I am Nothing

Chapter 2: Regrouping

When I turn to the first door on the left I gesture for him to back up. He hesitates then stands back as I open the door. Immediately a wolf leaps at me in wolf form. His claws dig into my shoulder as I wrap my arms around him. Seeing it's me he immediately shifts into his human form and whistles for Abel. I gasp as Abel stumbles out with a broken ankle. I immediately pick him up and turn to Lore, who's face is saddened. Both boys immediately start to growl as I speak.

"Stop. Smell him. This is Lore, Luscious's brother, and my mate. He's safe. I promise." Both boys settle down and after rubbing my face against them I hand them to Lore. They stiffen but settle when Lore starts rocking them and singing softly. "You need to back up so I can get Deke out...when Luscious pulled me upstairs....they were torturing Cara. I don't know how stable he is." Lore nods and steps back, holding the boys tightly, as I reach up to my shoulder and press my hand into the wound that Caine left. After getting blood on my hand I open the door and hold out my hand. As I switch on the light I hear a roar then shuffling as he catches the scent. Deke throws himself into the wall to avoid hitting me. He immediately shifts to his tiger form and I can see the deep cuts up and down his body. Blood drips from cuts on his face as he looks up to me. His eyes are wide and searching when he speaks.

"Cara?" I shake my head as I push a hand through my black hair.

"I don't know yet. Come on let's go look." I reach out my hand and Deke takes it and stands. When I go to walk out the door he stops me and moves in front of me. His blood drips onto my arms bringing back unwanted memories as he steps out the door and whirls at Lore. I wrap my arms around him as he freezes in place, waiting.

"Not Lucius. Lore. Mate. Safe. Smell." His body relaxes as he sniffs at Lore. The twins are asleep in his arms as he looks calmly at Deke. Deke manages a weak smile.

"Sorry." Lore shrugs and his eyes fall to me. I release Deke and turn and open Cara's door. I gasp and stumble back as images assault my sight. Blood, so much blood. Whips and other assortments of BDSM items lie around the room not one of them without dried blood on it. But my eyes remain on the chains in the middle of the room. Bits of skin are embedded in the metal as if Cara had struggled to get away. I feel myself starting to shut down and I quickly shut my eyes from the room in front of me as Deke walks around me into the room. I hear him snarl in fury and something crashes to the cement floor. I open my eyes to see that Deke has torn the room apart but Cara isn't there. He turns to me as he starts to tremble. I open my arms as he walks across the room. He collapses into me and I stumble back as he sobs, wretchedly into my chest. I rub his back as I meet Lore's eyes over his head.

"It's okay Deke. She must have gotten away. We would know if she had died. I swear will find her but for now we need to get out the others and regroup." Deke stops crying as abruptly as he began then after a moment pulls away from me and stands. As he helps me up he speaks.

"I'll get Kee and Glenna. You get Duke." I nod and look back to Lore.

"You should go into the other room. Glenna, Duke, and Kee will be much worse off than us. And we'll need to tell them before they see you." Lore nods and steps back into the other room, out of sight. His eyes stay on mine until he steps into the darkened room and I feel a shifting inside of me as something seems to fall into place. And I suddenly get the feeling like everything will be okay, eventually. I blink back tears and turn to the last two rooms.

I open the door to see Duke kneeling on the floor his head bowed inside a cage at the other side of room. He isn't wearing any clothes and he has scars over scars all over his body. He lifts his head to stare at me with blank empty eyes. I step forward and he starts to shake. I stop and kneeling down, crawl over to the cage. I pull the necklace off and hold out the key as I speak softly.