"White Tiger"
2013 Copyright © All Rights Reserved.
Stryder Sweetman.
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Chapter 31
I woke up to darkness, at first I figured it was still night time, until I remembered. At the feast, someone put chloroform over my mouth.
My eyes adjusted and I recognised the place as some sort of dungeon or jail cell. I tried to stand, but there was something restricting my hands and feet. I looked down to see shackles wrapped around them, preventing my escape.
It was easy to escape; all I had to do was shift. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on shifting into a smaller me, but I couldn't focus.
My heart was beating rapidly in my chest and my breaths came quicker. No matter how hard I tried to focus, I couldn't concentrate enough to shift. Instead, I called out to my Primary shift for help.
I can't shift, please, can you? I begged.
But suddenly I couldn't remember my Primary Shift's name.
What was it? Lyle? Lucy? Lilly?
I couldn't remember.
My thoughts were too jumbled to comprehend what was going on, and the more I tried to shift, the dizzier I became.
"I see the serum is working." A deep voice echoed through the chamber.
I gasped and my eyes snapped open. I looked around to see a young man perched on a seat in the middle of the room, smirking.
He was quite good looking, brown hair, green eyes, and no blemishes on his face. I could see he was strong- he had a large build.
I was unable to determine whether he was a shifter or a human. It would seem that my enhanced senses had gone along with my ability to shift.
His smirk widened as he saw the confusion on my face. "Oh, little Ben doesn't know what's going on?"
I slowly shook my head, not trusting my voice to be strong.
"Well, you see, I thought it about time we caught up, hey little Benny? I haven't seen you in sixteen years! Well, actually, to be precise, I haven't seen you since I murdered poor mummy and daddy." He taunted.
I sucked in a shocked breath- he killed them? Their murderer was sitting a few feet away from me and I was helpless to do anything about it.
"Let's have a little fun, hey Benny?" He grinned, an evil glint in his eye as he pulled a very sharp knife out from behind him.
Jason
She was gone. Ben was gone, and I didn't know what to do. I had gone to find her after the fireworks so we could make the announcement, but I couldn't find her anywhere.
Morte sat faithfully on my shoulder as I followed Benina's scent. It ended a few feet into the forest, a sickly sweet scent lingering where her scent halted.
I had immediately gone in search of Willow- she would know what to do about this. I was still in shock, and Ani probably wasn't as experienced in this.
Morte flew off of my shoulder to get Willow, leaving me in the forest, holding a leaf covered in Ben's scent.
Morte and Willow arrived shortly after, and when Willow got a whiff of the scent, her face turned grim.
"Chloroform."
My eyes widened and my mouth gaped open, "What- when- how- why- what?" I stuttered.
Morte flew onto my shoulder and tucked my head under her neck in an attempt to comfort me. Willow grimaced at the ground and hissed, "She was taken."
My head snapped up to watch her as she crouched, slowly crawling through the bush. She followed a trail of broken branches and foot prints for a while, and I walked behind, eager to find my missing mate.
There was a faint scent of human on the trail we followed, until we reached a road, where it abruptly cut off.
"They took a car." Willow stated, "I can try to track the car from the scents and dirt the tyres have picked up, but it will be very difficult, and I might be following the wrong car."
I scowled, rubbing the back of my neck as my heart began to sink- Ben was gone, and we couldn't track her.
It was nearly nine o'clock, and we couldn't be sure that Ben was in danger. I didn't want to alarm the pack, so as we walked through the bush toward the pack house, I mind-linked Jeremy.
Meet Willow and I in the conference room, bring Ani. We have bad news.
I blocked off the link and sped up my pace, Willow matching it. When we arrived at the pack house, I headed straight to the conference room, walking inside and closing the door behind Willow.
I turned to see Ani and Jeremy waiting in their seats. I pressed a button under the table which turned on the sound proofing. Taking a seat at the head of the long table, I gave Willow a pleading look so that she would explain what was going on.
"Well," She began, "At some point during the feast, Ben was kidnapped, she was chloroformed and taken by car via the highway near the forest. We have reason to believe the intention behind this is not peaceful and that there is malice behind the kidnapping."
Jeremy looked shocked, whereas Ani looked worried. I scowled at the table as she continued.
"We will announce this news to the pack in the morning, but for now we need to keep this amongst us. We will begin an investigation immediately. Jeremy, you specialise in motive- you told us so when we met, you will work out any possibilities for who and why this has happened." Jeremy nodded.
"Ok." He agreed.
"Ani, you specialise in location, you need to collaborate with Jeremy to determine where any of his suspects may have taken her." Ani nodded, turning to face Jeremy.
"Ok." She quietly agreed.
"Jason, I don't know what you specialise in." Willow stated, turning to face me.
My face scrunched up as I thought, but I wasn't particularly skilled at anything. "Uh, I don't really know what I can do to help." My shoulders slumped.
"Then how about you speak with the other Alphas around the area, from Alpha to Alpha, and then you can help me with questioning." She suggested.
I nodded quickly, eager to help.
"Ok, let's get to work." She commanded.
Ani and Jeremy automatically went over to the corner to get some paper and pens, and I grabbed the phone from off of the table.
Ani and Jeremy began to write things down, murmuring about who and where. I turned to Willow, about to ask her who to call first, but she cut me off with a look and I closed my mouth.
"You need to go to sleep, Jason. You look tired and stressed and I don't want you freaking out in front of other Alphas- that will get us nowhere." I was about to speak when she cut me off again, "Besides, we shouldn't contact the Alphas until we have informed the pack of Ben's disappearance."
I sighed and gave up, my eyes drooping. Morte rested her neck on top of my head, trying to soothe me.
I stood up and nodded in thanks, before leaving. I walked to my room and placed Morte in her makeshift nest. I climbed under the covers and tried to sleep, knowing that I would reach the next day faster if I did.
But sleep did not come.
I couldn't stop thinking about how Ben had been taken from right under my nose. And even though her friends were working as hard as they could to find her, she could be hurt right now, with no one there to help her.
I could tell I was going to have a sleepless night.
Willow
I knew Jason wasn't coping with it all, I sent him to bed, hoping that maybe he would be able to sleep tonight.
I walked over to Jeremy and Ani, peering over their list of suspects. There were a bunch of names, including one of the Alphas we had met in our travels, pack members whom had been suspicious from the start, Ophelia Ravine, and even Marc.
It was even more shocking to see the name listed at the bottom of the page. Well it wasn't a name, really, but it was still a person.
'Family Murderer' was written.
"You think the same person who killed her family has come back for her?" I asked sceptically. It was a possibility, but no one knew if the killer was still around or if they were dead.
"It does make sense," Ani said, her serious side coming out, "Ben didn't know of her bloodline until last year, so maybe the killer didn't realise she was alive until word got out that she was training to be an Alpha."
I nodded, agreeing with the idea, there was a huge chance that was the case. I was keeping my cool in front of the others, because I knew they needed someone to guide them.
I was absolutely freaking out on the inside because Ben was like a sister to me and I didn't want her in harm’s way.
I was going to have to be the leader here, because Jason was not in any shape to lead, Ani was too jumpy, and Jeremy was... Well, not really up for the job.
That left me to run the show.
"Ani, have you figured out any possible locations yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, if it's Ophelia, then she could have Ben stashed at her father's houses, Macy and Ophelia's father split up despite the mating bond and he moved away. Ben could be nearby or at one of his places in California. There hasn't been enough time for them to reach there yet, but they could be on the move." She explained.
She was acting a lot cooler, now that she was in a serious situation.
I nodded and turned to a white board in the room. I pulled the lid off of a pen and began to write.
Ophelia- Father's houses, nearby.
Marc- His house, bases around territory.
Alpha Steven- Anywhere in his territory.
I listed the other suspects and the basic locations, but unfortunately we couldn't get any more precise until we narrowed it down to specific people and brought them in for questioning.
I headed down stairs and grabbed some snacks and drinks, knowing this was going to be a long night.
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Hey guys, just wanted to tell you now- my updates will be at random, not on a schedule.
Sorry to do this to you.
This is because my work has become just that- work.
It has become a monotonous routine updating every Friday or i get disappointed comments.
Honestly, if you've made it this far, please have some patience with my updates. I'm working my butt off editing, doing school work and dealing with life in general.
So, ways you can help:
I have lost my motivation- your comments really help, but don't do the whole 'update, update, update' thing- be creative.
Writing me a nice comment like, 'My favourite part so far is when...' or 'I have suspicions that Ben was taken for this reason, by this person'
I know you guys leave the creative writing to me, but please give it a shot, it makes my day when i see a comment about my book, it's wonderful. Even ifyou just write 'love the book' or something.
Anyway,
VOTE
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StryderSweetman.