Chapter 16

Warning: Torture & Miscarriage

Axel

"SPENCER!" I screamed as two sets of arms pulled her through the blasted-out window. Idris and I charged forward after her, but someone threw in a thin can and smoke engulfed the room. I couldn't see anything. I was coughing hard. Idris was coughing too somewhere near me. I tried to make it to the window, but my knees buckled. I tried and failed again. By the time the smoke cleared, I knew she was long gone. But Idris and I searched the woods for hours, we searched and searched until the van arrived.

I ordered Miles to get Steven locked up and send over reinforcements to the cabin to search for Spencer. I forcefully pushed the poison-man in the back of the van. He smirked at me, even though he still had the dirty cloth in his mouth. Rage surged in me.

I jumped on him and grabbed his throat, my nails grew longer and dug into his skin. "What do you know?" I snarled.

I took the cloth out of his mouth when he tried to speak. He smirked again after licking his lips. "Did you really think that Eveline and Marianne would just give up?" He laughed.

I punched him hard, and blood trickled down his brow. "Where are they!?" I growled, my claws digging further into his neck, blood trailed down my hands. He laughed. "Why would they take her? They will never be allowed in the pack again. The moment I lay my eyes on them, they're death." I said and I meant it. They wouldn't come out of this alive.

"This isn't about coming back to your pathetic pack. They want revenge. They want to make you and her pay for ruining their plan, from becoming the Alphas they deserve to be."

I barked out a dry and humourless laugh. "If anyone thinks they are the right person to be an Alpha they aren't in their right mind. Much like you I assume." His blood continued to trickle down my claws, to down my hand.

"You will never see her again."

My fist flew back before it slammed down on his face. Again, and again and again. His was a bloody mess when a hand grabbed my wrist when I went to slam my fist in his face again.

"We need him alive."

It was Idris, my Beta, who had stopped me. I looked down at Steven, at my hands, my clothes. His face was bloody and already bruised, his eyes swollen like his lip. My hand was cracked open, but I didn't feel a thing. My claws were still digging in his throat. Blood splatters covered my hands, shirt and face. I slumped and I let Idris pull me out of the van. Nobody said anything as they saw me.

Miles grabbed my shoulder. "I'll keep him locked up, Alpha. I will make sure he's just alive. Alive enough for you to do what you need to."

I leaned my head against his. Trying to put my gratitude in the gesture, unable to speak the words. He squeezed my shoulder in understanding. "Bring our girl home."

I nodded. Another second before he pulled back stepped into the van and rode off. I don't know how I did it. I don't know how I ordered everyone around, but I did. When I looked back, the only thing I could remember was Spencer's frightened face when she was dragged out that window, her hand stretched out towards me. Miles and Deacon had brought some of Spencer's worn clothes. We all took a piece of her clothing and changed into our wolf forms.

"Find our girl, find our Luna." I said.

"Our Luna." They chorused before they howled a warning to those who took her into the night.

And the four of us split in two different directions. Soon, other wolves of our pack will join us in our hunt. But I prayed we found her before then, because it may be too late by then. We figured they were still in the woods because we didn't hear a car after they took her. So, they probably took her into a hiding place, somewhere not too far.

We were three hours in, and I hadn't found one trace of her. The other wolfs should arrive within the hour. I was going North when a howl reached my ears. Astrix perked up and looked the way that sound came from. Malakai. I howled back, followed by two more howls and ran towards him. In those three hours, I tried to make contact with Spencer through the mind link, but I got nothing. It was like a void on the other side. I thought I was running fast when we tried to get to Spencer before she reached Steven, but now when I raced to Idris. Because that howl, that howl sounded like he found something. The only way I was still breathing and not crumbling to the ground was because the howl didn't sound like sorrow or pain. But it sounded like hope. And I clung to that. Hope.

Spencer

I remember being pulled out the window. I remember the faces of Axel and Idris, the utter fear in them. Then the dark of the night, the press of hands on my arms. I felt a needle pierce my skin and I succumbed to utter darkness.

I woke up nauseous and with a pounding headache. I lifted my head or tried to, it felt like it weighed a ton. My arms were stretched out above me. I moved my hands. I was chained, my wrists were chained up against the ceiling. I moved my feet, but they were chained too.

Kai? It remained silent. Kai. I tried again, but the voice in my head broke. I focussed on Kai, I focussed on my wolf, but I couldn't shift. I couldn't even get my claws out. It was like I wasn't even a wolf anymore.

Axel? Ax, love. Please, be there. Again, nothing but if my wolf was gone due to whatever reason or to whatever these people had done to me, I wouldn't be able to connect with any of my pack.

It took a lot of effort, but I was able to lift my head. The room I was in was dark. A small lit candle was the only light in the room. I glanced around, trying to ignore the pounding in my head. It – it looked like I was in a crypt. I was underground for sure. The ceiling had mold spots and tree roots penetrated the stones. Was I still in the forest? Did they even have any crypts in here? I didn't know these woods, I didn't know what resided in these woods. I wondered who took me and why. One of the rival packs because I was the Luna? But no, that wasn't it. Ice filled my veins when I heard her voice.

"I can't believe you are the Luna. You are weak." Marianne smirked. "Weak and pathetic. And you were so desperate for love, that you latched onto the most powerful man in your pack."

I spat at her. "I love him for who he is. I am not you. I am not power hungry." She snorted, not believing me. "If he wanted to leave the pack and live a human life, if he wanted to let his responsibilities behind him, I would follow him. I would follow him to the end of the world."

"Like I said, pathetic." Eveline came behind her niece.

"It's obvious you two have never been in love. But maybe that's for the best, I pity the man or woman that would be stuck with you pieces of filth."

I wasn't ready for it, but Marianne charged forward and punched me. Punched me right in the stomach. Tears clouded my sight, not because of the pain but the fear of losing my precious baby.

"Don't pretend you love him. You were ready to leave him because he doesn't want to have a child with you." My eyes widened. "Yes, we heard your conversation." She punched my stomach, knowing I was with child. Raged filled me, but I couldn't do anything as she punched me again. "Did you know he talked about having a family with me?"

"You're lying."

Marianne looked at her aunt. "Am I lying, Aunt Eve?"

Eveline looked at me, her eyes blazed with anger. "She's not. They both started taking fertility potions a few weeks before you came back and ruined everything."

"He is my Mate. My husband. And he will come for me and kill you all."

They laughed dryly. "They won't find you, dear. Not until it's too late."

"If you want to kill me, do it already." I snapped.

"No, not just yet. We want you to suffer first before we throw your body out for your Alpha to find."

By the moon, they were crazy. I thought they were just power-hungry, but this... this was something else. They both looked like they lost it completely. Fear filled my senses because seeing their eyes, the emptiness, the anger, they would keep their word. Marianne stepped in front of me, grabbing my face in her hand, a cruel smile spread over her face before she kicked me on my stomach. She kicked me so hard, that the chains rattled from the impact, my body jerking as far as it could.

Marianne stepped back and Eveline took her place.

"What did you do to me?"

"We injected you with a special poison our friend made, to keep your wolf hidden deep inside. She won't come out any time soon. You won't see her again before your untimely death."

I spat in her face. "You bitch! Taking a wolf away, that's -"

"Yeah, yeah, an act of treason. I think we're past that." Wiping the spit from her cheek. "After we throw your bloodied body in front of the wolves, literally. We're leaving. We have everything set in place."

"What about Steven? You would just leave him?"

"He was a puppet. We played with him, used him and then we threw the puppet away when we didn't have use for it anymore."

"Fuck, you're sick.

Her lips curled up into an evil smirk. She pulled on the chains above my head, and I fell to the floor with a hard and painful crash. They stood around me before turning into their wolf forms. I wish I could say they were ugly, disgusting wolves, but they were magnificent, and beautiful. And I wanted to skin them both alive. They prowled around me in slow, calculated circles.

Eveline struck first, her claws digging into my shoulder ripping it open. I screamed, screamed like I never screamed before. A second later, Marianne kicked her back paws against my stomach. It was obvious that the baby was the only thing on her mind. She wanted me to lose the baby, for me to break before they ended my life and break Axel. I wasn't sure Axel would survive that.

They went on and on until I lay bleeding out on the cold stone floor. I was going in and out of consciousness. But I knew the moment I lost my baby. When I lost my baby boy. It felt like a bond in me broke, like a life had died inside of me. Like a piece of me died with it. I felt when the blood trickled between my legs. And I knew it was from the miscarriage and not from the other wounds across my body because somehow it felt different, somehow, I knew. And if by some miracle I would survive, that moment would be branded in my memory.

Spencer. I heard Kai's voice. I was dreaming or more likely dying. Spencer don't give up. I'm here.

I'm tired. I just want to sleep and be with my baby boy.

Don't go to sleep, stay with me. Axel needs you.

Axel. I sighed, smiling faintly. My handsome, so out of my league, husband. I will see him again, one day. My love.

NO! Kai screamed. Stay with me. I'm healing you right now. Don't give up.

That was the last thing I heard. My mind drifted in and out, I didn't know if I was alive or dead. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't feel anything. It was like I was nothing.