Chapter Seven
Lindsey ran after the black van but she was no match for it. Out of breath, she pulled out her phone and quickly typed out the license plate number. It wasn’t much, but at least, it was a start. She ran to her car and thought about her options. The police wouldn’t be any help; they would ask questions that she didn’t have the answers too. For the first time in her life, she wished that she was a more social person. Maybe if she had friends or family with connections, they could help her track him.
The idea hit her like a ton of bricks. She put her car in reverse and flew out onto the highway, heading for her home. As she drove, she thought about what she was going to do. She didn’t have any family growing up. It had always just been her and her mother. Lindsey didn’t have any family that could help her, but Jayden did. She hoped that she wasn’t too late, that the pack was still lurking in her woods, keeping an eye on their fallen brother. The sun was setting in the sky and Lindsey stepped into the woods as the last of the light drifted behind the mountains.
She took a deep breath and called out into the darkness, “hello? Um, Jayden’s family?”
She cussed under her breath, she sounded like a scared child. No answer came to her for several minutes, then a growling came from a few yards away and made her jump.
“Please, I need your help. Beyer took Jayden,” saying the words out loud brought tears to her eyes. “I don’t know what to do; I don’t have any family that I can call to help me. I don’t know where they took him,” she collapsed onto the ground and began to cry in earnest.
The woods were silent. Lindsey was devastated, she had no other choice. The pack was her last chance to save Jayden and they didn’t seem to want to help her.
Her sadness turned into anger and determination as she rose to her feet, “fine. I’ll do it myself.”
Lindsey turned her back to the woods and didn’t let the growling stop her. She didn’t turn around when the footsteps followed her either. She stormed away, back to the house and slammed the door, she was furious. There was no time for her to stay angry though, the door opened to the laundry room. She looked up but didn’t rise from where she was sitting at the kitchen table. Several minutes later a man walked in. He was older but charming. His black hair and beard was flecked with grey.
“I am Aeron, alpha of Jayden’s pack,” said the man.
Aeron continued less formally, “I was also a close friend of your fathers. We will help you find Jayden. We never leave a family member behind,” he said as he watched her.
“Thank you for your help, I don’t have any family to count on,” she said looking down at her hands.
He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Lindsey, your father was an amazing man.”
She smiled at him, “you know, everyone keeps telling me that, but how can I believe you?”
“You have to have faith in us, faith in Jayden. Our kind do not lie, it goes against nature which we are one with,” he replied.
“That sounds wonderful, I wish I could live like that, just fall off the grid and not worry about anything,” replied Lindsey.
Aeron chucked softly, “I wouldn’t say we live off the grid. We adapt depending on what our pack needs. For instance, right now our pack needed to protect you and bring down Beyer, so we have assimilated into society once again. It’s true though, we prefer to live in the wild.”
She paused before speaking again, “can people, can they turn into werewolves? You know, like in the movies?”
Now he looked at her with a great amount of curiosity, “it’s true, if a human is bitten by one of us while we are in our animal form, they can be turned into a werewolf also.”
Lindsey looked at him with hope.
“However,” said Aeron, seeing her desire, “it has to be done during a full moon and there are other parts to the ceremony that can be, well, uncomfortable.”
She was intrigued, “like what?”
“Let’s see, there is a mating ritual and a blood oath that you must take,” he said as he watched her. “It is not for the faint of heart and it must be approved by me and I don’t do so often. True love is rare, if one of my pack finds it, I will agree but only then.”
She smiled, she was sure that their love was real. At least she was sure that she loved him, she couldn’t tell if he loved her and if they didn’t find him soon, she may never get to find out.
He saw her smiled fade, “don’t worry, we will find him.”
She smiled at him as the back door opened and three wolves came through. As Aeron spoke to them, he took up the phone on the kitchen counter. She realized that this man, this stranger had been in this house before. He had known her father when she had not, and it broke her heart. She listened as he spoke in a couple different languages, she didn’t understand anything that he said. When he was done, he hung up the phone and gave the three waiting wolves an address and nothing more. They left through the back door as quickly as they had come.
“Where are they going?” She asked him as she stood up.
“They are going to save Jayden,” he said bluntly.
She watched him, “I need to go with them, if he gets hurt I need to be there to take care of him.”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot risk your life for one of ours,” he said.
She glared at him but he was unfazed, “fine.”
Lindsey rose from the table and stormed into the bathroom. There was no way in hell she was going to leave Jayden up to those three. He had given them the address and that’s all she needed. She opened the window and quietly climbed out. Her keys were right in her car where she left them. She locked the doors and started the engine. The last thing she saw was Aeron running after her. She didn’t slow down, and she stopped looking back.
The address he had given them was just a few miles away. She turned off her car after pulling into the woods outside the small building. In the darkness, it looked like a small barn. There were a few windows scattered throughout the walls but nothing outstanding beyond that. Lindsey saw the black van parked under one of the two outside lights. Slowly, she crept forward, all the time looking out for the three wolves. She didn’t see them but the closer she got to the building, the louder the noises inside were. They were sounds that broke her heart. Jayden was screaming out in pain.