Chapter 8

Xander –

Whenever I see Clair, I always seem to catch her backside. She has the most amazing apple pie odor. "Mate, mate," my wolf yells as he dances around.

I have a gut feeling something isn't quite right about the limo Clair escapes in. On a business card I keep in my wallet, I write the license plate number.

As I walk back into the ball, I seek the Alpha of her pack. The mated Alphas monitor the unmated members of their pack, so they do not get carried away.

My father is there too, I mind-link my father. "I found my mate"

"Well, son, who is she?"

“Clair”

"How did she take it?"

"She ran"

"The positive side son, she didn't give you a verbal rejection.”

"I am going to have her Alpha meet me in my office. Would you like to be there too?"

There is Alpha Cameron in the distance; I nod towards the offices. Despite the curious look on his face, he ends up heading in the direction I nod.

The Alpha enters my office first after I unlock my door. I gesture for him to sit down. After sitting, I turn to the Alpha. In the mind link, my father tells me he is on his way.

As I explain to Alpha Cameron, "I am waiting for my father to come in as well." He smiles.

Alpha Cameron and I both bow our heads when my father enters the room. As my father gestures for us to be as we were, we take our seats.

My father and I both bid Alpha Cameron good night.

"Alpha, you must wonder what is so urgent that we summon you to my office."

Alpha Cameron –

"That notion crossed my mind." Cameron replies.

Alpha, I think I found my mate tonight, and guess what she did? She ran!"

As Alpha Cameron grits his teeth, hoping it isn't Clair, "Who is your mate?”

Xander –

"She is in your pack, and she is also your sister. It amazes me she keeps running, and I have yet to see her face."

"Your highness, I will speak with her."

"Alpha Cameron, I'd like all her things moved here to the Castle."

"Yes, your majesty."

"I hope I am wrong, but Clair got into a limo when she was running from me. She seemed hesitant at first, but then I called for her and she jumped into the limo. I have the license plate number if this turns out to be a kidnapping. I need to make sure she is okay."

"Your highness, I will look into it, Clair takes off often. Thank you. I will notify you."

At the end of the meeting, the prince stands up and leads Alpha Cameron out of the room.

The moment Alpha Cameron leaves the room, Xander checks the security feeds. Clair has set up a security room that Xander has never been to before, so he has to ask for directions to locate it.

I ask the Security geek to zoom in on the face of the man who grabbed her hand. The man looks very much like her, albeit a male version. It almost seems as if she was unsure about entering the vehicle from the feed. I send those screenshots to her brother Alpha Cameron, and I am setting up trackers using both the license plate I have and the pictures. My wolf is not happy because the man touched her, and he believes she is in danger.

Cameron –

I see a screenshot of a man holding out his hand to my sister, and my jaw drops to the ground. He looks like a male version of my sister.

In my haste to find my sister, I have already left the ball. Immediately, I contact my family to come to my office.

As soon as my family sit down, I pass the photo around. Atypical reactions come from the family regarding the picture of the young man.

Seeing my mother crying, my father runs to her side. "Cameron? Do you think this is my baby? How is it that Clair is getting into a car with him?”

Cameron - "Mom, we just got this from a video feed, sent to me by the prince. Before I forget, Clair's mate is the prince. I guess when she figured it out at the ball, she ran and got into that limo we see in the picture."

Dad - "Son, do we know if they kidnapped her?"

Cameron - "I have no clue, we just found out about this. What we need to do is keep trying to call her, and send out trackers, and find out what is the matter."

Cameron- "The prince wants us to move Clair in right away. You know how Clair is, she doesn't want to be ordered to do anything. We certainly could move her stuff to the castle, however that doesn't mean she will stay there.”

Cameron –

"Collin and Calden, I want you to trace down the limo and find out what you can discover. Corbin and Connor run face recognition software on the picture of the young man we have. It is imperative that we learn as much as we can.

Camden, stay with me; we're heading to the castle to look at the security feeds and see if we can figure out what's going on. Mom and Dad, do you remember the pack clinic from where Clair was born? See if the clinic still exists. While we don't know if Clair is in danger, we should begin our search as if she is in danger. Ok Come on, everyone! Let's get started!”

"Okay, brothers, let's do what we do best and find our sister.”

Clair – 'My head hurts. Stop that truck from rolling over my brain. Where am I? What has happened to me? I groan. It hurts to move. There is mumbling in the background, like a fuzzy radio station that is not receiving signals well.'

Slowly, my senses of smell are surfacing as I smell dirty feet and urine all around me. My hearing is becoming finer tune. I hear someone say to me repeatedly, "I am sorry."

I sit up and see that I am lying on an old disgusting dirty cot. I see mold growing on the wall. Steel bars act as my doors, locking me in like an animal in a cage. Somewhere in the distance, a little girl is crying. From the steel bars, I can see another cell across the way, where I see my lookalike. I hear him repeatedly say, "I'm sorry.".

Still dazed I ask, "Who are you?"

He looks ashamed and bows his head, "I am your twin, I am sorry I had to have the rogues kidnap you. I know you must hate me."

Shocked and angry, "My twin died when I was born! How dare you claim to be him!"

"My name is Colt, by the way. When we were born, my parents could not produce a pup, they had tried for many years. They were at an Alpha conference; they saw your mother with so many pups and your mother was going to be giving birth to two more.

My mother thought she has so many, and I don't have a pup at all. She certainly would not miss one less child. I am not saying what she did was right, I am just explaining what I was told. My mother paid the Nurse all her savings, so that the nurse would tell your mom I was dead.

The reason there wasn’t a body was that I was cremated. I grew up not knowing they weren't my biological parents. About a month ago, Rogues attacked us unexpectedly. About six years ago, they had a miracle baby, my little sister Rose.

My parents had us hiding in the bunker, that is when my parents told me the truth, they were certain they were going to make it out alive. My mother told me to take my sister and get her out through the tunnels. I heard them fighting as I ran my sister through the tunnels that led us to the forest. I needed to hide us from the rogues, for safety's sake.

I used to play in a cave under the waterfalls. I picked up my sister and ran to the caves. I didn't expect the rogues to be in the cave, that is when they captured my sister and me.

They wanted me to bargain with the Alpha's in your pack, as they had the Rogue Prince in their cells. That is when they decided I would kidnap the Alpha of your pack. You wouldn't believe how shocked I was when you came running down the stairs out of the castle, and how much we looked alike.

Now they want to use you to get their prince back. I am sorry; I had to. They are torturing my little sister. They use silver whips on her to ensure my compliance.”

Clair –

Having listened to Colt, I wanted to be angry, feel betrayed, but I couldn't be, I understood he was trying to save his little sister. I even felt a brief pang of jealousy, that he called her his sister, and we never had to opportunity to form that bond. "It's okay, you can stop apologizing now. I understand. What we need to do is find a way to escape.”