Zayn kept running, even after losing Liam's scent, and leaving a few Omegas who followed different Rogue scents in different directions. Zayn must have followed the wrong Rogue scent because when he found it, the Rogue was alone and sitting on its haunches like it wanted to be found.
This happened twice to Zayn before he shifted and made the Rogue shift too. He pinned her into the mud with a glare so ferocious, hell stirred beneath them.
"Where the fuck have they gone?" he growled.
She said nothing, so Zayn punched her in the face and hauled her off the floor with a bloody nose. He strove her back into the trunk of a tree. She whined in pain. "Where is my mate?"
"Our Alpha has him," she moaned, arching her back and scrunching her eyes in pain.
"She's not your Alpha. She's a human!" an Omega growled. "Where has she taken Liam?"
The Rogue dared to stay silent again. Zayn was so mad that he was ready to kill her on the spot.
Claws protruded from his fingers and he lifted a hand to slash across her face, but at the last minute, she screamed, "The bunker!"
Zayn's hand stalled in the air. His red eyes pulsed in the dimming daylight.
"There's a bunker East from here. It goes underground and straight to the South. Our Alpha took him there.!"
Zayn lowered his arm, glancing to his Omegas to see if they knew what she meant. They didn't, but the Rogue spoke up again. "What will I get for helping you?"
Zayn stared her dead in the eyes. "A quick death."
An Omega grabbed his arm before he could slice her neck with his long knife-like claws. "She could help us find the bunker. East is awfully unhelpful, Alpha."
He had a point. Zayn curtly nodded and the Omega let go of him.
"If you guide us to the bunker, I'll think about letting you go." That only meant her life was prolonged until she stopped being useful to him. Zayn no longer cared. He would show no mercy until Liam was back in his arms, safe and happy.
He yanked her from the tree and demanded that she shift back into her wolf.
"If you lead us in circles, you'll wish you were never born." His deep voice and dark eyes were a warning. Zayn meant every word, and the Rogue knew it.
Zayn shifted back to his wolf too, as did his Omegas. Seven were with him, all big and strong and healthy. They made the Rogue look like a pup as they galloped behind like horses chasing a stray dog.
They ran until the moon guided their way, and the stars cheered them on, twinkling in the sky like an anxious audience. Zayn remembered the way he had come. He was good at remembering journeys, especially ones as weird as the route to the bunker.
They passed large rocks of all sizes, and Zayn had a slight whiff of his mate, then they travelled down a valley and through water. Zayn sniffed Liam's scent again on a rock sticking above the gushing stream,
so he knew they travelled in the right direction.
Though the Rogue moved much slower than what Zayn and his pack could run. He felt as though it was on purpose and snapped his sharp teeth around her tail. She yelped and jogged a little faster but would always slow down.
By the time they reached the bunker, night was well on its way, and Liam could be anywhere. Zayn sniffed around and caught Liam's scent on a skinny tree trunk. At least he had been in the area, but did he go in the bunker, or was that another distraction?
"What's down there?" he demanded, grabbing the Rogue, so she didn't run.
"A tunnel to the South," she said, shivering from either the cold, hunger, or fear.
"Did Liam go down there?"
"That was the plan."
"What plan?"
The Rogue was hesitant, but Zayn reminded her of how close she was to losing her life by grabbing her neck and squeezing tightly.
"A- Alpha knows you'll follow, and once you catch up, she'll kill Liam in front of you," she wheezed.
"S- She hopes to watch your wolf whither, and then she'll take over your Pack after you're dead."
Zayn was so angry at the thought of someone planning to kill Liam that he gripped her neck tighter, and tighter, until the werewolf fell limp in his arms. Zayn tossed her aside and turned to his own wolves, who hadn't seen Zayn quite so ruthless.
"What is the likelihood that we go down there and it's a trap?" one Omega asked.
Zayn was so mad, he could barely think properly.
He wanted Baela, he wanted Niall, he wanted his mother. Zayn gripped the front of his hair.
Think, think, think.
"They're expecting us to follow Liam, whatever it takes." Zayn closed his eyes.
Think, think, think.
"We need to get in touch with the Shadow Pack in the South. They might find where the tunnel ends. They'll finder it quicker than us if we run to the south now."
One Omega desperately fumbled with her phone and called the Shadow Pack.
"What should we do?" Another asked.
"If Mira is expecting us to follow through this tunnel.." Zayn's heart ached to say it. "Then we won't. We'll run to the south above ground." His gut twisted, telling him that the bunker was most likely crawling with Rogues. If there was enough of them, they could easily stop Zayn and his Omegas from getting to Liam. He's smart, Zayn reminded himself. I have to be smart too. It'll keep Liam alive.
He could only feel Liam's distress, and the slight stiffness on his palm from where he would have cut his hand. Liam didn't feel in immediate danger. Zayn only hoped that lasted until they reached the south.
"Okay, they know we're coming, and they're sending wolves out now to find the bunker or a Rogue that'll lead them to where the tunnel ends," the Omega said witha hopeful expression, putting her phone away.
Zayn wished he could be that hopeful. All he felt was dread, the same dread that had built up over the years. If only he knew it was Mira. Zayn would have killed her a year ago, even if she had been Liam's friend.
At least this explained why she disliked him, but he had never smelt Jaiden on her, or Mira on Jaiden. So fucked up. He couldn't imagine being that power hungry. Zayn could barely stand Liam being on the ground floor while he was in his office. He couldn't imagine living apart on purpose. Maybe that's why Mira is still alive. She wasn't that attached to Jaiden, otherwise power wouldn't have mattered.
Deep down, Zayn knew he would walk away from it all if it meant that he could be by Liam's side. He would give up his Alpha role, his status. his Pack. his life. But Liam would never ask him to do that.
Zayn didn't feel sorry for Mira, though he knew Liam would feel immense sorrow. Don't play into her hands, he begged. For once Liam, be selfish and don't try to save her.
Zayn and the Omegas shifted and left the bunker behind them, following the moon South and hopefully towards Mira, her filthy pack of Rogues, and Liam.
Liam travelled all night. The Rogues walking in wolf forms never shifted to their humans, so Liam didn't have a chance to escape. They had walked down one straight passage, despite the many other passages leading into ominous darkness, so at
least he could navigate back if the opportunity came.
For some reason, Liam knew the underground crawled with Rogues. He even saw a few glowing eyes staring at them as they passed by. The passage had a tense feeling, a thick heaviness tickled the back of his neck, and he was constantly on edge. Liam couldn't help but feel sorry for them,
just like when he saw a homeless human on a street corner. Liam wanted to help but didn't know how.
Liam had expected Zayn and the Omegas to find him by now. He expected them to charge through the passage with all the North on their heels. At the same time, Liam understood that he could be lost to them for days, maybe even more. He felt Zayn's intense anxiety, and he knew he was out looking.
"Ugh, finally," Mira sighed.
Liam was so lost in thought about Zayn and the Pack that he hadn't noticed the never-ending darkness pausing by a very rusted metal door with a round wheel on the front.
"Open it" Mira commanded, and the strongest Rogues used all their force to twist the wheel. Liam cringed at the screech of rust. He gritted his teeth as the wheel protested with every movement. The Rogues were so weak, another had to help.
Liam almost helped but reminded himself that he shouldn't help his enemies.
Each minute could be crucial, so Liam watched them struggling with the door, and Mira watched him watching them.
"It is really unfortunate that you're here. I did like you," she said like she just had to capture him.
Liam was tired and had spent a long aggravating night where is irritation festered. Now he was getting angry on top of his fear. Negative emotions in Liam were rare, and fierce.
"You didn't, otherwise I wouldn't be here." Liam wrapped arms around himself when her sunken eyes flicked him lazily up and down. She had no sympathy for him, no
empathy, and no reason to stop herself from killing him when it suited her.
The Omegas cranked open the door and the
corroded hinges wailed and echoed down the passage. Liam covered his eyes when daylight streamed though the cracks. A familiar whispering of something in the distance funnelled down the tunnel.
Liam's shoulder was grabbed before he could brave the light. An Omega shoved him through the door and Liam tripped on uneven ground into a freezing puddle of... sea water.
Liam's fingers embedded into seaweed, and he looked up. Beyond the many hollow faces of those crowding the cave, Liam saw the sea in the distance, stretching back to the curve of the earth.
His wide eyes trailed the vast damp cave with uneven rocks as floors and an eerie whistling of the wind, blowing around the gaping mouth. Liam had no idea where he was, but he knew that he was the only human, judging by the way people stared at him.
Salt air mixed with the dirty scents.
Hundreds of Rogue wolves stared curiously at Liam.
"Get up" Mira hissed, and Liam was dragged from the water by the Rogue who had carried him to the bunker.
"Attention!" she screeched, cupping Liam's face, digging her nails into his cheeks. The
cave silenced, apart from the wind and the waves pounding the rocks by the entrance.
"Liam, this is my Pack." Mira's mad eyes turned to the many faces.
"Pack, this is Zayn Malik's mate!"