11

~Arsen Storm~

It was afternoon and I was in a meeting to discuss new territory boundaries when a voice was heard through the pack link.

Actually, I didn't want to be interrupted now, which is why I wanted to exclude the voice, but when I said it, I immediately became aware.

"Alpha, my son was shot by a human," came Abigail Summers' voice. This made me prick up my ears. One of my pack members was injured by a human. I immediately thought of hunters. 'Fuck, did they unmask us? ' It crossed my mind. Maybe because of the girl? My girl.

"It's not that bad." The son seemed to say that he was doing better than expected. And it was Steven of all people who was supposed to take care of my mate. So what happened?

"Who shot you?" Costa now asked, who also heard the whole thing. Everyone in this pack hears this conversation because it is conducted via the pack mindlink.

"That is it. It was Aurelia's father." Steven said and my heart skipped a beat.

Aurelia. Crap. Is she OK?

I wanted to ask where she is and if she was okay, but that would have been too obvious. Instead, Costa asked, "The girl from your house?! I knew that she brought problems. Why are you still in contact with her?"

"I should take care of her. Alpha's orders." At that, Costa's gaze, who was attending the gathering as my beta, shot to me.

"Why don't I know about this?" he asked me now.

Alpha Black, sitting across from me, took notice. The other werewolves hadn't noticed anything about the other pack before, but now curious eyes turned to Costa and me.

"You don't have to know everything. I just wanted someone to make sure she didn't do anything she might regret later." Was my excuse, which I tried to convey nonchalantly.

"Alpha, I have a bad premonition and I need help finding her." Steven spoke again. It was hard to ignore his concern in the voice. It was really important.

Without wasting another thought I jumped up, apologized to Alpha Black and ran outside to my sports car. Costa ran after me and started talking to me, but I completely ignored him.

My thoughts were with her. What if something happened to her?

Before I got into my Mercedes, I turned back to Costa. "Get in now and come with me or stay here! Your decision." Then I opened the driver's door and got behind the wheel. Costa also got in next to me and made himself comfortable in the passenger seat.

Faster than ever, I sped toward the Summers house.

-----

About 4 hours later we arrived in the dark and stopped in front of the house. Before I could get out, the back doors flew open and an enraged Steven and his older brother Dave got into the car.

I looked Steven up and down to check for his injury.

“Fortunately, it was just an ordinary human projectile. I'm starting to heal already," Steven said, noticing my gaze. He pulled up his blood-soaked sweater to reveal his slowly healing gunshot wound to his chest.

"And him?" I asked, looking at Dave.

"I'm just my little brother's support," he said, visibly relaxed and leaned back in his seat. I would have liked to have grabbed his throat, after all, this is also about my little Aurelia.

You could tell Steven was tense. She probably meant something to him too.

Without wasting any more time, I hit the gas pedal to drive to Aurelia's house.

I stopped in front of her driveway and got out to run to the door. Without further inquiring about the situation, I kicked in the door and looked around the dark hallway. It was way too quiet here.

There were a few drops of blood on the floor. I hope they don't belong to my mate.

Costa, Steven, and Dave came into the house behind me. Steven immediately ran up the stairs. I followed him.

At the top he entered a room on the left, which was furnished with old, scanty things. I went to the bedside table to look at a picture frame. In the picture you could see a little girl with - I think her parents.

The girl must have been Aurelia when she was little. Because she had the same golden hair and the same blue eyes. Only the expression in her eyes was different. In the picture she looked so happy as if there were no worries in the world. This brought a small smile to my face.

"She is not here. Damned. I can't smell her or her father," Steven said, rubbing his forehead in concern.

I also sniffed the air and, in contrast to Steven, could perceive her sweet vanilla smell. But there was something else. The smell of blood mingled with hers and I knew it was her blood.

That fucking prick who did something to her. It doesn't matter who, even if it was her father, he'll pay for it.

I followed the smell down where I found Dave looking around the living room.

"I think I have something here," Costa informed me. "Come down to the basement!" he asked, which I did.

I just followed the smell of blood and then I was already standing in a damp basement.

It was empty.

The smell of blood made me swallow. Because it was clear that she was injured. I just didn't know how great or if she was even alive. Fuck, I hope it's her.

I left her alone even though I have to protect her as her mate. It's my fault something happened to her.

But it wasn't just her blood that you could smell. There was blood from another person. It reassured me at least a little that all the blood isn't just hers.

I've wasted enough time already. I have to look for her.

So I stuck my nose out and tried to scent them and sure enough I picked up a lead. She led me out into the woods through an open back door. Costa followed me.

Steven and Dave also seemed to have found their way out, because they both followed us now.

"Transform and split up!" I commanded and began to transform into my wolf form, my clothes falling torn on the floor next to me.

In our wolf form we were just faster and our senses were even more developed than usual. So hopefully we can find them quickly.

I continued to follow her trail and felt myself getting closer. My paws continued to dash across the musty forest floor, hoping to be reunited with her soon.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally found her.

You probably wouldn't have seen her with the naked eye because she was curled up into a ball. Her black sweater camouflaged her perfectly at night, just as my black fur camouflaged me well.

I transformed back into my human form and ran towards her.

I could smell her blood everywhere, but I could hear her heart still beating. Albeit at a slow pace, but it hit. she was alive

"I found them. I'll meet you at the wagon!" I hurriedly shared with the others.

"Aurelia, wake up!" I nudged her and tried to wake her up, but no success.

Then I checked her body for injuries.

In addition to the black eye, I could see older bruises on his arms and neck. In addition, the lower leg of her right leg did not look correct. Instead of straight, he made a kink.

I picked her up in my arms and started walking back to the car. The minutes felt like hours and when I finally reached my car, the others were already waiting for me.

They were only wearing a pair of pants, which they probably got from the trunk where I kept my spare clothes. Because if our old clothes get torn during a transformation, we'll need spare clothes, although being naked isn't too uncommon for werewolves.

"Auri," Steven whispered very softly and you could clearly see the pain in his eyes. I would have liked to hit him out of jealousy. But now wasn't the right moment for it.

I put Aurelia on the back seat and then put on a pair of spare pants myself.

Then I turned back to the others. "Steven, Dave. I want you guys to find whoever is responsible and then bring him to me!" I ordered in my alpha tone. I could tell Steven was struggling, but I didn't want him anywhere near Aurelia.

"Costa, you drive us back to the pack house!" I now demanded of my beta.

I climbed back to Aurelia and pulled her close to me. I didn't miss Costa's look in the rear-view mirror.

As Costa drove off, I grabbed her hand to calm myself by the sparks that a touch between mates would bring. But her hand was ice cold.