🐺💣🔪 MY_BLACK_KNIGHT 🔪💣🐺
🎴Happen 12
As Produced By Sheriff Squinty
Theme: Finding Her
~ ~ ~ A Couple Hours Earlier ~ ~ ~
Maria’s POV
I glared mutinously at my father, our dark eyes locked in a silent standoff as we mentally argued.
You nee-d to stay here, Maria, he was insisting.
You’ve been looking for Skylar all night and now the others are searching the city. It’s your turn to rest. You look exhausted.
I don’t give a cra-p if I look tired! I snapped furiously. She’s my best friend, Dad. I don’t care if I have to search for a week without slee-ping.
Our pack is taking shifts. Do you not trust her father and Will to find her?
They’ve been searching all night without rest, Dad! They aren’t taking any breaks!
He sighed, closing his eyes briefly and running his hand throu-gh his dark hair. I knew that my father, as pack Beta, was trying to avoid causing a panic while keeping everyone rested and on full alert. For all we knew, an attack on our pack was imminent if one of our own had been kidnapped. My father was right to be cautious, and he was even more so when it c@m£ to me. I had been searching all night with no luck. We could find no trace of her scent anywhere. After a while, Alpha Brett commanded that Anne, Jake, and I return with a report and others would take our place searching. Skylar’s father, of course, had been in the city since we first reported Skylar missing and he refused to return to the pack until she was safe. Will had somehow avoided being called back to the village and was still searching alongside Skylar’s father.
I knew I couldn’t rest, either. I was physically exhausted from lack of sleep but my mind was on constant alert. I couldn’t help but feel that something bad had happened to my best friend and I couldn’t allow that to happen. So here I was, stuck arguing with my father about letting me leave and rejoin the search p@rty.
“Dad, plea-se!” I finally spoke out loud. We were in Alpha Brett’s house and there were others conversing nearby but I didn’t care at this point. “I won’t be able to sleep. And maybe they’ll nee-d my help. It’s a big city.” Well, a big city when you were trying to find one she-wolf, I thought.
My father clenched his jaw and looked down. I could tell he was close to caving. I noticed that Alpha Brett had finished his conversation and was coming to stand next to my father. I hoped they wouldn’t gang up on me.
“She’d do it for me, Dad,” I added quietly, knowing it was true. Skylar would not hesitate to look for me until she coll@psed with exhaustion, if our situations were reversed.
My father glanced at Alpha Brett, and the two appeared to be having a silent conversation. After a moment they turned back to me and my father opened his mouth to speak but Alpha Brett suddenly froze, holding up a hand. His eyes bec@m£ unfocused as he paused, listening to something in his head. I shifted from foot to foot, itching to Shift into wolf form and return to the search.
“Her father just contacted me. Skylar s£nt him a message. It was brief but she s£nt him a picture of what she could see. It won’t narrow it down much but it’ll help. I’m going to pas-s it along to all of the searchers, including you, Maria.” The Alpha said. I felt a rush of hope. Any hint was helpful at this point and it sounded like he was going to let me return to town.
I closed my eyes as I felt the t©uçh of a mental contact. I opened my mind, receiving the image that Alpha Brett was s£nding. It was somewhat fuzzy, having been pas-sed throu-gh Skylar’s father, but it was better than nothing. There wasn’t much to see in the mental image but from what I could gather, it looked like some sort of warehouse. I tried to memorize the layout and color of the surrounding buildings outside of the room Skylar was in.
*
Hall Of Supernatural Stories
*
I reopened my eyes, feeling a surge of nervousness. Her location had not seemed plea-sant, and I could only hope she was okay.
“Maria, I know you want to help, so I’m going to authorize your return to the search team.” Alpha Brett tossed a look at my father, who hesitated before nodding. “We nee-d all the help we can get, Jack, and knowing your daughter she’ll go either way.” My father gave a wry smile.
I gave him my thanks before turning to leave. I wasn’t going to bother changing clothes or eating before resuming the search.
My father and the Alpha followed me outside. It was still morning, the sun slowly ascending in the sky, and I could not believe we had searched for so long (all night and early morning!) without finding her. I felt like a horrible friend. Skylar’s scent had still been fresh when we noticed her missing, so it had been within thirty minutes after her dep@rture that we followed her, but I felt terrible nonetheless. I wish I’d have stuck by her side all night, especially knowing what she was going throu-gh.
We’d found her shoes, tossed aside in an alleyway. That was where her scent had dead-ended. The smell of human blood had hung thickly in the air, with a decent puddle of it on the ground, and I’d suspected that was what drew Skylar out there, to make sure the human was okay. However, we’d seen no signs of humans anywhere. No bodies, despite how much blood was on the ground.
The most curious p@rt had been the blood caked on Skylar’s shoe. It wasn’t hers, and it wasn’t human. I had no idea who it belonged to, and that was a frightening thought.
I swallowed ha-rd , trying to rein in my emotion. Skylar must have felt so lost and abandoned, especially since her father hadn’t been able to contact her mentally. Surely she would know we weren’t giving up.
I st©pped abruptly when I heard a low snarl come from Alpha Brett behind me. I spun around to see a frighteningly angry expression contorting his features. My father looked confused, glancing around to see what the problem was before looking at Alpha Brett for an explanation.
“That bastard,” Alpha Brett was seething.
“What?” I asked, bewildered.
“Border patrol just notified me that…Gabriel…” he spit out the name, “is on our territory. Requesting to see me. He’s almost here alre-ady; how he made it so far before they detected him, I don’t know, but they are esc-rting him here. Apparently he felt excruciating pain coming throu-gh his link with Skylar and he c@m£ right away.”
I felt a strange mix of emotions then. Worry, for Gabriel was a frightening individual and his appearance would surely cause trouble. Horror, because of the ‘excruciating pain’ that he felt; they hadn’t even mated, so the pain must have been intense. Mates could feel each other’s every emotion and thought once they completed the process, but before the Claiming, only the most intense emotions and physical pain could be shared between them.
I also felt a surprising amount of relief. Gabriel was the most powerful wolf I’d ever been around, surely he could help us find her. If he was coming all this way that meant he cared about her, right?
I then realized that he’d made the journey all the way from his pack village to the heart of our territory in half of a day. It was normally a day’s journey between the two villages, which meant he’d been traveling incredibly fast to get here. That reas-sured me even further, and I was begrudgingly impressed with his speed.
“We have less wolves patrolling today because of how many are searching for Skylar; that’s probably why they took so long to scent and catch up to him. What are you going to do?” My father was asking, his brow furrowed.
“I don’t want him on our territory,” Alpha Brett growled. “Although I’m not sure I can st©p him. By law he is allowed to request my pres£nce.”
“He might help us find Skylar,” I added, nervous about his reaction. His eyes focused on me.
*
As Produced By Sheriff Squinty
*
“…perhaps,” He admitted begrudgingly. Dislike was evident in his expression. I couldn’t blame him, but our pack member had to come first.
“We can’t exactly attack him, anyways,” my father said bitterly. “Not without risk of his pack’s reaction.” As horrible as the truth was, the Black Mountains Pack was a lot stronger than us. We couldn’t afford to anger them.
The two began to converse about Gabriel, swiftly walking in the direction that I as-sumed the Alpha would be coming from. I followed without permission. I may not like the wolf, based on what he and his father had done to our pack over the years, but he was Skylar’s Mate and we nee-ded help. If she was in pain her Wolf would nee-d his pres£nce, and we had to put her before pack relations right now. To my surprise, the Alpha and my father let me follow with only a brief stern glance in my direction from the latter. They had more important things to worry about right now and I sure as hell wasn’t staying behind when I could be helping my best friend somehow.
Apparently I’d be getting the chance to meet my best friend’s Mate up close and personal. I only hoped that he could prove himself worthy of having a Mate like Skylar and help us save her, before it was too late.
—
We st©pped in a clearing some distance away and secluded from our pack village. We didn’t have to wait long before the unfamiliar scent grew strong. I felt a small flutter of nervousness in the pit of my stomach. The Alpha of the Black Mountains Pack unnerved me. I couldn’t even imagine how Skylar must have felt when she discovered that he was her Mate. Perhaps there was some good in him, de-ep down, if Fate chose him for Skylar. He couldn’t be all bad, could he?
He emerged from the trees nearby, flanked by the two wolves on border patrol. I snorted mentally; he dwarfed both of them, and I knew there was absolutely no chance they’d be able to take him in a fight. The Alpha was mas-sive and muscular, a few inches taller even than Alpha Brett, with incredibly dark hair and eyes. I had to admit, for such a cruel as-s-hole, he definitely was good looking. If it weren’t for the predatory gleam in his eyes and the animalistic way he moved, he would look more beautiful than dangerous. I, of course, did not feel the type of attra-ction to him that my best friend did, as my Wolf had absolutely no interest in him. I knew it must have been hell for Skylar, though, whenever she was near him.
I quic-kly averted my eyes as his dark gaze briefly connected with mine. Jeez, I was ogling the guy’s good looks and I wasn’t even attra-cted to him, how the Hell did Skylar resist him? I felt a pang of sympathy for what she must go throu-gh every time she was around him. I knew that one day, I’d feel the exact same irresistible physical pu-ll towards my own Mate.
“Where is she?” He spoke abruptly before anyone could address him. I detected an edge of worry in his tone and it was surprising, considering the emotionless way he spoke at the Meeting I had gone to.
“We don’t know,” Alpha Brett replied shortly. I was surprised he wasn’t reprimanding Gabriel for infringing upon our territory; then again, a kidnapped wolf took precedence. I cautiously looked up to see Gabriel’s reaction.
“How can you not know?” He demanded, voice harsh. His hands were curled into fists. The two wolves on either side of him looked nervous.
“We have a group of wolves looking for her as we speak.” I could tell Alpha Brett was trying to control his anger. “Skylar disappeared outside of a club in the human settlement nearby over twelve hours ago. She recently contacted her father with a brief message, claiming she was kidnapped by vampires and is being held captive.”
What? I thought, my gaze snapping to his face. Vampires? Alpha Brett had not said anything about that before. Why did he not look surprised that Skylar was talking about vampires? I’d thought they were a myth!
Then again, humans probably thought we were a myth.
Gabriel’s eyes had a deadly gleam in them. “You haven’t found her?” He snapped. I felt both wolves stiffen next to me at the implied reprimand. “Then I will go to the settlement. Where is it?” He did not seem surprised by the whole ‘vampire’ idea, either, just angry. His expression was unnerving.
Alpha Brett turned to me then, irritation evident in his stance, and I caught my breath. I thought I saw where this was going…
“Maria was with Skylar last. She’-we’ve- been searching for her but her scent is nowhere to be found. We will s£nd Maria and two other wolves to esc-rt you to the city.” It was clear he wanted Gabriel gone as soon as possible.
Gabriel’s imposing black eyes were on me again, and I shifted my weight uncomfortably. I could alre-ady tell that my father did not like the idea of me going along with Gabriel, but he dare not contradict Alpha Brett in front of another Alpha.
“Then we are wasting time. Let’s go,” he said coolly, but once again I detected a worried un-dertone to his words. I could only hope that he could help us find her, because I couldn’t shake the notion that her time was running out.
—
Half of an hour later we were sprinting in Wolf form throu-gh the woods towards the city. Two other wolves from my pack, Seth and Carrie, had joined us as we raced to the city to meet Skylar’s father, Will, and the rest of the search p@rty. I could s-en-se both of their unease and dislike for the gigantic black wolf running alongside us but they hadn’t complained. If someone in our pack was in danger, we put them before everything else.
Glancing at Gabriel nervously out of the corner of my eye, my Wolf couldn’t help but be slightly awed, which was likely due to the Alpha pres£nce that we still recognized despite being in a different pack. Brett had a similar effect on my Wolf, but he wasn’t as imposing as the Alpha next to me. Skylar’s Mate had the largest wolf form I had ever seen and it was pitch black in color. I could tell he was slowing his run slightly to accommod@t£ us and it was paining him to do so, but he nee-ded our mental picture of Skylar’s location to find her so he kept to our non-Alpha pace. I could see the tension in every line of his form. It must be even worse now that his Wolf was running free. A Wolf would always put their Mate above everything.
At our fast pace it did not take too long to reach the fringe of the trees. Here we had to Shift back into human form; while our mission was important, we couldn’t risk ex-posure of our species for any reason. The four of us each found a tree to Shift behind (which would not have been necessary without Gabriel’s pres£nce). Normally I tied my clothes to my ankle, but this time I had carried a pack of clothes on my back, since shoes were required when venturing in the human settlement. I quic-kly changed, shoving the shoes on my feet hastily before re-emerging. My s-en-se of urgency increa-sed tenfold now that we were in the outSk-irts of the city and I could see its sheer size. How were we supposed to find her amidst all of the humans’ overpowering smell?
A few minutes later we sp©tted Skylar’s dad, Will, and two other wolves awaiting us outside of some random coffee shop. As we approached I saw all four of them stiffen when they saw Gabriel, although Alpha Brett had warned them in advance. Will and the two wolves shifted uneasily, trying to conceal their reactions to Gabriel’s imposing pres£nce.
Alexander especially had unease in his expression as he eyed his daughter’s Mate. I couldn’t blame him.
“Alpha,” Alexander greeted him curtly, as using his name would be far too informal.
Gabriel nodded, his eyes holding an unfathomable expression as he examined his Mate’s father with renewed interest. I could tell he was sizing Skylar’s father up, measuring him.
*
Hall Of Supernatural Stories
*
The tension between my pack and Gabriel crackled in the air. Will’s expression was darker than normal, clear dislike in his gaze. Gabriel turned his head slightly as if noticing Will’s stare, and Will immediately looked down. He didn’t have the gall to look the Alpha straight in the eyes. Hell, neither did I. Gabriel stared at Will a moment longer, eyes slightly narrowed. I furrowed my brow in confusion; was it just me, or did Gabriel seem even more tense now? Had Will’s expression irritated him that much?
“Do you have a plan?” Gabriel finally asked, turning away from Will and breaking the taut silence. Alexander nodded, and Will seemed relieved that Gabriel was no longer staring at him.
“We were going to split up into two groups again. Me, you, Maria, and Will are going to take the south side of downtown. The message Skylar s£nt me said she was somewhere near downtown and it looked like she was in a warehouse of some sort. We’ve been combing the streets down there but it’s a hvge area. The others can take the north side, p@rt of which we’ve alre-ady searched.” Alexander was holding out a map at this point and outlining the general area. It really was quite large. I only wish she’d been able to contact us sooner, for we’d wasted several hours checking the territory around the city and the outSk-irts of the city itself, thinking her kidnappers would not want to stay put. However, this many humans served to mask her scent completely. It really was a clever tactic.
Alexander indicated two cars parked on the curb. “We were using these earlier but the traffic is pretty bad downtown. It’s actually fas-ter to walk.” He reached out his coat pocket and pu-ll-ed out one last piece of paper. “When she contacted me earlier I had Will research all of the storage units, empty buildings, and warehouses in the city.”
I glanced down at the paper; it had started out with dozens of names but over half had been crossed out. “We ruled out those not near downtown and a few that we’ve driven by. That still leaves several in the general area. Their addresses are marked so that’s where we are going.” Alexander glanced around the entire group, his eyes finally resting on Gabriel. “Any questions?”
Nob©dy indicated that they had a question so the groups split and the four of us headed south at a brisk walk.
#Tobecontinued…