Chapter Two
Adam yawned, stretching in his seat as they made the journey home.
“I can’t believe how well Luke is coping with the pregnancy. Not a word of complaint.”
“Hey, you did pretty well yourself if I remember correctly,” Ben said, glancing over at his Omega. Adam had been different since they’d found Luke. Better in many ways but in others it was like they’d gone back a few years to when Ben had first found him. James had hit closer to the mark than Ben was comfortable with. There was stuff there, he guessed, stuff Adam hadn’t truly dealt with. Not that Ben was one to talk. He had a chip on his shoulder the size of a Pack.
“We pretty much exiled the Pack’s Alpha and Omega for over a month though,” Adam added.
“Yeah, that was… not ideal.” While Seb and Ro had insisted they didn’t mind, it still smarted years later that the territoriality resulting from Adam’s pregnancy had made Seb and Ben’s mutual presence in the Pack untenable. They’d been lucky Seb had been so understanding as to not make them the ones to leave. Ben tried not to imagine what it would have been like with a heavily pregnant Omega, homeless, and dodging the wrath of Gray Valley. At that point, Terrance had still been incensed after the death of his son in a challenge for Adam. The anger was still there, Ben was sure, but it simmered under the surface.
Ben’s phone rang between them, pulling his attention from their reminiscing.
“It’s Sam,” Adam said, answering the call.
“Hi, Sam. We’re about a half hour away. Are the boys…”
Ben could hear Sam’s voice, tinny and distant, but there was no mistaking the tone.
“Speaker,” he said, watching an ashen-faced Adam press the button and hold the phone between them.
“Sam?”
“I’m on my way to your place. Lianna took the boys there to put them to bed. Something has happened. A break-in maybe, I’m not sure. She just called, she sounded confused, maybe injured. I’ll call back when I know more.”
The call cut off, Adam letting the cellphone fall between their seats as a heavy silence settled over the car.
Ben put his foot down on the accelerator, throwing them both back against the seats.
“The boys…” Adam managed to say.
“Call Sebastian.”
Wordlessly, Adam scrambled for the phone while Ben wished the minutes away. They needed to be home now. Not five minutes. Not twenty-five minutes.
“Seb…” Adam’s voice cracked as he spoke.
“No, Adam, it’s Ro. We’re on our way to your place. We’re getting word around the Pack.”
“Are the boys…”
“All we know is what Sam told us. Lianna called him, there may have been a break-in, she may have been injured. We’ll know more soon.”
“We’ll be there in fifteen,” Ben shouted as Ro ended the call.
“I’m sure they’re okay,” he added, taking in Adam’s pale face and the way his hands gripped the edge of his seat. He wasn’t much better himself, with a death grip on the steering wheel.
“You’re right. We won’t panic until we know more.”
The next minutes crawled by, Ben keeping their speed up and his eyes on the road.
Adam was silent next to him, clinging to the phone in his hand. Ben willed it to ring, to end their fears, but it didn’t.
There were a handful of cars parked haphazardly outside their house when they pulled up; doors open, lights on. The house was lit up, the front door open, and Kevin was standing in the driveway.
They climbed out and jogged towards him.
“Lianna is inside, Alicia is with her,” he said to them as they approached.
“The boys?” Ben asked, his heart beating hard in his chest.
“We haven’t found them. There are people out searching the forest.”
Ben pushed past him before he’d finished speaking, seeking answers. Adam was right behind him.
They found Alicia tending to Lianna in the living room. Lianna tried to sit as she saw them come in, Alicia pushing her firmly back down. There was blood covering the left side of her head, neck, and face.
“Lianna, lie still, please,” Alicia said, glancing up at them. “She has a head injury. Probably a concussion.”
“Where are the boys, are they okay?” Adam asked.
“There were two of them,” Lianna managed to say, pushing herself upright again. “I had just put the boys to bed. I heard the front door open, and I thought it was you so I went to say hi but there was no one there. I was hit from behind then I heard their footsteps going towards the boy’s bedroom. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move. I could hear Noah crying and they stepped over me and went to the door. They were carrying Noah and… and…”
Her eyes rolled back into her head and Alicia lowered her back down.
“I think this may be more severe than a concussion. We’ll have to take her to the hospital.”
Kevin stepped inside. “I’ll help you, Alicia. Ben, Adam, Sebastian is out back.”
With one last look at Lianna, pale and unmoving on the couch, Ben turned, herding Adam ahead of him as they followed the sounds of voices to the back of the house.
“Seb, the boys…” Ben tried to ask but the words wouldn’t come.
“We haven’t found either of them. The attackers scent trail leads out into the woods, heading towards the east road. We suspect they had a vehicle waiting.”
“They’re gone?” Adam asked.
It didn’t make sense to Ben, not Adam’s words, not what Sebastian was saying. There was a sudden shout from inside the woods. Sam’s voice.
Ben took off running towards him, hearing the others at his heels. When he reached him, Sam was crouched next to a thick copse, peering inside.
“He won’t come out for me, you try,” Sam said, stepping back.
Ben crouched and peered in, seeing two familiar wolf eyes staring back at him.
“It’s okay, Xander. You can come on out now, it’s safe. Your Papa and Dada are here.”
Adam was by his side a moment later. “Xander, sweetheart, come on out now, it’s safe.”
The tiny wolf flattened himself against the ground and wiggled under the thick branches until he was close enough for Ben to reach out and tug him free, lifting him into his arms. The pup was cold and damp, shivering against him.
“Let’s get him back to the house.”
“Wait, Noah…” Adam said.
Seb lay a hand on his shoulder, his quiet voice carrying through the silent forest.
“His scent trail went right to the road with the others. He’s gone, Adam. They’ve taken him.”
Adam crumpled, and it took Seb and Ro to catch him and get him to his feet.
The walk back to the house seemed to take forever, Xander whimpering softly in his arms as they walked.
Joel ran ahead of them, meeting them at the edge of the forest with a blanket. “Sam, Alicia is bringing Lianna to the hospital now. You should go with them.”
Sam turned to Seb.
“Yes, of course, Sam. Go with her. Keep us up to date on her condition.”
More cars had arrived, more people. Sebastian and Kevin went to them and Ben could hear them dividing people into groups.
“The night patrol is on alert,” Joel said, “but we think there was a gap of maybe thirty minutes to an hour between the attack and Lianna raising the alarm. She’s been in and out of consciousness since we got here.”
Ben carried Xander into the living room, ignoring the bloodstained towels on the couch and placing Xander on the soft rug that lay in front of the hearth.
Xander clung to him with his claws, his teeth closing around the sleeve of Ben’s jacket. Adam stood motionless in the center of the room, only snapping out of his shock when Joel returned with a clean towel. Adam took it from him, kneeling down next to Ben and gently drying Xander’s damp fur.
“Shh, baby,” he soothed when Xander yelped.
“We need to calm him down and coax him back to human form,” Ben said, keeping his voice soft. “With Lianna unconscious, he’s our best hope to find out what happened.”
“I’ll light a fire,” Joel said. “Getting him warm will be half the battle. It was chilly out there.”
He’d been cold and alone and frightened for who knew how long?
Seb returned as Joel got the fire going.
“We have as many people out as possible. Martin is trying to track the car by the scent of the fuel and the oil. He’ll let us know how far he gets.”
As a tracking method, it was of limited use. Once you reached a road with any level of traffic on it, it became impossible to differentiate one exhaust trail from another, the scents too overwhelming to separate.
“Ben, no one so far has recognized the scents of the attackers. We need both you and Adam to check. This seems to have been a targeted attack, so it stands to reason you might know who has done this.”
With difficulty, Ben handed a clingy Xander to Adam and followed Seb out the door. As soon as they were out of earshot of Adam, Ben asked. “Was there blood?”
Seb looked startled. “What?”
“Was there blood on the trail? Any sign that they’d hurt Noah?”
“No, no blood except Lianna’s and some near where we found Xander, probably scrapes from branches.”
He nodded at Seb's words, feeling some relief that their plan seemed to have been to take Noah, rather than hurt him.
Stepping towards the twins’ room, Ben inhaled deeply, taking in the scents, their unfamiliarity as odd as the upside-down world he had found himself in.
“No, I’ve never met these shifters before.”
Seb sighed. “I was afraid of that. I’ll ask Adam to try but I don’t hold out much hope.”
Ben returned to the living room, kneeling next to his mate and child.
“He’s too scared to change back,” Adam said. The boys were only just beginning to get some semblance of control over their shifting and strong emotion was something that still affected it.
“Seb’s outside. He needs you for a minute.”
Adam nodded, stroking a hand across Xander’s head before he stood and walked from the room. There was some warmth from the fire now but Xander was still curled up tightly, his eyes watching Adam as he left.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon.” Ben stroked a hand along Xander’s fur under the blanket.
“We need you to be a little boy again, Xander. So you can help us find your brother. Noah’s out there, lost and scared. You’ve been so brave and I need you to be brave for a little while longer.”
Xander covered his eyes with his paw.
“Come on, buddy. I know you can do this,” Ben cajoled, lifting Xander into his arms and holding him tight against his chest, letting his warmth seep into the cold bundle of fur.
Xander buried his nose against Ben’s neck, his tongue peeking out and licking the skin.
“Come on, Xander, I’ve got you. You’re safe with me.”
The wolf in his arms shuddered, body curling inward. Ben loosened his hold and put Xander down on the rug as the change began, giving Xander’s body space to grow. Then his son’s wide brown eyes were peering up at him, brimming with tears. Ben wrapped the blanket around him and picked him up, Xander laying a head on his shoulder as he sobbed.
When Adam returned a minute later, Xander reached out with one tiny hand and pulled him closer until all three were pressed together in a tight hug.
Ben listened as Adam gently coaxed Xander into telling them what had happened. How he’d had a fun day playing with Chloe. How Noah wouldn’t play with them and stayed inside with Sam and Lianna. Then Lianna had taken them home, read them a bedtime story, and said goodnight.
He had fallen right to sleep but woke when he heard a noise. Noah had been out of his crib, standing beside the open door and he had disappeared out into the corridor.
He’d heard a cry and had scrambled out of bed to follow Noah. But then there’d been lots of shouting and he had hidden.
A stranger had come into the room and almost found him but there'd been lots of noise and he’d left again. Noah had cried from outside and Xander had left his hiding place to find him but when he peeked out the door, Noah and the man were gone. He had shifted and chased after them, but the forest was big and dark and he got lost.
“Our brave boy,” Adam said as Ben rocked Xander back and forth in his arms.