Chapter 34: Chapter 34

SLOAN

As the seconds, minutes, and eventually hours ticked by, Sloan fell deeper and deeper into a sense of hatred and despair. After issuing his demand to have Myra found, he hadn’t spoken to anyone.

Memories of their wonderful weekend played over and over in his head like a sick joke, taunting him about his happiness and the love that had been snatched away from him.

The girls, their security detail, and both vehicles had vanished without a trace. His trackers were scouring the route they’d taken to the airport, searching for some clue about their disappearance.

Volunteers from neighboring clans and packs joined in the search for the missing omega.

“How dumb can these fuckers be? They kidnapped an alpha’s mate,” someone whispered, but he didn’t have the energy to acknowledge whoever had just spoken.

Though Sloan wanted to join in the search himself, protocol dictated that he debrief the council.

He was now seated in the inner chambers of the grand council meeting hall, awaiting updates and brainstorming with other leaders. Many sympathized with him and were eager to assist in the safe recovery of his young omega.

Sloan’s eyes roamed over the chamber. This room had been their focal point for centuries, housing strategic planning meetings, trials, and swearing-in ceremonies for new leaders and elders.

The Michelangelo-style ceiling depicted various creatures who inhabited the world, all gazing down at him. Their neutral facial expressions were almost taunting his loss.

Even the gargoyles perched on top of the intricate columns in the five corners of the room provoked him.

Over the years, the chamber had been updated with modern technological advancements to accommodate the changes in the outside world.

One wall had a projector screen that was split into four sections, and they watched a live stream of team leaders searching through the field.

On another wall was a hub of smaller monitors and a large desk with several council acolytes operating the control panel and communicating with the different search teams.

Sloan’s fingers drummed on the desk as his eyes shifted to the wall screens, roaming over the different sceneries displayed there.

He allowed the buzz of conversation to provide him with a semblance of hope, but it was ill-conceived, as dread and hopelessness slowly hardened the walls around his heart.

His emotions were all jumbled. When Myra was first attacked, he received projected images from her. This time, there was nothing. But he was holding on to the minuscule chance that she was still alive.

If she was dead, he would most certainly have known. There were legends of alphas whose mates were taken from them experiencing unimaginable pain.

…Pain so great that the only solution was to commit suicide to alleviate the heartache.

“Come in, Team Six. This is the command center. What’s your status report?” he heard an acolyte say.

Sloan glanced at the falcon shifter, who nodded his head, listening to the disjointed voice coming through on his headset. The young man’s fingers quickly typed on the keyboard, and the projected screen changed.

“We found the SUVs off an embankment about eight hundred miles south of their last GPS ping. They’re completely mangled.” The team leader’s voice echoed through the chamber, silencing the room.

“We’re picking up on several creatures’ scents…and something else. A forensic crew will have to identify it.”

“Captain, we found blood, a significant amount of it,” another voice said through the speakers, though it was distant.

The team leader moved over to his colleague, and they all saw inside the vehicle. Sloan felt his heart stop when he saw the bloodbath inside the interior of the vehicle.

“Captain?” Declan spoke up. “What’s the registration number on that SUV?”

“Charlie, Tango, Echo, Six, Foxtrot, Delta, Three.”

“That’s not Myra’s vehicle. Check the other one. Is there blood as well?” Tristan said, sounding optimistic.

“Um… Oh, the strange smell is stronger in this vehicle. It’s almost chemical-like,” the captain commented, and the room saw inside the second vehicle. “There are traces of blood on the steering wheel. Both seat belts were cut.”

“Captain! We’ve found two bodies,” a different team member called out, and the captain hurried to look over the side of the embankment.

At the bottom of the cliff were two bodies lying on the rocky ground. It looked like they were carelessly tossed over the side. Three team members were scaling down the side of the cliff.

~Two more have died under my watch.~ Sloan despaired and hung his head in shame.

“Captain, we’ve dispatched a forensic team to your location. Their estimated time of arrival is ten minutes,” the acolyte said, but he was interrupted by the live stream.

“We need a medic! They’re still alive!” someone shouted from the rocky bed. For the first time, Sloan felt a glimmer of hope.

“Alpha Sloan, your phone is vibrating.” Nora, a clan alpha who was next to him, interrupted his thoughts.

Sloan looked down at the vibrating device on the table. ~Unknown Number.~

He ended the call, knowing that it would be a hang-up. But soon the phone started vibrating once again. He decided to accept the call, just in case it was Myra and this hellish nightmare was just a misunderstanding.

However, before he could speak, a gravelly blast from his past croaked in his ear.

“Hi, baby.”

Sloan stood up quickly, causing his chair to crash to the ground.

“Did you miss me?” Elizabeth cooed.

Sloan felt his wolf take over for a split second, growling his displeasure. He glanced at Declan, who jumped into action, speaking softly to an acolyte on the control panel.

“What the fuck do you want, Elizabeth?”

“Oh, boo. You didn’t miss me? Remember those nights when you had me screaming your name over and over”—she dreamily sighed in his ear—“and over again, for hours on end.”

“Get to the point!” he snapped, not wanting to go down memory lane with her. She was his past, and Myra and their baby were his future, once he found them safe and sound.

“Baby, don’t be like that. Question: are you missing something?”

She laughed, and Sloan felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

“It’s so embarrassing that ~that~ little vixen bitch took what was rightfully mine.”

“I was never yours. Don’t confuse animalistic lust for love, because it was pure sex, nothing more and nothing less. And with you, it wasn’t even that good,” he murmured, not caring about her feelings.

He heard her gasp in mock shock, but off to the side, he noticed Declan motioning for him to keep her talking.

“Fuck you, Sloan. I’m damn good, and you know it. Besides, I’ve seen what you do with your little vixen, and you look bored.”

“WHAT!” Sloan roared, shaking the chamber. Picture frames and windows rattled as drinking glasses clinked against each other.

“Tell Tristan to check his email,” she gloated. “Oh, would you look at that. It’s time for me to go. Chat again soon, my love.”

The line went dead.

Sloan crushed his phone in anger while struggling to control his breathing.

At the same time, Tristan pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. He walked over to Sloan, holding out the phone. Sloan took a steady breath and shook his head, then nodded to the acolyte that Declan was talking to.

“Sorry, Alpha. The call was too short to find the exact triangulation, but we do have a general location, north of the city,” the acolyte apologized.

After a brief pause, Tristan started speaking. “A video file was sent to my inbox. Put it up on the big screen, please,” Tristan requested, and the acolyte nodded.

Soon a video started to play, and Sloan’s heart leapt in his chest. He immediately recognized Myra’s body, bound on a dirty, wet stone floor with a black hood over her head.

“Please tell me she’s breathing,” Theodore, his father, spoke for the first time since arriving in the chamber.