Chapter 22
~Lucie's POV~
"We found her," standing in front of me was a distraught woman. Her eyes were blood shot, her hair in thick wotted tangles. Her brown eyes were detached as she cast her gaze on every face in the room, only stopping when she reached mine.
"Davis," Kaija cringed next to me but I ignored her and gestured for Zorra to sit down next to me.
"Zorra, I can assume you've heard of the accusations brought against your brother," Zorra nodded as she grabbed a fist full of tissues and blew her nose, color once again returning to her face.
"Yes, as I assure you that that's not true. None of it is true. Wyatt... he couldn't hurt a fly for all the money in the world. After our parents died... he became reclusive. He... he couldn't do this. It just isn't possible you have to believe me."
"I believe you. I believe in you. Your brother, not so much. Zorra there had to have been signs. Did he act differently recently? Maybe more aggressive towards you or towards others? Did he start hanging around different people lately? Disappearing at odd times?"
"No, Wyatt has been acting the same as usual. He's nice to everyone. Uhhh... he doesn't really hang out with anyone but me. And...odd times? He-," her face turned pasty white just as her hand stopped their repetitious movement.
"No,"
"Zorra, any little detail helps. If Wyatt was going places we need to know. Especially now. One of those places could be where Tabby and Fawna are located. Any detail will help," Everyone's attention was focused solely on Zorra as we waited for her reply.
"There was this one place. It'd be abandoned by now. Our parents used to work there before the accident. The accident was killed our parents. He used to go there to think but... you don't think he'd take them there do you?"
"Any lead is better than no lead. What was the name of the factory?"
"Halsy Mills,"
~☾~
There were only twenty of us on the mission, four to cover the front for each entrance. Only eight of us were going inside.
"Are you sure you want to come in on this Zorra. Wyatt isn't going to look like the person you know. He's not going to act the same either. There is no advantage for us taking you in there."
"Then why are you letting me go?" Her voice was as cold as her eyes. We both knew the answer to that. Because if I ever got this chance with Darcy, I'd sure as hell want in on it and nothing could get in my way.
"Because if it was my brother I would want someone to let me go,"
"Alpha?" Zorra turned towards Casey who had been silent though most of the ordeal, only giving talking when asked something directly.
"Lucie can I talk you in private?" Confusion set in as I nodded and followed as he led me away from the strike team that had assembled in the back alley a block away. His back was turned to me even after he stopped and I knew that whatever he was about to tell me I wasn't going to like.
"Casey?" Silence greeted me, leaving on the light sound of my breathing to fill the alley.
"Lucie," Casey's voice was filled with pain and it took almost every ounce of my self-control to not reach out and wrap my arms around him. He slowly turned towards me, his eyes shining with regretful attrition.
"Casey what did you do?"
"Lucie you have to understand, I had no choice. They said that if I didn't claim you soon that I would be forced to step down as alpha."
"What did you do Casey?" He looked away, leaning lightly against the brick wall of the alleyway.
"I said that by doing this favor for you, rescuing your friend, you would be willing to fully accept you're title as Luna of the pack."
"You should have come to me first-,"
"Well, you were a little preoccupied. What was I supposed to tell them? That my mate was too focused on everything else to pay attention to me? To her own mate? To spend time with him? Did you know that this was one of the only two things I ever wanted in life?"
"What to have to rescue two children from a vengeful werewolf?
"You," My heart stopped as that one word consumed me.
"Me?"
"My mate," he stepped closer to me, reaching out gently to grasp my chin his hand. My lips parted as his thumb grazed my lip, leaving my to eyes to close on their own account. I felt the space between us evaporate as he closed the remaining space between us, crashing our lips together in a fiery haze of bliss. Hands traveled between us, meshing into each other. I broke the kiss soon, leaving my lips parted as I slowly stepped away.
"That was all you had to say,"
"Really?"
"Really. That was all you had to say, and I would have been yours," hope drained from his eyes and once again his cold impassive face returned. The face of an Alpha. Let's hope the Alpha is enough to get what we need before it slips away again.
~*~
"There are going to be four strike teams. One covering the roof, one devised of snipers covering every exit, my team made up of Dom, Auggie, Heller and myself which will come into the warehouse from the back entrance, while Lucie's team will cover the front entrance. Lucie's group is Lorcan, Zorra, and Piran. Everyone else will be split up into groups for the sniper or roof team by Roman, Lucie's brother. Any questions?" No one spoke a word and with a nod everyone split up. Before Casey got too far though, I pulled him to the side.
"Who are Heller and Lorcan?"
"They are members of my pack that are sort of... on the fringe of society. They came here about two years ago around the time of the Crimson Ember's massacre. We asked around to see if anyone new the two guys but they didn't recognize them by the time I asked."
"Why didn't you just ask them?"
"Can we not do this now?"
"Do what now?"
"Fill you in on pack politics,"
"Pack politics?"
"They aren't exactly well liked amongst the members in my pack, hell half of them haven't even meet Heller or Lorcan. Heller and Lorcan can't remember anything about their pack. Heller couldn't even remember his own name, but Lorcan remembered it along with his own. They might not be socially accepted but there good fighters. Whatever their past was, they were expertly trained. Why do you ask?"
"I just don't want to go in blind that's all. I've never meet either of them. It's cool I guess." Casey gave me a weak smile and then caught up with the rest of his group.
"You ready for this Lucie?" Piran asked, actual concern clouding his eyes.
"I was born a fighter. I've gone on rescue missions before. Seven actually. But this time is different. My goal is different."
"What were you're goals before?"
"Eliminate the targets and minimize the loss of human life. Generally they gave me the order of 'leave no survivors' but a few times they just wanted me to rescue the captives as fast and efficient as possible."
"How is that different from this? Just do that."
"Piran that never worked, every time that we attempted that sort of mission the loss on our side was high. Every time at least someone died." They all stared at me as I spoke. Surprisingly everyone met my eyes, though some looked almost hesitant to. It hurt to thinking about my past, almost in a physical sense as if betrayal literally burned in my veins. Most of the times I simply blocked all thoughts about my past away for that very reason. Pain. I shrugged off my thoughts before returning back to the group still waiting patiently around me.
"This will be different. We're wolves not hunters. Remember that." I only hopped my words would be true.
~*~
"Casey is about to give the signal," my hand crept to the door handle and the moment Piran motioned I opened the door. I unsheathed the curved dagger on my hip, grasping it tightly in my right hand. The others flanked me as we entered the short dimly lit hallway. We stopped as the hallway broke off into three directions. I waved the others to the one straight ahead as ice continued to flood through my veins. I let my senses sore, focusing on anything and everything but us, trying to pin point Wyatt,Tabby, and Fawna.
The sound of whimpering caught my attention and I sped up, leading the others at a faster pace. The second short hallway stopped, a door at the end of it. I lightly grasped its handle, turning it slowly. It opened soundlessly, slowly illuminating what lay behind it.
Harsh incandescent light flooded the doorway. A small balcony stood behind it, having two sets of stairs branching off either sides directly to the floor. Once everyone was out of the doorway, I took my chance.
"Wyatt, I know you're in here. Show yourself." I heard muffled screams and instantly switched to high alert. I signaled the others to follow me as I descended the staircase hesitantly, my eyes not leaving the area that I had heard the screams from. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Casey and his group come into the warehouse, each searching the warehouse with their eyes trying to find Wyatt.
"I don't think so Lucie. I know that you are here for me. Here to kill me. You weren't just an Alpha killer Lucie. Did you guys know that? She killed other people to. Regular wolves. Wolves that didn't hurt anyone. Why did you have to do that. Some of them were good people. They were good people. Why did you have to take them from me Lucie? Why did you have to kill them like you did everyone else you touch? Why did you have to take them away from me Lucie?"
"Calm down Wyatt. I'm sorry if I hurt someone you care about, but Mat you can't take out your anger on innocents. Why put someone else through the pain that you went through?"
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! Look there you go again, trying to stop me! It didn't work the first time and it won't now! Give up Lucie. Surrender and I'll let Tabby and Fawna live."
"Where are they Wyatt?"
"You can come out now girls," The sound of metal doors banging rang through the warehouse as we all tried to figure out where it was coming from. I watched as an unseen door opened, showing two badly bruised girls.
"You didn't have to hurt them Wyatt, they're just girls,"
"On the contrary. They aren't just girls. Fawna!" Within a blink of an eye, Fawna had her arms wrapped around Tabby's neck.
"Tabby!"
"Did you not suspect that? Honestly? Come you knew how nasty Fawna was to her sister, why wouldn't you put the pieces together? You want to know what the best part was? I didn't even have to lay a finger on the girls. Fawna kidnapped her own sister and beat her up, just because I asked her to! Do you know what that kind of anger does to a person? To have so much anger just swirling inside you? So much anger that you can turn on your own flesh and blood? Let me tell ya, nothing good. Zorra how nice of you to join us. Are you blaming yourself again? Like you did last time? You let me out of your sight when mom and dad were out, I surprise them, they get killed? Do you honestly think that our parents would have been stupid enough to get caught on their own? No. I was trying to get the hunters to Shadowswood, and then our parents had to show up. Did you know that? I wasn't trying to find our parents? They were trying to find me, the person that was messing with Shadowswood! That was the reason they were killed. Why Lucie had to kill them. We weren't even in Shadowswood. We were in one of our sister packs land, Timberland actually." His words sunk in. Timberland. He was right. I had been there.
"Why are you so focused on the past Wyatt? We can't change it!"
"No but I can sure as hell try," two shots rang out, one of which hit me.
"Lucie!" Casey's voice filled the air of the warehouse as he leapt towards me at records speed. Fawna's body lay lip on the ground, along with Tabby's who had a twisted neck. One of the two men that I didn't recognize was standing over Fawna's body while the other picked up Tabby's limp one, cradling her to his chest.
"What did I say about getting hurt Lucie?"
"'Not to," I said laughing slightly making pain radiate though my body. This wasn't the first time I was shot. I had been shot three other times in my life, each ending a little worse than the time before.
"Where's Wyatt?"
"Casey has him,"
"Casey?" I called out, my eyes searching for him through the darkness. Slowly he emerged, dragging Wyatt behind him. Wyatt was kicking and screaming as Casey dragged him in. Looking up at me, Casey stopped. His eyes met mine, his expression cold and calculating. I let my gaze fall upon some of the others in the room, only to have my eyes drawn back to Casey when a sickening crack echoed throughout the room.
"No!" I screamed, lunging forward, Wyatt's body falling to a heap on the ground. No one rushed Casey. If anyone else had delivered the death blow besides Casey or me, the person would have been tackled to the ground and taken into custody. However, Casey used the fact that he was the Alpha to his advantage, sending me a sickening smile in response to his previous actions. I started to feel dizzy but I grabbed onto the bar in front of me for support.
"Casey, come here." I coughed, blood coming out with each hack.
"We need to get her to the pack doctor. I think the shot ruptured her lung."
"Zorra... I'm sorry," I said between coughs, looking back to the girl who had just lost her brother.
"Why are you sorry? You're the one that got shot,"
"But he was you're brother. Things aren't so black and white when it comes to family. Having a brother who would rather see you and the ones you care about dead, rather than talk things out with you is difficult. I wish I had someone to apologize to me for the actions of my brother." Giving her a chaste smile. I released the bar in front of me in an attempt to start heading towards the exit but with each passing step it became harder and harder to breath. Soon I could feel my body falling and within seconds I was lying motionless on the ground. The last thing I saw before my vision went black were feet approaching me, though I had already lost consciousness before the feet were able to reach me.
~