"Pippen, what exactly do you know?"
Pippen blinked slowly, a vacant expression on his face that told Felix the shifter wasn't there, not all the way. He was lost in his mind, most likely imagining horrors that Felix would have been imagining himself if he'd allowed one second to contemplate what had happened to his little sister.
Conner appeared beside Pippin, his jeans and shirt were stained with grease, probably from the auto shop he worked at with Daryl. When Pippen made no motion that he'd seen him Conner tentatively brushed his elbow. Pippen hissed, coming back to reality as he jerked away from Conner's touch.
"She left a few days ago," he began as if reciting something he'd memorized.
"We know that much," Sorell said. "She came by the day she left to drop off some stuff."
Pippen nodded. "She came back, grabbed her bags. I offered to go with her to the train station because it was dark already and she told me to work on my blackberry reduction." He stopped and swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbed. "I should have gone with her. Fuck. Fuck!" Pippen threw something in anger; Felix followed the object and saw it, a knife, sticking into the trunk of a tree. Judging by the divots in the trunk around the knife that hadn't been the first time. "Your sister is probably the best person I have ever known," Pippen said to Felix. He didn't say the rest and he didn't have to because it was clear what the four of them would do to find her.
***
"Why would Isaac do that? It would be the same as declaring war, Sorell," Luke said from his seat at the head of the table. The pack had gathered at the kitchen table. Christian and Derrick had already left for Louisiana. When Finn had gotten off the phone with Christian, he had been offering to come back, but Finn had told him not to bother, that they would have located her before the plane even landed. No one seemed to really believe that. Felix stood behind Sorell's chair at the table. Daryl was the only other person standing. He seemed unable to sit and any time he tried he would just growl and stand back up.
Sorell kept his face down. "Isaac told me he would target my pack mates—Frannie, Pippen, and Felix, especially," Sorell said. He'd spent most of the time since the pack had gotten together trying to convince Luke that Isaac had taken Frannie.
"There was a threat to my pack and you didn't think to tell me?"
Felix did not care for the angry edge in Luke's tone while he spoke to Sorell.
"I told him not to," Felix said and Sorell spun around in his chair to glare at him.
"Why?"
"Because he was putting himself in danger. Sorell was offering himself up as sacrifice to be beaten and abused by Isaac because he wanted to protect all of you. He is the one who needs protection."
Luke's jaw clenched. "That's not your job, doctor."
"The hell it isn't. Which of you was looking out for him? Or is that not how a pack works?"
Finn cleared his throat, "I think we are all on edge and maybe saying things we wouldn't normally. Right, Luke? Felix?"
Sorell sat up straighter. "Luke, I didn't think Isaac would—"
Luke slammed his fist on the table. "That's right, Sorell, you didn't think!"
Felix saw Sorell flinch away from Luke's outburst and could not stop his reaction. He grabbed Sorell's arm and pulled him up out of the chair, sliding his body behind his own. "You do not get to talk to him like that," Felix said, staring at Luke's angry face.
Luke got to his feet. "You don't tell me how I can treat members of my pack," he screamed.
"Luke—" Finn started to say but Felix was too angry to listen to reason.
"Maybe if you had paid more attention to every member of your pack then this wouldn't have happened!"
"Felix—" Finn said again.
"No, Finn, I know he is your brother but I am this pack's alpha. He needs to understand what that means or he needs to get the hell out of here."
Felix stepped away from the table, wishing he was punching Luke in the face instead, but he wasn't that far gone. "Fine." Felix went toward the living room. He turned around, seeing Sorell hovering in the space between Felix and his pack. Felix already loathed his very being for what he was about to do, but he could not allow Sorell to stay here. Not in his state and not with his doubts that Luke could keep him safe. Felix held out his hand, catching Sorell's eye.
Sorell was at his side in a second, his strong hand gripping Felix's. "Finn, let me know if you find anything about Frannie. We'll go look on our own," he said before leaving the pack house with Sorell by his side.
***
They didn't make it far. Felix stopped at the bar on the corner, the 45th Corner Pub, Frannie's local spot to unwind with the other local regulars. It was a dark place with limited seating, which was never a problem because it was often empty. The grizzled old bartender stood behind the bar, unsmiling like always.
"Hey, Christina," Sorell greeted his favorite bartender. She loved to tell the story about how she used to try to set Luke up with just about anyone she thought might have him.
She popped a hip out and rested a hand. "Hey you two. Couple of beers? A water?" she said with disdain to Felix. Sorell didn't think he ever drank the few times he had joined them out.
"No, thank you. We aren't here for a social call," Felix said. "I'm looking for my sister, wondering if maybe someone around here had heard from her?"
It wasn't likely that Frannie would contact one of her friends and not someone from the pack, but Sorell understood Felix needing to try. Just as Sorell expected though, Christina shook her head.
"Frannie is missing?" the bartender barked.
"We don't know that yet. We simply haven't been able to contact her."
"Christina, didn't you say some guy was looking around for her the other day?"
"Oh yeah!" Christina brightened, happy to be able to help. "I didn't think of it because the guy spent most of the time hitting on me. He did ask the last time she had been here." Her eyes widened. "I didn't tell him anything."
She looked so upset that Sorell patted her on her shoulder.
"After he realized he wouldn't get any information he then tried to poach me to tend bar at this place he said he owned. Howls? I think he left his business card on the corkboard in the bathroom." She spun around to retrieve the card and Sorell's hope left with her.
Up until that point Sorell had held hope that Frannie was having an extended vacation somewhere, far away from the boys and the baby who suddenly filled her house. He'd hoped she would appear in a few days, rested and well. Thinking about the alternative was something he hadn't been able to do.
Just as he hadn't been able to think about the choice he had just made between his mate and his pack master. It hadn't been much of a choice, Felix had to know that. Sorell's inner wolf would obey, just as Sorell would himself. He couldn't agree with everything that Felix had said to Luke, but it felt damned good to have someone who was purely on his side, behind him one hundred percent. The least Sorell could have done was leave with him. And leave your pack behind. No, Luke would cool down and Felix would see reason. Yeah, he'll see reason and dump your ass because you aren't worth the trouble.
"Stop it," Felix said darkly. "I can see you beating yourself up in there." He tapped Sorell's temple. "Don't. None of this is your fault."
Of course Felix would say that. Sorell smiled. "I should call Isaac," he said for the hundredth time.
"No," Felix said for just as many times. "Even if he does have her, do you think he's going to say, 'Oh yeah, you got me, here she is?'"
Christina reappeared, sparing Sorell from having to answer. "Here it is, Howling, sounds like a shitty place," she said for no other reason than to show loyalty.
Sorell's stomach dropped. She was right, it was a shitty place. Isaac's place. Felix was right beside him, supporting him with an arm at his waist. "This isn't your fault," he murmured, taking the card.
"I should call—"
"No, Sorell," Felix said, not unkindly, but in a tone
that allowed no argument.
Sorell's entire body raced. He wanted to shift, to run, to act. How could Felix expect him to do nothing?
"We aren't going to do nothing." Felix answered his unasked question. "Let me rephrase, I'm not going to do nothing."
Sorell felt his stomach drop into his feet. "What are you thinking of doing, Felix?"
"I'm going to go get my little sister."
***
Sorell paced the apartment. Felix had left more than an hour ago leaving Sorell with strict instructions to not leave the apartment and to call the pack if he was gone for more than two hours. He tread along his now familiar path around the couches and questioned again how he had let his mate run off into a literal pack of shifters to save his sister who might not even be there. He grabbed his phone and thought about calling Isaac. Then he thought about calling the pack. Then, he set his phone back down and chastised himself.
Sorell sat down and immediately sprung back up. This was ridiculous. How had he let Felix go off like that? Sorell grabbed his jacket and was in the process of slipping on his shoes, he had his hand outstretched to the door, when it opened and an unmarked Felix stepped in holding Frannie like a child in his arms.
Felix raised his eyebrows as he noticed Sorell in his jacket and shoes but he seemed too worried and tired to question Sorell's state just then.
"Frannie!" Sorell stepped alongside them suddenly more worried than he was before. She was here, so anything that happened to her would become reality, there would be no ignoring it.
Felix set her on the couch, tucking a blanket around her body. "They had her drugged with some sort of sedative. Her vitals are climbing back to what they should be, though, so I am confident that her body is metabolizing whatever drug it is. She shows no other signs of injury," Felix reported to Sorell like a doctor to a nurse. "I'm going to call Finn and then call the cops. She'll need a—" Felix shuddered and Sorell saw the anger that he was controlling. "She'll need a sexual assault exam, just in case. The moment she came to, she expressed that she didn't think that had happened, but she's agreed to have one done."
This was a nightmare.
"Frannie," Sorell said, kneeling beside her.
She moaned and her eyelids fluttered up. It took her a moment longer than it should have for her to focus on him, but when she did, she smiled. "Hey there," she said, reaching her hand out as if to cup his face. "You look better."
Sorell set his head down on the couch beside her, his tears pooled on the leather. "I'm sorry," he whispered to the cushion.
***
Sorell sat in the uncomfortable chair beside Frannie's hospital bed. She'd gone in to have the exam performed the night before; the doctor had assured them that it did not look like there had been any sign of trauma. But, she had been severely dehydrated and he wanted to keep her overnight just in case.
Frannie had assured them all that she thought the worst the other pack had done was drug her. She hadn't even been there that long. According to her, she'd gone to the conference but had left a day early. It was on her way home that she'd been kidnapped. Her kidnappers had approached from behind and she said she didn't remember anything about them. Other than that they were most likely men.
All in all, she had spent one night and two days drugged. Sorell's stomach clenched. He would bet anything that Isaac had planned something worse for her but was waiting for the right time. He heard movement outside her room and turned toward it.
Finn, and the rest of the pack shuffled in.
"Oh lord, the nurse let you all in?" Frannie said as if she was annoyed, but her smile gave her away. "I'm literally getting discharged today. You couldn't have all waited?"
"We came to take you home, cupcake," Daryl said with his gruff sandpaper voice.
"I'd kill for a cupcake," she said.
Luke stepped forward, guilt on his face. "I'm so sorry, Frannie. This is my fault. As alpha, it's on me. I won't let this go."
"None of us will," Pippen said with a quiet voice that gave Sorell goosebumps.
Frannie's eyebrows pulled down in worry. "I'm not the guy's biggest fan, but we need to be careful. When I was aware, I was watching—and Isaac has a lot of friends. A lot of scary friends."
Sorell knew she spoke the truth.
Just then, Felix bustled in, holding a clipboard. Sorell would have bet it was Frannie's medical chart. He didn't even work at that hospital but the moment they'd admitted Frannie there was no way of knowing that he didn't.
"There's my hero," she said, smiling wide.
Felix blushed profusely and then rolled his eyes.
"You didn't tell mom, did you?"
"Of course not. I'm not dumb." Felix stood beside her bed. He was next to Luke and the two of them nodded to each other awkwardly.
"Thank you for doing what you did," Luke said gruffly. "Though you shouldn't have gone alone."
"I was lucky," Felix conceded. "No one there knew who I was and Isaac must have been up in his apartment. They all pegged me as dumb human and I was able to sneak in and out."
Frannie's real doctor came in and did a hilarious double take at everyone in the room. "Popular girl," he quipped.
"I can pack 'em in," she said. "What's the verdict? Am I hydrated?"
"Like a mermaid, you're free to go."
Frannie jumped from the bed, revealing that under the hospital blanket she had been wearing her normal clothes. "Let's get the heck out of dodge and go get me some cupcakes."
***
Sorell plopped down on the couch hours later. They'd just left the pack house where they had helped the rest of the pack make sure Frannie was comfortable. Pippen had asked Sorell to stay and it had killed him to say no, but the truth was, Sorell needed some time with Felix. He still hadn't gotten over those anxious hours as he waited for his mate to come back to him. He didn't believe it had all been as easy as Felix had made it out to be. There had to have been a reason why Luke had claimed Felix was broken. Sorell didn't want to know anything about Felix that he wasn't ready to tell, but there was no way to forget that he'd overheard that conversation.
"Spill it, Sorell," Felix said, reclined back on the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose and, sounding just as tired as Sorell felt.
"Before all of this, I overheard Finn and Luke," Sorell began. He rotated his body, curving in towards Felix.
"You shouldn't eavesdrop," Felix admonished, but Sorell noticed the tightness in his body, as if he was dreading what Sorell was about to say.
"Luke mentioned something. He thought we didn't make a good match because..." Sorell was suddenly too nervous to keep talking. What if Felix said something that only agreed with Luke, agreed that they weren't perfect together. Felix reached down and grabbed Sorell's hand, pulling it so that their clasped hands sat on his lap. It was the strength Sorell needed to continue on. "Because he said that a broken kid couldn't fix a broken man."
Felix's fingers tightened over Sorell's briefly, the only indication that what Sorell had said had affected him.
"What do you expect me to say? We both know you aren't a kid, but something tells me that isn't the part you take issue with," Felix said, his eyes still closed as if he was too relaxed, but that was a trick, the rest of him was tense.
Sorell pulled his hand away but Felix only held him tighter. "I don't expect anything. I'm just confused. It's like, they know more about you than I do, because to me...you're the furthest thing from broken."
Felix brought Sorell's hand up and kissed his knuckles. "I don't agree with his comment and I doubt Finn knows enough about what happened to me to argue the point. But, I understand why there would be doubts. I was a different person when I left, a little more arrogant, a lot more carefree. My last tour changed me and I am still learning how to live with those changes. So far, I've done well with schedules and routines, control. I can't blame Finn for noticing that about me. Just as you can't blame your loved ones from noticing changes in
you."
Sorell wanted to stroke his cheek and tell him that everything was fine, that Sorell liked who he was now. More than liked. He didn't though, partly because he thought a move like that might get him spanked and partly because Sorell thought that if he opened his mouth than more questions would just come pouring out instead. What had happened to Felix? Why did he dream like he did every night? He gave so much to the other man, offered his entire body, and yet, there was so much about Felix, normal things, that he didn't know.
Felix surprised him and laughed when Sorell thought he might have gotten upset instead. "The more time I spend with you, the more I learn to read you."
"Are you saying I'm an open book?"
"No, you aren't open to everyone." He pulled Sorell closer to his side. "Just to me," he said in a growl.
Sorell loved that growl and wondered how he'd gotten so good at it. "If I'm so open then tell me what I want to ask."
Felix's eyes twinkled. "I know what you're doing and I will indulge you."
Sorell straightened. He didn't want to pry anything out of Felix. "You really don't have to—"
Felix leaned over suddenly, a hand at the back of Sorell's head, the fingers there gripped at his hair, pulling on the strands hard enough for it to sting. Sorell gasped, his cock stiffened. Felix licked his lower lip and Sorell moaned. "I know I don't have to," Felix said with a smile.
Chapter Nine
Felix felt the ball in his stomach constrict until it felt like lead. His forehead felt too hot and sweaty just from thinking about telling Sorell what had happened to him. He'd hinted to people who needed to know, his supervisor at DBB, his mother, but he'd never told anyone the entire event. He would now. His Sorell deserved that much.
"I'd been working out of the country almost since the moment I finished my residency. I always knew that I wanted to help people on the fringe, people who wouldn't normally have help."
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 41
