Chapter 35

Blaine’s POV

When the bald headed, burly looking man opened the door and I got a look inside I instantly froze on the spot. The place was packed, filled with werewolves, witches and even humans. I don’t think I had ever seen so many people packed into one place before. Everyone was crammed into the space near the middle, surrounding a chain link cage, and yelling at the action that was going on inside. I couldn’t see what was happening but based on the noises, I could hazard a guess that it wasn’t anything good.

Xavier gripped my hand tightly and slowly lead me into the room, his eyes taking everything in as he surveyed the area around us. I was instantly glad that I had him by my side, there was no way that I could have done this without him.

“Do you sense them anywhere?” Xav whispered to me, close to my ear so that it could be heard over the roar of the crowd.

I stopped walking and breathed in my surroundings but frowned when I came up empty. “No, there’s way to many people in here for me to identify anyone” I sighed, disappointed that I’d come up empty.

“It’s alright we’ll find them, we just have to keep looking” he whispered in my ear before placing a small kiss just below my ear, helping to calm my nerves.

I just squeezed my hand that was wrapped in his before we both started heading off towards the bar. “Let’s go and check out the betting area, maybe they’ll have names up of who’s fighting who and when” Xavier said as he let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to his side, shielding me from the over enthusiastic crowd.

The place was packed with bodies, all jostling around as they tried to fight their way to the front, wanting to get a good view of the current fight that was taking place a short fifteen feet in front of us. I pulled my hood further over my head, hoping that it would shadow my face and cover my very distinctive looking hair. I loved my bright red, almost ginger mane, but right now I wished that it was a typical brown colour so that I could easily blend in with the surrounding people.

We eventually made it over to the betting area with only a small amount of beer being spilled on us from the excited onlookers, to engrossed in the fight to notice that their wild gestures were causing them to spill their drink that they had undoubtedly spent ages queueing for.

Before we could get close enough to see the blackboard explaining who was fighting next there was suddenly a massive uproar from the crowd, causing us to be pushed around. I tried to figure out what was going on but before I could I felt Xaviers hand slip from around my shoulder.

‘Xavier?!’ I screamed through the mate link, knowing that he wouldn’t have a hope of hearing me in this crowd.

‘Blaine where are you?’ he yelled back, his panic seeping into the back of my mind through the bond.

‘I-I don’t know’ I muttered as I looked around to try and take in my surroundings, hoping that I could find something that would tell me where I was in this sea of people. All I saw were bodies as they all pressed up against me and each other, pushing me this way and that until I felt dizzy. It was like that game we used to play as kids, you were blindfolded and spun around by someone and you had to try and find your way back to your group of friends. Except I wasn’t blindfolded and the consequence of not finding my friends were far greater than just losing the game or tripping up on something.

I suddenly found myself at the front of the crowd, being pushed against a metal pole as I looked up at the slightly raised cage. What I saw though made my blood run cold and a slight sheen of sweat to appear on my hairline.

It wasn’t the fact that I was looking on at two wolves, one with his jaw clamped around the others throat as he seemingly waited for the command to clamp down. It wasn’t the fact that I was on my own, away from Xavier, and surrounded by a bunch of hot headed rogues, all waiting for the final blow. It was the fact that the wolf who held his opponent in his mouth and waiting for the order, was my older brother.

I stared up at him as I looked him over. He had changed so much since I had last seen him all those years ago, gone was the caring older brother who had once taught me how to hunt and ride a bike. In his place was a menacing wolf who showed no remorse as he snapped his jaws closed around the losing wolfs neck.

The crowd cheered as they watched the life drain out of his eyes but all I could hear was a constant ringing as my eyes stayed fixed onto my brothers frame. What had they done to him?

I could feel Xavier poking at the mate link, trying to get ahold of me, but I blocked him out. I didn’t want him to see my brother like this, he was only just starting to accept the fact that all rogues weren’t evil, if he saw him like this I shudder to think about what he’d think him.

Without looking around or even looking down at the wolf he’d stolen his life from, Daniel stalked out of the ring, through a caged corridor that had opened up like when humans moved large animals around at the zoo. The trap door quickly snapped shut behind him, leaving the now dead and already forgotten about wolf lying lifeless on the blooded, concrete floor.

I quickly pushed my brain to clear of all sympathy I felt for the poor wolf as I turned around and fought my way through the crowd. I had a job to do and there was no way I could get it done if I was consumed with regret for another wolf.

‘Xavier, follow that wolf that’s going through the metal corridor, I’ll meet you there’.

‘Blaine be careful, we don’t know what these guys are capable of’ Xavier cautioned. ‘I’ve linked the rest of the pack waiting outside, they’re going to blend into the crown and wait for our signal. Once we find your family we’re out of here’.

I followed Daniel at a safe distance, making sure that I wasn’t drawing attention to myself, and waited by the wall where the corridor disappeared for Xavier to catch up. I was ninety percent sure that all of the wolves, my family included, were being held just beyond this stone wall.

Eventually Xavier made it to my side and instantly pulled me into an almost bone crushing hug. “Blaine are you alright? Are you hurt? Don’t disappear and cut me off like that, I almost had a heart attack when I couldn’t get ahold of you through the link”.

I smiled at his worried tone of voice as I buried my head into his neck. “I’m fine Xav, but I think I found where my family are being held” I explained as I gestured to the now closed trap door leading outside the room.

“Nice work” he smiled as he looked over the wall, trying to find a door that we can get to. “I’ll link the guys and let them know, maybe there’s a way to access it from the outside or something. That way we can just slip in and out without having to go through the crowd”.

I nodded as I followed suit and scanned the surrounding walls, desperate to get through to the other side. I hadn’t seen them in over two years and to know that they are right behind this wall, right on the other side of a bit of stone, was killing me.

“Anything?” I asked, hoping that he had seen something that I hadn’t.

“No” Xavier sighed as he ran his hand over the back of his neck, “the pack haven’t found anything either”.

I could feel my heart cracking at the possibility of not being able to get to my family. The expression ‘so close and yet so far’ has never made more sense to me than right now. “Xav” I whispered as I looked down at my dirt covered boots, “What if we can’t get to them?” I mumbled, hesitant to ask for what he might reply with.

Xavier gripped my shoulders tightly, making me look up at him. I saw love and determination bubble away in his eyes, I could tell in that moment that he was never going to give up on finding them. This meant just as much to him as it did to me. “We will get them back Blaine” he told me, “I promise you I will do whatever it takes to get your family home to you”.

I smiled up at him with what I hoped was love and gratitude, this man was giving me so much more than I could ever think possible. Before I met him I was a lone rogue, believing I was destined to be alone and fend for myself for the rest of my life. I now not only was getting my family back but I had the most amazing mate I could ever wish for, a mate who loved me unconditionally.

I pulled him in for a kiss, keeping it short so that we wouldn’t draw too much attention to ourselves. A fight wasn’t currently on meaning that the audience’s attention wasn’t distracted by anything.

“Guys keep it in your pants will you” I suddenly heard Anna laugh from beside me making me quickly pull away from Xavier.

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you were supposed to be blending in with the crowd and keeping a low profile?” I asked as I battled with the slight blush that was forming on my cheeks at being caught.

“We were but then I had a feeling that you needed our help, well my help but Jax tagged along” Anna smiled up at Jax before looking back at us with her hands on her hips, “so what’s up?”

“We think Blaine’s family are on the other side of this wall but we can’t find a way in” Xavier explained as he gestured to the wall we were leaning up against with his thumb.

“Alright, well why don’t you boys go and search the wall on this side of this...long metal cage thing... and me and Blaine will search the otherside, that way we’ll get it done twice as fast and meet in the middle”.

“I don’t know...” Xavier mumbled as he reached out and took my hand in his, “Blaine isn’t linked to the pack yet, what happens if she needs me for something?”

“That’s what I’m there for” Anna responded in a duh tone. If I was being honest I kind of sided with Xavier, but I wasn’t going to go against Anna’s wishes, she was my Luna and if I was being completely honest, she kind of scared me a little bit.

“I don’t know Anna...” Xavier continued to question.

“The girl’s will be fine” Jax piped up as he slapped his hand on Xaviers shoulder, “besides we’ll blend in more if we split up, just looking around now I can tell this isn’t really a place where you meet up with your friends for a catch up. If we stick together we could look more suspicious.”

It took a tiny bit more convincing but finally Xavier agreed with splitting up. With a quick kiss goodbye and a promise that I will stay in constant contact with him the boys were off and we were going our separate ways.

“So I have to be completely honest” Anna spoke up as soon as the boys were out of ear shot. “I made sure Jax was on board with the whole splitting up plan before I brought it up, I wanted to check in on you quick without Xavier around, just to make sure that you are doing okay. Reuniting with your family after being apart for so long if difficult enough, let alone when they’ve been through something as traumatic as this.”

I smiled over at her as I squeezed her hand slightly in mine, thankful that I had an amazing friend like Anna in my life. “I’m doing okay” I replied as I sidestepped a mans arm as it swung out and nearly accidently hit me in the face, these people were starting to get rowdy now that there wasn’t a fight on to draw their attention.

My stomach flipped slightly at the mere thought of my brother in that fight earlier but I pushed the mental image down, I couldn’t let myself get distracted, especially in a place like this.

“Good, oh and I know how to get into the other room with your family” she smiled over at me as we suddenly stopped.

I froze in front of her with a slightly shocked expression, how the hell could she know that?

“The Goddess showed me the way to the hidden doorway” she whispered as she gestured to a dark dip on the caves wall behind my left shoulder. If I hadn’t known something was there it would have blended right in, but now Anna had pointed it out to me it was as clear as anything, a small fake door posing against the stone surface of the wall.

Gotcha.