Chapter 25: Chapter Twenty-Four

DAX

The sickening sound of a lycan’s arm being torn from its body didn’t halt me, nor did the sensation of another one leaping onto my back, its fangs sinking into my neck.

I didn’t feel it. My body numbed at the sight of a lycan carrying Savannah into the woods. A deep, gnawing pain twisted in my stomach, crawling up to my heart, turning it to stone.

My wolf had taken over an hour ago, ripping through lycans like a dog with a chew toy. The bastard, Luther, was nowhere to be found, and my wolf was thirsty for blood.

Once the lycan lay lifeless at my wolf’s feet, I turned to the one gnawing at my neck, flinging him to the ground, watching with steady eyes as he scrambled back up, standing on his hind legs with outstretched arms like a man.

I felt someone trying to communicate with me, but my wolf’s blurred vision blocked it. He attacked the lycan before he could move, tearing his throat from his body and discarding it.

Blood dripped from his mouth, his movements fueled by the adrenaline coursing through him. Someone tapped my shoulder, and I spun around, lunging for the figure that barely dodged out of my way.

“Dax!” Braxton called out.

~“Find mate,”~ my wolf commanded.

I tried to shift back into my human form, but my wolf howled, ~“FIND MATE!”~

I braced myself, battling my wolf felt like wrestling an inner demon that controlled the anger inside of you, and at that moment, it was the only thing I could feel.

After what seemed like an eternity, I shrank down to my human size, pressing my forehead against the cool grass beneath me. Braxton grabbed my shoulders, hauled me up, and stared at me.

“We’re going to find Savannah. I won’t stop until we find her, okay? Calm down, we’re going to save her.”

I fought back tears. ~Tears~. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried in my life. I was an alpha. I didn’t cry. I didn’t panic. Yet, there I was, battling the moisture in my eyes, and trying to keep my breath steady.

“Where is Dad?” I asked.

“He’s inside, they are already planning an attack. He’s reached out to the lycan king, but…”

“But what?” I demanded.

“He’s not cooperating, Daxton. One of the lycans noticed she’s one of them when she was trying to shift.”

I wrenched myself from Braxton’s grasp, storming up the stairs and into the pack house. Wolves, beaten and some half-conscious, lay scattered around, but I didn’t stop. Despite feeling defeated, I wouldn’t stop until I found Savannah.

Dad stood behind his desk. The pack that hadn’t been torn to shreds stood in the library, awaiting his order. I noticed Amber stood in the far corner, her fingernail tucked into the corner of her mouth.

The hostility in my blood propelled me forward. I walked toward her, slammed my fist against the wall beside her head, and whispered, “You’re going to tell me what you know about her family… now.”

She swallowed but didn’t look away from me. “I’ve told you everything…”

“Bullshit!” I shouted. “Who is her father?”

Amber sighed, rubbing her temples slowly. “He went rogue a long time ago. His name was Liam, and he was part of the Lycan Kingdom just south of here.

But, you have to understand, he went rogue and he isn’t part of that pack anymore. I don’t know where to find him.”

Mom placed her palm on my shoulder, drawing my attention to her black eye and the bruises along her neck.

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I went to get Grandma, and when I got back they were already in the library, opening the bookcase… They could smell her.”

I pulled my mother into a hug and shook my head. “This is not your fault. Where is Grandma?” I asked. “Did you get to her?”

She nodded into my chest. “She had barricaded herself into her room. She’s fine, downstairs with some of the shewolves now.”

I kissed the top of her head and then paused, realizing something. Dad looked over at me from his desk, heavy brows furrowed over his helpless eyes.

“I know who can find her father,” I said. “We need to leave now. It’s a two-hour drive.”

***

When we pulled up in front of Savannah’s Grammy’s house, the sun was just rising above the trees in the distance.

We’d made it quicker than I originally planned because I couldn’t get there fast enough. Braxton and my dad both rode with me, not trusting my wolf at the moment.

Which, I didn’t either. He’d been pacing for hours, howling in sadness, begging to be let out so he could trace the lycans. The truth was we could find the lycan’s pack, their kingdom, but we needed help to get inside.

We needed another lycan to help us get past the perimeter. They’d blindsided us on the night of Savannah’s coronation when we least expected it.

I hopped out of my Jeep, finding myself running toward the front door, slamming my fist heavily against the wood. “Open up,” I said.

Braxton sighed behind me. “Calm down, Dax. I know you’re hurting, but scaring this old lady isn’t going to help us.”

I knew he was right, but I didn’t feel like calming down. The door opened a few moments later, and Grammy peeked her head around the door, looking at me with cautious eyes.

“What brings you here?” she inquired, her gaze drifting to Braxton and my father standing behind him. “Why are ~any of you~ here? I made it clear to Savannah that you shouldn’t…”

“Lycans have taken Savannah,” I blurted out, unable to contain my urgency.

She straightened her posture, her door swinging open wider, her eyes—wise and alert beneath her snowy hair—taking in the news. Leaving the door ajar, she retreated into the house, and I trailed behind her.

She settled into a rocking chair nestled in the corner of her living room, while I remained standing, too restless to sit. “I need to know where her father is,” I demanded.

She continued to rock, her gaze never leaving mine. When she didn’t respond, I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, and anger began to simmer within me.

My father placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I’m Daxton’s father. I’m the alpha of the Legion Pack, about two hours from here. We were attacked by lycans today, and your granddaughter was taken.

A friend of her mother’s, Amber, mentioned that her father was a lycan and that he was your son. Do you know where he might be?”

She glanced out the window, her hands resting flat against her stomach. “I haven’t spoken to him since Savannah was left here when she was just three years old.

Her mother mated with him, but they couldn’t mark one another. I warned him that being with the wolf was a mistake, but he was in love with her.”

Her gaze returned to me, her eyes blazing. “And now look at Savannah. In the same predicament.”

I scoffed. “Savannah isn’t in the same predicament. We’re fated to be together. She’s my mate. My other half. Now some vile lycan has her, and I’m going to find her. Tell me where he is. I know you know where your son is.”

“The vile lycan?” she echoed, her tone mocking. “Your mate is half lycan. They can’t be too vile, can they?”

I ran my tongue over my teeth and closed my eyes tightly. I wanted to tear her house apart and force her to answer me. Braxton stepped forward and took a seat in a chair opposite her.

“Listen, I understand you were thrust into this. You weren’t a lycan, and neither was your husband. I know it’s caused you immense pain, but it’s going to be worse if we don’t save Savannah. I know you love her.”

She nodded, her trembling lower lip betraying her attempt to remain composed.

“Then tell us where we can find him. Did he tell you?”

She rose from her chair, leaning on it for support, and shuffled over to her kitchen. She rummaged through a container filled with letters.

Slowly, she emerged with a single sheet of paper. When she handed it to me, she held on. “If you love my granddaughter as much as you claim, you’ll save her. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“I would die for your granddaughter, ma’am.”

She released her grip and returned to her chair, her gaze drifting out the window. Braxton reached for the paper, scanning the address. He nodded. “This is only two towns over. We need to leave, ~now~.”

***

By midday, we found ourselves parked in front of a one-story house in the middle of nowhere. There hadn’t been a neighbor for miles. The forest surrounding the house would provide ample room for him to shift and roam at night.

The thought sent a chill down my spine. I’d never met a ~kind~ lycan, but they didn’t exactly say he was kind, did they? They said he loved Savannah’s mother.

We all exited the Jeep, approaching the front porch with caution. The house was simple, with a solitary rocking chair on the porch and no signs of life outside.

But as we neared the stairs, the front door swung open, and a man stepped out into the sunlight.

I recognized him instantly due to the uncanny resemblance. The jet-black hair and prominent cheekbones were a dead giveaway.

He appeared to be in his fifties, with wrinkles framing his dark eyes and a scruffy beard. His shoulders were broad, and his arms were as muscular as my own.

“You all have the wrong house,” he declared, his voice deep and gravelly. “No werewolves are welcome here.”

My father glanced at me, so I stepped forward, my palms raised in a gesture of peace. “I’m here because I’m mated to your daughter.”

He shifted his weight. “I don’t have a daughter. I told you,” he retorted, taking a step forward. “You have the wrong house.”

I swallowed hard. “Does your mother live at 118 Higdon Ferry Road? She gave us this address.

She has been raising your daughter, Savannah Harper, daughter of Melody Bryant and… you, for the past eighteen years, after you went rogue and slaughtered their pack.”

The man froze in his tracks, his eyes steady, but his chest heaving with the weight of the revelation. I could only imagine the internal battle raging within him.

“If you’re lying, I’ll rip your throat out,” he threatened, but Braxton stepped in front of me, blocking his path.

“He’s not lying. We’re here because your daughter was taken from her mate,”—Braxton gestured toward me—“last night at her coronation. The lycans took her, and we need help infiltrating their pack to save her.”

He scratched his beard and stared off into the distance. “She’s your mate?” he asked.

I nodded.

He descended the stairs slowly, his gaze never leaving Braxton and my father. When he stopped in front of me, his eyes fell on Savannah’s mark on my skin. “Has she shifted yet?” he asked.

“No, she hasn’t been able to.”

“We need to hurry,” he stated.

I swallowed again. “Why?”

“Because she can’t fully shift until she’s been marked by a lycan, and due to her status, the king will be the one to do it.”

My wolf howled within me at the thought of a lycan marking our mate. “She has another mate?” I asked, confusion knotting my stomach, the taste of bile rising in my throat.

“No,” he replied, pulling a pair of motorcycle gloves from his pocket and tugging them onto his hands. “She was given to you. It could have been a lycan or a werewolf, due to her bloodline, but it was you. However, that won’t stop the lycan king from marking her. Once he does, her lycan will emerge, and she’ll gain the ability to shift.”

He strode toward a motorcycle parked beneath a solitary tree in his yard. “Where are we going?” Braxton asked. “Shouldn’t we have a plan?”

Her father glanced back at us, swinging his leg over his bike. “Follow me. I am the plan.”

“Wait,” I interjected, rushing toward his bike. “Will she never be able to shift if a lycan doesn’t mark her?”

He ignored me, revving his engine, a clear signal for me to move or risk being run over.

“What will happen if she shifts?” my father asked. “Will she be a wolf or a lycan… or something else?”

“She’ll be a hybrid. And since she has no training in shifting or controlling herself, I fear for anyone around her, be they lycan or wolf. She won’t be able to restrain herself.”

“How do you know this will happen? I’ve never heard of a wolf-lycan hybrid,” I questioned.

He ran his tongue across his teeth and kicked his kickstand back. “Because my mother was one.”

“Grammy?” I asked, taken aback. “We were told she was human… I don’t understand.”

Liam leaned back on his seat. “My mother doesn’t remember anything because my father went through hell and back to have her wolf forcibly removed.”

Braxton muttered something under his breath.

I was stunned. I didn’t know that was possible, to have your wolf removed? What kind of alternate reality had I stepped into?

“So when her wolf was removed, it what, erased her memory?”

Liam gazed off into the distance. “Yes. It took all her wolf memories and replaced them with normal ones. It requires a highly skilled witch to do it, but she became unstable when Melody broke my heart. After she slaughtered the entire pack, we had to take action.”

“So you didn’t order your pack to kill them? It was Grammy all along?”

He revved his engine, and swung his bike around. “I suggest you follow if you want to save Savannah.” He sped down the road, leaving a cloud of dust from the gravel, and me standing there, my jaw practically on the ground.

~What in the hell is going on?~