Three

Temperance

“Did he take Nova out of the cage?” I ask her, knowing what that means. It makes my skin itch. I know the answer, but I hope she tells me differently.

“Yes, he said he would be back for me later,” she tells me with a whimper. I sigh, that would explain the blood, and the scent of lingering soap. He always hosed me down before putting me back in the cage. Yet she never tells me what he does with her. I have a faint idea from the voices and the vulgar comments of men I vaguely hear; or by the throbbing pain that sits between my legs and the handprints I can still feel on my thighs and hips. The stickiness that doesn’t quite leave my skin; I know it is nothing good.

My body always feels sore and aches, sometimes my scalp hurts, sometimes everything does. Sitting in the darkness, I listen to the TV above, trying to picture the faces of the voices and listening to the story they speak. In the dark for so long, you develop a great imagination, yet that swings both ways. Sometimes what I hear, I don’t want to imagine. But my mind conjures it up anyway.

Hearing the TV cut off, I have no idea how much time has passed. Time isn’t exactly something I can keep up with. The passing of time is as lost to me as hope. All I know is darkness and darker darkness when Nova locks me away. Heavy footsteps sound above, and I turn my head, clutching the mesh, searching the vast cold space.

The sound of the door handle twisting makes me scoot back, then the heavy sounds of footsteps on the old, creaky stairs make my heart beat faster.

“Nova!” I hiss, but she is too weak, and I gulp as my brother comes closer. I can tell he is closer because of his scent, and the deadly aura radiating out of him, encasing me with fear so strong I can scent it in the air.

“Shadow you’re up!” Satish’s deep, cruel voice orders. Shadow snarls loudly, and I turn my head to look at her.

“Now! Or I can take it out on Temperance! Is that what you want? To listen to her scream?” He snaps, and a lump forms in my throat at the threat as I tug on Nova. But whatever he did, he hurt her badly. I can feel how weak she is. She tries to get up and take the reins, but I know she can’t endure another round.

“It’s okay, Nova. Rest,” I urge. Still, she fights to force the barrier in place, but I push back, I can survive whatever he throws at me if she can. For her, I will be strong just as she is for me.

“What will it be?” Satish snarls at Shadow. His features are obscured as I peer out of the cage, the only thing I can smell is his cologne and his heady wolf scent.

“Very well then!” Satish snaps kicking my cage, and I jump as he crouches in front of me.

“Hello Sis,” he sneers at me. “Looks like you are going for round two?” My heart races, and I feel Nova trying to come forward, trying to take my place. Fear of what is to come seizes my already broken body as the keys rattle and he undoes the padlocks. We’ve tried and failed to breach those padlocks of the too-small cage. Too small to even shift.

“Fine, Fine. I’ll go!” Shadow yells.

Satish pauses, and the slightest silver glint of the keys he holds shines back at me.

“You’ll behave Shadow? No tricks like last time?” he asks her. I wonder what he means, did she try to escape?

“I promise Alpha!” she answers. My brother’s teeth glint back at me as he smiles cruelly at her.

“Your lucky day Sis, you have a volunteer,” he chuckles. Not realizing I always do. Nova always volunteers and takes my place, she pretends to be me.

“Only if you give us food,” she snarls. Just the mention of food makes my belly growl. I cringe wondering what he will do now that she demanded something of him. He huffs standing.

“You dare complain and ask for things, after what you did?” he snarls. I wonder what she did last time.

“Feed the girl at least, she is far too weak, can’t you see she’s not healing!” Her voice is merely a snarl.

He huffs, but Shadow is braver than me to speak to him in such a way. I would never dare. I can’t even remember the taste of food, though I know he must feed us. Nova told me he grants us the bare scraps, but I am yet to see them. I suppose it is when he takes her out of the cage while I am buried in the deepest parts of my mind.

Footsteps sound a few minutes later as someone comes into the basement. A scent I know because I can still smell it lingering on my skin. “Thank you, Trent,” my brother tells the man I cannot see.

I see his figure crouch down in front of my cage. His teeth gleam in the darkness, canines that are far too sharp. I try to press away, but I have nowhere to go when my nose picks up something tantalizing. Enticing. He pushes something through mesh, and before I can think of my actions my hands snatch it. It appears to be some sort of bone, small but still enticing.

“That is it?” Shadow growls.

“You behave and I will grant her another,” my brother snarls back at her. But I am hyper focused on the prize in my hand she gifted me. My mouth salivating as my teeth tear into it. It’s…it’s… it reminds me of…

“It’s a chicken leg,” Nova tells me, her voice barely reaching me she is so consumed by exhaustion.

“It's delicious,” I tell her, and she sobs in my head, thinking otherwise. My taste buds explode and all too soon, it is gone. I chew on the bone, my blunt teeth trying to gnaw it down.

“Don’t eat the bone!” Nova yells at me, but it tastes too good.

“I have something you can wrap your lips around sweets, do you want my bone?” this Trent man speaks into the darkness. I flinch and pull my legs close to my chest, protecting my bone.

“That is all, Trent, you need to go pick up our guests.” My brother dismisses him.

“Now Shadow, I have a very special guest coming that I need you to entertain, and when his guards are down I need you to kill him, but don’t be reckless I need his blood. So preferably leave him in one piece.”

“What for?” she questions.

“Never mind that, you do as you're told and I shall reward you,” he continues, and I retreat having chewed the piece of bone apart, my throat hurts, the bone scraping all the way to my stomach.

“I told you not to eat the bone,” Nova scolds.

“But I…” I sigh as my belly cramps. I can taste the blood in my mouth from my bleeding gums and now aching teeth. Cringing as I listen to my brother. I wonder why he offers her a reward this time and what it will be? Would he set her free? Is her time here up for her crimes? He never offers us a reward, no we get threats, either comply or die.

Four

Eziah

22 years old

“Temperance!” I scream, panic and fear enveloping me. I can hear my heart thundering in my ears, when suddenly my hands grip my arms. I am shaken violently, ripping me out of the nightmare I am suffering from my mate. There is nothing worse than feeling what she feels and being helpless to save her. All I can do is sit here and watch it all. I hate feeling so useless. I don’t know how she has survived this long in complete darkness. It is enough to send someone mad. Though I know she already is, my mother told me this much when she let me spy into the fountains of fates all those years ago in the Moon Goddess realm.

My eyes fly open to see Casen hovering above me. His dreary gaze tells me I once again woke him. Seeing me, he exhales in relief. “You alright bro?” Casen sighs, hanging his head while looking as exhausted as I feel. He lets me go, moving away while I try to catch my breath, trying to remove the remnants of the dream that settle over me like a dark cloud, suffocatingly strong.

“That one was worse than last night, you were screaming her name,” Casen informs me and I groan, scrubbing a hand down my face, not realizing the sound left my lips and wasn’t just in my head. I can’t keep living like this, yet Malachi urges me to find her, he wants to help her, craves his mate. Yet what state she will be in when we do is what I fear most. But even then, I can't just leave her in the state she is, it's my duty to protect her, but to do that, I need to find her first.

Sweat beads on my skin, the bedsheets sticking to me as I sit up and glance at the clock on the nightstand. Malachi presses forward, also peering out my eyes at the small alarm clock in this shitty hotel. 3 am. I feel restless and uncomfortable, needing to get some space.

Tossing the blankets back is like peeling off skin after a bad sunburn, the sheets are saturated with sweat. “Fuck, I hope this one is the last pack,” Casen mumbles. I can’t blame him, I know he is eager to get home to Rose.

We have been gone for two years and still, we have not found her, searching every pack in the country. It was like finding a needle in a huge haystack, we searched and searched with no results.

Each pack we visited left me with a little less hope of ever finding her. This seems to be the cruel fate written for me. Destined to feel her but never touch her, destined to hear her screams but never speak with her.

Forcing myself up, I rip the sweat soaked bed linen from the bed, tossing it in the hamper in the tiny bathroom as I step inside. Flicking the light on, the fluorescent orange light flickers and I shake my head.

“This is the last one,” I mutter, not knowing anywhere else to look, we have searched every pack. Every single damn one. And still we were no closer to finding her. It terrified me that this was it, that after this I won't know where to look anymore. How much longer can she hold on? Her life is a living hell.

“We’ll find her eventually,” Casen calls out, and I glance over my shoulder to see him checking his phone. Every day, he checks and every day, I listen to the same groan of disappointment when he finds no messages or missed calls. I feel for him, the pain he must be going through.

My cousin rejected him, and for two years, he has followed me around the country. But soon, I’ll be forced to come home. My parents want to retire, and that means I have no choice but to take over the pack. Although it makes me wonder what Casen will do. Rose is the Alpha of Casen’s former pack and has been for a year from what my mother and twin sister have told me. Growing up, he always looked out for her, and it won't get easier. Two years have passed, but he's still hung up over her.

I know as much as he wants to go home, he also fears her rejection again. “Nothing?” I sing out to him.

“Nothing,” he answers, sighing and I nod once, closing the door behind me and turning the shower on. Malachi, my wolf, stirs within me and an uneasy feeling settles over me as I strip my shorts off and turn the shower on that only offers lukewarm water drizzling out of the shower head.

Placing my hand on the shower wall, I feel for my magic, my hands glowing. The pipes inside the shower wall rattle as I use my magic to heat the water more before controlling the shower head's spray, the water spurting out how it should. Although washing with one hand is a tedious, painstaking process.

Her screams from the dream replay in my head, fucking with my thoughts and causing anger to course through me. “Pull yourself together!” Malachi snarls angrily, knowing exactly the trouble I get into when my temper gets the better of me. Just like when I visited the last pack. I know Mom will have a few choice words for me.

I didn’t mean to kill the Alpha of the pack. He just needed to grant entry, and he dared to defy A Gemini Demi-God. My mother hates having to clean up after me, hates having to bring order within the packs, but it is her job, she is the Moon Goddess after all. My sister may be darkness and I light, but my temper of late makes the darkness that flows through my twin look like a fucking rainbow.

Then again, few can blame me if they had to listen to their mate’s screams each night and feel her fear. Two years scouring only to now have to turn around and go home empty-handed. It has messed with my mind in more ways than I can ever express. I feel for the past years, I've been stuck in limbo trying to find her and to save her. As everyone carries on with their lives, only I'll feel her pain and anguish, and just the thought about going home with no result makes my stomach twist.

Washing quickly, I step out of the shower and finish getting ready, wanting to get a head start on the day.

As I am drying myself, the door pushes open as Casen steps into the bathroom. He starts the shower as I dry my now very grown out hair. I need to remember to cut it, yet a haircut is the last thing on my mind.

“This Alpha we are meeting today, what is his name again?” Casen asks as I reach for my gel under the sink. I open the lid and rub some on my hands before smoothing it through my hair.

“Alpha Satish,” I reply, frowning slightly.

“Ah, he is the one with the all male pack, right?” Casen muses.

“Yep, not much is known about him since he took over after his father killed all the women. Apparently, his pack keeps to themselves, Mom told me he never attends Alpha meetings and that the entire pack lives off grid.” I frown at my own words, this pack sounded suspicious as hell and I am not even there yet.

“Great, fucking hillbilly’s,” Casen mutters, and I chuckle.

“Sounds like it,” I laugh, wishing Mom could give me more answers than that. I hated how cryptic she was. She's always paranoid about changing the future or altering by telling too much. Yet from my standpoint and if the past four years were any indication, the future doesn’t sound too great for my mate. Was it worth it? Letting my mate suffer just so the future doesn't change? I didn't think so. I wish Mom saw that, saw the suffering I am going through, if not my mate's.

I was sick of hearing her mumbo jumbo on fates and her obligations as Moon Goddess. She is a Moon Goddess yet can’t even help her son find his own mate who spends everyday being tortured one way or another. Didn't sound fair to me, no matter how I look at it, that's why I took this into my own hands. I'll find her, one way, or another.

Five

When we finally leave the shitty backwards hotel, Casen rings the Alpha. It takes him four attempts before finally the Alpha answers, having moved to an area of reception. Apparently, there is only one phone out here, which makes me wonder why he would choose to keep his pack so far from the rest of the world. What is he hiding?

We drove for about an hour before finding the dirt track. It leads into dense thick woods, the gaps between the trees covered in thick greenery, and canopy trees make the dirt road dark.

“Well, this looks like bumfuck-ville, hope you brought your chastity belt, your ass may need it out here,” Casen states while peering out the windows. The road is secluded, and I would hardly call it a road at all, greenery covered half the dirt track, the road washed out and the car scrubs out. This is not a suitable car for this area.

When we reach a part of the road, I curse seeing there is no way we would get the car through. With a growl, I pull over and toss my door open and climb out. Looking around, Malachi stirs beneath my skin, his entire demeanor is uneasy, something having set him on edge. I stretch and crack my neck just as Casen climbs out. He checks his phone and mutters about the lack of reception. With a shake of his head he tosses his phone back into the car and slams the door.

“Now what?” he snaps, throwing his hands up in the air. “Exactly how do we get to the pack now?”

“Two feet and fucking heart beat is how!” I tell him, shaking my head. I lock my car and start walking. Yet as we walk, Malachi presses forward urging me to sniff the air.

I let him forward, and he takes the reins, giving himself over and surrendering to my senses which aren’t as strong as his but something appears to have piqued his interest.

“Do you smell that?” he asks and I roll my eyes at my wolf.

“Well, yeah of course, but what is it?” I ask only then noticing I have stopped. Casen is stomping ahead talking away as if I am still right beside him when I hear the sound of an engine. I tilt my head listening to it get closer. It sounds like a quad bike. Out of the corner of my eye I see Casen finally stop and turn noticing I have.

“What’s wrong?” he calls out.

“Malachi picked up a weird scent,” I tell him when he looks behind him and points to his ear letting me know he can hear the quad approaching. I nod to him, yet Malachi still has control and wants me to march through the woods.

However before we get a chance to investigate the strange scent that has him antsy, two quads pull up, throwing dust all over Casen as they skid to a stop.

“Great!” I mutter when I hear a thunderous growl. The dust settles and I see Casen punch the man closest to him straight of the damn thing. He falls off, landing on his back with a thud and I shake my head.

The man on the other one puts up his hands, yet Casen stalks around the other side where the man was flat on his back. He grips the front of the man's flannel shirt and punches once, twice, and thrice.

“Casen!” I command and he stiffens under the command. “Let him go!”

“Damn prick sprayed me with dirt.” I shake my head. Malachi hands me back full control as I move toward them. The other man watching his buddy get pummeled stands frozen with hands in the air. Casen reluctantly lets the man go, shoving him back into the dirt. The man’s face is a bloody mess as Casen takes a step back.

He turns to the other man. “What the fuck are you looking at?” the man shakes his head and I suck in a breath. Great first impression, not!

“Alpha sent us to collect you,” the man stutters out as I stop beside Casen.

“Did he tell you to spray us with dirt too?” Casen snaps. The man shakes his head while the other finally finds his feet. He goes to get back on the bike, but Casen growls.

“I ain’t being your bitch, get on with him, I’ll follow,” Casen snaps. The man nods scurrying to the other bike as Casen climbs on it.

“Names?” I ask them.

The unbloodied man answers. “Micky, and he’s Trent.” I nod climbing on the back behind Casen. We could shift and run, but I don’t feel like walking around the pack naked or feel like carrying my clothes. Malachi has a bad habit of shredding them anyhow.

Casen starts the engine and we follow beside Micky and a bloody Trent. “So what brings you out to these parts?” Trent asks, wiping his face with the front of his shirt.

“I’m looking for someone,” I answer vaguely.

“Not many of us out here, someone in trouble?” he asks.

“Depends if you have who I’m looking for,” I answer, not really feeling like talking to the Alpha’s henchmen.

“Anyone in particular?” This man and his damn questions. I press my lips in a line.

“A girl, her name is Temperance,” I tell them, watching for any reaction to my words, and they both look at each other. I tilt my head observing them when Casen hits a bump, and I grip his shoulder, nearly being thrown off.

“Sorry,” he mutters. I wave him off when I turn my attention back to Trent. His eyes are glazed over, and I can tell he is in a mindlink.

When he comes out of it, I observe his aura, the color changing slightly taking on a nervous air to it. It flickers around the edges and turning my head to Micky's, his holds the same nervous energy.

“Alpha wondering how far out we were,” the man answers, yet his aura flickers and I can see the underlying deceit in it.

“Something is off, be prepared.” I mindlink Casen.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, they are nervous, and Trent told me a half-truth,” I tell him, keeping my eyes on the two men. They speed up ahead when the trail narrows. Casen keeps up, but far enough back not to be sprayed in the rocks and dirt. We drive a little further, and finally, the packhouse comes into view. If you could even call it that. It is more of a cabin, clearly filled with them. It kind of reminds of Rose’s pack, yet these are dated old log homes with tin roofs and almost looked condemned.

Casen stops beside the two men, and both of us climb off. Faces peer out at us from the cabins, men everywhere around a huge bonfire and others are chopping wood, a pig on a spit is cooking over an open fire.

“No women?” Casen questions, but before either man answers, the front door opens to the largest place here which I know is the packhouse because it is the only one that resembles an actual house.

“No, rogues killed them and wiped half my pack,” the Alpha answers, stepping out of his house. He stomps down the steps, making his way over to us. He holds his hand out to me. I stare at it. I don’t like touching people. There are some things I don’t like to see and touch has always been a funny element to me. Sometimes I get nothing, other times, I see the person's darkest secrets.

Yet something urges me to take his hand. Casen goes to, knowing I am not one to shake hands, and I notice his shock when I grip his hand. Yet when I do, I see nothing which disappoints me because the urge has been so strong.

“Alpha Eziah right?” the Alpha questions.

“Yes, and you must be Satish?” I ask, and he nods. His eyes glaze for a few seconds, and his head whips to the side. His lips press in a line when I see a few of his men suddenly take off toward the trees behind the back house. I tilt my head to try to see around him when he steps in front of me.

“They spotted a rogue, how about I give you a tour, Alpha!” he offers while motioning with his hand to follow him. He walks in the opposite direction of the Packhouse, and my brows furrow. I can hear the distant running in the woods. Something is off.

“I hear you are looking for someone?” Satish asks, walking between two cabins. He leads me to a clearing filled with solar panels and vegetable patches. In the distance, I can see a huge fenced off area full of chickens, another area that has three large pigs.

“Yes, I’m looking for my mate,” I tell him, and he stops.

“Your mate?” he asks, and I nod, peering around. Casen’s eyes follow mine.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you Alpha, there are no women here. Not since my father went mad and killed all of them,” Satish tells me.