Josephine's Secret

27. No Antidote

27. No Antidote: Archer's Pov

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'Josephine went missing.' I get a mind-link from Nate, his tone urgent. 'She called me and told me to pick her up then mind-linked Roland and I to meet her at the cafe. After that, she stopped replying to our messages.'

My wolf and I immediately become alert hearing this news. 'We scouted the area and found her phone on the ground along with traces of wolfsbane. According to her screen, you were her last call.'

'Continue searching for her and notify me if you find anything else.' I tell them, taking my phone with me as I rush out of the office room. 'I'll be there as soon as possible.'

"Call the other border patrol sectors and tell them to put the territory on lockdown." I tell the wolves standing near the entrance of the building. "Your Luna has gone missing."

Walking the long distance through the woods to get to my car, I turn on my phone and see a missed call notification from Josephine. Playing the voicemail she left for me, I strain my ears to try picking out the voices.

"What do you want-"

"You know what I want." a man cuts off my mate, sounding angry. "You owe me money, you owe me the rest of your terms, and you owe me your fucking life."

"I trained you, paid you, and I fucking fed you all those yeares." the same voice snarls, followed by the sounds of shuffling and footsteps. "Then you lose matches, cost me money, and make everything difficult. Now you're trying to pretend like nothing ever happened. Like all those years you weren't depending on me to survive."

"Your family left you and you didn't know how the hell you were gonna make it on your own." Realizing that the voice belongs to Keaton, both my wolf and I let out low growls. "You didn't make it on your own. I kept you alive. I'm the reason why you're able to walk today. I'm the reason you're fucking alive."

"But you're also the reason why I almost died too, right?" now it's my mate speaking. "All those times you left me out on the street after you gave me 'lessons'? All those times you beat me for costing you money? All you."

"You think that just because you have your mate now that everything's going to fix itself??" I turn up the volume as I get into my car, ready to speed off to get to meet up with Nate and Roland. "Because you're fucking wrong. Being with the Alpha doesn't change the fact that your family left you. Being with him doesn't erase all the shit you did with me during those years alone. And being with him doesn't mean you're safe."

I let out a louder growl at the mention of myself. "Don't fucking touch me." I can imagine Josephine attempting to strike him, but the sound fades out before I can make out what happened.

For a good while, there isn't any sound coming from the phone, but I keep listening. There's only a couple seconds left when Josephine's scream can be heard along with Keaton's words that I can't comprehend. 'It's Keaton.' I tell Nate and Roland. 'Keaton has her.'

It takes me thirty minutes to even make it to the packhouse in my car, so I decide to leave it there and travel the rest of the way in my wolf form. I'm able to find Nate and Roland within ten minutes, probably less than half the time it would've taken me if I took my car. "We found blood, Alpha." Roland says when he sees me approaching, now in my human form again.

"It's Josephine's." I state, my wolf and I both able to identify the blood on the ground.

Nate hands me a twig, one end of it soaked in blood as if it were used to stab someone. "This is why she screamed on the voicemail." I put the pieces together, one more thing starting to make sense. I turn to Roland and ask, "Do you know where Keaton does his work? I remember Josephine saying that his headquarters was in a warehouse. Do you know where that is?"