Loving The Beast

Chapter 23. What's Going On?

Kinsley

What does he mean by I'll find out soon enough? I know where I come from, but none of this makes sense. The room is cold, damp, and barely lit by a flickering overhead light. The walls are concrete, grimy, and cracked, and the floor beneath me is rough like it hasn't been cleaned in years. I try to stretch my legs, but there's not enough room. I had to move, then this random guy turned out to be my mate in a whole other world. And now here I am, locked up in some godforsaken place, trying to make sense of it all. Everything's just one big mess. I lay down on the tiny, uncomfortable metal bench, the chill seeping through my clothes. The air smells stale like it hasn't been freshened in forever, and I can barely get any sleep, my mind racing with questions I can't answer. How did things get this far? How did I end up in this nightmare?

I was half asleep, my mind lost in a haze, when the door suddenly slammed open, making me jump up from my lying position.

"Get up."

He slid a tray of food that only had bread and water.

"Eat up slave."

"I ain't no slave," I muttered.

"What did you say?"

He approached me with a menacing grin, his eyes burning bright red. The air around us seemed to grow heavier, thick with tension. He grabbed my arm roughly, yanking me off the metal bench, and tossed me like I weighed nothing into the brick wall. The pain surged through my body, and some of the brick dust crumbled down onto me. I bit my lip, holding back the whimpers of pain, trying to stay quiet. With anger in his eyes, he grabbed my shirt pulled me off the ground, and punched me repeatedly in my face till the blood came out. I pleaded for him to stop but he just kept going, it was getting harder to keep quiet and I eventually let out a scream. Hearing footsteps face approaching he dropped me to the floor and my vision started to blur.

"Mark! What the hell is wrong with you!"

"What that little bitch pissed me off!"

"SHE IS LEAVING TOMORROW FUCKIN' IDIOT NOW SHE MIGHT NOT SELL!  GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Sell? What are they talking about?

Then darkness took over. 

Bradley

"Alpha, what are we gonna do to get our Luna back?" James asked.

"I have no idea," I replied, my fists clenching. "But I won't stop until she's in my arms again. For now, I need you to go back to the house and search for clues. Something's gotta be there."

He bowed and left, the weight of his departure settling heavily in the silence. Who could've done this? We've got solid alliances with all the packs, so it's gotta be a rogue pack I haven't heard of yet. After a while, James ran into my office with a panic expression. 

"Alpha we got something!"

"What do you get?"

"This."

He handed me a pipe, along with a business card. The card read:

'Slave trade
Saturday, July 19, 2015
323-496-3256, Shane Greyson'

And there was more written on the back.

'Alpha T,

I hope to see you there and have the girl like you promised I don't want to have to hunt you down. I don't like being lied to it's either you have her or you don't, I won't hesitate to kill you.'

I observed the pipe there were dent marks and 'earls autos' on it.

"It says Earl's Autos on it. Where's that?"

"About an hour away from here. But one thing that caught my attention is the pipe—it's got 'RT' carved into it. I remember my uncle mentioning that a body went missing, and the only clue they found was a pipe from Earl's Autos with 'RT' carved on it."

"So what's the big deal with RT?"

"I thought about it for a moment, and now I'm pretty sure it stands for Richard Thompson. Get it? RT..."

"Isn't that the Alpha who lost it when his mate died? He went rogue, and for some reason, he thinks we're the ones who killed her."

"Yeah, but that's just a theory."

"You don't think he took her, do you?"

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND HIM? HE'S BEEN OFF THE GRID FOR YEARS!"

I punched a hole in the wall, knocking over the bookcase in the process.

"Alpha, calm down. I think I might know where she is."

I miss her so much. I will find you, Kinsley. And when I do, I'll never let you out of my sight ever. I love you, Kinsley Marie Winston.

"Do we have any idea where they are?"

"Yes, but it's just a theory," James said. 

"What about the other territories? Did they notice anything strange?"

"Yes, I called a few."

"And?"

"Alpha Ashton Smith said his border patrol spotted some strange activity south of his territory."
"What kind of strange stuff?" I asked.

"He mentioned seeing shipments of women going into the territory next to his, all chained up. His warriors went to check it out, but no one was around by the time they got there. Also, Alpha Jake McCarthy said he thought he saw Richard Thomas near the edge of his territory. But he's not sure—it was dark. He also spotted over fifty wolves north of his land."

"How long would it take to get there?"

"All night, Alpha."

"Gather all the warriors. We're going to get our Luna back!"