Marked Mate

30

ROMAN

It had been three hours, and I'd heard nothing from Scarlett. Not a peep. I was shaking, furious that I'd allowed Nyx to take away my girl. I'd just found her, and she'd been snatched away from me just like that.

She really believed that this was her calling, though. She was put on this planet to save her kind. She'd expressed it to me more than a few times, telling me that she thought we'd been mated to help put an end to the gifted wolves' suffering. Why did it have to hurt so fucking much, though?

I was scared for her safety. What was Nyx doing to her right now? Beating her? Subjecting her to hours of labour where her body would eventually give out and she'd be left on the ground for hours in the pounding rain, her cries for help being drowned out by the precipitation?

My mind was running amuck, and I hated it.

"How could I have let her do this?" I muttered to myself, cursing and pacing the office, causing Brandon to gaze up at me with a heavy sigh.

"Roman, Scarlett needed to do this. Nyx wants every gifted wolf alive. They're rare, and there aren't many of them. He'd be an idiot to get rid of her. Don't worry. She'll remain alive." His tone was calm, but it did little to ease my anxiety.

I wish I could speak to her through her mind, too. But I didn't possess that power. I despised how there was no way for me to respond to her. She just had to trust that when she did contact me, I'd understand what she was saying.

"Other packs are at the ready," I said, glancing at my laptop screen again. I'd informed them of the plan, minus the fact that my mate was gifted. Her identity needed to be kept a secret in case anybody tried to harm her. Instead, the packs had been told that I was receiving intel from a hidden source and I would need their assistance soon.

They were more than happy to oblige. They were tired of Nyx's desperation for power. He was constantly testing the boundaries and threatening people with the use of the gifted wolves, and it wouldn't be long before he had enough of them to take down larger packs - packs my size.

Erica had spent the day crying - her pregnancy hormones were causing her brain to run wild, and she was being eaten alive by her own guilt for handing Scarlett over. It wasn't helping me, and I'd had to send her home where I couldn't see her beat herself up. Otherwise, I was going to do the same thing, and that wouldn't help anyone.

"Alpha Roman, are you still there?" another Alpha's tone echoed through the phone line, and I blinked, bringing myself back to the call and unmuting myself.

"Yep, I'm still here," I sighed, running my hands through my hair and tugging on the strands painfully. "You know what you're getting yourself into, don't you? I can't guarantee that people won't be harmed or even die."

A laugh. "We understand, Alpha Roman. We know what Nyx is capable of, but we won't allow him to use fear to control this community. He has to be stopped. Are you sure you're going to be given the information on where Nyx usually hides out, though? That imperative to this."

I nodded. I had faith in my mate. "Yes, I'm sure. Just hold tight, and I'll update you and the other packs with any other information we get."

"I look forward to hearing from you soon, Alpha Roman."

I ended the call.

Soon couldn't come soon enough.

SCARLETT

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, glaring out of the window, trying to memorise where we were headed. Every bush. Every plant. Every tree. I'd engrained them into my brain.