“We have lost enough time, it’s time to go,” Drayton says his voice firm and impatient. “The car is loaded up with food and water, Lycell. Robert is waiting in the car. He’s ready to leave now. What could you have so pressing as to delay our travels?”
“I had to say goodbye to my sons. You don’t understand, and the way you’re going, you may never understand this.” Drayton cut a sharp eye at Lycell. He understood. They were both on edge. Lycell is delaying because he’s afraid to confront the inevitable. He’s afraid that Adrienne may be dead and he’s holding on to his sons.
“The Mercedes has been located by its GPS system. It’s about ten minutes outside of Samsaville. A wrecker will pick it up. The police found their clothes. They made them leave their clothes and shoes in the car, everything they were wearing, and they tried to burn the Mercedes,” Lycell said his voice hoarse and weak when he spoke. He felt Adrienne’s anguish and pain at that moment. Then he composed himself and raised his head to meet Drayton’s eyes.
“They stripped them naked so we couldn’t get their scent. But I would smell Adrienne a mile away,” Lycell admitted smiling and thinking about the short time they had together. Then a frown crossed his face. He stared outward passed Drayton.
“I will never love another woman. I have to get her back if she’s still alive,” Lycell said walking with Drayton to the car.
Robert sat in the back seat gazing at Drayton and Lycell not showing how devastated he is at that moment. Only his words could convey what was in his heart and now he couldn’t find the words to talk about what he would do if the werewolves killed them and his unborn children.
Drayton started up the keyless ignition of the Range Rover, and they took off around the bend heading south to find Wilder, Hunter, and Devin to break the news.
Lycell reached for the news station and the local news were reporting on the disappearance of the two women.
“Why did you get the news involved? You know we can’t report a kidnapping and risk having the national news pick up on that, Drayton. What were you thinking?”
“It wasn’t Drayton. It was me,” Robert admitted. “I only stated that my wife had gone missing. I gave some excuse that she might have gone home to her family in Alaska. My thinking was, if anyone saw her, they would report it to the local police.”
Lycell turned in his seat to meet Robert’s eyes.
“You weren’t thinking. You were only concerned about yourself. That’s what you humans do. There are bigger things to consider. If some eager reporter from outside of our town, gets on this case, and report it to the FBI then our way of life is in danger. We have tried to keep under the radar for years. Wilder may run for senator and maybe the governor of Nevada. We don’t need anyone nosing into who and what we are.”
“Don’t you understand that there are a faction of werewolves out there that are bent on destroying humans and they are out of control? Because Wilder is the head Alpha, we are the only thing preventing them from destroying forest, wild life, capturing human females and destroying humans.”
“I thought their numbers were kept in check because the werefemales were sterile?” Robert asked.
“If we don’t do something with Bane’s pack, there will be nothing to keep them from going into the nearby towns, and kidnapping the women. And thanks to you and your serum, and reporting this kidnapping, we appear weak to them, and they will be bolder. They may have killed Adrienne and Mena already,” Lycell said his voice wavering from tough to soft and breaking like an ocean wave on shore.
“That’s enough,” Drayton said to Lycell. Lycell turned up the radio loud. So he couldn’t hear his own thoughts.
Finally they reached the forest near the cave. It wasn’t a long ride, but it was a treacherous ride into the forest. At one point they had to park the car and get out, and trek down the meadow in the direction of the cave. Robert fell behind, and when Drayton looked back, he was nowhere to be seen.
“You go on, Lycell. I have to find Robert.”
“I told you to leave him. He can only get one of us killed trying to protect him,” Lycell said to Drayton turning to look down the path. “He’s nothing but trouble. And he’s slowing us down.”
“I couldn’t do that. He has as much at stake in this as you or I. Much more. His wife and babies are in danger. Your babies are safe in bed, and Wilder’s are with him. He should be here.”
“And you have none. You can’t even control Adrienne long enough to make her pregnant.” Drayton recoiled at Lycell’s words. He wanted to hit him. “You want Adrienne back and so do I. But my babies need her, and I need her,” Lycell’s voice broke and his tone lowered.
“I’m not going to argue with you about who needs her more. It’s just futile.” Drayton turned heading back down the trail they had just come from, but before he could go two steps, Robert came slogging from behind a thick set of trees and grass. Drayton called to Lycell and he stopped.
Lycell’s human form was confining. He had enough of the human form. He decided to change into a wolf when he heard Drayton call out to him. Reluctantly he stopped and waited.
“What now?” Lycell questioned. When Drayton and Robert caught up to Lycell, he wore an unpleasant menacing look on his face aimed at Robert.
“Keep up because next time we’re going to leave you.”
“He doesn’t mean that,” Drayton tried to reassure Robert.
“The hell if I don’t,” Lycell turned to face Drayton. His thick eyebrows meeting in a V and his eyes glaring up at Drayton. Lycell strode faster down the trail to the cave. He would have been there by now if he didn’t have to coddle Robert. Then Lycell took off running at a speed not even Drayton could equal.
Lycell because of his svelte body and muscular legs had been a sprinter in college. He even participated in the Olympics. Drayton on the other hand had been a distance runner. Wilder had been in the Olympics and won the Decathlon. He was indeed the best athlete of them all, but then he had an overall advantage—they are werewolves and not exactly human.
That advantage helped Wilder win the Decathlon with its sprinting, throwing, jumping hurdles, and running over a mile at breakneck speed, not even Drayton and Lycell could compete with him.
Robert didn’t say a word because he knew Lycell was right. He would slow them down if they had to shift and run. He was indeed a burden to the werewolves and especially to Drayton since he was the one who agreed to take him along and protect him if anything went wrong with the rescue.
They could have travel faster if they had shifted and didn’t have Robert to worry over. Nevertheless, Robert felt grateful to be along. He would have gone crazy waiting around to hear about Mena and whether she was safe.
By now Lycell was out of sight, but Drayton heard the rush of the waterfall, and he knew that the cave was near. As they walked out of the forest and near a freshwater lake, they saw Lycell standing near Wilder, no doubt telling him what had happened to Adrienne and Mena.
Wilder paced near the river’s edge. His powerful chest moving up and down. His large hands folding into fists at his side. Then a distinct and loud howl came from deep down in his chest as he raised his head in frustration. It was a sound of an animal in pain. The kind of sound you hear when a male wolf has lost his mate. It is a bone chilling hair raising sound.
The distinct sound reverberated along the mountains, and animals answered his call nervously. The sound of the fiercest animal in the forest was met with many animals whimpering. It was the call of a wild animal in their midst, and they knew that voice and they knew that death was in the air or something or someone would die soon.
Adrienne’s sons had been playing and had shifted into wolves. When they heard their father they came rushing back quickly. They came to an abrupt stop when Wilder picked them up by the scruff of their necks, looked them in the eyes, and spoke to them, then dropping them to the ground, where they rushed off in the direction of the cave.
When Drayton and Robert reached Wilder and Lycell, Hunter and Devin were coming back looking like two teenage boys who had been camping with their father. One wore a black and blue lumberjack shirt and the other wore a red and black one. As teenagers they wanted to be distinct like so many teens like them, but there were no teens like them. There were no new werewolves born to any of the packs in the Americas or Europe, with the exception of them. They placed the back packs over their shoulders and one for Wilder.
Hunter handed it to Wilder. “Here father. We will get our mother back.” Wilder nodded his head in agreement. He was silent. He placed the pack over his wide shoulders and turned to Drayton.
“Where is the Range Rover?”
“About ten minutes away,” Drayton answered. Wilder glanced over to Robert.
“Why are you here?” Wilder asked his voice uncompromising.
“You would ask that?” Robert said surprised at Wilder. Wilder turned his head. He knew why. He just hoped that someone had talked sense into him, or tied him up, and prevented him from following them. Wilder felt that Robert didn’t know the danger he was in, and with all his devotion to Mena, his fierce determination, it would not be enough for him to survive. And bringing a human would only complicate matters for them, too.
Bane was not a man to reason with. No werewolf could be reasoned with once he is threatened, and there is a female involved. Wilder had no illusions about Bane. Bane knew kidnaping Adrienne would mean death to him or Wilder. He knew well what Wilder and his brothers would do to him and his whole pack.