Chapter Nineteen -Â Beaten
Milo's P.O.V -
I had sharp pains going through my head, for a moment I thought my hangover came back. I went to reach up to my head to rub it soothingly but I couldn't. My hands were trapped.
I pulled at my arms frantically only to gain a burning sensation on my skin. I truly started to panic when I couldn't move my legs either. My breathing sped up and my heart thumped against my ribs. I tried to shout and scream for help but it came out muffled it was then that I realized there was a material tightly wrapped around my mouth making my jaw ache.
I heard another muffled voice nearby. I snapped my head in the direction of the noise, my eyes widening at what I saw. Lincoln's mum was tied up the same way I was on the far side of the room. Above her was a single light bulb hanging on a wire it acted as the only source of lighting. I wasn't sure if she could see me as I was in the darkest part of the room.
She looked over at me with soft sympathetic eyes, her expression was telling me that it would all be okay. I was thankful she was here, that I wasn't alone. She stayed silently staring at me for what felt like hours, it seemed she was happy that there was someone else here too.
When the sound of scraping metal filled the room her eyes widened and snapped towards the wall to my left. Light flooded the room for a few seconds as a man walked in before it closed again.
"Look who's awake." I wasn't sure who this man was, I had been expecting to see Oliver's dad.
I stared straight ahead not knowing where he was in the dark room. The back of my chair was grabbed and I was dragged over to where Lincoln's mum was.
Once I came into view her eyes widened as she saw me. The man who was stood in front of us was tall and lean with dark hair and onyx eyes.
"I'll be back soon, in the meantime why don't you have a little catch up." He smirked. He stalked behind us untying the clothes around our mouths. Neither of us said a word until he walked out of the room.
"Milo." She looked at me sadly. "I can't believe you're here."
"We've all been looking for you." I mumbled not sure what else to say.
"How is everyone?" She asked.
"Lincoln's dad, uh Andrew right?" I tried to remember his name.
She nodded a smile forming on her face at the thought of her mate.
"He's been struggling, Lincoln said he can feel your pain and..." I trailed of as I tried to pick the rights words. "And everything else they've been doing."
Her face dropped whether because this was because her mate wasn't doing well or because of the reminder about what the hunters have been doing I wasn't sure.
"What about Victoria?" She looked at me worried.
"I haven't really spoken to her but whenever I've seen her around the house I've noticed she doesn't care about what she looks like." I told her.
"So she's doing awful then." She frowned. "Victoria is going through a very narcissistic phase."
"I've noticed." I nodded with a small smile. Lincoln's mum was almost making me forget where I was.
"And Lincoln?" She looked at me cautiously as if I would become upset if she mentioned him.
"Uh he seems fine when I'm with him but he get's upset when I'm not there to console him. He was crying for the first day you were gone." I explained.
She nodded. "That sounds like him."
Seeing her think about her son fondly made me think of my own mum and worry filled me. My mum could not handle me going missing, she definitely couldn't me handle me dying. She couldn't lose a child. Not again.
The door screeched open as the man came in again. "I think it's time for us to become well acquainted." He looked down at me with a sinister smile.
***
I was tossed back into the room with Lincoln's mum. I gasped as the air was knocked out of me again as I landed on my back. I coughed some blood into my hand struggling to sit up. I've been beaten up a lot of times but this was bad.
"Milo." I heard a concerned whisper once the man had left.
I put all my effort into looking at her to find her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm okay." I spoke breathlessly. "Just tired out."
My attempt at reassuring her didn't work, I noticed her pulling against the rope binding her hands in an attempt to reach out to me.
Instead she began to tell me soothing words of reassurance before singing a soft lullaby as I drifted to sleep.
***
Lincoln's P.O.V -
We found nothing of use at Oliver's house, although suspiciously one room beside the bathroom had been completely cleared out. It was even locked when we first arrived.
Lucy, Wyatt and I were now stood outside Milo's house. We had to tell his mum what happened before she went to the police.
"Should I be here?" Wyatt asked. "I've never met her."
"I need the support." Lucy mumbled staring at the door.
Wyatt sighed and nodded wrapping an arm around Lucy's waist. I stepped forward knocking on the door. It opened instantly as Gianna greeted us with a smile.
"About time you lot knocked, I've been watching you all stand there for the past five minutes." She chuckled opening the door wider and letting us walk in. "Milo's not here if you're looking for him, I think he's still with Oliver."
I swallowed as I glanced at Lucy nervously, she returned the look. Gianna seemed to have noticed and raised a brow.
"What's wrong?" Her voice was laced in concern.
My breath became shallower, why was I so scared. We had rehearsed what we were going to say, explain werewolves, the hunters, my mum and then Milo.
"Lucy? Lincoln?" She narrowed her eyes at us.
"I-i'm a werewolf." I blurted out.
I noticed the deadpanned look I received from Wyatt as Lucy shook her head in disapproval. Gianna looked at me completely unimpressed.
"Seriously?" She spoke with a blank face.
I nodded. "Wyatt will show you."
She looked at him expectantly while he grumbled and made his way to an open space in the room before tugging off his shoes and shirt. I watched as he shifted into his dark brown wolf before lying down on his white stomach.
"In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." Gianna began to mumble clutching the cross pendant on her necklace.
We watched her for a few minutes in complete silence until she took a deep breath making eye contact with me.
"So you're the same as him?" She asked to which I nodded.
We spent the next twenty minutes explaining the basics of werewolves while answering all her questions. She was surprised to find out about mates before claiming it was cute that we instantly knew our soulmate upon sight. Lucy spoke to her for a few minutes about how she was Wyatt's mate, explaining that this was why she broke up with Oliver.
"So we came here to tell you this because our pack has been under threat recently." I told her. "There are groups of humans hunting us down and killing us just because they dislike our kind."
"That's awful." She gasped.
"Well about five months ago they took my mum." I started. "They held her captive in order to lure us to them. We managed to get her back after a week but last Saturday they took her again."
"Lincoln I'm so sorry." She reached out to touch my arm but I stepped back.
"No I'm sorry." I couldn't manage to make eye contact with her.
"What for?" Her voice became worried again.
"Last night they took Milo." I finally managed to look up at her.
She shook her head in disbelief and tears rolled down her face. Her eyes soon changed from sadness to rage.
"This is your fault!" She burst out. "If it wasn't for you he wouldn't be involved whatsoever, they wouldn't even know he was."
I couldn't argue with that, I knew what she was saying was true.
"It was Oliver's dad, he took Milo." Lucy added. Wyatt nodded, he had sifted back a while ago and was now dressed in Milo's clothes. He smelt like Milo, this whole place did.
"Get out!" She shouted. "All of you!"
"We need to make sure you don't go to the police." I told her.
"Get out!" She screamed.
We all did as she said leaving the house.
"Wyatt I want you to get four pack warriors to watch the house and make sure she doesn't tell the police." I ordered.
He nodded as his eyes clouded indicating he was mindlinking someone.
I didn't mind that she kicked us out, we had to get back to finding them anyway.
***
"So far we've followed the CCTV to about an hour away but they go through a country road and we lose the van." Our head tracker, Peter, explained.
"Have you checked the area to see if they are there?" I asked staring down at the map he has marked off.
"We deployed a group about half an hour ago." Peter informed.
I nodded not taking my eyes off the map. "Good work."
He took this as his cue to leave, he thanked me before walking away.
I growled lowly to myself as I glanced at the clock, Milo's been missing for an entire day now but it feels like much longer. I pulled out my phone going into my photos but put it away when I realized I didn't have any of him. Well I had one but it was the one the hunters had sent me.
I stood up from my desk making my way out of the room and to Wyatt's bedroom. I wordlessly walked in and grabbed Lucy's phone from beside her looking at the home screen. It was a photo of Milo and Lucy at the beach.
I smiled at the phone focusing on Milo's large grin, his hair was wet presumably from swimming and had flopped over his eyes so I couldn't see them. He was dressed only in a pair of swim shorts and I couldn't help but scan over his body quickly.
"What are you doing?" Lucy sniffled.
I glanced up at her quickly noticing she was crying before turning back to the phone without saying a word.
I hadn't really thought about the effect everything has on Lucy, she has only just found out about us and now her best friend of over a decade has been taken. I wouldn't be surprised if she was blaming us for this, but she's to nice to say anything out loud.
I passed the phone back to her with a small sigh. "I don't have any pictures of Milo."
"I'll send you some." She told me forcing a smile as she started to look through her phone.
My phone buzzed and I opened the message assuming it was the pictures from Lucy. I wasn't entirely wrong as it was a picture of Milo.
He was in the same room as before but this time he was collapsed on the floor with his entire torso covered in shades of purple. His face was swollen and I wondered if he was asleep or if his eyes just couldn't open due to his black eyes.
"Okay, I sent them." She told me as another message came through.
I continued to stare at the picture unable to breath, my body let out a small sob before I dropped my phone.
"Lincoln?" Wyatt stood up from the bed taking a cautious step towards me.
I began to hyperventilate, I willed my legs to run out of the room so that they wouldn't see me break down but I couldn't move. I suddenly stumbled back my back slamming against the wall, I slid down it landing on the floor.
"Lincoln you're okay." Was Wyatt's lame attempt to calm me down. "It'll all be okay."
I shook my head more sobs escape me. "N-no."
I placed my head in my hands as I felt someone sit beside me.
"It won't be okay." Lucy spoke from next to me. "At first."
I lifted my head turning to her, she had tears falling down her face also.
"But we will all help each other and eventually we'll be back to normal, no matter how long it takes." She spoke softly.
My mum still hadn't been back to her usual self after the first time they took her but she had gotten better and happier, we would just have to be patient like we were last time. I was scared to find out how Milo would be changed by this, and I wasn't sure how much he would let me help him.
"Thanks Lucy." I told her.
Her phone began to ring and she answered it quickly. "Hello? Oh, hi Gianna." She gave me a pointed look.
"I know, it's awful." Lucy spoke to her.
I decided to listen knowing they were talking about Milo.
"How is he going to cope?" She sounded as if she was crying. "He hasn't even got his medication."
Lucy glanced at me as Gianna spoke. What medication was Milo on? Was he ill?
"Yeah." Lucy mumbled. "But we're trying to find him as fast as possible."
"I need him back, he's all I have." She cried.
"We're trying." Lucy replied.
The call ended abruptly, Lucy sighed putting her phone away.
"Medication?" I asked concerned.
Wyatt nodded making me look at him surprised.
"You know too?" I huffed.
Wyatt shrugged sitting back down on the bed.
"What are they for?" I questioned turning my attention to Lucy.
"Uh." She fidgeted. "You should ask Milo."
"Well he's not here is he?" I deadpanned.
"You'll just have to wait then." She said.
I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose. "Fine."
I guess I'll just have to ask when I find Milo.