Chapter 50

It was truly heartbreaking to see Neil and Scott so grief-stricken over having lost such a dear friend of theirs. Sophia had known Victoria for barely a day and she even felt shell-shocked when Scott had told them that she hadn’t made it.

Never before had she seen such deep sorrow like she did in Scott’s contorted face at that moment, his eyes filled with so much unmistakable anguish that it nearly killed her seeing him like that. There was no question about how much he had cared for her. Clearly a hell of a lot.

She had also been important to Connor, she saw as she shifted a bit in her seat to be able to see him in the rearview mirror as well. He was hurt and physically mangled with bruises and cuts everywhere, none that were still bleeding at least, but the pain he appeared to be in Sophia knew had more to do with what happened to Victoria than with him. It was like he could still see it happening in his mind.

Whatever had happened must have been genuinely horrible since neither one of them wanted to talk about it. Scott had said that he would tell them what had gone down only when they got back to the apartment. He must have wanted to use the time it would take them to drive home to gather himself, so Sophia drove slowly, sure to give him that small chance.

She was burning with questions though. What had happened last night that had made it turn out so horrible? They had so nearly not only lost Victoria, but Neil had been so close to death that he could have been gone today as well… It was a bloodcurdling realization, and one that she would have preferred to ignore.

Was Scott even aware of this?

As though he knew her thoughts, Neil gave her leg a light squeeze, and when she gave him a sideward glance, not wanting to take her eyes from the road for too long, she saw the dark look he gave her filled with so much meaning and sadness.

He was telling her that he didn’t want Scott to know how bad it had been for him last night. Sure he would know that Neil had gotten injured pretty badly, but it seemed he didn’t want his best friend to know how close he’d been to death last night, how truly awful and serious it had been. No, that seemed to be their burden to bear alone.

He was asking her to keep a secret, and though they’ve had their disagreements about keeping the truth from someone, even if the intention was to protect them, Sophia couldn’t disagree with his reasoning now.

There was no use in letting Scott feel even worse about the choice they made and what the consequences had been because of it. Neil was fine now and on the mend, and that was all that mattered.

Turning the Jeep slowly around the bend, she spotted the neon sign for the drugstore she had bought her makeover instruments and products just a few hours ago. Fuck, it felt like a lifetime ago now!

But it was as though a concern that had been scratching at the back of her mind the whole time had finally jumped to the forefront of her brain when she spotted the familiar store.

Pulling into the parking lot, stopping a bit to the back so that not too many passersby would spot the wounded males in the backseat. As she quickly put the car in park, and was about to jump out, she found Neil staring at her with the question in his eyes.

“I have to go grab some more medical supplies, and maybe some pain medication, since I didn’t even find as much as a headache pill anywhere in the apartment to give you this morning–” when she saw his eyes widen a little, reminding her to not say too much, she paused and ignored Scott’s quiet questioning stare as well. “That small kit you guys keep isn’t enough for everyone. I will be back in a flash. Stay here.”

At the last part, Neil had an almost imperceptible smile on his lips at the irony that she was the one that was going out this time, and they had to stay where they were and wait for her to return. It surely was ironic how things have turned around so quickly, but despite the dire circumstances that had brought it about, it made her feel … needed.

It was a surprisingly good feeling. Liberating even. As Sophia made her way through the parking lot, she realized that she was walking more upright, more confidently even, every stride she took was filled with purpose. Being depended on, believed in, and trusted it seemed could do that to a person.

Especially when it was two strong, capable shifter males like Neil and Scott that activated such a powerful motivation within her, it suddenly became an unstoppable force that drove her, and she knew she would do absolutely anything for them.

They relied on her now, and she wasn’t planning on failing them. Ever.

After grabbing a trolley, Sophia made quick work of grabbing a bunch of bandages, disinfectants, wound ointments, gauze, compressions, adhesive pad bandages, more stitching strings, you name it. Sophia knew she kind of went all out, especially when she threw like three different boxes of medication for pain and inflammation into the trolley as well, but she would rather want everything she needed to treat them properly than not have enough.

By the time she walked out of the shop again, she knew it all had taken her about five minutes. In and out in a flash. Dropping all the bags in the back of the Jeep, she was back in the driver’s seat and steering the car out of the parking lot in no time.

Even Sophia was so impressed with her own efficiency, that she ignored Neil’s gaze of quiet awe drilling into her periphery as she drove them all back to the apartment.

“Thank you,” Scott said after they got there and Sophia went to the back of the Jeep to get the bags, him taking a few bags in his hands to help her carry them in. “For what you must have done for Neil.”

As he said it, both of them looked around the car at the man in question, as he walked with Connor to the front door. She could see he was able to put a bit more weight on his injured leg now, and was limping a lot less than he should have. He was either able to heal quicker than most shifters, or he was putting up a very brave front for Scott, Sophia gathered.

As she looked at Scott, she saw that it was most likely the latter. “Thank you,” he repeated with more earnestness, and all she could make herself do was nod and give him a small smile.

“I’m sorry about Victoria,” Sophia said softly, but immediately wanted to slap herself as she didn’t know if she only made it worse for him by reminding him of his loss this way.

Did she say it too soon? Should she have even said it at all? She wasn’t sure. It made her feel horrible for saying it, but she knew she would have felt worse not expressing any form of regret or sympathy for his loss.

His eyes dipped down for a moment. “I appreciate that, Sophia, but we knew the risks, and she was willing to die for what she stood for, a cause greater than ourselves, and that knowledge will always be a consoling reminder.”

Wasn’t that how any of them could only have hoped to be remembered for one day?

“I like the new look by the way,” Scott said before they walked through the front door.

As they walked in and she saw Neil and Connor sitting at the dining table, and Connor already trying to shrug his shirt off, Sophia went into nurse-mode immediately. She put the bags on the counter and took from them what she needed, and went over to Connor immediately while ordering Scott that he should sit too and that she would be with him after taking care of their friend.

Neil and Scott exchanged looks, but she didn’t pay attention enough to see what their looks said. They were probably just as shocked as she was that she took charge in any way at all, much less to take on an intimidating task of treating Connor’s wounds. Neil’s had been worse last night, in the first place. Secondly, Connor wasn’t Neil. And thirdly, she wasn’t the same Sophia they had last seen the night before they left.

The wounds on his neck were gruesome, but nothing like the gashes on his back. It looked like a giant and sharp-as-hell set of claws tore through his flesh there. She set about disinfecting, cleaning, putting ointment on, and ended with covering his wounds with the larger adhesive bandages. His neck needed a few stitches though, and she went to work on them immediately.

Sophia realized that Neil and Scott were still silently staring at her. She’d forgotten about them for a moment as she helped Connor. She shifted uncomfortably under their scrutinizing gazes and shot them a quick glance, and it was as though that pulled them from their baffled reveries as Scott spoke up, still having to inform Neil about what had happened last night.

“Victoria–” he said, swallowing hard and wincing a little as he said her name. He took a deep calming breath, before he continued, “She sacrificed herself so we could escape…She was already losing too much blood and shredding from other soldiers. She was weakening, so she sacrificed herself...for us.”

“So like her,” Neil said with pride and sorrow in his eyes, mixing together, after a moment considering the news.

Sophia was just about done with Connor, and was soon to start working on Scott as she listened.

Scott smiled sadly. “After we got separated, I saw you taking on Cain, I wanted to make my way back to you, but there were just too many soldiers to fight.”

“Don’t worry about that, brother,” Neil assured him when Scott looked ashamed at what had happened then. “Got a few good hits on the crazy bastard myself.”

“I saw,” he smiled slightly. “He looked half-dead when he got to us,” and so did Neil, Sophia thought, “but not half-dead enough. We were all overrun by that point and out of bullets when Cain came for us. He shifted into probably the biggest, monstrous wolf I’ve even seen … Victoria must have seen that we were losing the fight against him–and she ran him off the cliff we were right next to… It was much too high. Neither one of them could have survived that fall…”

They fell into a contemplative silence for a while after that, other than Connor who’d been silent the whole time. Even as she’d put disinfectants on his wounds, he barely winced in pain. He just kept unblinkingly staring out of the window by the living room, but she knew his thoughts were still on the events of the night before still.

Sophia then set to work on Scott, helping him take his shirt off and inspecting what was required. He was also in need of cleaning and bandaging, but luckily no stitches.

For a moment, Sophia wondered who this Cain was. She’d heard them say that name before they’d left as well, and remembered how it sounded like he was some kind of General in her father’s military. He truly sounded horrific.

“That’s not all, Neil,” Scott said with his eyes stiff and looking like he’d just seen a ghost. “There were people kept in cages there… Probably five or six of them. I don’t know what for, but they looked starved and tortured… They were all dead… Most of them young girls…”

Sophia had felt her heart stop each time he’d said something impossibly more terrible than the last, and when she heard that not only were such atrocities being committed, but to girls?

“We don’t know why,” Connor answered all their unvoiced questions before they could even ask them. “But what we do know is that the pillaging, raping, and kidnappings that’s been running rampant within the outer cities in the Lucian territory, are not being addressed by the military at all. In fact, we have reason to believe that these things have been instigated and are still being encouraged by the military.”

Connor looked like he wanted to throw up the whole time as he practically accused the soldiers of being responsible for all the horrible things that sounded like had been going on. Sophia knew who was behind such orders to the military.

“Fuck,” Neil said, his bronzed eyes shining with pure ire and indignation. “What the hell is that fucking lunatic up to?”

The fucking lunatic, meaning her father, Thorin. The Lucian pack’s Alpha and supposed ‘protector’. He most certainly hadn’t been anything close to that in so long.

“We don’t know for sure, but we suspect that the chaos caused in the cities has only been a front, or something to take everyone’s attention off of what’s really been going on,” Connor informed them with a disgusted curl to his lips. “Thorin himself has been kidnapping young teenage girls.”

“What?!” both Sophia and Neil said together in equal outrage.

“We also don’t know the purpose of these kidnappings, or what he does to them–” he looked like he wanted to puke again just at the mere thought of the possibilities, and Sophia felt the bile burning and pushing from her stomach as well. “But they’ve mostly been beautiful and talented young girls who are above average intelligence.”

Neil and Scott both seemed to be struggling to digest what had just been revealed to them, and Sophia knew what they thought as well, that Thorin had completely lost it this time. He’s been completely reduced to plain and utter madness!

It was becoming more and more evident that she needed to get Leo away from their father before things got worse.

“So far all the kidnappings had been taking place in the outer cities, but the most recent one struck a lot closer to home,” Connor went on, and Sophia held her breath, as though she could feel a dreadful bomb was about to be dropped. “According to our intel, his latest victim was a young girl in Tibald. A girl his own son seemed to be friends with. Her name–”

“Bella,” Sophia interjected, and felt the terrible truth of it resounding to the depths of her gut. “Her name is Bella Rosset…”