turning in his mind. Then, something must have clicked because realization dawned on him.

“Yes,” he replied, looking up at my father. “He has an underground dungeon. I have never been there before so I’m not sure where it’s located. But it must be somewhere in the pack.”

“And underground dungeon?” I asked through my teeth.

Nicholas nodded, running his fingers through his hair as he thought more about it.

“Yeah, he used to spend a lot of time there when I was growing up. But he never let me go down there with him,” he explained. “But it’s under the ground, which would explain why we aren’t able to pick up her scent.”

It was true that the earth could shield the strongest of scents. Being under the ground would block Maeve’s scent from me entirely.

“We are able to pick up her scent though,” Lucas said, furrowing his brows. “It’s just everywhere.”

“As I said, we’ve been sent on a wild goose chase,” Mia said, folding her arms across her chest. “Someone is throwing off her scent to keep us looking in all the wrong areas.”

“Princess, are you able to find the underground dungeon?” King Arlan asked, turning towards Mia.

She turned and glanced over her shoulder at her vixen warriors who all nodded confidently.

“Now that we know it exists, finding it shouldn’t be a problem,” one of them said with a grin.

“Might need to threaten a few guards though,” another one of them muttered.

“I don’t care what you have to do,” I said through my teeth. “Just find my mate.”

They nodded and turned to Nicholas.

“Do we have permission to enter your pack?” Mia asked.

“Yes, of course,” Nicholas replied, giving her a head nod.

She turned towards her vixen warriors and motioned for them to follow her.

“I’ll come with you,” Lucas said without hesitation. Mia paused and peeked up at him; I swear I saw was slight blush decorating her cheeks.

“Okay,” she breathed, nodding at him. I was surprised she didn’t argue; she had been argumentative towards him since the day she arrived. I guess their little bonding moment did more than I had originally thought.

Thank goddess for that. Maybe this merger would work out after all.

“I didn’t know,” Nicholas said, stepping towards me. “I had no idea any of this was happening. I don’t know what my father was thinking. He sent me on a mission to another part of the nation… I thought it was weird at first, but now I realize he was trying to get me out of the way.”

“We don’t blame you, Nicholas,” My father surprised me by saying.

“Speak for yourself,” I nearly growled but one look from my father made me stand down immediately.

“You’ve been a loyal commander for a long time. You aren’t to blame here,” my father continued, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Nicholas nodded, but he still looked uneasy.

“I’m going to help with the search,” my father announced, looking over his shoulder at some of the gammas who joined us. “Come with me.”

They nodded and together, they went into the Dawnguard Pride territory, leaving me alone with Nicholas.

“You better hope that we find her safe,” I said, stepping towards him. “Or it’ll be your head that I take.”

Nicholas swallowed but he nodded, his face never changing.

“If she’s not okay when we find her… I’ll take my own head,” he replied before brushing past me and walking towards the direction my father took.

I took a deep breath and stared up at the sky where the moon hung over my head; it was a full moon tonight. It was nearing midnight and at that point, shifters would be at their strongest points for the month. It’ll make the search that much easier, but it’ll also make Kenneth that much stronger.

“Don’t worry, Maeve,” I said out loud to nobody. “I’m coming for you.”

…….

Maeve’s POV

When I woke up, I was feeling stronger than I had before I passed out. It had to be because of the food and water that was forced into my system. I was relieved that it was over though and that when I touched my belly with the palms of my hands, I could feel my baby kicking wildly inside of me. Not only did I feel stronger, but my baby was stronger as well.

I still felt disgusting though, having not bathed in what felt like days, and wearing the same clothing I arrived in.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Isabelle said from the doorway, peering down at me through the metal bars, a glimmer of humor in her eyes. “That was quite an ugly sight. Should have seen you flailing around on the ground… desperate for air.”

She let out an ugly cackle, reminding me of a witch. I clenched my fists, and my lips pressed into a thin line.

“Oh, wait… I have the video for memory. I could just show you,” she laughed as she pulled out her phone and brought up the footage of me being force-fed.

I couldn’t look at it… the image and the sounds made me feel sick to my stomach and suddenly, it was as if I was still on the ground being forced to eat and drink. The hands of those Gamma’s pinning me to the ground were burned in my flesh.

My throat throbbed from my pain, and I couldn’t breathe.

The look on my face must have been funny for her because she started to laugh again as she watched the video, a smile widening on her face.

She was truly sick.

“Isabelle, that’s enough,” a deep voice said from the darkness. I didn’t have to see him to know that it was Alpha Kenneth. “Did you finish sprinkling the chunks of hair around the forest?”

“Yes, father,” Isabelle said with a smile. “They will never know that she’s actually here.”

“And what about your husband,” Kenneth asked as he stepped towards the cell, his eyes narrowed. “He doesn’t suspect anything?”

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “He won’t even help in the search for her. He says he has more pressing matters to deal with and can’t be bothered with a pointless search for a girl who means nothing to him.” She flipped her long locks of hair behind her shoulders as if she won a prize or something.

Kenneth nodded thoughtfully before he turned to me.

“Excellent,” he murmured. “I’m going to my packhouse for some business, but I’ll return later to check on you.”

I wanted to spit at him to not even bother, but he didn’t deserve my words.

Without another word he turned and left, leaving Isabelle alone with the guards outside of the cell.

“You are so pathetic,” she laughed. “Perfect little Maeve, finally getting what she deserves. It’s about damn time,” she muttered before turning away and walking away.

Pure rage… all I felt at that moment, was pure rage.