The Glorious Flame (#2)

Chapter 28

Rouhem

     He said goodbye to his family gradually, knowing he would miss them the second the hopper took him. He looked to his brother and cousin, feeling a little bit of that loneliness fade. "I'll see you later?" he asked with a wave. 

     "Count on it," Khotaline leaned her head on Brexon's shoulder. She was terrible at hiding her scowl. 

     The hopper took Rouehm's wrist and when he blinked, they were in an entirely different dimension. He looked around at their bedroom and soon wondered where Inferno was. 

     His ears snapped to attention when he realized everybody was in a commotion. He sighed and knew it had to have been because of that damn pixie of his. 

     Checking his body for weapons, he was only satisfied when he added a few more items. There was no such thing as too many death machines on one's body! If there was a limit, Rouhem would certainly be jailed. 

     He walked into the front room and his jaw nearly dropped. 

     This is what he had been waiting for. This was The Pack. 

     There they were, standing in a line, shoulder to shoulder, stone-faced and wrapped in armor. Terrance was walking up and down, checking his brothers and arming them further when something wasn't to his liking. 

     Rouhem had been so used to a wild, goofy band of brothers. These males were from the world that called them savages, assassins, and relentless demons from hell. The pack of beasts that couldn't be beaten. 

     Now what fool had summoned them?

     Their eyes snapped to Rouhem and the fury present nearly woke his beast in alarm.

     Well, shit. 

     He bared his canines when they raised their guns and pointed them at him. There was a warning in his voice as he growled, "whatever it is that you think I did, think again." His claws were gradually slipping out. 

     Terrance had his gun trained forward. This was the leader Rouhem had initially expected. "You disappeared hours ago," his voice dripped with poison, "where did you go?" 

      Rouhem wasn't a child, and sure as hell would not tolerate being addressed as one. "That is none of your business. Where is Inferno?" 

     Ira looked ready to burst. His finger hovered over the trigger as the blood rushed to his cheeks. "Inferno," he spat, "went ballistic after you did your little disappearing act. Now we can't find her! So we are going to ask you one more time before we empty our bullets into your body, where were you?!" 

     Rouhem sucked in a calming, weak breath. Those words threatened to break his the control he had spent hours convincing Brexon existed. "I was with my brother. I didn't know he was going to address me so suddenly. What do you mean you can't find her?" 

     Terrance didn't lower his weapon. "Say we forget that you are the reason she is gone to begin with, how do we know we can trust you after you leave like that?" 

     "You can answer my questions!" Rouhem growled, taking a step forward, "or suffer from my quickly waning patience. Where was the last place you remember her being?" His voice was husky with animalistic undertones. The tips of his fingers were itching as his claws were reaching outward. 

     Terrance looked to his brothers for a long second. Finally he nodded and they all lowered their weapons. "She went into the woods in search of her car, Weslyn was with her. She had to have recognized the person you were with and had a lead. Next thing you know, she too disappears out of thin air. We couldn't trace her. Someone made sure we couldn't track her on foot. Kittrix has been hacking all possible cameras and we haven't spotted her once." He was breathless when he finished. So was Rouhem. 

     He took in a deep breath. "Are you sure she isn't in town?" 

     "We just turned Oxy's clan inside out. That is where we returned from a couple minutes ago. There is no way she is in town." Terrance explained, gesturing to his brothers. 

     Rouhem's attention was snagged when Kittrix's voice called out, "someone's approaching!" Not seconds later did the door burst inward. 

     The brothers crowded around the woman who was gasping on the floor. With a flip of her ink black locks, Weslyn revealed her bruised face. Rouhem shoved through until he was crouching right beside her. "Hey," he coaxed, "where is she? Tell me what happened, Weslyn." 

     Her eyes twinkled with fat tears. Her lips trembled as she spoke, "I tried to tell her to slow down. She seemed so tired," she gasped for breath, "and then she just collasped. I attempted to pick her up, bit this only made her scream more. They were attracted to her pain. They came out of no where. I froze. One of them had fire. They stole her away. They tried to take me too, but I killed three of them. They kept on coming. Inferno was already gone. I ran. I ran away, but I got lost. I didn't know where to go. I can't remember. It's all a blur. Why did I leave her? Oxy'll hurt her! No! No! What have I done?" 

     Kittrix stepped forward out of everyone. "Hey, shush. Come, we will get you cleaned up." He swept her away before anyone could raise objection. 

     "I know where she is," another voice interrupted. 

     Rouhem snapped his eyes toward Poppy, whose eyes kept darting to Edwin at her side. "Oxy took me to this secret facility--nobody but a couple people know about it--an hour outside of town sometimes. This way I screamed and absolutely no one would hear me. He must have flown her there."