This ended now.
And the elders were going down with him. I wasn’t playing games anymore. I was standing up and fighting for what was right.
“Here.”
I startled at the voice. I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t realized Bentley had returned. Some shifter I was.
He tossed the clothes at me and I quickly pulled on the jeans and shirt. I glanced down at Sophie’s sleeping form. I hated to disturb her, but I didn’t want to be here a second longer.
I shook her gently and her eyes opened slowly, blinking at me blearily.
“Whaaa?”
“Come on, baby, I need to get you dressed so we can get out of here.”
“Oh,” she shook her head.
“We’ll be out in a minute.” I told Bentley.
“I’ll be outside if you need me.”
I helped Sophie into a sitting position and removed the nasty blood and sweat soaked clothes from her body. She weakly raised her arms above her head and I pulled the sweatshirt over her, shielding her body. Bentley had also grabbed a pair of sweatpants that I was sure had belonged to my mom. They were too small to be mine. Thank God he’d been smart enough to pick something warm. I hadn’t thought to tell him. Sophie held onto my shoulders as I helped her step into the pants.
I didn’t bother to ask her if she could walk. I grabbed her up in my arms and cradled her against my chest. I hadn’t even made it to the car before she was asleep again. Bentley helped me get her into the back of the Jeep so that I didn’t hurt her.
Garrett, Sophie’s dad, appeared behind some bushes. “Caeden, you’re going to want to take a look at this.”
I glanced at Sophie and back at Garrett. I didn’t want to leave her, but I couldn’t abandon my duties as Alpha either. I was torn on what to do.
Bentley grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him. “Go,” he nodded towards Garrett. “I’ll stay with her. You have nothing to worry about.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I trusted Bentley.
“I’ll be right back.” I told him, but really the words were for my benefit.
I followed Garrett a ways into the woods before things opened up and several other shifters stood around, digging up mounds.
I was going to be sick. The smell—God, it was awful. The smell of decaying human flesh was something you could never forget.
I held my breath, shaking my head.
“How many?” I voiced.
“Too many,” Garrett whispered.
“What do we do with them?” I asked. “Notify the police?”
“That seems like the best bet. These families…they deserve closure.” Garrett stood back behind me, letting me take in the carnage around us. I refused to let myself count the mounds. I didn’t want to know how many dead ones there were—or think about how many successfully turned mutants Travis might possess now.
I turned away from everything and started passed Garrett. “Take care of this. I trust your judgment, Garrett. Right now, I need to be with Sophie.”
“We’ll be by later,” he assured me. “Tell her that her mom and I love her.”
“I will,” I shoved my hands in my jeans pockets.
I jogged back to the Jeep so that I could get there sooner. Bryce had returned with other wolves and I saw Bentley and Christian in the back of the Jeep with a sleeping Sophie.
“Hey,” I said, coming to a stop in front of Bryce. “Find anything?”
He frowned, glancing down at the ground. I knew that didn’t mean anything good. “We followed the trail for a mile or so and then it…it just…stopped.”
“Stopped? What do you mean?” I fired questions at him.
“I mean, it stopped,” he rolled his eyes at me. “The scent disappeared.”
“How is that possible?” My body was tensing all over. How could someone disappear without a trace? No scent, no nothing?
Bryce shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s Travis. Why should we be surprised?”
I nodded. That was true. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Look again.”
“Again?” He raised a brow. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything new.”
“I don’t care. Do it,” I raised my voice, knowing I needed to take on a demanding tone with Bryce.
“Whatever,” he huffed, turning away from me and shifting. The other wolves followed after him.
I rubbed my face, closing my eyes, and let out a pent up breath. I felt like this whole thing had aged me twenty years. I got in the car and looked behind me at Bentley and Christian. “How is she? Has she woken up any?” I questioned.
“Sleeping like a baby,” Bentley smiled. “I’m pretty sure she drooled on me.”
Despite the dreariness of the situation, I managed to crack a small smile. “She does drool.”
Before I drove away, Christian moved from the back of the car to the front so she’d have more room. Sophie continued to sleep with her head pressed into Bentley’s shoulder. It felt so good to have her back with me. I knew our battles were far from over, but for now we had each other, and we’d get everything else figured out in time.
Twenty One.
Sophie
I woke up and sat straight up, a gasp escaping my throat. I looked wildly around me. I was back in my own bed and in my home. Had it all been some horrible nightmare? When I glanced down at my stomach, and saw that it wasn’t nearly as round as it had been, my heart stuttered in my chest. It hadn’t been a nightmare. It was real. All of it was much too real.
My lip shook as I fought tears. I didn’t want to cry. I wanted to be strong. Beau needed me to be strong.
Beau.
I had to find Beau.
I was his mother and he needed me.
I tried to remove myself from the bed, but found that I couldn’t move. After everything I’d been through, my body was too tired.
I really did begin to cry then.
I felt like a sniveling baby. All I was doing was crying—at least it felt that way to me. I didn’t like being…weak. I wanted to be a stronger person, and fight for what I believed in, but the way my body felt I wouldn’t be fighting for a while. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t try though.
I braced my hands beside me and pushed myself into a sitting position. My body ached all over like I’d been tossed inside a dryer, spinning around uncontrollably. This was nothing like the exhaustion I’d experienced when I was pregnant with Beau. Was, keyword there, as in not anymore.
My breathing accelerated and I clutched at my chest.
I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was going to throw up. I tried to force oxygen into my lungs but it wasn’t working. Was this what it felt like to have a panic attack? If so, I didn’t like this one bit. I felt out of control of my body and I still couldn’t breathe. My lungs made a strange wheezing noise as they tried to obtain oxygen, but it wasn’t working.
Caeden burst into the bedroom and came running to my side. “Oh, Sophie, I meant to be here when you woke up. I’m so sorry.” He took my face between his hands. “Breathe, baby. Just breathe like I am. Slowly…deep breath in…deep breath out.”
I listened to his words, following what he said, and slowly I began to return to normal. My blood pressure lowered and I could breathe again.
“Better?” He asked, gazing at me with worried blue eyes. I’d been out of it when he found me and I wasn’t sure how long I’d been sleeping, so this was the first time I was really seeing him since I’d been kidnapped. His hair was too long, falling into his eyes, and in the back it curled against the nape of his neck. His cheekbones were sharp and angular, telling me he’d lost weight. His eyes were sunken in and his lips had thinned. He looked like he’d aged tremendously in the past few months. Regardless, he was still the sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on. “Better, Soph?” He repeated when I didn’t answer him.
“Yeah,” I nodded, placing my hand over one of his where it still rested against my cheek. I closed my eyes, memorizing the feel of him touchi
ng me, and soaking in his warmth. Gosh, I had really missed him. “I need…” I paused, unsure if I should continue.
“What do you need, baby? Whatever you need I’ll give it to you.” He spoke softly but fiercely.
I took a deep breath and let the words tumble from my mouth. “I need you to hold me. I need to feel you wrapped around me. I need you to make me realize that I’m not alone anymore, that you’re real.”
He swallowed thickly and his eyes shimmered. “I am here, Sophie,” his fingers tangled in my hair, “and I’m not going anywhere.”
A sob escaped my throat at those words. He enveloped me in his arms and laid us back on the bed. He held me close, front to front, and my hand rested against his chest where his heart beat proudly. We were both alive and we were here together, in each other’s arms. We weren’t whole though.
I sniffled, burrowing closer to him. His chin rested atop my head and his hands rubbed soothing circles on my back.
“I thought I might not ever get to hold you like this again,” he admitted, his voice cracking. “I was scared out of my mind imagining what he was doing to you.”
“I’m here now.” I placed a light kiss against his collarbone. “We’re together again—and that means we’re unstoppable.”
“And we’re going to get our son back,” he promised. “And we’re going to end Travis and his mutants once and for all. This ends now. We’re not going to keep living like this—always waiting for Travis to pop up again. He’s going to die,” he growled, “and so is anybody that stands with him.”
“I agree,” I whispered. “Caeden, I have to tell you what he told me.” I drew random designs on his t-shirt, not wanting to look at him.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” He sighed.
“Yeah,” I frowned.
He sat up then, pulling me up with him, and took my chin between his fingers forcing me to look at him. “Just say it, Soph.”
I swallowed thickly, trying to block out my memories of my time with Travis. I made myself tell him what I knew. “Travis said, that…that it was time shifters were on top. He and the elders…they’re planning…” I paused, taking a steadying breath. “They want to take over the world. They want humans to know about shifters and bow down to them. He said that any human that disobeys them will be turned into a mutant—if they manage to survive the transformation.” I pushed my hair out of my eyes, biting my lip nervously. “He never told me why he wanted Beau. He made it seem like he wanted me too. That he and I were going to rule the world. He kept calling Beau his child.” Tears skated down my cheeks and I brushed them away. “Why would he want Beau? I don’t understand! He’s just a baby!” I cried.
Caeden pulled me back into his arms and stroked my hair, trying his best to comfort me.
“I don’t know why he wants Beau either. My guess is that the elders want Beau, not Travis.” His voice was surprisingly steady as he thought through what I had told him. “This is bad though. Based on the way they’ve disappeared, I’d say they’re going to make their presence known to humans soon, and we have to stop them.” His jaw was tight with tension and I hated that what I’d told him made him feel this way. But he had to know. We had a war on our hands.
His lips brushed against the top of my head before he pulled away and hopped lithely out of the bed. “Your parents are here, waiting to see you, and I really need to talk to Bentley. Are you okay to see them?”
I smoothed my fingers through my hair. “How scary do I look?” I didn’t really care about my appearance, but after everything that happened I’d really like my parents to know I was okay and not look at me like I’d nearly died…which is what had happened. I didn’t want either of them fussing over me. All I wanted was to put this behind me and find my son. I knew the elders and Travis were important too, but my baby was number one. I wrapped my arms around me, trying to hold myself together. I felt like my heart had been ripped from my body.
“Oh, Sophie,” he rolled his eyes. “They don’t care what you look like.”
I nodded. “I want to see them.”
“Stay in bed,” he warned, pointing at me with a steady finger.
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Trust me, I’m not moving for a week.” Those words were truer than I wanted them to be. I wanted to be out there, hunting down Travis and the elders so I could get my son back, but I was too weak for that. Right now, I had to focus on rebuilding my strength. I knew Caeden would want to go after Travis soon, and I’d need to be on the top of my game, or he’d leave me behind. He’d have to restrain me to keep me from going, but I wouldn’t put anything past Caeden if he thought it would keep me safe.
The door to the bedroom opened again and my mom poked her head inside. Her eyes filled with tears when she caught sight of me. “Oh, Sophie.” She dove at me, but stopped herself from reaching out to hug me, for fear she might hurt me.
“I’m okay, mom. You can hug me,” I assured her.
“Oh, thank God.” She pulled me into her arms and held me tight. It was the kind of hug I’d received as a child when I’d fallen off my bike and hurt myself. It was the hug of a mother trying to repair all the broken pieces of her child. But some things can never be fixed, and I thought I might be one of those forever broken things. I’d been through a lot—which was quite the understatement—and I’d always been able to come out stronger because of it. But now, I hadn’t just lost a piece of me. I’d lost a part of me. Beau. A hug couldn’t fix the pain I was experiencing, no matter how much I might wish it would.
My mom’s cries filled the room and her tears soaked the sweatshirt I was wearing.
“Mom, I’m okay. Honestly,” I added. My voice was oddly flat and emotionless. I didn’t like the sound of it. I was already going through the motions—saying things I knew they wanted to hear.
“You’re not okay, baby girl,” my dad spoke up from behind my mom. “Don’t lie to us. We know you better than anyone.”
I swallowed thickly at his words.
“It’s okay to admit that not everything is fine, Sophie. We can help you. We can make it better,” he continued.
“Nothing can make this better,” my voice cracked. “Beau is gone and I might not ever see him.”
“Baby girl, right now, you need to be optimistic.” He stepped forward and lifted my hand off my mom’s back—since she was still hugging me—and held it tightly in his. “You’re Beau’s momma and you need to believe that you’re going to hold that child in your arms. He needs you to believe, baby girl.”
“But it’s so hard.” I fought tears once more. You’d think my tear ducts would’ve dried up by now.
“I know it’s hard, but that’s life. Without the difficult things, we can’t learn to appreciate the good things. We have to find the light in the darkness.”
“I don’t see any light.” I bit my lip sharply, drawing blood, but I welcomed the short burst of pain and the slightly rusty tang of the blood on my tongue.
“There’s light, baby girl, but you have to look closely. It might not be obvious at first, but there’s always that glimmer of hope. Find it and cling to it, so it can keep you strong.”
I soaked in his words, repeating them over and over again in my mind. I needed to find some hope to cling to, but I felt so defeated that hope seemed out of my reach.
My mom pulled back and took my face between her hands. She stared at me with a frown on her face. I wondered what she saw. I had yet to get a look at myself, but I was sure I was scary looking. My hair felt like it was sticking up around my head like Medusa’s snake hair.
“You’re going to be okay, Sophie,” she said.
I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to tell her to shut up. I didn’t want to be told that I’d be okay anymore. I knew I would—one day—but that didn’t make it easier to hear. Right now, I wanted to wallow in my misery. I knew that wasn’t the healthy thing to do, but I didn’t care. I’d been stuck with Travis for months, I’d had my baby taken from me, and I’d nearly died. I
think it was perfectly normal for me to want to feel unhappy.
“I know,” I finally answered.
She kissed my forehead and then my dad stepped forward to hug me. He held me tighter than my mom had. I clung to him, wishing my parents’ love for me could make everything better. Sometimes love isn’t enough though, and we have to heal ourselves.
My dad released me and stepped back. He wiped beneath his eyes and looked away from me.
“Would you guys stay with me until Caeden gets back?” I pulled the covers up to my chin and sank against the fluffy pillows. I didn’t want to be alone right now. Being left alone meant my thoughts were forced to wander back to why my womb was currently empty. I needed a distraction. Being surrounded by people, focusing on what they had to say, would force me away from thoughts that would leave me feeling ill.
“Of course, baby girl,” my dad said, looking down at me like a small child who was sick in bed. “Do you want one of us to bring you something to eat or drink?”
The thought of food made me want to throw up. I was nowhere near ready to stomach anything. “I’d like some orange juice.” I frowned. Orange juice. Something I’d craved while I was pregnant. This whole, not thinking unpleasant thoughts thing, was so not working out for me.
“I’ll be right back.” He forced a smile and I was left alone with my mom.
I untangled one of my arms from the blankets and patted the empty spot beside me on the bed. “You can sit down, mom.”
She did so hesitantly, like I was a frightened bird that might take flight at any moment. I hated that she felt like she had to be so…gentle with me.
“Would you like me to braid your hair like I did when you were little? You always loved that,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes, transported back to a time when I knew nothing about my heritage. I was just a girl. One who loved braids, wished unicorns were real, and thought my daddy would always be my prince charming. My how things had changed. I missed the innocence of childhood. If we could all stay that innocent the world would be a vastly different place.
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