“What happened to her?” Nikolai growls out, growing frustrated.
“It’s not our place to tell you,” Luke says as he glares at Nikolai.
“What you SAY?!”
He shrinks at Nikolai’s tone.
“Alpha Nick, if you’re going to scare my mate, then you won’t know ANYTHING,” Zayne says, his voice rising at the end.
I take a few deep breaths before speaking again. “I’m sorry, Alphas. I’m just a little on edge. I haven’t seen my mate in six years, and a week after I did, she left. Forgive me, I’m just struggling.“
‘Let me take control back!’ I scream, but Nikolai refuses until he knows the full situation on Rose.
“I understand, Nikolai. She’s our friend as well. To answer your question, we don’t know what happened. She wouldn’t tell us, or anybody for that matter. All we know is when she disappeared, we searched for her and found her in a dirty warehouse. When she came back, she was silent. All she told us was he called her cupcake.”
“He had William too?”
“Yes. We didn’t realize until about a week that they were already missing. She doesn’t live on pack territory, so it’s hard tracking her. Her phone is usually off because of the bill as well. We found her the night we found out she was gone. No traces of anybody. We investigated everything for a while too, but nothing ever came up.”
“Okay, thank you, Alpha Zayne and Alpha Luke. What are you doing about it now?”
“Well, we were hoping that you would bring Rose back to your pack. He, whoever he is, knows Rose lives around here. We know she won’t like it, but it’s the best for her, and we want that. Will you take her in?” Luke asks in sincere concern.
“Of course, I will. But how exactly am I going to do that? Rose is stubborn, and she made it pretty clear she didn‘t like being here.”
“Yeah, we know, trust me! So the only thing to do is to kidnap her!”
Zayne says as if he didn’t just mention kidnaping a person.
“You want me to kidnap her?” I ask and watch as they nod with a smile.
“Yep, good luck! You’ll need it!” Luke waves with a grin before he ends the call.
He can’t be serious? Can he?
The real question is what happened to my mate?
CHAPTER 11
Rose
Walking up my apartment stairs, I groan when my legs start to cramp up. Working a sixty hour shift this week have been so draining.
Finally making it to my unit, I stare at the eviction letter taped to the door. I told Jim, my landlord, that I wouldn’t have the money until Tuesday, since he raised it. Even though he agreed to take the money, I see he has changed his mind.
Ripping the letter off the door, I crumble it in my hands and stuff it in my purse. I walk to my room to get undressed, stripping off my clothes that reek of burgers and fries.
A hear a knock on the door, so I put on my robe before I answer it. Ignoring looking through the peep hole, I open the door to see Zayne and Luke.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” I step aside and gesture them in.
“We actually wanted to go to dinner and, we came here to invite you,” Luke says as he looks around my apartment.
“Oh, um, you guys don’t want to go alone?”
“Nope,” Zayne answers for Luke. I bite my lip, trying to think of a reason I can‘t go. Yes, it would be nice to go, but when you owe $750 dollars to your landlord, you don’t have money to spare.
“I don’t know, you guys, I …” I trail off, fiddling with my hands.
“Rose, when we say we’re taking you to dinner, it means we’re paying. So get dressed, or I’ll drag you in your robe,” Luke says, pointing towards my room.
I hesitate but nod and change. Stepping into my skinny jeans and The 1975 t-shirt, I grab my converse and meet them outside.
As I sit in the backseat of Zayne’s porche, I take out my phone and text Nick. He texts back right away, letting me know how Will is doing. I contemplate FaceTiming them, and I click the call button anyways.
“Who you FaceTiming?” Zayne aska.
“Nick.” He raises an eyebrow at me in the rearview mirror as Luke snorts.
“It’s not like that. I’m calling to talk to Will.”
They both nod, but I see the smirks on their faces. Nick answers on the fifth ring.
“Hey, Rose. What’s up?”
I hear moving cars in the background, and see that he isn’t in his office, but in a car.
“Hey, Nick, where are you?”
He doesn’t answer, just looks around.
“Oh, uh, just in the car.”
That was strange, and so is his wavering eye-contact.
“Okay, where’s Will?”
“Right here, Mommy!“ His little face appears as he takes the phone.
“Hey, baby. What are you doing?”
“Were driving!” he says excitedly.
“Oh, well, what did you do today?”
“Nothing much. It was a pretty boring day. Mommy, guess what?”
“What’s up?”
“Uncle Jake and Uncle Marcus are getting married!” he screams excitedly
“Woah, what? That‘s crazy, Will. When did this happen?”
“Yesterday, Jake proposed!” Nick answers for him.
“Oh, that’s great! I’ll have to send my congrats!”
“Mommy, what are you doing?” Will asks as Zayne pulls up to Olive Garden.
“I’m about to go eat with your uncles, baby. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy. Me and Daddy love you bunches.”
“Oh, uh, love you too, Will. I’ll call you later.” I end the call immediately, not wanting it to be anymore awkward.
“Way to turn down a man, Rose!” Luke laughs, making me roll my eyes.
“What was I supposed the say? “love you too Nick“? That would only get his hopes up, and I can’t have that.”
“Whatever you say!” he sings as we get out of the car.
The waitress gestures us to our table.
“I think she thinks you’re our daughter,” Zayne says after the waitress leaves.
“I don’t even look that young, and Luke’s only three years older than me!“
They both just laugh at me.
“It’s okay, Rose. I would love to be your dad, except Nick would definitely not be able to ever have sex again if I was. Just sayin!”
I bust out laughing, prompting patrons from nearby tables to look at me.
“Remind me not to piss you off, baby,” Zayne says scooting a little away from him.
The waitress comes back and takes our orders, but asks for my I.D when I order wine.
“I seriously can’t look younger than twenty-one!”
“What mirror do you look into? Girl, you look sixteen!” Luke says, looking at me like I’m crazy.
“I do not! It’s not fair. I earned the right to drink alcohol!”
They shake their heads and start asking about my trip back home.
“I didn’t know your brother was gay?”
“Well, he wasn’t when I left, but you can’t deny a mate bond.“
“You know that best,” Luke says, almost in a whisper.
I glare at him and kick him under the table.
“What? It’s true! I heard about you two making out in the hallway!”
I stare at him wide eyed, speechless.
“You do know that Zayne and Marcus are cousins, right?”
I mentally slap myself for forgetting.
“Look, that kiss meant nothing. I was just looking for some kind of comfort, and he was there.”
“Look, Rose. I hate the bastard as much as you, but he is your mate. And you guys have a kid together. I‘m not saying you should just run back to him, of course not, but you need to stop trying to stop your feelings for him. It’s only giving Aurora more control, and you know she’ll go crawling back to Nick in a instant.”
I stay quiet, not re
ally knowing what to say. He’s right, in a way. Letting Aurora take control would be bad. But if I stop trying to ignore my feelings and this mate bond, then what will happen? What if I do have feelings for Nick? How am I supposed to be with someone who thought nothing of me six years ago?
“What if I do feel for him?” I ask, staring hard at my drink. The waiter must have brought when I was lost in thought.
“Then you just do, Rose. There’s not a reason why you can’t be with Nick. The kid loves you, and it’s not just because of that little bundle of joy you guys share. Marcus told me he looks at you and deals with your disrespect, even though he is an alpha. Rose, that man loves you, and if you can’t see it, you need to go to the eye doctor. Tell me, Rose, what do you see when you look into his eyes?”
“I don’t know: regret, sometimes anger, love.” I whisper the last part, realizing what I just admitted.
“Exactly! Look, you do you, boo! But all I know is you definelty cant deny a mate bond. I tried. Trust me,” Luke says, pointing to Zayne, who glares at him playfully.
“What are you, my therapist now?”
They laugh.
“Nope, but I could be! I’d actually probably be better at sex therapy. You know cause I can—”
“Noooooo! Stop, just stop!” I plead, making him hold his hands up in surrender.
Just as Luke is about to speak again, Zayne’s phone goes off. He stares at it, eyebrows scrunched together, before he excuses himself to answer it.
“That was weird. Did you see who it was?”
“Nope,” Luke replies almost too fast.
I send him a weird look, and only looks away when the waiter brings our food.
“So, are you going to call Nick and confess your love to him?”
“No. I don’t love Nick. I might have feelings for him, but I don’t love him. And just cause I got these feelings doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s still a loser.”
“Whatever you say, boo! Make sure you invite me to your wedding.”
I flip him off, ignoring his wiggling eyebrows.
“Sorry about that.” Zayne sits back down.
We make small talk the rest of the time. We talked about the rest of my trip and how they were thinking of adopting.
“You know we could always practice with Will. I’m pretty sure you and Nick wouldn’t want to take him on your honeymoon with y’all.”
I groan, not even trying to defend myself anymore.
“Okay, I’ll stop, but you have to admit that last one was good!”
A small smile plays on my lips.
“You know, you and Marcus act just the same. If you weren’t cousins-in-law, I‘d be a little freaked out,” I say to Luke.
“I taught him all he knows!”
I shake my head at him.
“We should get going,” Zayne says mostly to Luke. Luke gives him a look, but then looks at me and nods.
Is it just me or are they acting weird?
After our bill is paid, we exit the restaurant and get back into Zayne’s car. I feel exhausted. The car ride is done in silence as the soft music plays.
About twenty minutes pass, and the car hasn’t stopped. Lifting my head, I look around and notice were in the middle of nowhere.
“Where are we?” I question, but they don’t respond.
“You guys, this isn’t funny. Where are we going?”
They don’t say anything again, and it starts to worry me. Looking outside, all I see are trees and trees and more trees! Both alphas stay silent as we continue to drive.
“Zayne, where are you going?”
His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror, but I can’t see anything in them. Emotionless. What the heck is going on?
My phone goes off in my pocket, but the number is unknown. I ignore the call, putting my phone aside. I continue to ask where we’re going, but they stay silent.
“You guys are seriously freaking me out. What’s going on?”
Again no response. Grabbing the door handle, I pull on it, but it’s on child lock. I start to pull harder, but it’s no use.
“ROSE, STOP!” I ignore Zayne’s command as I hit the window to try to get out of this damn car.
I feel as if the car is getting smaller and smaller as my head pounds a million different directions.
“Zayne, pull over. She’s going to hurt herself.” I hear Luke say.
“We’re almost there,” is all he says as he continues to drive.
Where in the heck is ‘there’?
I stop hitting the window and look around the backseat to find something to break the glass. Empty. Nothing. Who keeps their car this clean?
“I SWEAR IF YOU DON’T TELL ME WHERE WE’RE GOING, I’M GOING TO BREAK YOUR STUPID WINDOW!” I shout, but they seem unbothered by my threat.
Looking through the seat holders, I find an ice scraper. Taking the end of it, I hit the window, and it actually makes a small crack. I try to hit it again, but a hand stops me.
“WE’RE HERE, OKAY?!” Zayne screams as he takes the ice scraper out of my hand. I look outside the window and see we are at an abandoned runway.
“Why are we here?”
“I can answer that.”
I look to my left and see Nick? When did he open the door?
“What’s going on? Why are you here? Where’s Will?”
“I’m taking you back home.”
I look at him wide-eyed, confused as ever.
“Okay, I know I’m sleep deprived as crap, but I’m pretty sure you just said you’re taking me back with you!”
“That’s cause I did. Come on.” He grabs my hand, opens the door, and drags me out. The cold air hits my skin as Nick starts to walk towards a large plane.
“I’m not going with you, Nick. LET ME GO!” I try to yank my hand away from his, but he’s too strong. Why is this always the case?
When we get to the plane steps, I ground my feet into the pavement to stop him. He looks at me, eyebrows raised with amusement in his eyes. He moves closer to me with his grip still tight on my arm. His hand raises to touch my cheek, but I turn away.
“I’m doing this for you, Rosealine, even if it means you will hate me more.”
I look at him confusingly, but I don’t have time to respond because I feel a sharp pain in my arm. I look back at Nick, but his face is now blurry.
***
I feel like I’m floating, or is someone lifting me up? Why am I so tired? It must be because of all the hours I worked.
When did my bed get so comfortable? Why is my room, which I don‘t remember redecorating, so blurry?
“She’s just tired, Will. She’ll be okay.” I hear a familiar voice say. But I must be wrong, I haven’t seen Nick since he left me! Six years ago when I left home, alone.
And who’s Will?
CHAPTER 12
Nick
Overnight Bag? Check. Phone? Check. William? Check.
“I think we’re ready to go, Cap!” I tell the captain of the private plane I booked. He nods and goes back to the controls.
I make my way back over to William and Jake. Jason is one of the seats in the back.
“Are you sure about this, Alpha? Plane hasn’t left yet. We can still just tell Rose what’s going on and have her come back with us, WITH HER CONSENT!” Jake says as he runs his hands through his hair repeatedly.
I can’t tell if he is missing his mate more or worried about our plan more.
“Jake, chill. You know she wouldn’t come back anyways. Go call Marcus, order a drink, and take a nap, I don’t need you stressing. This plan won’t work if are doing just that.”
He nods and pulls his phone out of his pocket. I turn to my son and see him grin up at me.
“What you grinning at, little man?”
“Oh, nothing. Just that we’re about to pull Operation Kidnap Mommy! It’s like a real life game!” he says excitedly with a evil grin on his face.
“That we are. But it’s going to be another two hours before we c
an start our spy mission.”
He nods as he rests his head back and close his eyes. I kiss his forehead and take my nap too.
“Okay, Rose isn’t going to kill us. I’m her beloved brother. She can’t kill me!” Those are the last words I hear as I drift off to sleep.
***
Two Hours Earlier
“Daddy, wake up. We’re almost there!” I hear a little voice say, and it wakes me up. I look around, my vision a little blurry.
“What time is it?” I sit up straight and rub my eyes of any remaining sleep.
“A quarter til’ seven. Cap says we land in ten,” Jason says, never taking his eyes off his phone. I swear he’s more addicted to that phone than some teenagers are to theirs.
“What’s the plan for when we land, Dad?” Will asks as he sets his coloring pages aside.
“Well, we’re still about thirty minutes away from your Mom, so I’m having a car take us there. Then, we will go to your apartment, pack up your mom’s stuff, and then make our way back to the plane. Your uncles should help with the rest.”
He nods slowly, taking in everything.
Ten minutes later, we are doing just that. As Jason drives us, I hear my phone ring. I pull it out of my pocket. Rose’s name and picture pops up.
“Hey, Will, your mom’s calling! Remember, we’re just driving. You can’t tell her anything else! Got it?”
He gives me a thumbs up, so I click the answer button.
Rose’s face appears, looking tired and exhausted. She seems to be in a car, which I’m guessing is Zayne’s, if he’s sticking to our plan.
“Hey, Rose. What’s up?” I ask trying to sound as casual as I can.
“Hey, Nick. Where are you?” I look around, trying to think of something to make her not suspicious.
“Oh, just in the car,” I answer back awkwardly, avoiding all eye contact so she doesn’t catch my lie.
“Okay, where’s Will?”
Before I can answer, his little hands snatch the phone away. The two converse as I look out to the scenery outside.
Trees and beautiful antique buildings surround us. Alpha Zayne really chose a beautiful town to locate his pack.
“Woah, what? That’s crazy, Will. When did this happen?’’ I hear Rose ask, so I cut in and answer.
The Alpha's Unknown Son: A Shifter Romance Page 10
