Chapter Twenty-Six

Christopher

“Where is she?” I yell again at Celina’s cowering friend. My beast is begging me to let him out so he can forcibly extract it from her.

“For the tenth time, I don’t know,” she yells; hiding behind my exhausted-looking brother. “Look, I told you what I know. I told her about my interaction with the Grand Chancellor and his plans for her, and she took off.”

I let out a loud roar in my frustration, making everyone’s head bend to submit and I pull at my hair. “Did she say anything else?”

“Only that she’s going to kill or disable someone.”

“If she’s going after Randaul, she’s the one that’s going to get killed,” Ruben says, putting his hand on my chest. “What did her ex say he wants?”

“Only that his end game is winning over Celina,” I say as I walk away, noticing his blood on my hands. “He told me his father is threatening to disown him if he doesn’t deliver Celina to him. I strongly discouraged him from that plan.”

“How alive is he?”

“Enough. I pulled an incisor to force my point across.” I go and sit in the kitchen chair she had sat in earlier, using her scent to help calm me. Her brother is sitting next to it working on his computer. The moment I get my hands on her, I’m handcuffing her to me with a pair of silver handcuffs. She’s not leaving me behind again.

“He also told me that Celina’s little admirer is a hell of a lot stronger than me, and would even give Celina as a lycan a run for her money. He didn’t see his face, but he has a scent that has a hint of amber in it. It was feint, but he managed to catch it because his concealing spray was wearing off. He thinks that’s the only reason he managed to get away.”

Ruben turns and gives Jenna a hard glare. “What are you wanting to do with this traitor?”

I run my fingers through my hair. Celina is going to kill me. “Considering her standing, launch a full investigation on her family and set her up in lockdown until a suitable punishment can be reached.” Personally, I want to pull her canines out and make her swallow them.

“Already on it,” Xander jumps in. “I sent an email to my Dad and we have appointed Gamma Lucious as the new Beta. Zeke and his family are under lockdown pending further investigation. They’ll be here in eight hours to take Jenna into custody.”

Xander turns to look at Jenna, who had just let out a panicked wail and speaks to her with palpable disdain. “This wasn’t a simple slip and tell, Jen. This could have gotten her killed if it went any further.” He turns back to his computer while Ruben pushes Jenna to the couch.

“Find anything,” I ask him while I turn my back to the crying bitch.

“After her trail went cold, I started using my contacts to pull street security footage. She got into a cab. I called the driver of the cab, and he wouldn’t tell me where he dropped her off. Someone gave him enough money to retire if he takes that location to his grave. That’s all he would tell me. I’ve been going through street cams ever since.”

“They were ready for this,” he tells me as he pulls up the street view outside of our building. “The second she left, a couple of lycans moved in, but she lost them in the crowd.”

“Why did she go alone?” Ruben demands. “We were right here in the apartment with her.”

“My guess is she wanted to get to the biggest fish and take him out. Randaul wouldn’t come out unless she was alone, so he had a shot at capturing her.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Despite what she thinks, my sister is an alpha,” Xander answers while he quickly flips through a new frame. “She’ll kill any threat to our packs without hesitation.”

“No offense, then why isn’t she the next in line to be alpha?”

“The day she killed her true mate, is the day she destroyed that goal.”

“And?”

He smirks. “She can’t be a true alpha without a goddess-given mate. At least that’s how she feels.”

“How do you know this?” I ask him, wringing my hands together.

He chuckles. “Because I know my sister. Do you?”

I don’t respond because I can’t answer yes.

“But my brother is her mate,” Ruben says with irritation in his voice. “If she’d realize that, I could be lounging on a beach right now.”

Xander shakes his head, amused by his response. “We’re not the ones that need to convince her of that. Remember, she killed her mate and barely lived through it. It’s going to take a lot to let her get that vulnerable again.”

Frustrated by what I already know, I inch closer to the screen. “Can you trace her cellphone?”

Xander shakes his head, “It’s turned off and we have her signal heavily encrypted for her safety. It’ll take me a few minutes to locate it after she turns it on.”

“So what do we do now?”

“You wait, and make me some coffee while I go through street cams.

A thought hits me when I stand. “Where was the driver when you called him?”

“Back at the cab company turning in his keys.”

“Can you backtrack the driver through those lights, and get a better location to where he dropped Celina off?”

He nods and stiffens. “Celina just turned on her cell and put out a call.”

“Who is she calling?”

Xander chuckles. “Me, and she’s leaving me a voicemail.”

“Why the hell would she call you?” I growl, furious by this. Why didn’t she call me? I would have picked it up on the first ring. Doesn’t she trust me?

“Because my sister knows I have a nasty habit of forgetting to charge my phone. She wants to record something. It’s not her first time doing this.”

“So we only have three minutes to get a trace on her.”

“Ten actually. We downloaded an app with a bigger capacity. It’s a requirement in our family.” He answers his explanation while immediately pulling up her tracking information.

I start pacing as my beast tries to claw through my skin. “I’m going to go drive toward the cab company. Call me when you have her location.”

“You don’t hunt well, do you?” Xander asks as I call the elevator.

“Not when there is too much at stake,” I answer while I still pace.

“One rule to hunting is don’t wear blood. It makes you too easy to track.” He nods pointedly at my hands. I rip off my shirt and wipe my hands with it before tossing it on the ground.

“Like that’ll make you less conspicuous,” Xander smirks. “My sister might love it though.”

“Call me,” I say as the elevator rings.

The computer beeps, making Xander laugh out loud. “Another rule. You need to be more patient than the prey. She’s at Mayfair Park.”

“On it,” I say as I step into the elevator.

“There are limited wooden areas so there aren’t many places they can be,” he calls after me while the doors close.

The moment I get to her car, I pass Declan-who is still unconscious on the floor-and jump into her car. I don’t hesitate to slide into the thick flow of traffic. I will gladly die, or kill, to get to her. I will make sure she’s safe before I lock her in her room so she may never leave me behind again. If she wants to play heroine, I’ll make sure she never does it alone again, even if I have to physically bind her to me. I don’t think my beast, or me will allow her to be so much as a yard from us again.

When I get to the park, I can smell her. She didn’t try to hide her scent, something I know she knows how to do. She was luring him out. Xander wasn’t wrong, and I hate that. He truly knows his sister, and I know nothing about my own mate.

With fresh rage growing through me, I start running, following her scent. Not too long after I start down the picnic trails, I hear people barking orders and smell fresh blood. “Go after her,” a gasped gurgle yells as I get closer. What I see is like a murder scene when I turn the corner. Blood is everywhere and Randaul is clutching at his throat. His eyes are golden, and he’s shifting into his beast to save himself. It’s not easy, and he’s struggling to do it, due to the severity of the injury. Too bad. If she had done this to his beast, he’d be dead by now.

“Got too close to the Princess and her temper, now didn’t you,” I say as I stroll into the camp, my body already changing.

They all turn to glare at me, their teeth bared and ready for a fight. Randaul waves them off. “Get the girl. I’ll deal with him.”

Before they can flinch, I’ve already fully shifted and have moved into action. I’ve already torn through one man’s throat before they can fully process what has happened. I flip Randaul over on his back and manage to yank out one of his canines before I receive a bite on my shoulder. I toss the tooth as I reach my claws backward, hooking the man’s jaw as I spin around.

A yelp stops my attack and the others. That was from a werewolf. “Celina,” Randaul and I growl. I shove the lycan I am dealing with into one of the ones standing, and start running towards her cry.

I can’t trace her scent, but I’m not surprised by that. She’s been trained to hide it. However, her wolf cannot hide from my beast. I let Rajin have full control so he can track her. I sit in the back as I pace, feeling as if I’m going clinically insane.

“Don’t worry. I will kill anyone who has harmed my mate,” Rajin says to soothe me. “We’re almost there.”

“Move faster,” I yell at him, urging him to get moving. My blood is boiling and all I want is to sink my teeth into the one that hurt my mate. If I find a single mark on her, I will tear out their organs one by one and feed it to them.

Rajin finds her shifting out of her wolf and laying unconscious on the floor. There is a needle sticking out of her neck and a pure white lycan is looming over her while he pushes the plunger. He has a nasty bite wound on his arm, and several claw marks on his stomach. She got in a good fight, and I’m not surprised I smell Wolfsbane.

Rajin signals his battle roar as he jumps to attack the rogue lycan. Rajin attacks the rogue’s waist, forcing him away from Celina; his bite tearing off a good chunk of the rogue’s waist. I feel the rogue’s claws go through my shoulder blade, forcing me to release him as I slice through his belly.

As the rogue stumbles away from me, his amber eyes are locked onto mine with absolute disdain. “Back off from the girl, and I’ll let you live.” He snarls at me; flashing me his enormous canines. He’s strong, and he’s not going to be easy.

“Back away from my mate,” Rajin and I growl as I step toward him; asserting my dominating aura as I take another step toward him.

He flinches away from me and takes another step back as he recoils from me. He takes another step back as I take another approaching one. I can see his beast tremble while he gets to his knees.

“Who are you,” I demand from him.

“Someone who is taking your throne, and your mate.”

“Over my dead body,” I growl as he whimpers. Terrified, the lycan throws dirt in my eyes. I wasn’t fast enough and I cry out in pain as I automatically cover them.

When my vision clears, the mongrel is gone, but he left Celina behind. Not wasting any time, I shift into my human form and begin carrying her back to the picnic area. I left the car keys in my pocket, as well as my phone. Celina is covered in scratches and blood, but her neck has remained free of any additional marks.

As predicted, when I get back to the picnic area, Randaul and his traitors are gone. I go to what’s left of my pants and dig out her keys, and also pick up my phone and Celina’s smashed phone from the ground.

I call Ruben from my phone. “Call a medic. I’m on my way back in.”