Chapter 42

#Chapter 42 – To the Rescue Victor’s phone rings on his desk. He glances on it, frowning. Edgar? He was off duty tonight – what he could he possibly want, so late?

“Hello?” Victor’s answer of the phone is short, impatient.

“Victor!” Edgar yells into the phone – Victor can hear the howl of traffic behind him, horns honking and the screech of tires. “Quick – Evelyn!”

Victor’s body goes immediately rigid. “What’s wrong,” he demands.

“Evelyn – you need to – NOW, Victor! Her house! Something’s wrong!”

“I’m going,” Victor says, hanging up and shoving his phone in his pocket as he bolts out of his office.

“Victor?” He hears Amelia call after him as he bursts through the back door. “Where are you –“ Her voice fades into the background.

Victor launches into a sprint as he crosses the back yard. His mind is blank, his whole body focused on action – get there, get in, help her.

Soon the cottage is in sight – the back porch – the door. Victor hurtles up the steps and crashes through the back door, breaking the lock.

He loses his breath at the sight before him – Evelyn, unconscious on the ground, her hands tied behind her, blood oozing from a cut on her cheek – gagged –

He hears a screeching cry and his head snaps to the left to see his boys – his boys – likewise tied up, sobbing on the couch, gags around their mouth. But where –

Suddenly, Victor feels someone leap onto his back. They are fast, agile, reaching around him to scratch at his face – his neck –

Something snaps in Victor and he lets out a roar. In a single move he reaches behind him, grasps the assailant, and flips her over his shoulder, slamming her to the ground. She lets out a pathetic cry, her leg twisted under her – clearly broken.

Victor throws himself on top of the woman, a hand to her throat –

“Who are you!?” He hurls the words at her, fury in his throat. She gargles a reply. “Tell me!” He screams, “Tell me who you are!”

Her face starts to turn purple as she leers up at him, baring her teeth, her eyes wild with rage –

Sensing, innately, that she’s in no place to answer his demands for information, Victor slams his fist across her head, aiming for her temple. The woman lets out a cry of pain and then falls slack, knocked out, at least for the moment.

Victor waits – just a moment – to be sure that she’s still, and then dashes to the boys, who continue to scream through their gags. “It’s fine,” he says, reaching them, pulling their gags free, sweeping his eyes over them to ensure that they are safe. They seem fine, just tied up – no blood, no damage.

Both boys start to scream their heads off the moment their gags are free. Victor quickly unties the knot from Ian’s hands, his eyes on Evelyn. “Ian,” he commands, moving over to their unconscious mother.

“Untie your brother, then untie your feet. Stop screaming. We have work to do.”

The boys, responding to his cool command, lessen their screams to sobs and Ian – with shaking hands, complies, working quietly on the knot around his brother’s wrist as he cries.

Victor leans over Evelyn, feeling for a pulse at her neck. Thank god – she’s alive. Softly, he removes the gag from her mouth and assures himself that she’s breathing. As he moves his hands down to remove the ties around her wrist, the front door bursts open.

Instantly, Victor moves off his knees into a crouch with one foot on either side of Evelyn, protecting her unconscious body beneath him. His lips curl back, revealing his teeth – ready to tear into anyone who –

“Victor,” Edgar pants, putting his hands up so that Victor can see he’s not a threat. Victor pauses a moment, and then, registering that it’s Edgar, his own Beta, slowly makes himself move out of his crouch, backing up a step so that Evelyn is between them.

Edgar holds Victor’s eye contact for a moment, waiting for a nod from Victor to let him know that it’s okay, and then throws himself to his knees next to Evelyn.

“She’s…alive” Victor murmurs, coming back to himself, hiding his wolf away inside him now that it seems the danger is past.

“The assailant?” Edgar asks, moving around.

s**t. Victor…he can’t believe it, but he forgot about the assailant. He gestures towards her form, thankfully still unconscious.

“Dead?”

“No,” Victor says. As Edgar moves towards the assailant, Victor turns his attention back to his boys, who have just finished untying the ropes around their ankles. “Boys,” he says, forcing himself to cool the adrenaline coursing through his veins, to be gentle with his frightened sons.

Alvin and Ian look up at him, still dripping tears. Victor’s heart leaps into his throat, seeing them so raw, so unsure of their world. God, he had meant to protect them – to bring them here so that they were safer –

Victor kneels down in front of his boys, placing one hand on each of their cheeks. “You are safe, boys. I am so, so sorry this happened. Please, don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

The boys nod, almost in tandem, and Victor’s heart again surges to see how much they trust him. He means it, too – he will do anything – anything –to protect these boys. Take on anyone – kill anyone who threatens them –

But can he? Hell, he can’t even protect them in his own back yard. Victor’s face hardens, steely.

Changes would have to be made. Now.

“Let me take care of your mother right now, Ian, Alvin. You sit here.”

“Can we…” Ian says, sniffing. “Can we get Archie?”

“Archie?” Victor blinks for a moment and then looks around, suddenly remembering the dog. “Where is he?”

“In the closet,” Alvin says, wiping his tears. “The bad lady threw him in the coat closet – we saw her when we ran down stairs, when he heard mama scream.”

Victor swiftly moves to the coat closet and opens the door, peering inside to see the poor, quivering puppy huddled in the back. Gently, he reaches inside, scooping up the little ball of fur. “Poor pup,” he says softly, just for the dog to hear. “You had a happy little life on the farm, and I’ve brought you here, to this chaos.”

Victor runs a hand over the dog’s head and brings him over to Ian and Archie on the couch. “Here, it’s your job to make Archie feel calm. Can you do that?”

The boys nod, petting the dog with shaking hands, all three turning to each other for comfort and relief from this horrible night.

That taken care of, Victor turns to check on his next steps. Edgar is talking to someone on the phone –

paramedics, from his language. Victor nods, the right choice. As Edgar speaks, he calmly secures the assailant’s hands behind her back with zip ties.

As he watches Edgar, Victor hears a soft noise to his left and turns to see Evelyn beginning to blink back into consciousness. Swiftly, he kneels at her side, placing a hand on her shoulder as she works to sit up.

“Shhh, shhh,” he says, working to calm her. “Just stay still, Evelyn. Everything’s all right. We caught her – the boys are safe.”

“Wha – what…” Evelyn stays on the floor, listening to him, but her eyes scan the room. Victor can almost see the memories come flooding back to her and her body jerks into alertness and panic, seeking to sit up, to find her boys – to look for her assailant –

“Evelyn, stay down,” Victor puts his other hand on her shoulder, but she fights to shake him off. Seeing that she’s determined, Victor helps her, cradling her head, looking her over for further evidence of pain, trauma. The wound on her cheek still bleeds sluggishly, but beyond that, Victor thinks she perhaps isn’t so bad.

“Alvin? Ian? Are they okay?”

“Here, Mama,” Alvin calls softly from the couch. “We’re okay. Archie is okay too.”

Evelyn’s lip starts to tremble as her eyes finally find them and she gasps with relief. Tears start to leak down her face.