Mates: Revenge

Chapter 11

~Daniel~

“Malachi?” I move towards the stairs as the feet start to descend.

“Where’s the other one?”

“Ssssshh…..ssshhheeeee……she had to go baaaa-ck to the coven to take care ooooooofffff a ffffffew things.” I sigh heavily. A stutterer, really? It will take forever just for her to get a sentence out at this rate. I don’t remember telling the old bat that she was free to leave. “IIIIIIIIIII hhhearrrrr herrrrr nnnnnn……nnnnoooooooo……..now.” I contain the growl I feel growing in my chest and go back up the stairs and the old hag comes down.

“What the hell CeCe?! The girl can barely talk.”

“Oh, Melvina? Don’t you worry about her. I can take care of her if needed.” CeCe comes all the way down the stairs. “Did you bring her?” CeCe attempts to look over my shoulder to see what’s behind me.

“I did, but how long will she be out with this wolfsbane?” CeCe cackles.

“It may not be long, but what doessssssss it matter? Her wolf issssssss almosssssst done forever.” I knew that would happen with this spell. CeCe warned me that in order to fake a mate bond, she would have to tap into Melanie’s inner self; the wolf. She tied the wolf down and drained it, essentially, in order to fabricate the bond itself. She used the essence of the wolf to recreate the scent as well as the physical signs of the bond. Since Melanie is a Gamma wolf, she used her strength to give me a makeover.

“How long until I look like myself again?” To be honest, I was tired of looking in the mirror and seeing ‘Daniel’ staring back at me. He is boring, to say the least, and I’m sick of looking at this scar. I can’t wait to have my face back.

“Probably by morning.” CeCe moves around me to get a closer look at Melanie. She notices Brooklyn curled up against the wall and perks up a bit. “Who is the little one you have here?”

“Her damn charge, Brooklyn,” I say with disgust. “I didn’ to plan on her being here and now I have to figure out what to do with her.” CeCe gets close to Brooklyn and looks at her closely. She picks up a few strands of her hair and rubs it through her fingers. Brooklyn tenses up, but doesn’t speak or move.

“I can take her off of your handssssssss. I can keep her around for a bit and drain her later. She is young and will ssssssssstrengthen me.” CeCe licks her lips at the thought and I can see Brooklyn blanch at her words. It truly doesn’t matter to me. I won’t have to deal with her anymore, so it’s fine. I only wanted Melanie anyway.

“You never said why you wanted to fake the mate bond in the firsssssssssst place.” CeCe looks at me with questioning eyes. I could strike her down right here and be satisfied. I have grown tired of dealing with her, but I know I need to keep her around just in case.

“It really doesn’t concern you, does it?” CeCe rolls her eyes at me and turns back towards the stairs. I look down at Melanie and grin. It won’t be long now and I can have my revenge. Melanie will pay for killing my child.

~Jayden~

Today has been torture. Kehlani made sure to stay as far away from me as she could get. If at any time we were around each other, she made sure to ignore me as if I were invisible. I hate her being mad at me and I hate being apart from her. Jace was pissed at me for causing this entire mess and, honestly, I can’t blame him at this point. I miss her like crazy and I don’t know how to fix what I broke.

I go to the dining room to see if Kehlani is eating dinner. I don’t see her, Brooklyn, or Melanie. I realize that Kehlani is still avoiding me, but it is weird not to see Brooklyn or Melanie in the dining hall. I head up stairs thinking Brooklyn may be on Melanie’s floor. When I get on the floor, I don’t go far because I can’t smell either of them. The floor smells like Melanie, but not strong enough to indicate that she was just there or had been there in the last few hours. I head up to our floor, but when I walk through the door, it is silent and dark. I flip on lights and see the emptiness in each room. I don’t smell Melanie or Brooklyn. I pull out my phone to check my messages, but I have none from Melanie. I head back downstairs and run into Jax. “Have you seen Brooklyn or Melanie?” Jax takes a minute and shakes his head.

“I haven’t seen short stack today. I saw Melanie earlier, but it has been a few hours.” I nod in response and continue downstairs. I head to the second floor and check my office. It is as empty as I left it about an hour ago. I don’t want to worry because Brooklyn is known to be all over the place, but I usually always know where she is.

I head back into the dining room and ask around to see if anyone has seen Brooklyn. For the most part, the last any kid saw her was at school. They did notice Melanie picking her up at the end of the day. Some of the warriors did see Brooklyn in the afternoon and many saw Melanie, but that was earlier today. I know that if Melanie were going to take Brooklyn somewhere, she usually lets us know. I leave the dining room and head back to the second floor. I knock on Kehlani’s door and wait for her to call me in.

The minute I get into her office, the air becomes thick with tension. Kehlani looks up and sighs. She leans back in her chair and places her hands on her desk. “I’m really not in the mood right now Jayden. I don’t want to fight and I’m still mad.” I shake my head and wave her off.

“I’m not here for all that. Did you see Brooklyn this afternoon?” Kehlani looks at me with concern.

“No, I saw her this morning before she left for school. She must be with Melanie though.” While that is usually the case, I’m starting to wonder if that is what is going on now.

“I haven’t seen Melanie either and I don’t have any messages from her. Maybe she messaged you instead?” Kehlani picks her phone up off of her desk and takes a look at it.

“I have no messages and I haven’t seen Melanie since earlier today.” Kehlani starts to look panicked and I can see her mindlinking. I wait patiently, not knowing who she is trying to contact. When Kehlani’s eyes clear, I tell her where I have looked and who I have spoken to. Just then, her door opens and two warriors walk through.

“Guys, Brooklyn hasn’t been seen since school and Melanie hasn’t been seen since earlier today. I need to know if anyone has seen them and if they left the territory.” The warriors nod at Kehlani and make their way out of the office. As they walk out, Neil walks in. He is our on-site IT guru. “Neil, I need you to check all of the cameras for Brooklyn and Melanie. No one has seen them in hours.” Neil nods and sits on the couch, pulling out his tablet. He carries the tablet with him wherever he goes so he can always stay on top of what’s going on around the pack. I start to pace back and forth while Kehlani sits rigidly at her desk. After what seems like an eternity, Neil clears his throat.

“Alphas, I see Melanie’s mate came for a visit. He arrived through the front door and was led to the back. Melanie met him there and they had a brief interaction with Brooklyn. Brooklyn headed into the packhouse and Melanie headed to the woods with her mate. Not long after, Brooklyn came out of the packhouse and headed in the same direction as Melanie and that is where we lost them. We don’t have cameras that go into the woods.” I stop pacing and am still as a statue. Kehlani looks panicked. I mindlink a few warriors to come into the office. We let them know what Neil found and Neil shows them where they went into the woods.

“I want the best tracker on this. I need to know where my daughter and Melanie are. I want answers as soon as possible.” Everyone nods in understanding and heads out to go search the area. I look at Kehlani and she is staring at me. Neither one of us speaks as we wait for any type of update on the whereabouts of Brooklyn and Kehlani.

After an hour of waiting, Jax comes running into Kehlani’s office and he looks heartbroken. “Trackers followed their scent to the border. We found no clothes, no blood, no evidence of anything. Their scents just disappear without a trace. Melanie’s scent disappears at the border and Brooklyn disappears sometime before that. We know she followed Melanie that far because we could make out her footprints in the dirt.”

“There are no signs of them?” Kehlani’s voice is barely above a whisper. Jax hangs his head in shame. I look at Kehlani and she looks at me, but neither of us speak. It is too much to think about; too much to come to terms with. Brooklyn and Melanie are…….gone.