Stalked (complete)

27

My arms were painfully bound in silver strands. It felt like they were slicing into my skin with every move. I wasn't sure exactly where I was because my senses weren't fully functioning yet.

I had been thrown in this cement box, trying desperately not to let claustrophobia set in. If I had a panic attack, I wouldn't do anyone any good but I couldn't help but panic a little. I tried to even my breathing and keep my hands off the rest of my body to avoid the silver burning anything else. I had nothing else to do but think. I thought about Micah and about the baby in me. I prayed it was still okay and that the explosions didn't do anything harmful. I hoped Micah was okay and that he really was just knocked out. Something in me told me he was still alive. I think I would feel if he was dead. I would imagine I would feel a lack of drive if he was dead. I tried to adjust slightly but was only greeted by more cement.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Maybe I could sleep for a bit to get my strength up. I would need every ounce of strength I could muster to deal with whatever was ahead of me.

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Micah:

I tried to move but my body wouldn't respond. The most I could do was cringe and wait until the shock from the blast wore off.

Slowly, I was able to hear someone calling my name. I groaned and tried to wipe the debris from my eyes to no avail.

"Micah!" My mother's panicked voice burned through my ears. She gripped what was left of my shirt trying to get me to wake up.

"Micah, wake up! They took her," she yelled at me.

I felt around next to me for Emma but she was nowhere to be found. A horrible sinking settled in the pit of my stomach as I realized what happened.

"Who took her," I managed to demand though it sounded weaker than I wanted.

"The wolves. There are hundreds of human witnesses, Micah. They shifted in front of them."

At the moment, I couldn't care less if humans discovered the preternatural world. The wolves had Emma and I was going to get her back at any cost.

I tried to push myself up despite the pain that surged through every inch of my body. Drew was instantly by my side helping me stay on my feet albeit discreetly.

"Did you see what happened?" I asked him.

"I only caught one of them. They came out of nowhere and shifted in front of the entire parking lot. My guess is the kinetics had something to do with masking the wolves."

"Okay but who has Emma?" I asked tightly.

"I never saw her leave the parking lot. She was in the explosion but no one took off with her that I could see."

I rubbed my face again, this time out of frustration. I needed to find her. There had to be someone that knew what happened to her.

"Where is the one you caught?"

Drew nodded towards the man that was currently being held down by two of my men. His body was pressed roughly to the cement. Good. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted to kill him on sight but I needed information from him first. Drew followed me to the man probably to ensure I didn't instantly kill him.

I motioned my guards away and knelt in front of the wolf in a man's body. He scowled but stayed silent.

"Who has her," I asked in an attempt to stay calm.

He laughed as he rolled on his back, "You'll never find her."

I took a silent breath to regain control, "I won't give you another chance. Who took her," I demanded.

"King Micah," he laughed mockingly, "You're too fucking concerned about exposing the preternatural world. You won't do shit to me with these witnesses."

I gripped his neck and threw him into a car a good twenty feet away. The metal caved when he slammed into the side of the car successfully silencing our crowd of humans. The wolf was shocked I would use my strength so openly since I was usually against exposing our true nature.

"I don't care if they know. Tell me where she is."

I struggled to keep my temper under control because if I killed him, I had nothing. He was my one link to finding Emma and I wasn't about to let him die before telling me where she was. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of death.

"What's his name," I asked Drew.

"Holland Williams, current Beta."

I nodded, "I remember you. I've met your wife. Your two sons. It would be a shame if anything happened to them," I said casually.

"Don't touch my fucking family," he yelled.

"I bet there are plenty of vampires that would love a night with your wife before draining her to the point of death... You know, there's this interesting thing we can do with our blood. If someone is close to death, as long as there is a single drop of blood left in their body, we can feed them our blood and they will heal."

His death glare let me know he was close to breaking but not quite yet.

"In theory, my race could keep her alive forever and pass her around until she prayed for death."

I saw the defeat in his eyes and knew I would have caved if someone had threatened Emma that way.

"Damon has her," he bit out.

"Where?"

"I don't know."

I turned back to Drew, "Let's get his family out here."

"No! He put her in a fucking cement coffin. I don't know where she is!"

I nodded, "Leave him for the police. Their experiments will be better than any punishment I could conjure up."

With that, I walked off to the cars of mine that were still standing. I noticed Emma's family next to one of the cars, her mother crying while her father tried to calm her. I would worry about them later. At the moment, I needed to find Emma. When I thought about how terrified she might be, it took everything in me to not turn around and crush that Beta's skull. For the sake of that race, she better be unharmed.

I noticed Drew followed me to the car and got in the passenger side while I took the driver side. I didn't have to ask about his loyalties; he was loyal to me and Emma and that was why he was coming. I didn't have time to argue with him and I needed the help. I knew he would lay his life on the line for Emma at any time. He had proved that when he went up against me to protect her.

"We should get Scarlett involved," I said as I sped out of the parking lot, towards werewolf territory.

He didn't need further instruction. He was on the phone with Scarlett's liaison in seconds and Scarlett was patched through moments later. He put her on speaker.

"Well, Micah, this is a surprise," she said.

"The wolves have Emma. I need your help."

"What can I do?"

"I need you to mask me. I'm going to wolf territory right now and if they know I'm coming they might kill her."

She thought for a moment, "How do you know she's in wolf territory?"

"I don't."

"How do you know the wolves have her?"

"The Beta told me Damon has her."

"This doesn't sound right. Are you alone?"

"Drew is with me."

"Something isn't right, Micah. Don't go into wolf territory with only Drew. Please, take your army."

"I don't have time for that, Scarlett. Are you going to help us or not?"

"Listen to me. You won't do her any good dead or captured. Take a minute to think about this. Damon may be a new Alpha but he isn't stupid. There's a reason you caught the Beta, it wasn't luck. They want you to go into their territory. They're counting on you wanting her back instantly. For Emma's sake, calm down and regroup."

I exhaled roughly. I hated to admit that she was right. I wasn't thinking clearly because it was Emma and my child at risk. If this had been anyone else I would have a plan first instead of going in guns blazing but it wasn't just anyone. It was my very pregnant wife in a cement box probably bound in silver. Thinking about it sent rage coursing through me. I wanted to kill every last fucking wolf in existence for harming her even if it was only mentally.

I pulled over and tried to relax but that wasn't going to happen. I needed to regroup.

"What would you suggest?"

"I doubt she's in their territory. She couldn't have gone far from the school."

She was right. It had only been half an hour she was missing so she couldn't have gotten far.

"Set up a fifty mile perimeter. If anyone leaves, I want to know about it," I said to Drew.

"I did it before we left," he assured.

I knew I could always count on Drew to be a step ahead in dire situations.

"Scarlett, I need you to work on a barrier around my territory and your own to block the kinetics."

"Of course," she agreed.

"We will need you at my house within the hour."

"I'm leaving now," she said as she hung up. She knew she was raising her army for this battle. It was a good thing we had the witches or we wouldn't stand a chance against the kinetics, another thing I could thank Emma for.





Drew and I drove home after pulling my high ranking military leaders to the house. Scarlett joined us shortly and Emma's father wanted to help as well. I appreciated his want to find Emma but he was human and there wasn't much he could do for her. The best I could do was keep him in the loop and keep him alive.

"So we know Damon has her and that she is in a cement coffin," I started.

"As long as she's in the coffin, she is safe," Drew said. I hadn't thought of it that way and it was reassuring to know even if she was in a cement coffin, she was safe.

"She has been missing for almost two hours," one of my generals, Liam, said.

"Correct. There is a fifty mile perimeter centered around the area she went missing. It was set immediately and hasn't been broken so we know she is close."

"If she's within fifty miles, she would have to be on the outskirts of wolf territory."

"She's not on wolf territory. They wouldn't be that stupid," Scarlett said.

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Where the hell could they have put her so quickly? I looked at the ground, praying something would tell me where she was but nothing would just give me the answer.

Wait.

The ground.

"She's underground," I mumbled, still trying to figure out the logistics, "That's why no one saw them take her away. They took her underground. Was there a manhole under the car that exploded?"

"There could have been," Liam conceded.

"We need to go back to the school. That's how they got her out of there. Do we have any kinetics we can trust?" I asked.

Liam nodded, "There are five that I am sure are loyal."

"Gather them. We will need everyone."