Chapter 20: Chapter 20~ A traitor by default

Madden cleared his throat, he had a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead..definitely nervous. He said “I have already told you what I know. I’m not sure how I can help” Roman looked at him and said Sit Down! and he plopped in a chair so fast Althea giggled. Roman said “how do you know Sydney?” He said I don’t. Roman said “oh I think you do and I think you want to tell me about it” The dean looked up and said “Her mother is my mate’s cousin. They don’t get along and my mate has no contact with her family. But Sydney walked into a diner, over in Monroe with a couple other girls. My mate and I were headed south for a funeral of an old college colleague of mine and had stopped for a bite to eat. My mate recognized her because she looks exactly like her mother. She seemed pleasant enough..told us she was going to be Luna soon. Her brother is the gamma in our pack..normal conversation. I mean..she’s family and my mate doesn’t have much of that. We talked about my job…how I deal with the ‘problem children’ of the pack. Connie was happy to hear about her cousins. Everything seemed fine. Then, five men walked in. Rogues by the smell.. and walked right up to Sydney. One of the men spoke directly to her and from the gist of the conversation, it seemed sexual in nature. We said our goodbyes and paid our tab. As we walked out, four of the men followed us. One of them grabbed Connie and when I tried to get to her, they beat the hell out of me. I was laying in the parking lot and the first man walked out of the diner to me and kicked me in the face. He squatted down in front of me and said ‘Your mate is going to be a Guest at our facility for awhile. Our boss will contact you, should he feel you have information he needs. Cooperation is key. As long as you do what he wants, your mate remains alive’ and they threw her in the back of a black SUV and took off. Sydney walked over and said ‘just do what they want. They won’t hurt her’ “ he started to cry….He said “ that was almost two months ago. I haven’t heard from her since.. I don’t know where she is.. I don’t know how she is.. I don’t even know who has her…the only contact I have had with anyone was one phone call. One damned phone call. Around 7 in the morning day before yesterday, I answered my phone and a man’s voice said ‘Sydney escapes tonight. No interference’ and he hung up. There was nothing I could do. There is still nothing I can do. I have never felt so helpless in my life” and he broke down sobbing. They all just sat there a few minutes. Eventually, Roman spoke…”Well. That gives me more questions than answers. It all seems too coincidental. And I don’t believe in coincidences. I have a lot of brainstorming to do right now, with my circle. As of this moment, you are not under arrest..you are being detained. I don’t believe you are guilty of treason, but you are a traitor by default. And you are confined to your home, unless you are accompanied by a guard. You’re dismissed” Deidre spoke us and said “Alpha..if I have something that belongs to Connie, I could astral project to her location. I might be able to see something “ Althea said “No! It’s dangerous. You project and you get too caught up in that alternate reality! You lose track of time and last time it took me three days to bring you back! So No! Just NO!” Roman wrapped her in his arms and sat down with her in his lap…..whispering ‘shhhhh’ over and over. He said “Madden, send something over here of Connie’s. We are going to put a pin in this projection thing and only consider ot as a last resort. But, at least, we can be prepared” And the Dean said “yes, Alpha. And for what it’s worth, I am so ashamed and so very sorry” Roman just nodded. He leaned down to kiss Althea’s forehead and realized she was sleeping. Neil said “DeeDee..baby.. I’m not okay about this astral projection thing! If you get stuck, I could lose you..and I waited so long for you, I can’t live without you” She smiled and climbed into his lap and said “It is perfectly safe, as long as there is no other witch around. They can spot a projection. And that’s what happened when Munchkin had to save me. Luckily, she has the gift of dreamwalking or I could have been stuck for a long time. She was only nine, though. And I didn’t realize it scarred her so deeply. That hurts my heart. She’s been my only love for so long..that I sometimes forget she can be fragile too. She is fierce! And strong! Determined and adamant! But she’s soft…so very fragile about the people she loves! I will table this discussion for a later time..and we can revisit it, if our options are running out.” And they started watching the video feed again. They had run through a week or so…showed the day the dean first called about Sydney’s escape attempt. Showed her killing the therapist with a potted plant in her office..and Sydney shifting to her wolf and jumping through the window. Every so often, Althea whimpered. Dee said she’s dreaming..and if she’s whimpering..it’s not a good one. A little further in the video..they see a man dressed all in black and wearing a hoodie, sneak into the west wing…that’s the residential ward.. He crept down the hallway and knocked on Sydney’s door. He entered and was in there about two hours and snuck out again. They lost sight of him as he shifted and jumped the back fence. They looked at each other in awe. That fence is 8 feet tall! All of a sudden…bubbles. Floating bubbles..all around the room. Each bubble held a flame. Burning brightly. And every time a bubble popped the flame was extinguished and embers drifted to the floor. Dillon said “Well that’s different. Cool as fuck…but different” Dee said “She’s dreaming and she’s angry. Her subconscious is protecting everyone with the bubbles. It’s her way of not burning the world down” Suddenly, they saw lightening flash outside and rapid, loud thunder rolled through the air and the skies opened up to a torrential downpour. With lightning popping everywhere. Dee said “Correction. She is VERY angry” and they all laughed. Roman said..”Well.. we may as well keep watching video until she wakes up and can tell her what has her this upset” Caleb looks at him and says “You are never surprised when something odd as hell happens with her, are you?” He shrugs and says “We had two months. Two months of just kisses. We talked. We talked A Lot! And she showed me her gifts. It was….enlightening” and everyone laughed.