Chapter 50

Time and space held no relevance for a while until the haze began to clear and I had an unpleasant feeling of being dropped from a height. The first sounds to immediately reach me were the insects followed by the rustling of the leaves in the wind.

My eyes jolted open as my body shuddered violently against the cold. What the-

I looked around instantly and realised that I was standing under a gazebo, alone in the dark and practically frozen cold.

How long had I been outside? I gasped in surprise when I realised that I could barely feel my fingers or much else on my skin. My body was ice cold, my teeth chattering loudly as I tried to get a sense of my bearings and how I had gotten there.

I could clearly recall feeling devastated in the hall and wanting to leave. And I definitely remembered coming outside and being upset but I had no recollection of making my way to this gazebo.

Turning towards the packhouse, I could faintly hear laughter and music coming from within. Had they noticed that I was gone? A sudden sense of panic hit me at the thought. If I had indeed stayed away for too long, I did not want to imagine the kind of sadistic punishment that Alpha Nicholas or the brothers would unleash if they caught sight of me.

And it was that fear that prompted me to move despite being unable to. Shaking out of my bones, I folded my arms over my chest to preserve some heat and began to walk towards the packhouse. I could feel the goosebumps over the exposed parts of my skin as I continued to shiver. Had I been that upset that I did not notice the cold?

The train of the dress was cumbersome as it tugged and pulled against the ground. And without the aid of my hands to hold up the material, the walk was gruelling and painful.

Just as I neared the building, I stopped short when I heard voices. Mostly male, they seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion.

"I'm telling you something just doesn't add up."

I did not recognise the voice but the man sounded agitated.

"Maybe so. But humans kidnapping shifters? That sounds farfetched."

A round of snorts and murmurs erupted after the second man had spoken, a voice I could not place either.

Peeking around the corner, I noticed the group of shifter males standing around in a circle with drinks and cigars in their hands. I held back a groan as I realised that they were blocking the very door that I needed to get back inside.

"Are you calling me a liar?!"

The man took a step towards the one he was addressing, both men extraordinarily large even by shifter standards. My eyes went around the circle and it looked like all the men present were larger and broader than regular shifters. Like Alex and Marcus.

A third one intervened, raising his arms out between the other two.

"Gentleman, let's all calm down. There is no need-"

"Don't tell me to calm down Lucien! These are my men that are missing..."

I was desperate to get inside, my shivering getting worse by the second. But at the same time, I did not wish to be spotted by these men who could call for one of the brothers or worse, Alpha Nicholas himself.

"... humans have grown far too comfortable and bold! And while we sit here playing with our dicks, they are out there kidnapping our kind and doing Goddess knows what!"

"And do you have proof of this, Ryker?"

Even in the dim light, I recognised the silvery-blond, long hair of the speaker. Alpha Ezra.

The man named Ryker, who had been speaking all along, turned towards Ezra, his stance becoming less aggressive when he faced him. And though he had been rudely shouting before, his voice lowered with respect when he answered. "I went personally to the site where the attack happened. The bodies that remained were burnt to a crisp, unrecognisable. No trace of the six that are missing. No scent, no tracks...nothing. Even their individual gps trackers were disabled."

Alpha Ezra appeared to take a moment before answering. "Could have been another shifter pack."

Ryker did not seem to like that answer as a low frustrated snarl came from him before he cut it off abruptly. "The site was just too clean. Only humans would go to that kind of trouble to cover up something. And I believe that there is an underground military base where they could have taken the men. It's-"

Another male, who had remained silent, spoke up. "Ryker, those are just rumours. The place you speak off is in my territory close to the Canadian border and I myself along with my warriors have searched the area many times and found nothing."

I placed a hand over my mouth to stop my teeth from chattering, worried that the men would hear me but thankfully, they seemed too engrossed in their argument to take notice of anything else.

Ryker let out a growl. "We should be doing something! We are strong enough to take them on. Together with the vampyres and the elves, we can-"

"And we would be the ones with the most to lose..."

Alpha Ezra who had stopped Ryker in his mad rant, continued in a patient tone. "We have all witnessed a miracle today, the likes of which our kind hasn't seen for centuries. The Goddess has bonded a human to one of our own. And that changes things for us drastically. We would now need to carefully think of the consequences that such a war will have. While elves could care less about humans and vampyres only needing them as a food source, we on the other hand, could be killing our potential mates in an attack like that. Would you doom our race to a fate such as that?"

I stilled, the realisation finally dawning on me. They were planning a war? Against humans?

Alpha Ezra's words were met with silence, the men sipping on their drinks or puffing their cigars in the contained tension between them that seemed palpable. Unable to take the cold any longer, I looked around, wondering if there was another way in but just seconds later a strong gust of wind blew past putting an end to my thoughts and the plan to stay hidden. Fuck this!

I came out of the shadows, hobbling towards the door as my feet and toes had turned numb with cold and did not want to cooperate. I was unable to swallow and my exposed skin stung like needles. I realised that if I didn't make it to the door and the warmth inside very soon, I was in real danger of becoming hypothermic.

Completely ignoring the intimidating group of men, my eyes honed in on the entrance.

Keeping my head down as I drew closer, I was very aware of the looks that I was getting. Their conversation had stopped and not a single sound could be heard. Usually, being stared at by a bunch of men would have made me immensely awkward but right now, that was the last thing on my mind.

"Mia?"

It was Alpha Ezra but all I could manage was a glance in his direction.

He took a few steps forward, coming closer. "You look pale. Are you alright?"

The other men looked on, some with frowns and others with a look of surprise.

The sound of my teeth chattering sounded so loud in the silence that I tried to clench them together but to no avail.

Alpha Ezra was in front of me in an instant, his eyes glancing all down my shivering form with a look of concern. "You look really cold. What are you doing out here?"

Untying his robe, he swung it around my shoulders, the heat a sudden shock to my system.

"Let's get you inside."

Although, I welcomed the layer of robe over my bare skin, it was so heavy that it weighed me down making me stumble. Recognising the problem, his arms went around me immediately, holding me steady as we made our way to the door.

"Is she alright?", someone from the group enquired.

I did not recognise the voice but Alpha Ezra responded. "Don't think so. I'm taking her inside. See if one of you can find her mate."

I leaned on him heavily, unable to make it on my own. He didn't seem bothered by my weight as he easily manoeuvred us inside, train and all. But he wasn't done questioning as he turned to look at me sideways.

"What were you doing outside?"

I faced forward, unable to answer him. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened outside.