Countdown to final chapter starts now with 3 chapters to go.

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Shocked, that was all that I could feel, while I was being held back by Brick. My Wolf growled out, trying to take control and to get to our mate. Our mate, whom was being trucked to some place because of a certain stupid Vampire.

Elder Jeff turned in our direct and shot us an apology look before sending what looked like a venomous glare to Vulcan. He got into a van, his body stiff, and I knew that he was holding back his Wolf from attacking Elder Andrew and Vulcan.

"You," Rhett hissed out, causing the world to come crashing towards me. He went to punch Vulcan, but he was being held back by Liam and Alpha Carter, whom made sure that Rhett couldn't get to him. "YOU DID THIS!" he yelled, pulling with all his might, trying to get at Vulcan but being held back. "You are cause of this! I thought you cared about her!"

Vulcan moved forward and picked up the red stone, seeming unaware of all the anger and hatred around him. "I did what she told me to do," he said, his accent thick. "Do you think I would let her get harmed?"

"It seems like that," I growled out, struggling to get out of Brick's grip. "She has been taken."

"She ordered me," Vulcan replied. He turned to look at me. "She told me to tell you to go to her old room and in the center, top drawer, there was something there for you. She said it was something that you had torn up but didn't see."

"Why are you telling me this?" I growled, barely able to control myself from shifting. "Figure," I muttered under my breath when he didn't answer me. "Guards, grab him and take him to the dungeon! I want to know what he has been hiding from us. Torture him if you must."

"Cooper! That'll hurt Rylan!" Gigi said. "Sure, I'm pissed at him, but we can't torture him>"

"She's right," Vulcan said. He looked me in the eye, and I could see that he was feeling torn and upset. "She told me to tell you to give her two weeks. She'll contact you." With that, he disappeared, leaving the Guards stunned.

I snarled and wrenched myself from Brick's grasp. "Find him!" I snapped at the pack. "I want this whole place searched. Your Luna and Alpha has been taken and is probably getting hurt because of him."

"What?" a female said. I couldn't help but groan when I saw that it was Mitchie. "She is going to be our Alpha? That girl killed our-"

I snarled and glared at Mitchie, feeling my Wolf almost at the surface. "Do not say those words," I got out before I turned around and ran away from them, shifting into Wolf form midair.

While I ran, I sensed both Rhett and Liam at my sides. I didn't know what they thought I was going to do, but I wasn't stupid enough to attack The Council head on. All I knew that I had to do was wait.

But boy, two weeks was going to be a very long time without seeing my mate.

***

"Anything?" I asked, walking into the room where I had set up Rylan's laptop. It has been eight days, seven hours, ten minutes, and fourteen seconds since I had last seen her. And, it was killing me not to know if she was alive or not.

"For the millionth time today, no," Giselle snapped, glaring up at me. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, it's been hard on all of us," she muttered.

I sighed and ran a towel through my hair. I had taken a shower beforehand, and that was probably the only time that I had left this room, except for taking care of some Alpha business, that I couldn't do at a table. "I know," I said. "Go get some rest, you need it."

Giselle shook her head. "No, you need it more, Cooper," she said. "You look like you haven't slept in ages."

I shook my head. "I can't," I said, honestly. "I can't sleep until she is safe in my arms again." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I lost her once, all ready. I don't know if I can loose her again."

I hated how weak I sounded to her, but I wanted, no needed, to share my feelings with someone. I couldn't share them with Rhett, because he hasn't really been the same after she was taken.

Rhett had been fighting more and training harder. He hasn't spoken a single word to anyone except his mate. Sure, he talked to me some, but he only spoke on passing. Other than that, he had been training and keeping to himself.

"I know that feeling." She shook her head. "I thought I lost her multiple times."

"How did you survive?" I asked, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and moved a hand through my hair.

Giselle turned to the computer and clicked the refresh button. She snorted in disgust before turning back towards me. "She always came back," she responded. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Have you opened her gi-"

"Cooper," someone called my name, coming into the room. "It's Vulcan. He's back."

I turned around to see that it was Rhett. He had this wild look in his eye, and I knew that it was something bad. "What happened?" I asked.

"You just have to see it," Rhett replied. "He looks bad, like someone had tortured him. I don't think it's because of Rylan, because I didn't feel any pain."

"Or she found a way so that we wouldn't feel it," Gigi said. "Did Vulcan say what he had been up to? Does he know where Rylan is?"

Rhett shook his head. "He just said something about a bag underneath Rylan's new bed before passing out."

"Go get the bag," I ordered Giselle. "Rhett, let's move him into the room connected to this one. Have Doctor Agthe to be ready."

Rhett nodded his head and left, going to do what I had told him to do. His whole body was stiff, and I couldn't help but feel worried about how Vulcan turned out and what happened to him.

Giselle was about to pass me but stopped when I grabbed hold of her. "Get me the present that Vulcan was talking about," I said. "I don't know what it is, but hopefully it'll lead me to what is going on."

Giselle nodded her head and walked out, with me following behind her. She turned to the left while I turned to the right, going to find out what had happened to Vulcan and if Rylan was safe. For his sake, I hoped that she was.

***

Fourteen days, six hours, and thirty-five seconds has passed since Rylan has been taken away from me, and her time was almost up. Six days ago, we found Vulcan looking pretty worse for wear. His whole mask has been taken off, except for a part that looked like it had been burned to his skin.

When I first saw him without his mask, all I could think about was what I had not been protecting Rylan from. Scars crissed-crossed his face, and he had this little piece of his flesh missing underneath his bottom lip. He, basically, looked like a monster, a killer, and someone that would cut a person into small pieces. It didn't help that he had lied to us about being on our side.

Four days ago, Vulcan started to convulse as well as throw stuff around. There wasn't anything that was wrong with him, so we just decided that it was something wrong with Rylan. What we, as in the rest of her Protectors, didn't understand was why we didn't feel her pain.

Yesterday, Vulcan stopped convulsing and throwing stuff around the room. He just sat there quietly, probably waiting for me to walk in. I didn't do it yesterday, and I was really wanting to just leave him in that room to rot.

"Are you going to talk to him?" someone asked at the door.

I turned around and saw that it was Addy. I sighed and looked at Vulcan. "Why should I?" I asked, bitterly. I glared at Vulcan, and I was sort of shocked when he looked up at me as if he could see me through the double sided window.

"Because, he might know what has happened to Rylan. I would do it, but Luke as ordered me not to go near him," Addy replied, walking near me. She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, smiling slightly. "Vulcan usually follows Rylan around like a lost Pup, always there when she didn't want him to be." She chuckled. "Rylan had to scowl him for being at Wafilia's house when she told him for the billionth time to leave."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

Addy looked at me before looking back at him. "What if he was just following Rylan's directions? Rylan is smart and can get out of most situations. However, I am sure that Vulcan had foiled her plan and had her change it."

"But he's a monster," I said. "Just... look at him." I gestured towards his face.

"So?" Addy asked, sounding pissed. "I could call you a monster for what you have done to Rylan," she snapped. "Do you even realize the pain that you had caused her? No. The first day that she tried to go to school, Rylan had a panic attack, so she missed it. Liam and Vulcan were there and watched over her." She paused and sighed. "What the outside looks like doesn't make someone a monster. It's about how others treat other people and animals. If someone treats someone else poorly, then they are a monster. You don't know Vulcan's story. You never know, you might be surprised as to what had happened."

With that, she left me stunned and shocked to silence. However, what she had said made me think about how I had acted towards Rylan and Vulcan. So, with a new stubborn feeling, I opened the door to the inauguration room and folded my arms across my chest. I walked into the room and closed the door, making it so that there was no way to escape.

We stared at each other in silence, waiting for the other person to do something. Our bodies were tense, and we were ready if the other one of us would attack the latter one.

"All right," I said, finally, trying to calm myself down. However, my Wolf was growling at me to attack and kill the male that had harmed our mate. "Talk."

"Rylan wanted to do things differently," Vulcan said. "If it wasn't for me, she'd be dead all ready."

"She'd be dead?" I asked.

Vulcan nodded his head. "She had a nightmare, almost four weeks ago and told me to get her some water. When I came back, she had all ready left. I found her in the woods and stopped her."

"What was the nightmare about?" I asked, curious.

Vulcan shrugged. "She didn't say. She just said that she had to do it alone."

"But you stopped her. But, why did you turn her over to the Council?"

"I had to get her in somehow," Vulcan replied. "She needed to find out information about random items and who was on her side. We all ready know that Andrew is not on her side."

"How?"

"He's been the one that I had been talking to."

"And feeding lies?"

Vulcan nodded.

"Why?"

"To get her in."

"What happened to your face?" I blurted out, burning from curiosity.

"Meeting with Aednat before you were born, and I was still the Crowned Prince." He touched his face and grimaced. "I went back there when Rylan was taken to plead for my brother's help for this war."

"And he is on the other side?"

Vulcan nodded.

"How do I know that you are not."

"You have realized that you didn't feel Rylan's pain these past few days, yes?"

"Ya?"

"That's because I marked her."

"You what-?" I snarled, feeling my Wolf want to take over and kill him. She was mine not his, and I'll be damned if he owns her.

Vulcan blinked, unimpressed with my behavior. "I didn't mark her as in a Beloved," he said, finally. "I gave her a mark underneath her arm, which will let her feel if I am hurting or vice versa. Rylan learned how to make it so that we wouldn't feel if she is hurting, even if it is bad."

"So, basically you want me to thank you for biting her," I growled.

Vulcan frowned. "I-"

There was this knocking sound on a window that interrupted Vulcan and caused him to hiss. I watched stunned at how fast he moved and how he pushed me back slightly. He stood rigid, and I could tell that his teeth had lengthened a bit.

"Come in," I called, ignoring the hiss that Vulcan sent to me.

Rhett opened the door a crazed look in his eye. He glanced at Vulcan before looking at me. "Something happened to Rylan's computer."

I pushed past Vulcan and into the room beside it. "What happened?" I asked, seeing the words 'please insert heart' written on a black screen.

"That," Giselle said. "I've tried to press control alt delete, but it won't change. I've even tried to turn it off and turn it on again. The computer just cussed me out and then said those words again."

There was a ding sound, and we all looked at the computer to see a new sentence that was written.

There was a heart shaped necklace on Cooper's present. Get it and press the two ends together, so a small USB would pop out and stick it into the damn computer! It read.

I blinked and took off the necklace that the computer had said about. "Do you know who it is from?" I asked, moving my fingers towards the bottom and pushing the bottom part. I whistled, softly, when the bottom part of the heart came off to reveal a small USB.

"It's Rylan," Vulcan said, causing us to look at him. "This is her computer, and she knew about the necklace and hacking."

"Are you sure it's her?" Rhett asked.

Vulcan shrugged and stayed silent. He looked at me and then at the computer, and I knew what he was asking.

"I'll do it," I said and placed the USB in the computer.

Again, there was this small ding sound and then the word 'processing' underneath it. After a couple of minutes, the screen started to show these weird codes before the camera light turned on.

And in all her glory sat my beautiful mate, covered in bruises, but still looked beautiful. There was a smirk on her face while she looked up at us, her gray eyes light and filled with mischievous. "'Sup?" she asked.