The Sacrifice of the Cursed {2}

CHAPTER TWELVE

        "He is nowhere to be found." Nick yells. As a result, a violent gust of wind along with aggressive lightning and thunder almost knock us off our feet.
"Where could Owen have taken him? We searched every inch of the territory!" Brook has abandoned her glasses and had managed to tie her short hair in a small ponytail as we ran through our land searching for our friend.
"They have to be here somewhere. Where could they have gone?" Lorenza seems irritated; she has always hated the process of searching for things and not finding them.
"Okay, look we cannot get angry, anger will cloud our judgment. So, let us break this down." Shadow gives Josh a reassuring smile before her expression becomes serious; earnest.
Well, we know that Owen could not have taken Nolan at night; he must have done it in broad daylight. Clay says.
"If our locator spells cannot track them, and we assume that Owen does not have a witch to do a cloaking spell; then I think we know where they are." Nick shares his thoughts.
"Their dimension?" Brook asks.
"I do not think so." All eyes turn to me as they stare at me with perplexity.
"It is the most obvious place to hide, and I do not know if you noticed but Owen does not do obvious."
"So, you want us to go there and get Nolan?" Lorenza actually looks petrified.
"We should not do it." Chance blurts out.
"Josh, listen to me..."
"Nolan is not our friend, he is our family, we cannot just abandon him while we have a good guess about his whereabouts." Both the lightning and the thunder emerge again only this time Josh fury is the cause of it.
"It could be a trap. If it is, we will be dooming the whole pack." Brook agrees with her brother.
"Seriously? You too Brook?" He chuckles dryly glaring at the siblings before he walks away with angry steps. I am about to follow him but Nick stops me by grabbing his hand.
"Promise me you will not do something irrational like when you did when Amara got hurt. If we are going to rescue Nolan, we need a well thought plan, one that would not have any consequences or make the situation worse. Otherwise, we could cause his death."
"I promise. I will talk to Josh. Nick I want you to go to the waterfall and see if Owen is there; it is dark, so he should have transformed. Brook, I want you to take one of the witches and go and search Owen's house. Be careful; if you encounter a threat go for the kill. I need the rest of you to lead a group and continue searching the territory. If we do not find them, maybe we will find something that can help us find them. If any of the pack members ask you any questions, answer them without giving them too much detail. If they become persistent, tell them that I will soon hold a pack meeting to explain everything."
Be careful out there. I mind-link Shadow.
I will. She answers as I walk away and follow Josh's scent. As I walk, many pack members stop me to either express their worry for their gamma, or to ask me questions about his disappearance. For each person who calls my name, I stop. After all, my time and my life belong to them.

Josh's scent leads me to the pack's archive room in the heart of the territory. I find him standing between two of the countless shelves wrathfully going through the files of the deceased. I hear sniffles every few second and realize that he is crying.
Go talk to him!
I do not know what to say Amoux!
All you have to do is walk up to him, and once you look at him, the right words will come. If we were in different circumstances, I would have applauded him for saying a complete sentence without cursing. However, my vital concern at the moment is Josh.
"He cannot have a file in this shelf Xander, I will not allow it." He does not look at me; I suspect he does not desire for me to see his tears. Respecting that wish, I do not walk up to him; I do not want to make him feel uneasy.
"I will not permit it either, and I agree with you we have to go to that dimension to find him even if it is a trap. We do not abandon our family. However, Chance is right, we cannot go in there blind; we have to make a plan. Or else, not only Nolan will die, but your brother as well as my mate, and many more lives." I try to comfort him even though I am not sure if I am saying the right thing.
I reckon the reason for that is because you are always the one who is in need of a bloody motivational speech.
Please, do not do this now.
I am just pointing out facts Alex!
"What if planning is what gets Nolan killed?"
"Josh, do I really need to remind you of what happened the last time I did something based on my irrational emotions without considering the outcomes? Our entire pack got trapped in their territory; they became prisoners in their own home. We cannot repeat the same mistake twice. If we are this foolish to do so, then we stand no chance against Owen's people."
"I cannot help but feel like we should go to that waterfall and kill every creature we encounter." Josh still does not face me, but his husky voice tells me that he is still crying.
"Trust me; no one yearns to rib that castle and everyone in it apart more than me. However, we should take the lesson we learned to the heart."
"So, you are not feeling murderous?"
"I am, but I refuse to let it control me like it did before."
"Do me a favor, if Amoux starts feeling animalistic, please tell me. You are right; rescuing Nolan should be thought through, and there is the possibility that he might not be in that castle." He lets out a defeated sigh.
"Josh..." I walk toward shim and place my hand on his shoulder.
"Nothing will happen to our friend, because no matter what Owen throws at us, we protect our own. I know that I let you down, but I refuse to do the same to Nolan simply because I should not have done what I did to you."
"Okay." He takes a deep breath before turning around to face me. He wipes his eyes and cheeks with the back of his hands.
"So, what do we going to do now?" He shakily asks while wiping his palms on his jeans.
"We..." I am interrupted by a piece of a letter magically appearing before me.
"What is it? Is it from Nick?" The witch looks over my shoulder trying to read the letter's content.
"It is from my father actually." I quickly go over the words written the paper.

Hello Xander,
I hope your mother and your unborn sibling are well.
I think I have finally learned something valid and worth writing to you about. The alphas have decided to learn about what happened to their warriors. Therefore, they made several plans to get the answers they seek. Just a few hours ago they had a witch attempt to astral project Stefan into our territory. Thankfully, our witches were able to hijack the spell. They could not find out anything, but I cannot promise that we will be able to keep it that way for a long while. The alphas are becoming more restless, but less careless. However, I must warn you, that Stefan is blaming your mate for the littlest problems he is facing. He has even declared to his pack that if she is ever spotted, she is to be instantly killed. I do not know why his alpha is backing him up; he even lets him do all the announcements; I am even getting a feeling like he is the one who is making the decisions. If I was placing bets, I would say he is our main problem beside Owen.
I beg you to be more careful, and tell me the news on your end. I hope everyone is safe and that you have found a way to deal with the traitor in our pack. If you did not, please keep Owen alive, so I can have the chance to kill that bastard myself.
Stay safe,
your father

"That is just perfect! As if we do not have enough issues already!" Josh hisses as he knocks out a table with his magic.
I want to help him keep his emotions in check. However I am too occupied settling my wolf down.
How the bloody hell I am I supposed to ease my fury when everything around us is so bloody tense and stressing?!
Amoux, you getting angry will only make the situation worse. So please, do not feed on others' outrage.
I do not know how to bloody do that! He yells at me with a deafening growl that causes me to wince. He is about to resume his rant, but hearing Shadow's voice in our head instantly makes his growls die down.
Alec, where are you?
I am at the archive room. Why? Is everything okay? Are you okay?
Yes, I am fine. I want to make sure you and Joshua are okay.
Do not worry, we are fine. We are about to head out to my office though. We will join the search as soon as we finish some business. Tell me if you find anything.
Of course I will. And then she pulls her mental wall up. Hearing her voice be utterly free of fear and apprehension, gives me hope and certainty that perhaps the future is not as gloomy and destructive as it promises to be.