No Escape

Chapter Eighteen

Neither Dylan nor Jackson had slept for a whole week. They had busied themselves looking for Lily. They had already searched through nearby claimed territories and were investigating into the no man's land that surrounded their pack's territory. They hadn't gotten a whiff of her anywhere. That poor girl, Dylan thought to himself. She did not deserve any of this.

As if the stress of a missing mate wasn't enough. Jackson was dealing with a ridiculous amount of backlash from his father. Dylan had always thought that he had been a good Alpha, a good man. But the way Alpha James had reacted to Lily's disappearance completely changed his point of view. The Alpha was infuriated that Jackson was wasting the packs resources on a weak human girl. Lily was unimportant to him; it didn't matter that she was his son's mate.

They had been in the office going over maps; they had been there for hours, but they refused to stop until they found Lily. Luke, one of the packs' trackers, asked for permission to enter. When Jackson granted him permission, before the door had closed behind Luke, he said "we found her."

"Where?" The future Alpha and Beta asked simultaneously. After sharing Lily's location with them, Luke was dismissed, and Dylan forced Jackson to sit and form a plan to get her the hell out of there. This wasn't a situation where they could just fly by the seat of their pants. Lily's life wasn't the only one at risk anymore; her baby's was as well.

As they were about to leave, Adrienne's panicked voice called out Jackson's name in his head. It caused Jackson to hesitate for a moment, before responding to her as he and a group of warriors took off. Are you okay?

It's baby time. Adrienne told him. The news stopped him in his tracks, the pack members with him only stopped when they realized he was no longer leading the way.

Alpha? One of them questioned him. Normally this would have pissed Jackson off, but he was so distracted by what Adrienne had told him, he barely even recognized that someone else had tried to get his attention.

Shit. Adrienne, I can't—

It's okay. Go get your mate. I'm fine, she's not. Lily's more important right now.

Even though his sister had reassured him that it was okay for him to miss this, he still felt guilty. He began heading in the same direction as before to rescue his mate. I'm sorry. I'll be there as soon as I can. I promise. Adrienne and Jackson had always been close, but with their father acting the way he was and their mother trying as hard as she could to remain neutral the sibling bond between the two of them had grown closer. Jackson hated that he couldn't be there for her.

Man, what was that? Dylan asked Jackson. He couldn't think of a reason why anything would have stopped him while on the way to save his mate.

Adrienne. She's in labor.

Shit. Some timing. Dylan said to him, but after that Jackson blocked everyone out until they arrived at their destination two hours later. Jackson had a group of men standing by in case there would be more rogues on the way to bombard them. They only smelled three people in the house, so Jackson took a group of five of their best fighters to follow inside.

Jackson roughly kicked down the front door, the rage boiling from the situation festering inside of him. As they walked inside the old house and scanned the room, there was a man sitting on the couch watching TV. He was younger and more put together than Jackson expected, although the stench of alcohol burned the pack wolves' noses. After a moment, he lazily got up and approached them as if he didn't have a care in the world. As if he hadn't a clue as to what was about to go down. The man wobbled a bit before stopping a few feet in front of the future Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack. He then held out his hand and spoke, "Carter Tucker. And for what reason have you pups decided to barge in like this?"

The muscles in Jackson's arms flexed as his body went tense. His fists were clenched at his side, fighting the itch to release his claws. "Where is she?"

For a moment Carter didn't say anything, and he felt confused as to why the future Alpha wasn't minding his own business. But then he noticed a tick in his jaw as it clenched and his facial expression hardening even more than it already had been. Then it dawned on him and an evil smirk settled on his face, as he refused to say anything.

Suddenly, Jackson picked him up by his collar and shoved him against the wall. His forearm was pressed into his neck. He was careful with his actions; he wanted the man to hurt, just as he had hurt Lily, but he needed information first. "Where. Is. My. Mate." The Alpha ground out.

The future Beta and pack warriors had never seen the Alpha-to-be like this. They had seen him mad, but never to this extent. It was difficult for them not to show submission to him with all the power he was emitting. Dylan thought that if Carter was as smart as he made himself out to be, he would obey the command in his best friends' tone and answer before he was torn to shreds. Instead Carter grinned even wider before saying, "tell me, alpha... Have you given her your mark yet? Because I've certainly made mine."

Jackson's eyebrows furrowed in anger as he removed his arm from Carter's neck and punched him so hard everyone in the room could hear the cracking of his neck and nose at the force. His claws protruded from his hands and he dug them deep into the evil man's chest and scratched all the way down his torso. Jackson's wolf was in the process of taking over as he began repeatedly punching and clawing. Before he could rip Carter's head from his body, a whimper sounded from within the house. The Alpha's head snapped to the direction in which it came from, it focused him on the real reason why he was there. Without another thought, Jackson snapped Carter's neck then sprinted off in the direction of his mate.

Jackson and Dylan made their way downstairs and what they saw made Dylan want to vomit and kill the man. He couldn't image how Jackson must have been feeling if he was this livid. There was a man on top of Lily, raping her. Dylan could hear Lily crying in pain, but he was frozen in his spot. That was until Jackson's growl broke him out of his state. Dylan watched as Jackson ran up to the man hurting his mate and began beating him to a pulp. Dylan made his way to is Alpha and grasped his shoulder, I'll take care of the scumbag. Go help your mate.

Jackson nodded and turned toward Lily, while Dylan took care of the man. After a few minutes, Dylan could hear Jackson cursing in the background and felt his eagerness to leave as it was practically rolling off of him in waves. Dylan quickly snapped the man's neck, killing him instantly, and the two of them rushed to the car that one of the men had driven there. Drive to the hospital, now. And quickly. Jackson commanded him.

Dylan headed to the human hospital since it was closer, and the pack doctor worked there part time. Mandy would take care of Lily for them, like she had before. Jackson was sat in the backseat with Lily laying in his lap. With Dylan's driving, they would get there in ten minutes, rather than the half hour drive that it normally was. In that moment, ten minutes was too long for him without know what was happening with Lily. "How is she?" Dylan asked Jackson, glancing in the rearview to see his reaction.

So many emotions crossed Jackson's face in such a short amount of time. It was strange; Dylan, along with everyone else, was used to him guarding his emotions.

"She passed out the moment I got to her. Her arm and nose are definitely broken, there's a cut on her shoulder down her arm that's broken. Her upper back is completely destroyed. There's some much blood coming from everywhere. She must have hit her head on a wall or something too."

"Too? Where else would the blood be coming from?!" Dylan said taking another glance into the mirror. The look that Jackson gave him told Dylan all he needed to know. He pressed harder on the gas pedal and knew not to ask any more questions.

Two minutes later, they pulled up in front of the hospital. Dylan had already mindlinked Mandy, informing her of the situation. She was waiting for them at the entrance with a gurney. They rushed out of the car and Jackson gently placed Lily on it. Mandy took her back into surgery right away. Jackson fought against the nurses about going back with her until his mate was no longer in sight. Then it was just the two of them pacing in anticipation for Mandy to come back. It was time for them to play the waiting game.