46

~Vanessa~

Veloces glared at Jeremy, his eyes dark as he watched his every move. I could feel the fear radiating off of Jeremy and smirked. Clearly he's afraid of him. What shocked me though, was when he suddenly smiled and laughed.

"Alpha Veloces, I was hoping you would come." he spoke. "Maybe you would want to make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" Veloces asked, taking a step closer.

"Unless you want me to take her beautiful mate here and torture her...you will hand yourself over and I'll take you instead. Of course I would have to take careful steps and put silver handcuffs on you, but you should be able to handle them. According to your father."

He froze, his eyes wide as that fear leaked into them again. Jeremy smirked, he knew he had him where he wanted him. Using his father he could easily send fear and panic into Veloces. I tried yelling, but Jeremy quickly put his hand over my mouth and dug his claws into my face. I winced, watching Veloces with tear filled eyes. Goddess, Veloces don't do it.

He sighed, "Let her go and I'll come with you."

"No! Veloces are-

I was cut off again when someone knocked me out.

I woke up in a dark room, the smell of blood filling my nostrils. I gagged and stood up, partially shifting so I could see in the dark. There was a whip laying on a table, it was soaked in blood. I moved my gaze to where someone was gasping and wheezing, whimpering as if they were in pain. I wanted to scream, but instead I put my hands over my mouth.

I couldn't see his face since he was looking down, but I could see whip marks on his chest. Blood was soaking his whole chest and stomach as he hung there by his hands.

"Hello?" I asked, taking slow steps forward.

He didn't answer. I went to touch him, but my hand never made it. A man walked in, he was tall and had brown/blue eyes. He had black hair, as dark as the night sky, and sun kissed skin. He strode over to the boy and lifted his head by yanking his hair. I gasped, Veloces. He's Veloces.

Veloces' eyes were wide but dull, however the pain was etched onto his face. The man smirked and laughed before letting go.

"Like I said a while back, son, I'm going to shape you into an Alpha. One that everyone fears." he chuckled.

"P-please...don't...no more..." Veloces wheezed, his voice weak and broken.

The man shook his head, "When are you going to learn? I'm doing this for your own good!"

He grabbed the whip and lifted it, but before it smacked his skin everything went dark. The only sound was a whip slicing through flash and a man screaming.

"VELOCES!" I screamed as my world suddenly came crashing down.

"Vanessa."

"Vanessa!"

I shot up in my bed, panting and gasping for air. I was soaked in sweat, my heart sounded like a train as it slammed against my chest. My mother gently pushed me down and wiped my forehead with a cold cloth.

"Hey, relax, you're okay. You're safe." she soothed, kissing my forehead.

I took a deep breath and finally contained myself, "Mom...where is...Veloces? Where is he?"

A sorrowful look crossed her features, "He traded himself in for you...Jeremy took him."

I felt tears burn my eyes as I shook my head, "No! He's going to do horrible things to him!"

"Your father is working on getting him back, don't worry. Clayton is working along with him. For now on both packs are going to protect each other's territory and team up until we can rescue him and kill Jeremy."

"How are we going to do both?" I asked.

She sighed, "I don't know...we may have to kill him first. Listen, we'll discuss this when you're better. Right now, you need to rest. That hit on your head was pretty hard and whatever nightmare you were having really wore you down. So, relax."

"But I want to help." I whined, sitting back up.

"Vanessa, you need to rest. If you're exhausted you won't be able to stay along with us. Now, rest and I'll be back in an hour."

"Fine."

After she left I laid back down and looked at the ceiling. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that, that wasn't really Veloces. That my mind was just making things up to scare me. However, I knew, deep down that it was Veloces. That it was real. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Please be okay and stay strong." I mind-linked him. "We're going to get you out of there."

I doubt he can hear me, but it's worth a shot.

"Vanessa?"

I looked up to see Christine hesitantly walking into the room, closing the door behind her. She stood there for a few moments, awkwardly looking around.

"You can come closer, I don't bite." I said.

She chuckled, "Well, after how I talked to you last...I wouldn't blame you if you did bite me."

"Oh yeah, you owe me."

"Well, I think I know how to make it up to you."

"How?"

"We're going to get him back. I have two files all on Jeremy and one file on someone else."

"Who?"

"Veloces' father, Alpha Crudelis."

~Vanessa~

I frowned, "So Crudelis isn't actually Veloces' father?" I asked.

"Yes, he is Veloces' brother's father, but not his. His mother cheated on him with his Beta and that's why he hated her. He already felt as if he lost his mate therefor he became abusive to her. That's why he sent his other son away, because he didn't want him seeing this side of him." Christine replied.

"But then why make Veloces Alpha? Why not make his actual son Alpha?" I questioned, re-reading the whole file.

Christine shrugged, "Maybe to make everyone hate him?"

"The only way to find out the truth is to ask Crudelis himself."

We both looked up to see Clayton walking in, giving Christine a stern look. "You took the files without asking me?" he asked, grabbing both files and looking at them.

Christine rolled her eyes, "Well, I'm figuring out the whole story here. Well, at least why Crudelis hates Veloces. Didn't read Alpha Jeremy's file though."

"I'm already reading it and nothing here says anything about him and Veloces getting into a fight. He became Alpha four years ago after his father some how was murdered in his own room." Clayton read, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Did Veloces do anything to his pack four years ago?" I asked.

"No, Jeremy just suddenly blamed him for the Oakwood pack leaving. Though, Veloces didn't care for their territory. He knew he had enough and he wasn't in the mood to start worthless wars with other packs. You can even ask the Silver River pack beside us."

"That what?"

"The Silver River pack, your father most likely knows about them but didn't tell you. Veloces made a treaty with them after helping them repair the damage Crudelis caused. He's been cleaning up his father's mess this whole time. Not causing more."

"Okay, so Crudelis isn't Veloces' actual father. His Beta, Mark, is Veloces' actual father. Crudelis attacked Silver River pack and maybe Oakwood pack. Veloces made a treaty with Silver River and helped them fix their pack. Alpha Jeremy's father mysteriously died four years ago and Jeremy became Alpha. Jeremy then blamed Veloces for Oakwood leaving and called your father here. Did I get everything?" Christine said, writing all this down.

"Oh, he abused Veloces' mother out of betrayal." Clayton added on.

"So, this whole thing has to do with Crudelis?" I asked.

"And Jeremy, he decided to pick a fight with Veloces and Veloces is trying not to start a war. That and he's currently being tortured right now."

"Then how come I can't feel any of his pain?" I whispered.

Christine frowned, "Because he didn't mark you yet or mate with you."

"Even so, you should be able to feel his pain still." Clayton murmured, confused.

"Unless..." Christine trailed off, her eyes widening. "Unless he blocked the mate-bond so you don't feel any of his pain. He's protecting you from the pain of his abuse."

"He can do that?"

"Yes, it takes a lot of energy to, so he's most likely worn down now."

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "We need to make a plan to rescue him. I know we all want to kill Jeremy, but face it, we can't do that and rescue Veloces. If we kill him all his warriors will know and will attack us. Also, neither one of our packs are ready for a battle like that." I said.

"So, then we'll have to send in a small group to somehow sneak to where ever Veloces is and get him while a few others handle any warriors that attack." Christine chirped.

"Yes, and we need someone on the inside." I said.

"Like who?"

I smirked, "Olivia."