JARED'S POV
Sophia gazed at me with teary eyes. She hadn't been speaking much since Anna's disappearance. We wanted to keep it from her to save her from the trauma, but, she was continuously asking her whereabouts, and we couldn't hide it any longer.
However, we did leave out the part about her having been taken by Amelia and her alcoholic abusive Father. That, she didn't need to know.
I had resorted to sitting at home waiting while the fighters looked for my mate. I was fuming, and had to resist the urge smash everything breakable in the house. I needed a way to release some pent up fury, unable to shift.
"Any news?" Clara asked me as she wandered into the living room with Sonny on her hip. She looked me up and down sorrowfully, taking in my shrinking form. I hadn't been eating, and had barely slept a wink. I was always up mapping out routes for the warriors to take on their mission to find my mate.
I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose and fiddling with my phone in my hand. It felt like I had been staring at it for a decade, my eyes almost turning square as I watched the screen like a hawk, just waiting for Dylan's name to flash up on it with more information.
I heard Clara sighed, and Sophia shuffled away from the couch and latched onto her Mother's side, pressing her small face into her legs.
"I'm going to take them to bed," Clara told me, and I nodded once, not even looking in her direction. I couldn't. I didn't want to see the pity on her face. I needed to remain strong.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I shook my head, leaning my head back against my chair and staring up at the ceiling. I focused on the few cobwebs that settled in the corners, narrowing my eyes as I watched for any sign of life upon them.
None.
This place needed a good dusting, but, I understood how caught up in my mess of a life everyone here had been. Housework was the least of their worries.
Reaching out beside me, I picked up one of the flyers of Anna that Clara and Gia had made and printed off for me. I had spent hours going around town handing them to people and posting them up on benches and lampposts. Anna was human, so it was a good idea to have the humans look out for her.
Clara and Gia had also offered a reward on the poster- a very large sum of money. Humans loved money, and I was hoping that that would encourage them to come forward with any information they had.
It was a long shot, but was worth it. We needed as many eyes peeled as possible.
I wanted to leave, to go out and continue searching for Anna on my own, but, Clara wouldn't let me. I had exhausted myself racing around town and the nearby woods for any sign of anything that would help us find her, and I had been told that it was too dangerous for me.
Deep down, I knew they were right. Without my wolf, I wouldn't be able to defend myself against Amelia. I could take Anna's Father, especially if his reflexes had been slowed from drinking, but as long as Amelia was in the picture, it was unsafe for me to be out there searching for my mate.
I hated it with every fibre in my being. It was unfair, not only on me, but on Anna. She was dragged into this world and wasn't even given a mate who could fully protect her. What on Earth was the Moon Goddess thinking putting her in such danger?
"Fuck this," I muttered to myself, picking up the vase next to me and launching it forwards. The sound bounced off the living room walls, the shattered glass surrounding me, it having travelled further than I had expected.
Sonny started to cry from upstairs, the crashing noise obviously startling him, and I cursed at myself in frustration. "I'm sorry, Clara!" I called up, but she didn't respond, and I could here her comforting her crying son as best she could, probably muttering sweet nothings into his ear soothingly.
I couldn't stay here anymore. It wasn't fair on anyone else.
ANNA'S POV
Amelia and my Father had been arguing for the past forty five minutes about where to go. They both had different ideas of 'the best place to hide', and it appeared that they weren't the best pairing.
I would have thought that they had already organised everything, but, it seemed that they had been pressed for time and had just acted when they saw an opening to take me, having no stable idea of what they were going to do with my Mother and I.
Amelia had mentioned something about handing me over to my Father when she was finished with me, and I knew it was because she wanted to have her fun with me before sending me off to live out the rest of my pathetic life being abused. I gathered she thought that me living in misery was more satisfying to her than just killing me. Besides, she needed to keep her end of the bargain.
I had no doubt that she could just kill my Father when she was done with him though. My Father also knew that, and although he stuck to his guns around her, there were a few times where I saw him bite his tongue. He didn't want to end up without his head.
"Well, we need to leave soon," Amelia grumbled, taking another bite of her sandwich. It was the first thing I had seen anybody eat here, and my stomach was complaining at the sight. It growled, and Amelia glared at me, shaking her head.
"I'm aware," My Father responded, huffing to himself as he knocked back another glass of whisky. I was surprised he wasn't absolutely hammered, but his years of alcohol abuse had given him a hell of a tolerance. He would often drink multiple bottles of the stuff a day and still be able to stand up and somewhat function, something that surprised me.
I was missing Jared like hell. My body craved his, and I found myself drifting off into the distance and filling my mind with our happiest memories in an attempt to distract myself. I never lasted long though. Amelia would always interrupt, usually with a snarky remark or a slap around the face. She hadn't touched my Mother though, leaving that up to my Father.
We needed to stay here as long as possible. The more Amelia and my Father argued about where to hide, the better. It gave Jared's pack a better chance of finding us, because I knew that if we moved away, we may never be rescued.
"I'm done with this," Amelia huffed, pushing herself up off her chair and stalking over to my Father, swiping his half empty bottle of drink away, throwing it to the side. "We are leaving in the next couple of hours, and if you don't come with me, I'll kill you and your wife. I'm not risking being found just because you want to pick the perfect vacation destination."
My Father gulped as he watched Amelia storm out of the room, and she slammed the door behind her as she made her way into what I believed to be the bedroom. My Father hadn't been allowed in their except to shower, giving me the assumption that it had an en-suite. He slept on the couch in the corner of the room, watching us with beady eyes while him and Amelia took shifts ensuring we didn't escape.
I didn't know why they didn't bind our wrists or just tie us up, but I gathered that they enjoyed giving us the idea of false hope. They liked making us feel as if we had a chance, only to crush it into the ground whenever they saw an opening. It gave them a brilliant sense of power.
I panicked hearing Amelia' statement, knowing that we needed to buy ourselves some time. We couldn't just sit here and wait.
My eyes widened, and I turned to my Mother, offering her a small nod.
"Dad," I mumbled, hearing my Father hum in response, continuing to stare at the ground in front of him. "I need some female... things."
He shifted in his chair, cocking his head at me and furrowing his brows. "What?"
"I'm about to start my period. It's due today, and I can feel that it's going to start soon. I don't want to bleed everywhere. Amelia will hate it," I told him, and I breathed a sigh of relief once I picked up that the shower was on, meaning Amelia most likely couldn't hear us. We were talking in hushed voices.
My Father turned his nose up at me, disgust evident on his face, and he shook his head, ignoring me.
"Please, Dad," I begged, my eyes tearing up. "If we're going to sit in a car for hours and hours, I don't want to bleed all over the seat. It will make the car smell and it's embarrassing. All I'm asking for are some sanitary products. Please."
My heart was hammering against my ribs as I lied right to my Father's face, and he scrunched his face up as he imagined what I guessed was the smell of my period blood. The thought was enough to make me cringe also.
"I'll get something," he grumbled to me, kicking his bottle of whisky in annoyance as he entered the bedroom, leaving the door wide open so he could hear and see us.
I was hoping he was going to leave without letting Amelia know, but, I knew that that was a stupid thing to wish for. He was obviously going to make sure that she was here to watch us.
My Father emerged back out and pulled his coat on, shaking his head at me in frustration as he perched himself up against the wall, waiting for Amelia to exit the bedroom. She did so quickly, her hair sopping wet as she growled, nodding for my Father to go.
"If you aren't back in thirty minutes, I'm snapping her neck," said Amelia, nodding towards my Mother. "And taking your daughter with me. Don't speak to anyone and keep your hood up. Use cash instead of your card."
My Father left quickly, and Amelia turned to me, her nostrils flaring. "I'll be able to smell your blood, so I really hope you're telling the truth," she told me, chuckling. "Otherwise there will be dire consequences."
•••
Will he have a change of heart? :/
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