Chandler above

Tonya POV

Kathy is sitting with Pearl on the porch of the packhouse, watching her kids playing with other pack pups. It's calm; Nelson, Carson, and Anne, with two hunters, are working on the vaccine, and my sister and Terry, with Chandler, have left North.

Because of that, I had a chance to focus only on my mates, although I should help Carson and Anne more. It's late, and Charlie has gone back to sleep; he is exhausted after everything he told me today, and I'm exhausted because of that. I haven't seen Noah yet, which is my record since he came—over 24 hours without a single look or touch.

I'm scared of seeing him. I'm afraid of what he can say. I'm scared of what I can do.

"You look like hell," Kathy says. "Was it really that bad?"

"Yes," I say, sitting next to them ."It was really that bad. I won't leave it that way. We have to deal first with the creature's threat, but I will fucking make sure to skin Shane alive; the sooner the better."

"Charlie's Alpha bad as Pearl's first daddy?" asks Pearl, and I nod, so she continues, "Pearl felt safer when first daddy dead; Charlie will too."

I don't want to be alone with everything my mate told me today, so I repeat his story, spearing them the details. Kathy is my Beta; she needs to know the state of her future Luna and Pearl; she is like Rosie. Her presence gives comfort; she won't start treating Charlie differently after knowing the truth.

"When are you talking with Noah?" asks Kathy.

 "I'm scared of the confrontation. Charlie told me that Noah hadn't been his abuser, but Charlie went through hell, and he believes even the pettiest gesture of compassion, taking it as proof of Noah's feelings towards him. In addition, there is the rejection; even if Noah didn't abuse Charlie, he used him, he saved him because he was still confused because of the bond, not because he cared."

"You don't know Noah's feelings; you must talk; next decision," Pearl whispers."Noah cares; Kiana could feel his care towards you... and Charlie."

"And you must remember he lost control the moment he found Charlie, the same way my father did. And whatever Noah did or didn't do, it's Charlie's decision to forgive or not." Kathy finishes.

"I can accept a lot, but I'm scared I can't accept Noah abusing Charlie..."

"Or the fact that he was passing him every day just ignoring his abuse and suffering," Kathy finishes." Talk with Hayden first; you must know more. Charlie was abused, but from what we know so far, almost everybody in Shadow Pack went through some abuse, even if it was only brainwashing or neglect. You must get to the bottom of what happened between them, bad or good. If it's good, you will have something to build the future; if it's bad, you may find the strength to reject him. The same how it ended between Curtis and I. He had to help kill my father for me and Brianna to stop loving him."

I sigh, and for a moment, there is silence.

"How are you feeling, Pearl?" I ask to change the topic.

"Pearl and Kiana sad; Pearl wants to go home, away from Chandler."

She almost doesn't move when she says it; her sight is lost somewhere in the distance.

I wrap my arm around her, and she accepts comfort from me. I hope she will manage to pull herself together. I still feel guilty because of all the pressure I put on her and Chandler to convince them to reject themselves.

"I have to come clean about something," Kathy whispers. "I slapped Rosie during the last argument, and since you haven't reacted, I'm sure she hasn't told you about it."

"No, she hasn't, but she was very sad. Kathy, why don't you ask her to tell you the truth? We all have a vibe you refuse to hear her answers; why?" I ask, and my best friend turns away from me.

"I can't go through that. I don't want to hear how much she must've loved my mate that she betrayed me. How important he must've been, how much she desired him to do something like that. Rosie wasn't like that; she wasn't sleeping around, so he must have meant a lot to her. And I'm not ready to hear all of about it. Still, I rejected my mate, and Pearl rejected hers; you may reject yours, and we can start some club."

"That's not funny," I say, sighing.

"True, nothing in this is funny. I've prepared everything possible for your mating heat, but I'm unsure if it is sufficient. Tonya, mating heat will make Silver impossible to control; she will submit to her lust for her mates, and no matter what precautions are taken, you may lose it. So talk with Noah, and get the truth out of him before you end up marking him. Because after that, there will be no way out."

"You don't ask me to reject him?"

"You will never do that because, good or bad, you are already in love. I'm your Beta; I know how much you want both of them, much stronger than I had ever wanted Curtis. Truth be told, I think Noah is just scared of trusting you because you are an Alpha, and for him, Alpha means danger and exploitation. He says he doesn't care about Charlie, yet he took him with him from Shadow Pack, didn't abandon or sell him, ran to our territory to give Charlie a chance to survive, confronted Russel over him, and prepared herbs for him daily. You cornered him after you'd spoken with Louise, and he reacted like a cornered animal. But returning to the original question, you will never reject them because both Silver and you don't want it. And when you and Silver are united in desiring something, you will never stop till you have it."

"And what if it's too late? Too late to make it right?" I sigh, feeling a heavy sensation in my chest.

Chandler POV

Mikkeli Blackwood is sitting in front of me, tapping with his fingers. The one habit he and his daughter definitely have in common. He glances at Terry, who silently goes through all the papers that were handed to him.

The campsite here isn't significant; only about 25 werewolves are helping Mikkeli search through this place. The only thing found is an underground warehouse, but I think the word torture chambers would be more accurate.

It literally looks like a prison, with dark gray walls divided into cells made with silver bars, no light, a weak ventilation system, and this sickening stench. The stench of blood and death. Another gruesome discovery was made near this place: the big pile of bones buried in the common grave.

"All of the buried were werewolves," Mikkeli says. "But the bones are less than ten years old; around 20 miles to the north, we found another common grave, much older than this one."

Jake, the Gamma of third territory, starts to shiver. I'm sure that this is extremely difficult for him; after all, his late brother was probably kept here.

Terry Nightingale finishes looking through the maps and asks me what I think.

"My mother told me that we had had a job here around twenty years ago; the nearby villages were raided from time to time, mostly burglaries, but also some people disappearing from time to time. There was an old man who had lived around there, isolated in his cabin, and contacted our clan, and when we came here to investigate, he helped find the rogue hideout. It was a big group of about twenty people, and we destroyed and buried them. According to my mother, that was what you found 20 miles away."

Mikkeli nods; that seems understandable, but my mother also mentioned that one thing was fishy in this job. The older guy gave us details who could have only been known to someone from inside, who was one of the rogues, and he claimed only to have passed close to their hideout one day.

"How is Rosie?" Terry asks, and Mikkeli sighs heavily.

"Still shaken."

Shaken is one word for it; I have never seen anyone screaming that much in such horror. We came here yesterday after quite a tense journey since everybody's mood was down, and of course, we immediately went to see the warehouse, and that's when it became total chaos.

Rosie just took one sniff before she hunched, pressing her hands to her chest, and started trembling. Her father was instantly next to her, hugging her and asking what was wrong, but she seemed not to hear him. Soon, she started hyperventilating and trashing in his arms, screaming so loud and with so much pain. As if she was possessed, unable to recognize her surroundings, her claws extended, and she started fighting with her father seriously when he struggled not to hurt her.

She lost consciousness and woke up after twenty hours, but she only managed to say that she felt the pain, pain, and suffering of those who were kept there, who didn't understand why they were there, why they had to suffer, why they had to die so painfully.

She still isn't well, and honestly, I'm not eager to ask her for any details. I feel so tired; I want Pearl; I want to snuggle myself into her and sleep.

"According to the records, this piece of land is owned by a private person," Terry says, and Mikkeli nods.

"John Witt is listed as the owner, but there are at least a couple of dozens of them in the country."

I snap my head up, it may be a coincidence, but I don't believe in the coincidence.

"According to information from my mother, John Witt was also the name of the older guy who helped us ambush the rogues," I say. "I will speak about it with my mother; when my clan hunts, we usually take at least a basic information about humans involved, so there is a chance we will find John Witt that way if they are the same person. But I don't believe in coincidence."

"There is one more problem: the Council is trying to get as much information as possible from me, and it's difficult because I don't want to share it."

"You don't trust the Council?" Terry asks.

"Our enemy has infiltrated Murrow Clan; they could also infiltrate the Council. This is big; it started at least ten years ago, and nobody noticed anything, raising questions. " Mikkeli says, "Let's get some rest, I will sit with Rosie."

He leaves the tent with Jake, and Terry and I are left alone.

"According to the map, everything happened in the proximity of 50 miles," Terry says." Prescot, three packs that disappeared, the rogue's hideout and warehouse. According to the timeline, 20 years ago, rogues were destroyed by the Murrow Clan, then around ten years ago, the warehouse was created; nine years ago, the omegas from the Third Territory disappeared; and three years ago, Norton infiltrated your clan; and three months ago the packs and Prescot disappeared, and a couple of weeks ago someone tried to steal the creature's body ."

Truth be told, I should talk with him about the investigation, and the only thing I want to ask is the ethereal girl with sad eyes.

"Chandler, are you listening to me?"

"How is Pearl?" I ask; I shouldn't, but I have to know.

"Chandler, it's over; she was very calm when we left, much calmer than soon after rejection. It will take time."

"Is her wolf alright?"

Tonya told me that the weaker the wolf, the bigger the chances are for it to die because of rejection, and Pearl is omega, so...

"Yes, I'm surprised too. Kiana seems the same, and..."

"It's good to know," I say, standing up and leaving; I'm no longer in the mood for conversation. I should be happy that Pearl and her wolf are not wounded; maybe she wasn't as much love with me as I presumed. Perhaps her feelings towards me have died with the broken bond. I should be happy. I wish her the best, and yet... I feel awful because I lost her. She has never been mine, but I lost her; I lost her forever.

The following hours pass extremely slowly. I called my mother and asked her to check this John guy. I called Tonya, and she informed me that they had a first success with the vaccine, and there is a chance this will be completed in a couple of weeks. Fast, I would say. Anne, Carson, this Nelson guy, and the scientist from my clan are working on it, but Tonya is a perfect analytic mind and biochemist, and I know from Anne that she has done much of the job. Probably, it takes her mind off her mating problems.

Terry is neutral with me, but I'm sure he is angry. Even if that was what he wanted, I hurt his daughter, so he is angry even if he has no right to be that way because he encouraged our rejection. And Pearl... I would do everything to have her again. That was supposed to be only sex for me, and now I can't forget about her.

Because I can't find peace, I go down there again. I study the cold brick walls, bars, and stench of blood and excrement; I can almost see all of them wiping in their cells, begging to be killed. How many have died here, how long they have suffered, how painful was their death?

I see the long corridor of cells, which look like cages at each other. Two rows of cages were put on each other, and they were capable of holding around fifty people. At the end of this open space, there are rooms, now empty, but for sure, they were used for some medical experiments. Because of the double silver door, and suer made in the floor to make the blood or other things be easily cleaned.

Pearl once said that monsters create monsters. What horrors were seen by the one who built it for him to manage to do that?

As a hunter, I've seen many things, but never something that seemed to be built specifically to perform some medical experiments on humans.

I turn around and go upstairs. I feel a bit dizzy and need some fresh air; the sooner, the better. To my surprise, Rosie is standing at the entrance to the warehouse, still pale as a ghost.

"I thought that you've been sleeping," I say slowly.

"My dad has fallen asleep sitting by my bed; I sneaked away, not wanting to wake him up." She whispers, "I didn't... it was awful... so many have suffered and died here, I felt them..."

"Have you got any visions?"

"At first, it was only screams and scents of horror and sorrow, overwhelming, choking me, but then I saw the man. He was standing in the middle of this warehouse, which was empty except for the blood; the floor was covered in blood completely, and that man was standing in a lake of blood. He looked at me, and I... I felt hatred, blind hatred towards..." her voice breaks, so I come closer and take her in my arms.

She puts her head on my shoulder, panting hard, trying to calm herself.

"I had a vision of this man before after I smelt the creature in the packhouse. I saw him, but younger, running through the forest; I felt his fear and hatred again... I... Zoya is agitated, and his smell, the scent that is here and was on the creature. The smell is full of suffering and hatred. And I also smelt those who died here; their screams are still in my mind, and I can't make them silent."

"We will figure it out, Rosie; somehow, we will make it right."

"Nothing will be right; it's too late to make anything right."