Chapter 87

~Alistair~

Eliana hadn’t wanted to show it, but I could tell that she was worried and scared on our way to Carrie’s clinic. I could understand her because I was also worried, but kept trying my best to convince myself that Jenny wasn’t capable of doing something really evil to our son, no matter how offended she was by my actions.

I had known her for several years, and she may be manipulative and cunning, but she was certainly not a kidnapper, molester, abuser or a killer. Perhaps, she just wanted to see us and apologise for her wrongs, and maybe Ian was incorrect about what he had sensed. She probably had a good reason to be back to Los Angeles, and maybe she hadn’t showed up all these years because she couldn’t face us, but perhaps, she had come back to her senses and was willing to apologise and ask for our forgiveness.

We got to the clinic at the same time Garrett arrived, and we had come through opposite directions. Eliana was the first to step out of the car, and without even pausing to say hi to Garrett, she rushed into the clinic, feeling terribly scared.

I, on the other hand, tried to act completely cool and collected, and stepped out of the car, closing the door gently behind me. Garrett had rushed out of his own car, and we made to exchange pleasantries, when a strong odour hit my nose.

“Garrett, what do you perceive?” I asked, starting to become afraid.

“Fuck! Blood!” He replied.

Before we could decide on what to do, we heard Eliana let out a loud scream from inside. We both dashed into the clinic with hasty steps, not having the time to start talking or saying our thoughts out loud.

The sight of Carrie’s badly damaged body, lying sprawled on the floor, was what greeted us as soon as we stepped our feet into the clinic. Eliana was shaking her body hard, and kept on screaming, as tears began to roll in torrents from her eyes.

“No! Carrie, no!” She kept on saying, crying unstoppably, and also hiccupping.

Garrett stood beside me, opening his eyes and mouth wide in shock, and began to walk slowly towards her body, like a broken man. He collapsed before her on his knees, and touched her cheek, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Please, open your eyes,” He managed to say, with his fingers trembling, and his teeth, chattering, with the fear of losing his beloved wife, Carrie.

Carrie was too good of a person to just die like that, and I could hardly believe my eyes. I clenched my fists, not wanting to accept the truth, and decided to block everyone and everything out. She was one of the sweetest and kindest souls I had ever known, and she deserved a peaceful death if at all she was going to die. She didn’t deserve to die in a terrible manner such as this.

I closed my eyes, determined to avenge her death, and that was when I heard it. There was a heartbeat; it wasn’t loud, but very faint, and it was diminishing slowly.

I flung my eyes wide open, and rushed to where Carrie was, and touched her neck with a finger.

“What are you doing?” Garrett asked.

“She isn’t dead,” I replied.

“What?”

“I just felt her pulse, Garrett. She’s very much alive, but it’s only a matter of time before she gives up the ghost,” I said.

“I can save her. I can still save her,” Garrett said, placing his hand on her heart.

“Taking this amount of pain could kill your wolf side, don’t you know?” I asked, stopping him, by holding his hand.

“I don’t care,” He said, removing his hand from mine.

“You don’t care that you could become an ordinary human being if you try to save her? You’re basically bringing a dead person back to life. Won’t you regret this?” I asked, trying to stop him from making a decision he was likely to regret in the future.

“What then would you have me do? She should already be dead by now. If she’s still breathing, it’s because she’s fighting to live, and I won’t let her fight be in vain,” He said.

“Garrett!” I called, in a firm voice.

Tears wee streaming down his eyes. “What? What would you have me do? You would do the same for Eliana, I know you would. Please, don’t stop me from trying to save my wife. I will never regret becoming human just for her sake; what I’d regret, however, is the fact that I watched her die while I could have still done something to save her,” He said.

When he explained it that way, I just couldn’t keep preventing him from doing what any other selfless and reasonable husband would have done.

“Fine then, but you’re useful to my Pack, and I won’t let you do anything that would stop you from fulfilling your duties as a werewolf. If you must save her, we must do it together. Hopefully, your power combined with mine would be sufficient enough to ensure she starts breathing normally again without harming either of our werewolf sides,” I said.

He nodded his head, buying into the idea.

Together, we both placed our hands on her heart, and we began to take in her pain which was unbearable. Around the same time, both of us began to scream loudly, as she started to hyperventilate, fighting for her life.

I panted heavily, as we both let go of her.

Her eyes were still closed, but at least, she was breathing perfect fine now.

“I think she’s still unconscious, but at least, she’s fine now. I’ll call the ambulance,” Eliana said.

“Thanks,” Garrett said, removing the hair that was in Carrie’s face, as he looked at her, with so much love in his eyes.

“We should probably try to resuscitate her,” I said, after Eliana was done with making an emergency call to the hospital.

“I think she will wake up soon,” Eliana said, patting my back.

“Thank you so much, Alistair,” Garrett said, looking at me with a look of appreciation.

“Nice to see the whole gang is here,” I heard a familiar voice say, as the door of the clinic opened.

When I looked up, I saw Eliana’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Sam, walking in, leisurely.

“What the hell are you doing here? First, it was Jennifer, and now, it’s you. Why has our past decided to visit us today?” Eliana lamented, throwing him a cold glare.

“Actually, sweetie, Jennifer and I are partners,” Sam revealed.

“Partners in what?” Garrett asked, confused.

“Partners in getting revenge on all of you that are present here, especially Alistair and my beautiful and lovely Eliana,” He said, with a smirk playing around his lips.

“Are you insane? Are you nuts? You’re getting revenge on us for what exactly? You’re the one who lied, manipulated and hurt us? If anything, we should be joining forces to take revenge on both of you for being traitors,” I said, in total and utter displeasure.

“That being said, what exactly do you want from us?” Eliana asked, adding to what I had said.

He shrugged. “Jennifer wants you to come and see her,” He replied.

Eliana chuckled. “Oh. So, now, you’re Jennifer’s henchman?” She asked, in a sarcastic and rhetorical manner.

“And why would we want to see Jennifer? If she has anything to say, she should come and say it to our faces. If she wants to apologise, that’s all good and fine, but we won’t go to her. She should be the one to come to us,” I said, without mincing words.

He sneered. “You heard of your revenge, and you’re talking about apology? Seriously, how dumb can you get?” He asked.

“Don’t you dare insult me, or else....”

“Or else, you will do nothing. If you want to see your son alive and in good health, you will do nothing,” He said.

That was when it dawned on me that I had not seen Ian, or even perceived his presence in the clinic, but we had all been too concentrated on Carrie to have even remembered my only child.

I stood up, and grabbed him by the collar, with my eyes glowing brightly red. “Where did you keep my son? Where is Ian? What have you done to him?” I asked, with my heart aching more as each second passed, especially with Eliana already sobbing hard, and blaming herself.

“Relax, Alistair. Your son is fine, and he is in good hands...at least, for now,” Sam said.

“What trash are you spitting from that hole you call a mouth? What do you mean that he is in good hands for now?” Eliana asked, standing in front of him, with tears blurring her vision.

“If you co-operate with me, you’ll get to see your beloved little Ian in no time. Otherwise, he’ll be returned to you dead,” He said, in a firm tone, still remaining composed even though I was very enraged, and could snap him into two if I deemed it fit.

“What do you want?” Eliana asked, in a voice that had gotten cracked from all the crying.

“You have to come with me. You can choose not to if you like, but that would only be very problematic for your son,” Sam said.

“How do I know that you’re not lying by saying you have my son and that he is still alive?” I asked.

“You’re a werewolf. You can know if I’m lying or not just by listening to the sound of my heartbeat,” He said.

I scoffed. “I tried to do that in the past, you know. However, your heartbeat was so steady and I believed you were telling the truth. You’re a pathological liar, Sam, and you can even still act normally and keep your heartbeat steady, even when you’re lying, because it is a part of you,” I said.

“Fair enough. I guess I have to present you with concrete evidence, then,” He said, then unlocked his phone, and stuck it in my face.

My son was tied to a chair and he kept on asking for his mum. Had I not been a man, I would have given in to the tears that were welling up in my eyes, because I felt really hard and so sad about what my son had to pass through, without being able to do anything about it.

Obviously, Jennifer was out of her mind, and she needed a brain reset, which I was going to give to her once I saw her. I couldn’t even understand why she would do an evil thing, such as kidnapping my son. We did have our differences, but she had gone too far.

It could be that she probably just wanted attention, and that was why she had done something I never believed she could ever do. Imagine tying up the poor innocent child, who didn’t even know her, and treating him as though he were an animal.

Joke or not, I was definitely not going to forgive her for what she had done, and I was prepared to make her regret doing something this wicked to my child.

“We will go to where Jennifer is, since we don’t have a choice. Are you cool with that, Eliana?” I asked, staring at her.

She eyed Sam, furiously. “You are going to take us exactly where my son is. I don't know why you are doing this, but all I can say is that I am highly disappointed in you. I had so much expectations concerning you, and I never for once thought that you would do something like this, not just to me, but also to an innocent child. You truly are pathetic,” Eliana said, looking like she was restraining herself from giving him a solid blow in the face.

“Ouch!” We heard Carrie say, suddenly.

I turned around and saw her slowly open her eyes, and looked stupefied for a moment. Suddenly, she flinched on recognising us.

“Werewolves. They are real. Garrett’s sister is a werewolf,” She said, looking at Eliana.

“I thought she was dead,” Sam said.

“As you can see, she is very much alive,” I said.

“Wait a minute. Was Jenny behind what happened to Carrie?” Garrett asked, looking suspicious.

“Of course,” He said.

“What?” We all chorused, in shock.

If Jenny could have done something like this, then, it meant that she had changed and could do a whole lot worse to my son if care wasn’t taken.

“Take me to my son now,” I demanded, shaking his chest.

“I will, but first of all, you all have to go to sleep,” He said.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

He didn’t reply, but the next thing I knew, he had taken out a substance from his pocket, and sprayed it in the room.

Soon, we all became drowsy. I wanted to ask him what he was doing, but before I could open my mouth to say a word, I fell flat on the floor, with my eyes and brain shutting down, and giving way to sleep.