My grip on Cain's hand loosened as I fought for oxygen.
The weight of shock in seeing my grandfather made me feel like I had an elephant on my chest.
I felt like I was seeing a ghost.
Do I run to him? Do I run away?
My grandfather was supposed to be dead, but there he was.
After nearly two months of searching, my answers were only about a hundred feet away.
I began to take a step in his direction, but Cain tugged me back with the hand that still held mine.
"Don't," he said as I turned to look at him.
"But Cain..." I said softly, still somewhat dazed.
He shook his head slowly, his sharp eyes still trained on my grandfather.
"Something isn't right," he said. "You're not staying here."
Cain began to pull me away and I tried to resist, turning to look at my grandfather.
He was gone.
"Where did he go?"
My voice was drowned in the sea of conversations that were going on in multiple dialects around us.
An overwhelming sense of dread began to wash over me as I frantically scanned the crowd for my grandfather, who had completely disappeared.
Cain tugged me through the door we had entered into.
The SUV we had arrived in was still parked on the curb as Cain opened the car door and all but pushed me inside.
"Cain!" I shouted in surprise, landing on the seat sideways.
"Stay here," he said.
He walked around the car and opened the driver's door. I hopped over the center console as he pulled the keys from the ignition. He turned to leave as I pressed my foot against the inside of the door to keep it from closing.
This caught his attention.
"You're not locking me in a hot car," I told him, making a move to try and get out of the SUV.
"It's not hot out here," he said, blocking my escape. "You'll be fine."
I pushed against the door with my foot again as he tried to close it for a second time.
"I'm not staying here," I reiterated.
Cain turned to look at me, leveling his eyes with mine.
"Do not get out of this car," he said firmly. "Get into the backseat where the windows are tinted and no one can see you."
He closed the door and I sat there in shock as I heard the doors lock, an action no doubt triggered by the remote that was now in his possession.
I felt my blood begin to boil as my hands started to shake.
The nerve he has to lock me inside a car.
I saw him speaking to the valet before he handed him the car keys. The valet looked at me suspiciously and I decided it was probably best to get into the backseat as Cain had forcefully suggested.
I climbed over the console again and landed in the center seat with an annoyed sigh.
Sitting there with my arms crossed like a pouting four-year-old, I filtered the wondering thoughts of my grandfather through the anger that Cain had stirred in me.
I felt the tension in my arms and shoulders loosen as I breathed a sigh of relief, finally accepting that my grandfather wasn't dead.
But what was he doing in Mumbai? Why was he at the memorial service? How did he get here? Why would he not tell my family and I that he was alive sooner?
All of these thoughts ran through my brain on a continual loop as I tried to wrap my mind around the situation.
My heart was still racing from seeing him. I felt it every time it beat against my ribcage.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the seat and took several deep breaths, trying to stop my hands from shaking.
Suddenly, I heard the car doors unlock and I sat up straight to see someone wearing a black hat open the car door.
I looked over to see the valet was still standing outside the front door to the building, counting a stack of bills.
My attention returned to the individual who was now getting into the driver's seat of the car.
"Who are you?" I asked, panic beginning to set in.
He reached up to adjust the rearview mirror and I caught a glimpse of his reflection.
"Grandpa," I breathed out, feeling my heart stop altogether.
He winked at me before leaning forward to start the ignition, stepping on the clutch as he did so.
The look in his eyes told me the same thing they told Cain just a few minutes prior: something wasn't right.
I reached over slowly to touch the door handle, trying to be discrete.
Just as my fingers traced the outline of the lever, the sound of the car door locking echoed through the interior of the SUV. The sound startled me, causing me to gasp and pull my hand back.
"You and I need to talk," my grandfather said.
Having only ever heard him speak in German, I was surprised hearing him speak English. But I knew that this was not going to be like the dinnertime chats we used to have.
"Why don't we talk outside the car?" I asked.
Where everyone can see us, I added mentally.
"We can't do that, mein Liebling," he said, calling me his darling.
I was caught off guard, despite the fact that this term of endearment was a familiar one he'd used since I was very young. Somehow, it just didn't feel the same.
"What do you want?" I asked.
Hearing him throw the transmission into first gear, I leaned forward to unlock the car door manually. My grandfather hit the accelerator quickly, causing me to fall back into my seat.
My heart stayed in our parking spot as we drove away.
I felt like I was going to be sick, like this was just a bad nightmare.
"Listen to me, Ella," he said, changing gears as the engine revved.
I looked up at his reflection in the rearview mirror anxiously, meeting his gaze.
"There are some things you should know."
- - -
Narrative P.O.V.
"Put the building in a lockdown. No one leaves and no one enters."
Upon hearing the Alpha's command, the large wooden doors were closed immediately.
"I want this building searched from top to bottom," Cain said to Dinesh.
Dinesh walked away swiftly, giving orders in Marathi through a radio hidden in the hem of his shirt sleeve.
"Where is the guest list?" Cain asked, pointing to Daniel.
"I have it," Jai said, producing a clipboard from the bag he had slung around his shoulders.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked, alarmed by Cain's command for outlandish security measures.
"We have an uninvited guest in the form of Otto Müller," Cain said, taking the list from Jai.
Daniel went pale.
"Where's Ella?" he asked.
"Locked in the car," Cain said.
Jai's facial expression morphed to one of confusion.
"You just locked her in the car?" He asked.
Cain said nothing as his eyes scanned the guest list.
"You honestly think that he listed himself as Otto Müller?" Daniel asked in disbelief.
Certainly, a man smart enough to hide from one of the world's greatest investigation teams for so long wasn't stupid enough to leave a paper trail like that, Daniel thought.
"No," Cain said. "I'm not looking for his name."
Daniel and Jai looked at each other in confusion and then turned their attention back to Cain.
"Who are you looking for?" Jai asked.
Cain didn't answer, his focus solely on scanning the list.
Daniel and Jai stood there for a few moments, awkwardly waiting for Cain to answer the question that loomed in the air between them.
Dinesh walked hurriedly back into the room.
"My guards at each station have searched every square inch of this place. We cannot find Otto Müller."
Cain looked up from the list at Dinesh.
"You're not looking for Müller," he said, turning the list around so everyone could see it. "You're looking for Wilhelm Goebel."
Daniel's eyebrows knit together.
"I thought we were looking for Ella's grandfather?"
"You are," Cain said. "His name isn't Otto Müller."
"Wait a second..." Jai said, something clicking in his mind. "Wilhelm Goebel was-"
"The European aid to my father," Cain interrupted. "Until he and his wife were killed by Vampires."
"Oh my God," Daniel breathed out as Dinesh also muttered a curse under his breath.
Before Cain could say anything else, two guards pushed their way into the room they were meeting in. Between them, held by his upper arm, was the valet Cain had handed the keys to the SUV to.
Cain's eyes narrowed as the guards threw him to the ground in front of him.
"Alpha Sovereign, this man gave a man, who matches the description you gave us, the keys to your car," one of the guards said, bowing his head in reverence.
Cain felt his jaw clench.
"Well shit," Daniel said.
- - -
Ella's P.O.V.
The look my grandfather gave me made the fact that we were speeding through the crowded streets of Mumbai feel like a stroll through Candyland.
"You were supposed to be dead," I told him, my voice shaking.
"That isn't the first lie you've been led to believe, Ella," he said, his teeth gritting together.
"You mean how you lied about your heart condition?" I asked.
I made no attempt to hide the passive-aggressive tone in my voice.
"I am not the man you thought I was," he said. "My entire identity is a convincing fabrication."
"Then who are you?" I asked.
"I am your grandfather, that much is true." he told me. "I was a high-ranking official in the Lycanthrope society that you seem to have found yourself entangled in."
"You're one of them?" I asked.
He nodded, confirming my suspicion.
"That would explain why I am able to have a mate," I said, thinking out loud.
"That is what I wish to discuss with you," he told me.
I looked up to the rearview mirror to meet his gaze once again.
"You need to leave Cain," he said firmly.
I looked at him incredulously.
"The entire reason I met Cain was because of you," I told him. "And how do you know about him anyways? Who told you we were mates?"
"I don't have the time to tell you that," he said. "But I do want you to know that I had my reasons for faking my death."
I let out a sharp breath as he took a steep turn down a less-congested street.
"The man in your coffin," I said, getting his attention. "Who was he?"
I saw my grandfather let out a breath.
"Cain was supposed to be at the funeral," he said. "The man was there to kill Cain."
"But why would someone want to kill Cain?" I asked.
Suddenly it dawned on me.
The man who broke in during the middle of the night...
I was in Cain's room when that happened.
Maybe he was trying to kill Cain all along.
"Cain has been investigating the deaths of the missing men, including myself, who visited the clinic in Germany," my grandfather said. "He's getting too close to the answers and they need to stop him before he discovers their plans."
"Who's plans?" I asked. "Who are you talking about?"
"I've risked too much by speaking to you now," he said. "I cannot share anything further. I did not come to elaborate on the circumstances, but only to plead with you to unravel yourself from them."
I couldn't help but to look at him like he was crazy.
"Really?" I asked. "You didn't think that just popping up out of nowhere would cause more questions?"
I could tell that he became agitated hearing this.
"Ella, you're missing the point," he said. "I didn't risk my life and yours too just so I could clarify things. I am begging you to go back home and leave while you still can."
I surprised myself by shaking my head.
"I'm not going home."
He said nothing, just kept his eyes on the road.
A few moments went by before I shook my head.
"Pull over and let me out," I said.
I didn't know where we were or how to get back to where we had come from, but any place was going to be better than in that car.
"I'm taking you to the airport," he said.
"What?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing. "I'm not getting on a plane."
"Yes, you are," he said firmly. "I knew you wouldn't listen to me, so I'm making you."
"You can't make me do anything," I said resiliently.
"Please don't make this more difficult than it has to be, Ella."
You can bet your ass that I'm going to make this difficult, I thought.
"I'm trying to keep you safe," he said. "Something that Cain clearly doesn't do a great job of."
I looked out of the window as the stolen car pulled into a driveway that led up to an airplane terminal.
Panicking, I began to toy with the manual lock on the car door. It had sunk down into the door itself with it had been locked from the center console of the car, but I was trying to pry it up with my fingers.
After a moment of trying this with no success, I sat back and began to kick at the window, hoping it would break.
If I could reach the outside handle, I would be able to open the door that way.
"Ella, stop!" my grandfather yelled, reaching his hand back to grab me.
I slid further away from him, continuing to kick.
The car came to a screeching halt and he got out of the car.
In his haste, he left the door open.
I scrambled to turn around in the seat and I pushed myself over the console to get out through his door. As I did so, my own car door opened and he grabbed my ankle and pulled me backwards with such force that I felt for a moment that my entire foot had been ripped from my body.
I yelled as a sharp pain shot up the back of my foot.
"Ella, stop fighting me!" he pleaded as I tried to pull away.
In a startling twist, I found myself being overpowered by my eighty-year old grandfather's surprising strength.
He pulled me from the car and held me by my upper arms as I kicked and pulled away.
Basically carrying me across the tarmac towards a jet that was waiting, he walked with a fervor I hadn't known him to have before.
I am not getting on that plane, I told myself.
In one last, desperate attempt to get away, I pushed my feet off the ground and nailed him in the shin with my heels.
This did nothing.
Astonished at his resilience, I felt my own begin to wear off.
He pulled me towards the plane.
As we got closer, we saw someone exit the plane onto the steps.
Cain.
He casually walked down the stairs towards us as my grandfather stopped walking, maintaining his grip on my arms.
Cain began to clap slowly.
"I have to say," he said, "I am well pleased with your attempts, no matter how pointless they are."
My grandfather didn't know what to think or how to respond. Quite frankly, neither did I.
"How did you find us here?" My grandfather asked.
"The car is bugged—GPS system, microphone.. It's funny because, in addition to knowing exactly where you were, we could hear the entire conversation," he said.
"You're going to wish you hadn't," my grandfather growled.
Cain's face turned to stone as he leveled a stare at my grandfather that could kill.
"You've got two seconds to let go of her," he threatened.
My grandfather's grip loosened for a moment before it tightened again.
"I'm not scared of you," he said to Cain.
Cain's icy gaze never wavered.
"You should be."
- - -