Aaron
“The doctor said John can travel.” The words leave my mouth and Nickolas immediately calls the other two wolves who would be traveling with us. It’s been a gruesome 144 hours since the disappearance of Lexi. Yes, I’ve been keeping track. And so has he. He’s been keeping track of the seconds.
In other words, it’s been almost a week of hell for Nickolas. And he wanted nothing but Lexi. The entire pack had sensed his desperation for her. It was clearly evident that our female Alpha was missing, and it showed in his behavior. He completely ignored any and all general pack business and hasn’t had a single night of sleep without her.
“C’mon. We’re leaving.” He exits the pack house; the car has been loaded ready to go four days ago. John’s healing process was slow, partially because the wounds were deep and that his wolf was weakened with the drugs we gave him.
Nickolas is already in his car waiting for us. Liliom is in the car now, but she’s having a mild dosage of hallucinogen, just enough to weaken her wolf; we can’t let her link with Matteo and come up with some sort of plan.
I help John get out of the hospital bed and support him to the car. He, like Liliom, is unable to use his wolf. Nickolas doesn’t acknowledge him, but speeds out of the territory, towards the airport.
Lexi
“If you want her so badly, why don’t you take me there to switch?” I feel beyond tired, but I can’t stand just waiting. I don’t even know how many days I’ve been here.
“Your territory is well known to your pack; this territory has treacherous trails and is easy
to defend. I know he’s coming. He’s coming for you. And to get you, he better have Liliom.”
Nickolas
We’re forced to wait in line with humans. Pathetic humans. Humans who have to check everything and force us to wait in line. Wait to park, wait to enter, wait at the check in, wait for security, wait for baggage, all this tedious waiting.
We’re lucky this is a national flight, as we don’t have John or Liliom’s passports. But we’re getting weird looks from the security and workers. We have a foreign woman with us, an injured man, and a single suitcase containing some clothes; we look pretty suspicious.
It takes forever to get to our seats on the plane. We constantly keep watch over every single thing Liliom does, but she’s half asleep the entire time. John is falling in and out of consciousness and the people around us seem very uncomfortable. Well, I’m uncomfortable without my wife.
I was surprised to learn that Liliom was Matteo’s mate; usually mates can at least speak the same language. I wonder how he came across her as packs are small in Hungary. From what I could tell, neither of them cared and loved each other. And they were mated.
Matteo being mated gave me some amount of ease; he wouldn’t think about touching Lexi, as the only woman he’ll ever want is his mate. But that doesn’t mean he’ll let others touch her.
I’ve had the huge worry that something was wrong with Lexi, my wolf just couldn’t keep still. So many things could be going on, though if it were anything too bad, my wolf would automatically take over.
“What’s today’s date?” I suddenly turn to Aaron.
“January 11th. Why?” He wrinkles his eyebrows.
“Shit.” I growl out, punching the armrest. People turn to stare at me but I ignore them.
“What?”
“It’s been 5 months.” Lexi’s in heat.
Lexi
“We have trespassers on the North border. We count 3. We’ve identified them as Nickolas, his Beta and John. They’re unarmed.”
“Where’s Liliom?” Matteo asks desperately.
“She’s not there.” Shit.
“She’s not there? Because he killed her? Because he killed my innocent mate!” He screams out and approaches me. Shit. “He’s not getting you back. There’s no way he’s ever getting you back.”
Aaron
“C’mon, we need them to speak with John.” Nickolas growls lowly before stepping over the border.
“We’re not calling Liliom in until I get Lexi.” is all he says.
“We’ve been expecting you.” 12 wolves surround us in a circle. None of them are Matteo.
“Where is my mate?” Nickolas ignores their comments.
“With Matteo. Where is Alfa Liliom?”
“With my wolves.”
“John, are you all right?” A wolf motions John.
“He’s been injected with a knock out drug, he’ll be fully awake soon.” I explain.
“Matteo isn’t giving Lexi back until he has Liliom.”
“I’m not giving Liliom back until I have Lexi.”
And the Alpha stubbornness sets it.
Lexi
“We have confirmation from John that Alfa Liliom is alive.” The news causes Matteo to sigh in happiness and smile for the first time.
“Bring her to me.” He grins widely.
“She’s not here.” The wolf says.
“What? Where is she!”
“John says they left her with two other wolves at the mall, but knows they were ordered to keep moving. Nickolas demands to see Lexi before calling her back.”
“No! He’s not getting her until I see Liliom.” Despite my current state, I could tell this could go on for a long time.
“Give me the phone, idiot.” Matteo glares at me before handing me the phone, putting it on speaker.
It rings once, twice.
“Nickolas?”
“Lexi! You’re alive! Where are you? Are you hurt? Tell-“
“Shut up and call Liliom over. You know I’m alive, let Matteo see that she’s alive.”
“No, not until you’re with me.” I see Matteo stiffen from the corner of my eye.
“You and I both know that’s not going to happen. Nothing is going to happen until Liliom is here.” I snap at him. Yes, I love him more than anything else, but he can be stubborn as hell. And I’m in heat, excuse me for being so moody.
“I’ll tell them to bring Liliom.” He says, defeated.
“I’ll see you soon, I love you.”
“I love you more.” The call ends.
Nickolas
We walk slowly and steadily towards the pack, careful of all the peaks and rocks. Liliom travels swiftly with us and John has already been released to return. Every wolf out here watches us with slanted eyes, making sure we don’t do anything. My wolves do the same, they’re ready to attack at the slightest disturbance. They’re ready to do whatever it takes to get their female Alpha back.
We approach what I guess is their Alpha House. It’s large and ornate, and Matteo stands just outside the door.
“Nickolas.” He glares at me.
“Matteo.” I spit out his name.
“Liliom.” He speaks out some foreign words and she answers just as swiftly. He lets out a soft sigh and smiles.
“Bring her down.” He calls behind his shoulder, never taking his eyes off his mate.
Moments later, the large doors open, revealing Lexi standing there, with a huge smile. She’s wearing some loose sweatpants with a plain white T-shirt. My first instinct, is that it belongs to Matteo, but my wolf quickly senses that the clothes carry only her smell; it was bought for her. Her hair stays up in a loose bun and she looks even more beautiful.
“Let her come.” I bark out, eager to touch my mate.
“Let Liliom come first!” He retorts.
“No! You’ve already spoken to her, let me speak to Lexi.”
“She’s fine! And you attacked my mate, she’s the one who was hurt!”
“How do I know you didn’t attack her?” I demand.
Lexi
“For the love of- we’re both moving at the same time! So Matteo, tell her!” I order him. He glares at me again, before exchanging foreign words with Liliom. They speak for a few seconds before she nods and smiles.
“Go.” Nickolas says. Each wolf steps away from Liliom and I, allowing a clear path to go through. We both step cautiously away from our captivators, unsure if either had any sort of plan. There are about 100 feet between Nickolas and I. 100 feet to my mate. I approached Liliom; she was about my height and size, but very pale and light-haired. A large mark rested on the right side of her neck and I could smell Matteo on her.
We exchange small smiles as we pass each other; it becomes changing smile as we both sprint towards our mates. Nickolas runs the last few feet and I jump into his open arms deeply breathing in his scent. He lifts me up and spins me around before setting me on the floor and kissing me hungrily. Mine! Yes, he’s mine.
I stand there, finally kissing my mate. He’s mine! His hands wrap around my waist possessively and he deepens the kiss. Mate! My hands drop to his pants and begin fumbling with the buckle of his belt.
Nickolas
“Stop it Lexi.” I break away from my mate. “You’re still in heat.” She bites her lip and nods, with sad eyes.
“Sorry.” She whispers.
“It’s all right.” I peck her forehead and pull her in for another hug.
Until now, I’ve completely ignored every other wolf around us; now I see that most have turned away to give us some amount of privacy. Liliom and Matteo are still making out by the entrance, and my first instinct is to kill him.
As if reading my thoughts, Lexi places a delicate hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t. You both have your mates. And he helped me through heat.”
“Did any male touch you?” I growl, more forcefully than I intended.
“No, he set up ice baths for me and made sure to keep them away.”
I relax immensely when hearing this.
“Thank you, Luna.” I quietly pray to her.
“No one touched Liliom, right?” Lexi speaks up, with a touch of jealously in her voice.
“What? No! Of course not!” I assure her. “As soon as we found out who she was, we tried to help her.” I explain.
“All right, I want to go home.” Lexi nuzzles into my chest. I look around the entire place; several wolves have drifted away and my pack members stand patiently. Matteo is still hugging Liliom and they continue speaking in Hungarian.
“Peisca!” I shout, to get his attention. “We’re leaving!” I take Lexi’s hand in my own and turn around.
“Wait!” He shouts back. He jogs towards me with his mate. Liliom hands over a duffel bag to Lexi; inside is her dress and my jacket she was wearing.
“The rogues, we have to take precaution about it.” Matteo states.
“I think my pack can defend themselves from a few rogues.” I spit out.
“Ignore him. I believe we can agree to be allies in the case of rogues and attacks if we agree to forgive each other for the abduction of mates.” Lexi speaks in quickly and immediately tries to tug me away.
“Agreed.” Matteo nods.
“Wait, I-“
“Nickolas! We’re going home!” Lexi orders me, using her newly matured Alpha voice. We’re going home. Fine, to make her happy. I nod at Matteo and walk away with Lexi.
Lexi
“Why do we have to wait in so many lines?” I whine. I just wanted to go home and be with my pack. Agreed.
“It’s the way humans are. They like to be very precautions and safe.” He shrugs. I didn't even remember how I got from my pack to the Peisca pack. I wonder if we drove or managed a flight. But a plane wouldn’t have let me on unconscious, would it?
How many days was I gone? I can’t remember. I want to ask Nickolas, but thinking better of it, I don’t want him to think about anything that could anger him.
So instead, I groan out and continue waiting in line with everyone.
Nickolas
“Everyone at the pack is dying to see you.” Aaron smiles at us, putting his phone away. “They’re really excited to have you back home.”
“I’m really happy to see everyone.” She bounces up a little. I had her sitting in my lap during the car ride home from the airport. She first refused to do so, but I convinced her to. I just want to have her as close to me as possible for a long time.
“Maybe Lexi should just go home with me, she’s had a long, crazy trip. I’m sure you might want to sleep for a while. Maybe some other day.” Lexi frowns at me and shakes her head.
“This is my pack, and I want to thank them for what they did. The guards tried to protect me, and I’m sure you had an army assembled as soon as you could. I’m sure they were also the ones who made you calm down and think things through. They’re the ones who assessed the ‘crime scene’, right? And Aaron told me that Liam was injured. I need to thank them.” I furrow my eyebrows; how is it that she’s able to know exactly what I did when she was gone. Because my mate is part of me.
“Let me just visit the village, and formally thank everyone. Then we can go home and I’ll stay there as long as you want me to.” She uses her sweet voice, the same one that always makes me do what she wants. I still smell her heat, but I think I’m ready to trust my pack to not try anything. Besides, I also need to thank them.
“Fine. We’ll stop at the village and thank everyone for what they did. You can visit wolves who might still be at the hospital.” Her face breaks out into a huge grin. “But then we’re going straight home. No arguments.”