Chapter 9

HUNTER “FUCK!!”

I punch my fist through the door as I discover Lainey has escaped.

My anger and Alpha energy are through the roof. My eyes fill with flames and my shoulders heave. I stare into the empty room. My jaw ticks and my wolf goes insane.

My turned down lip threatens a snarl.

My fists ball as this infuriating situation rolls around in my brain.

Clearly, she misunderstood my requests. She must have not heard me say she’s to stay…with me…forever!

I spin on my heels and take out my phone. Obviously, her room is not to her liking. I look up wood ash doors and order one. I’ll just have to fix that right up. Anything for my Angel.

I stomp up the stairs and lock the door.

Walking past the kitchen, Ryan is at the island. “Hey. Where were you?”

I take a breath and try to not tip him off. I smile and lean on the island. “Oh just looking for some parts for a thing at work I’m working on.”

He arches a brow. “Sounded like you didn’t find them.”

“No.” I rub the back of neck. “It’s a pain in the ass to order one and I swore I had it here. I’ve been trying to get this done for months, I guess it’s going to have to wait.”

I smile as I eat my lies. I don’t care. The last thing I want is him sniffing his hormonal ass around my female.

I slap the island. “I’ll be at the office.”

“Ok. Catch ya later.” He waves and drinks his coffee.

I turn and my face turns to anger and aggravation. Lainey is coming back home whether she wants to or not. She belongs here with me.

I drive to work and swallow the heat and furious outrage my wolf is putting out. These wolves also can’t be trusted around my Lainey.

I had a council meeting right at the start.

Ash needs help with Adeline. She’s been taken. I never thought I’d feel the same as Ash, but right now, I feel you brother.

We all go out to this Nathan guys pack house.

As soon as he told us Adeline wandered into the woods at night, I started to sweat.

I was glad they never found her in the city, but I never thought of what she could do out here. I’m praying it’s not Lainey in Mateo’s vision.

They start talking about it.

I’m chewing on my nail and walking around. This isn’t sounding good.

“Maybe they don’t got her, ya know?...Maybe she’s just lost. Let’s not jump to conclusions.” I say to try and change this frame of mind.

“You know the vision, Hunter.” Mateo says.

“No…I…Uh…I know…I’m saying before we go vamp hunting. Just dial it back a bit.” I tick my head quick and try to make it sound like I’m not protecting Lainey from these idiots.

“What? Dial…Are you nuts?” Ash scowls at me. “I know she’s with the vamps. I can feel it.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and squeeze my hidden fist hard at his insistence that Lainey is part of this.

I push it down and walk up to him. “I’m not saying to not to, I’m just saying she’s probably lost in there so there’s no reason to look for vamps right now.”

He looks at me hard and his eyes narrow a bit. “What’s…”

I see the trackers and point. “Let’s find Addy. The trackers are here.”

He turns and I scrub a hand up my face and into my hair. I saw him trying to get into my head and it’s not going to work.

We put on our wolf packs and run to the forest. Mines packed with a little something more.

The trackers found the church we bust in.

The fighting started almost immediately.

I’m punching and tossing vamps like it’s going out of style.

It looks like I’m helping, but really I’m digging through these vamps to find Lainey.

I duck down a hallway and start searching rooms.

“Lainey.” I whisper sharply. “Where are you?”

I can still hear the fight going on behind me.

I open a door to what looks like an archive room. There’s cardboard boxes on shelves.

I search behind the shelves and I’m hit from behind. I slam into a shelf and boxes of papers and other things fall on me. I lean forward and shield my head.

I raise my head and Lainey is standing in front of me. Her green eyes glowing and her chest growls.

I hold my hand up and slowly rise to my feet. “Darling.” I snarl back. “I get you’re mad. I am too. You don’t understand what you’re doing.” My eyes flash and she hisses at me.

I stand in front of her. My head lowered in a challenge. “We need to talk, ok. It’s part of a loving relationship, right? Talking?” The growl gets louder in my chest as my dominance surfaces.

“I don’t want you!” She yells.

My jaw ticks and my eye twitches. I clench my teeth. “Yes, you do.”

“No. You’re sick! You need help!” She grits.

“The only thing I need, my beautiful angel, is you!” I grind out as I step towards her.

“Don’t come near me.” She warns.

I tick my head with my crazed smirk. “Oh, I’m coming near you, baby. You’re coming home.”

“No, I’m not.” She spins and rips a shelf down in front of me.

I jump out of the way. “Baby! Running away won’t solve our problems!” I growl and leap over the shelf. I chase her through a door into another side hallway.

I reach into my pack and get two darts. I slow down to a walk. I look into rooms. “Angel! We can work this out! We just need to compromise!” I open a door and look around the room. I leave it. “You come home and I love you forever! Is that too much to ask?!” I grit.

I put the dart covers in my teeth and pull them off. I forcibly spit them out onto the floor.

I can scent her. She’s close.

I stop in front of a door.

I tilt my head. “Honestly, Lainey. You’re just being difficult. You’re too emotional.” I kick in the door with a growl.

She’s standing behind the desk in the room. My eyes lock with hers.

I glare at her. “You need to stop being so dramatic.”

I rush her and she jumps the desk.

I try to inject her and she blocks my arm. She lands a punch to my face and knocks the syringes out of my hand.

She swings at me and I back off. I swing back and we exchange blows.

She punches my jaw and I stumble back. I spit blood and roll my eye to her.

“Ok…” I give a crazed laugh. “Ok…you obviously have a few problems.” I nod and stand up straight. “I think you need to sleep on it.”

I dive for the one of the syringes and she tries to kick at me while I grab it and roll away from her on the floor. I stop on my hand and feet.

I run at her and she swings at me. I grab her arm and pull her so her back is on my chest. I sink the dart into her jugular. “This will make you better. I promise.” I kiss her temple.

She slumps in my arms. “I…hate…you…” She says.

I reach down and pick up the other dart. I give her that one too.

“It’s just a little fight, baby. You’ll love me by morning.”

I look around the room. I carry her to a closet. I open the door and shove her inside.

I kiss her forehead. “I love you. Don’t worry. I’m going to fix everything.” I stroke her hair and close the door. I’ll come for her later. Right now, I need to make sure everything else is taken care off.

Once I was in the clear, I grabbed Lainey and got her settled into her new and improved room. She’s mad now, but I’ll make it up to her. She’ll see how wrong she is.

I’ll let her sleep. Now, I have work to do.

At the unit, Bear found his piece and I went to work analyzing it. As it came into the simulation, I had to lean into the screen.

“Hey, De? Is this what I think it is?” I point to my screen.

Declan comes over and looks. “A second signal?”

“Yeah. Why the hell would it have two energy signatures?”

I type on the keys and change the simulation to include the piece. My brow comes together as I watch the cross enter the central part to the door and the pieces add it to them.

The door comes to being again. I stare at the floating diagram.

I twist my lips and think. “I wonder if it’s a signal to the prison.”

Declan nods. “Like a beacon in the night. It’s calling to it to finally be joined together.”

I arch a brow and turn my head. “Have you been reading romance novels again?”

He looks at me. “Yeah, why?”

“Just stop.” I turn back to my computer. “You’re scaring me.”

He lowers his head and shakes it.

“Ok. I need to take this to the guys.” I download it to my tablet and run downstairs. I see Ash in the hall.

I run up beside him. “Hey.” I smile.

I show him the tablet. “So, yes the cross you found is part of the prison…I mean, that’s obvious by the blue glowing light, but what’s interesting is, the energy frequency that’s coming off it is slightly different then the others. So, I analyzed it and what I found was there’s two energy signals. Probably, like a power boost or something. But I think if we can tune this second frequency to the main frequency we should be able to match that to the frequency of the prison…”

He stops me. “Hunter, you’re hurting my head. Make it shorter.”

I stop and face him. “We can use it to track the prison.”

“Don’t they die after you get the vision?” He asks.

“Yeah, but there’s a chance it will still work.” I answer.

He scrubs his beard. “I don’t want to risk it. Use it to track the prison, I’ll get my vision later.”

I nod. “Ok.” I turn to leave.

“Hey.” He stops me.

I turn back.

“You feeling ok?” He eyes me.

“I’m fine.” I smile. Not a total lie. Now that Lainey’s back in my life, I’m actually feeling pretty good.

“Back in Langstone, you didn’t seem fine.” He arches a brow.

I huff a small laugh and flop my arm to my side. “I just don’t like vamps.”

“You’d tell us…if something was wrong.” His eyes narrow.

I smile and scrunch my face. “Of course.”

“Ok…Just take care of yourself.”

“I will. Don’t worry.” I slap his arm.

I turn and my face scowls. I didn’t like that. He looked at me weird. I’ll have to steer clear of him. He’s too close.