Thirty Nine

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Raphael's Point Of View

I was in the middle of repairing a chain on my off-road when my phone rang.
Lexi.

“Hello Alpha. How are you? Are you feeling okay? I’m sorry for your lo-"

“I don’t have time for this right now. I need you to do me a favour, please?”

“Yeah, sure, anything you ask.”

“Go check on Luke.”

“Alpha... If you wanted to know if your mate was okay, you know he has a phone too, right?” I chuckled.

“Just go look. Please?”

“Okay.” I sighed, getting up from the floor before smacking the dust from my pants.

I entered the pack house through the door connected to the garage and walked through the kitchen, down the hallway and to Luke’s office in search of our Alpha.

But his office was vacant.

And it looked like a pack of Rogues ran through it.

Paintings on the wall; shredded.

Lounge seats for meetings; destroyed.

But the worst was the wedding photo of Luke and Lexi that stood on his desk; his face burnt away.

“It looks like a war zone” I breathed.

“What is it?”

“Whoever did this is obviously wants you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone burnt Luke’s face off your wedding photo and left a heart around yours.”

“Raph. Go to Maeve and Max. And keep them somewhere safe with you. Just keep my children as far from harm as possible!”

“You have my word.”

“Take Katarina with you.”

“I will.”

“And Raph...”

“Yes, Alpha?”

“Be safe.”

“Always.” I breathed, the line going dead in my ears.

Lexi’s Point Of View

Hysteria

hɪˈstɪərɪə/
(noun)

1.Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement.

This is the definition a dictionary would give you.

But does it mention every single feeling that comes as an attachment?

It gives you silly little synonyms that cannot even explain even a single percentage of every feeling I felt the moment I hung up on Raph.

He took Luke.

He took my mate.

And how he caught up with Luke to capture him. Only the gods knew...

I felt helpless. Hopeless.

I replayed every single moment I spent with my loving mate in my mind and imagined them all fading away from me into the mysterious, consuming fog that was Oliver’s existence.

Suddenly a sob escaped me, only to have me engulfed in an embrace of someone I never thought would dare touch me.

“I know. I know it hurts... But we will find them. All of them. I promise.” Zak breathed as he softly attempted to hush away all my fears.

Moments passed.

Or maybe it was hours?

I don’t know.

But when I finally let go of Zak, he was half asleep, his cheeks wet with tears and the skin around his eyes puffed up.
I took a deep breath and let all the little pockets in my lungs soak up all the O2 it could before finally exhaling. The weight on my shoulders shifted slightly as I eyed the map Stephan still held onto.

“Can I see that, please?” I smiled lightly.

“Are you sure you’re okay to deal with this right now, Lexi? You need rest.”

“I’m fine Stephan. I’ll rest when I found him.”

“Bu-"

“No, Stephan. Don’t. Please? If it were Sam, I wouldn’t dare stand in your way so please, don’t stand in mine?” I breathed, staring at him with pleading eyes.

“Then I’ll help you. I know Oliver better than anyone.”

“Then why is he doing this?”

“That I don’t know... He used riddles with Sam and myself once, but that’s another story to tell. He even used them to get his mate. But he never kidnapped someone, that’s a bit much, even for an exaggerated person like Oliver.”

“Then why do it now?”

“I don’t know. People like Oliver don’t snap easily cause they’re already 90% crazy, but something has to have had him do this...”

“What can he want?”

“You!”

“That’s insane. But if it’s me he wants... I guess that’s what we have to give him. There’ll be a price to pay, of course. But how do I get to him if I don’t know where he is?”

“Easy. Let’s have a look at that map, shall we?” Stephan grinned.

Minutes passed, hope growing with each ticking second on the clock hung against the wall in front of me as Stephan stared at the map that laid spread across the table.

Finally, he let out a deep breath before looking up at me with furrowed brows.

“Can you repeat the riddle again, please?”

“With a halo of water, a tongue of wood, a heart dark and cold where the guilty brood, with life they barter but I am smarter, for my will is strong and with stone as skin; long I stood."

“Hm... Did Marcus’ fortress have a moat and a drawbridge?”

I replayed the morbid images of captivity and war in my mind and came up short.

“You were there so you’re supposed to know there wasn’t.”

“When was the last time you were there?”

“Right by it; when I killed Marcus. On close grounds; when we went to war with the hunters along with Duran and them. Why do you ask?”

“Because it makes sense.”

“The riddles answer is a castle. But it can’t be the fortress, can it?”

“You knew the answer, but you didn’t tell me?” he smirked.
“Didn’t think I was right...”

“Well, it is a castle. But there are none on this map and the only thing close to one is a fortress.”

“But there’s no moat or drawbridge?”

“That’s probably part of the idea to confuse us and delay us. Well, either that or Oliver did some renovating. I think the latter though. He might have had a thing for the medieval ways of life, but that’s a bit much even for an exaggerating person like Oliver.” he chuckled.

“How can we be sure this is the answer, though?”

“Only one way to find out but you will not like it.”

“Which is?”

“Go there.”

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