The Heart Of The Alpha

3 - She's terrified!

Drew

The gasps of shock from my warriors when they see me walking out of that building with Emery are deafening. Of course, they know her; she was part of their pack. Hell, she’s their Luna now, and they will respect her, or there will be hell to pay!

I send off a warning growl. No man will look upon my mate without having his head ripped off. I can’t deal with it right now. My mate is in the worst state I could have found her in, aside from dead. The blanket wrapped around her isn’t covering her face, which is a mess of cuts and bruises. Emery hasn’t been able to heal due to the trauma she’s been through. The Goddess only knows if her Wolf is still with her, but neither Roman nor I can get through to her.

Everyone bows their head in submission, yet I still snarl.

Bastards!

‘They’re just concerned, Drew.’ Jai tells me through the mind link. ‘You’re carrying their Luna, who everyone can see is battered beyond comprehension.’

‘They can shove their concern! I don’t have the mind space for it right now. Please don’t test me right now, Jai, because I’m barely containing my Wolf. He wants out, and no one will be safe if he breaks free.’

‘You got that right!’ Roman snaps with a growl. ‘Let’s get Tiny home. Maybe with some rest, Mai will speak to me.’

‘I hope so, Roman.’

Jai nods his head at what I requested before ordering everyone to get a move on. The place is clear; there are no more spies hanging around, and the women are secure, so it’s time to leave. I don’t give a fuc.k about anyone but Emery right now, though they are my pack, and I have to make sure they’re all safe. I am their Alpha, after all.

What kind of Alpha would I be if I didn’t ensure everyone was safe?

However, it’s not easy when all I want is to leave with my mate and forget everyone else exists. Emery has a long road to recovery ahead of her, and I will not leave her side.

Rico opens the van's side door, and I climb in with Emery still in my arms. I sit on the bench seat, Emery on my lap, and kiss her head.

‘Everything will be okay, baby. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you’re home now, and nothing will ever happen to you again. I promise.’

I don’t know how to process what I’m feeling. It hurts so much inside, and I want to cry for what my mate has suffered this past year and a half. From the evidence all over Emery’s body, the scent of another man, which is nauseating, I know it was nothing good.

How do I stop myself from breaking down?

I don’t care what people say about Alphas being strong and not showing emotion. I’m not that kind of Alpha. Emotions don’t make you weak; my mother taught me that. However, that doesn’t mean I’m the type of man who cries in front of anyone other than Jai.

But I would be a liar if I said I didn’t want to cry right now. I look at Emery’s face, her eyes closed, and I swallow the lump in my throat.

“You alright, Drew?” Damian asks from the seat opposite me while handing me another blanket. I wrap it around Emery’s waist to hide her battered legs. I then tuck the other blanket tighter around her upper half. My mate is only wearing a bra and panty set, but they’re filthy. Goddess knows how long she’s been wearing them. I could peal the dirt caked to Emery’s skin off with my fingertip; it’s that bad.

How long has Emery been in that cage?

When was the last time anyone checked on her?

Jai sits beside Damian while Frank is upfront with Chloe, clinging to him as Torn, a warrior, drives us back to Crimson Moon. Rico is behind us with the rescued girls. They’ll return to Crimson Moon with us. There, they will be given treatment for their wounds. I can also question them about what happened to them and my mate before the Lycan King turns up.

“No,” I admit with a chuckle. “I haven’t been okay for a year and a half, Damian. But I will be now that I’ve found Emery.”

I look at Emery’s face. She’s battered and bruised, and I know she’s pumped full of wolfsbane and possibly silver; that’s why she isn’t healing. It’s why none of the girls have healed from their wounds.

“I’m so sorry, Drew.”

“What are you sorry for?” I look at Damian. “You did nothing wrong.”

“I’m sorry that it took for Chloe to be taken to find Emery. I’m sorry that we didn’t find out about the trafficking sooner; maybe then we would have found Emery months ago. If we had, she wouldn’t look like this right now.”

“We don’t know that, Damian,” Jai twists in his seat. “Nothing can change what happened; all we can do now is help Emery to heal and make sure nothing ever happens to her again.”

“She’s so beautiful,” Chloe mumbles, albeit sluggishly. She’s still filled with wolfsbane, too, and it will take some time to cleanse these girls of that poison. “Alpha?” I look over at Chloe, twisted in her seat so she can look at me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t mind-link for help,”

“It’s not your fault, Chloe. You were going through something terrible. You weren’t to know Emery was there. With the wolfsbane in your system, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

Chloe looks at me, eyes glassy, and nods. She turns in her seat again and lays her head on Frank’s lap. My Gamma smiles and strokes her hair, closing his eyes for a moment. I sense Frank’s relief; it matches my own.

I look at Emery for a moment, and I curse the day I let her walk away from me. All these months spent suffering at the hands of madmen could have been prevented had I refused to let her leave.

I can tell Emery has been through some serious abuse in the time she’s been gone. I know she’s been raped; I can smell it on her. It won’t change the way I feel about my mate, and I will never reject her. But it breaks my heart to think those monsters forced themselves on my mate. There’s no way Emery would have lay there and taken it; she would have fought until she couldn’t fight anymore.

I hum, in a world of my own, while stroking Emery’s hair back from her face. She has so many bruises it’s hard to see her true beauty.

All the way home, all I can do is watch my mate sleep. I’m scared to look away in case she disappears.

It takes a couple of hours, but we finally reach home. Pulling up outside the packhouse, I see dozens of people waiting for us. My people are anxious and nervously waiting to see who leaves the vans. Rico must have called ahead to let the pack know we’d found Chloe and Emery.

“I altered the pack doctor and made sure she’d be waiting.”

I nod without looking at Jai. My focus is on Emery and the fact she hasn’t woken once all the way home. Jai knew I wouldn’t want a male doctor touching my mate; it would send me murderous. Besides, I asked my brother to ensure only female medical staff would be on hand. The victims are not going to want a man touching them after everything they’ve been through.

I can’t take my eyes off Emery. Her eyeballs move under her lids in fast succession. She’s feeling the pain even though she’s passed out. I can’t bear to see her in pain, not when I have the power to take it all away. I stroke my thumb across Emery’s chapped lips before bringing my wrist to my mouth.

“Drew, what are you doing?”

I don’t answer Damian; I pry Emery’s mouth open with my free hand, bite into my wrist, and hold it against her mouth. Blood drips down her throat, but I make sure not to allow her to ingest too much. I’m not trying to turn her into a Vampire here. Perhaps one day Emery will become a hybrid like me, the way we discussed many moons ago, but today is not that day. Not when she doesn’t have a choice. My mate has been given no choice in anything happening to her these past eighteen months, and I will not be like those men!

Emery’s cuts and bruises, not to mention broken bones, all heal in front of my eyes. Her left leg shoots out, letting me know that her broken knee is mended. I can finally see her face, her beautiful face that I have missed so much.

“Did you just turn her?!”

I roll my eyes at Damian. “Of course, I didn’t, you idio.t! I healed her, nothing more.”

As Damian nods his head, Emery’s eyes shoot wide open. I open my mouth to speak, but she begins to scream while scrambling off my lap and into the corner of the van.

“Shi.t! Get Kelly,”

Damian nods and jumps out of the van to fetch Emery’s sister. I don’t know anyone else to whom Emery might respond right now.

Jai looks at me, but I shake my head. He nods and climbs out of the van. Emery is terrified, and I don’t want anyone near her right now. I crouch down in front of my mate, but she wraps her arms around her knees to protect herself from me.

“Emery?” She doesn’t answer or even acknowledge she can hear me. ‘Emery?’ I try again through our mate-link.

Emery says nothing; she just rocks back and forth, trying to get away from me. It’s as if she doesn’t know who I am right now. I don’t understand. After giving her my blood, she should be free from the wolfsbane and silver; she should know who I am!

The back doors of the van open wide, and Emery’s eyes widen to see so many people looking in. She’s fuckin.g terrified and starts screaming her head off.

“Get back, all of you!” I yell because I understand that the men surrounding the van are what’s scaring my mate.

Everyone moves out of Emery’s line of vision. But she’s screaming so much that I don’t know what the fuc.k to do. I’ve never seen anyone so scared in all my life!

“Emery?” Kelly slowly crawls towards my mate. “Emery, can you hear me?”

“I don’t think she has her hearing aid. I can’t see it, plus, she hasn’t reacted to anything I’ve said.”

“I think she's in shock, Alpha.”

I’d roll my eyes at Kelly for pointing out the obvious, but I won’t be that much of a dic.k right now.

Kelly reaches out and grabs Emery’s hand. But Emery screams even louder, trying to pull away from Kelly.

What the hell did those bastards do to my mate?

I can’t bear this any longer, so I do the only thing I can. “Minatornica.” Emery instantly falls asleep, falling into Kelly’s arms.

“What the heck?”

This time, I do roll my eyes. “Part Vampire, Kelly.” I huff.

“Oh. Alpha, can I take Emery to her room?”

“She should be in the infirmary, but I have healed her. So, take Emery to her room, I’ll check on her later. Whatever happens, do not leave her alone, Kelly. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my Alpha.”

I tip my head and walk away. I need some fuckin.g air before I deal with the shi.t show about to smack me in the face. There’s so much I need to learn from the girls who were taken, but I cannot do it tonight. I need some time alone before I face my mate and the horrors she has suffered.