by Maggie Walsh
“I smelled you in the area. That’s why I took off. I didn’t want to lead you back here and put them in danger. Maybe Ash smelled you too, and that’s why they left? He was probably afraid you would find them.”
“So where would they go?” Micah asked.
Maddy started pacing as he ran a hand down his face and tried to think about where Ash would go to hide. He stopped and turned to face the group. “The storm drain. He went to the storm drain,” Maddy exclaimed and took off out the door.
He didn’t stop or look back to see if they were following him. He knew they were. Maddy ran through the neighborhood and into the next one. He turned out of that neighborhood and headed toward the school. From the corner of his eye, he saw that his father was on one side of him and Micah was on the other as they stayed with him.
After running for another five minutes, the storm drain came into view. They were still about two hundred yards away. “There.” Maddy pointed as he kept running.
They made it to the storm drain, and Maddy grabbed the edge of the concrete rim and peered inside, but with the sun down, it was too dark to see all the way in the back. He hunched down and started to enter as he called out, “Ash, it’s me. It’s okay, Ash. We’re safe now.”
“Maddy?” Ash’s whispered voice came to him.
“Yeah, buddy, it’s me and I brought reinforcements. We’re all gonna be okay now.”
“I didn’t know what to do, Maddy. I smelled those new wolves in the area, and I knew we had to get out of there,” Ash explained and Maddy could hear the emotion in his voice.
“You did great, Ash,” he praised. “Come on out now.”
“He’s getting sicker, Maddy. The walk here was too much on him,” Ash cried.
Maddy looked back at the group. “Does anyone have a flashlight?”
“I have one better than that, young Matthew,” Ryland said as held up his hand, palm up, and a bright light appeared. Ryland stepped closer to the opening of the drain, and the interior lit up like midday. They could see Ash as far back in the pipe as he could go. He was sitting in the muck. The other man was lying down with his head in Ash’s lap.
Jesse crouched down and headed into the pipe with Maddy. The two of them crab walked their way to Ash. “This is my alpha mate, Jesse. Jesse, this is Ash,” Maddy introduced.
Jesse gave him a bright smile. “Hi, Ash. It’s so good to finally meet you. Can I take a look at your friend there? I may be able to help him.”
“Jesse, before you do that there’s something you should know,” Maddy whispered.
“It’s okay no matter what it is, Maddy. I can’t catch anything from him,” Jesse said gently as he reached out and placed a hand on the man’s face, turning it toward him.
“No, Jesse, that’s not…”
But it was too late, Jesse turned the man’s face and gasped in shock as his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped. “Micah. Raith.”
“What is it, baby? What’s wrong?” Micah asked in concern.
“I think you both need to get in here. Now.”
Micah and Raith made their way into the pipe. Maddy turned to watch them approach. “Raith, Alpha Micah…I…” He didn’t know what to say.
They both looked at Maddy, confused, as they came up next to them. “Micah,” Jesse cried in a whisper.
Micah turned his head to look at Jesse and then looked down to where his mate was looking. His eyes went wide in shock as he gasped. A second gasp came from next to him and Maddy knew Raith had also looked down. “Wh…how? I don’t understand,” Micah choked.
“Micah.” The small whispered voice could barely be heard.
Micah sat in the muck as his body shook and tears streamed down his face. He leaned forward and gently slid one hand under the man’s head and an arm under his body. Micah pulled the man toward him, cradling him against his massive chest as he gazed down into the man’s face. “Dad.” Micah’s voice was a whisper clogged with emotion.
Raith dropped down next to Micah and reached a hand out, gently smoothing hair from Grampy’s face. Tears streamed down Raith’s face as he looked back up to Maddy and then back down. “Pops?”
“Raith,” Papa’s whispered voice came. “Almost all my boys are here.”
“Fallon,” Jesse called back to the group. Maddy watched as a big guy he didn’t know made his way into the pipe.
Ash’s eyes went wide and so did Fallon’s as they saw each other. “Ash? You’re alive,” Fallon said in disbelief.
“I thought you were dead, Fal,” Ash cried as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Fallon made it down the pipe and stopped behind Micah and Raith. He looked between them over their shoulders and his eyes filled with more tears. “Papa?”
* * * *
They all sat around the living room of Micah’s father’s house as they waited. Ryland had opened a portal and gone back to their pack, grabbing Aaron and Noah and bringing them back to attend to Raphael. It had been an hour since they joined Jesse, Taylor, and Raffy in the room, and Micah couldn’t sit still. He paced the floor as he continued to run his hands through his hair. His eyes were unfocused and wild. Raith stood by the window peering out, but it looked like he didn’t even see what was outside. His eyes looked like he was a million miles away.
Dante shifted his gaze to Matthew. He sat on one of the couches with Ash by his side as the two of them spoke in soft whispers. Trevor and Fallon sat next to them. Trevor was running a hand up and down his mate’s back trying to soothe him, as Fallon stared at the top of the stairs, waiting for someone to come tell them something.
Dare flinched next to him, drawing Dante’s attention. He turned toward his mate and saw his eyes closed, brows furrowed, with a look like he was talking to someone, but his lips weren’t moving. Dante wondered if Dare were talking to Dale using the mating link. Dare’s eyes snapped open and turned to Dante. His eyes looked worried. “What is, Dare?” Dante whispered.
“I need to go, Dante. I have just received a call from Barkley.”
“Your general?”
“Yes, he needs me back in the fae realm. There’s something wrong with Brett. I know the timing sucks, but I need to go,” Dare said as he stood and looked at Ryland.
Dante stood and grabbed his arm, bringing Dare’s attention back to him. “It’s okay, love. Go see to your men. We’ll be fine here.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Give Dale a hug and kiss for me.” Dare leaned in and kissed Dante softly.
“I’m ready when you are,” Ryland’s voice came to them.
The two pulled apart and looked to the fae king. “You heard?” Dare asked.
“Yes, Stryker spoke to me.”
Dare looked back at Dante and the two shared a smile. Dante squeezed Dare’s hand before releasing it. Ryland turned to look at Phenex, and the demon-angel gave him a smile and nodded. Ryland chanted softly and a portal opened. He and Dare stepped through, and the portal disappeared behind them.
“Is everything okay?” Micah asked.
Dante shifted his gaze to his best friend. “Everything is fine. They just needed to check on something back in the fae realm. Nothing for you to worry about, brother.” As Dante spoke, he stepped closer to his best friend. Micah nodded and looked to the top of the stairs. Dante placed a hand on his shoulder. “It will all be okay, Micah. He has five amazing men by his side trying to heal him, and your enforcers standing guard. Why don’t you come and sit for a moment?”
“I can’t sit, Dante. There’re too many questions swirling around in my head.” Just then, Phenex grabbed Micah’s other arm. Micah turned to him and Phenex motioned to the stairs. Jesse, Taylor, Noah, and Aaron were coming down. Micah stiffened and Raith joined him. Fallon, Trevor, Ash, and Matthew all stood.
Jesse walked straight to Micah and wrapped his arms around him, giving him a tight hug. He pulled back and looked at Micah. “He’s sleeping. We were able to heal him, but he’s still very weak.”
“Thank you, baby,” Micah whispered in a
choked voice and wrapped his arms around Jesse, hugging him close. “All of you, thank you.”
“Will Grampy be okay now?” Matthew asked nervously.
“We think so, Matthew,” Aaron answered as he slid his arm around Raith’s waist. “I would like him to stay asleep right now so that his body continues to repair itself. He is too weak to shift, but his shifter genes should still help with the healing. The longer he sleeps, the better right now.”
“What was wrong with him, Doc Aaron? Ash and I tried everything we could think of, but he just seemed to get worse.”
“You and Ash did an amazing job taking care of him. I am certain that if it weren’t for you two, Raphael would be dead right now,” Aaron explained compassionately.
“It was all Ash. He’s been taking care of Grampy for months. I have only been helping for a few weeks, and all I did was get them some food.”
“You did more than that, Maddy,” Ash said. “I don’t know how much longer he or I would have lasted if you hadn’t come along.” Ash gave Matthew a smile. Matthew nodded and looked down.
“What happened, Aaron? Why was he so sick?” Micah questioned.
“I’m not entirely sure. I have a theory, but I would like to speak to Ash first before I speculate.”
“Of course, Doctor. What can I do?”
“What happened? What was his condition when you found him?”
Ash’s face turned sad. He went to the couch, sat back down, and started biting his nails. “After James and his goons grabbed Fallon, they told Quincy, Trevor, Tatum, and I that we were their slaves now. They had us doing everything for them. They would beat us because we were gay and told us they needed to beat it out of us. Day after day, we had to sit there and take their shit. We had no other choice. We wanted to run, but we couldn’t leave Fallon behind. And there was no way we were going to take off and leave Trevor with those bastards.
“Quincy did everything he could to get between them and Trevor whenever they started talking about taking the omega and…well, you know? So that they could get his powers. James knew he wasn’t an alpha and Fallon was. None of them are gay. Well, I didn’t think they were. Anyway, it didn’t matter to them. They said they would do whatever needed to be done to get Trevor’s powers so that they could be more powerful than Fallon. Even if that meant screwing the omega. They knew that that was the only way to get an omega’s powers.
“So Quincy would jump in front of them whenever they went after Trevor. They beat him so bad sometimes. Tatum and I would do whatever we could to heal him, but with each beating, it was taking longer and longer for him to heal. Tatum was really smart, and he kept trying to come up with ways to get down to the cells and free Fallon. He actually succeeded once and got Fallon out of the cells, but he was caught when he tried to get Fallon out of the house. None of them knew about Papa’s cabin and Tatum thought if we could get Fallon there and get him well, then he could come and take the pack back.
“But Fallon is much bigger than Tatum was, and he was having a hard time trying to carry Fallon. I told him to wait until Quincy was well and then the three of us could do it together, but he said it was the perfect time. James and the other idiots had drunk themselves to oblivion with that shit Brighton had concocted and they were passed out. So I was to keep watch while Tatum went to the cells. But we fucked up. We forgot that two of James’s boys were in the town patrolling, and it was their time to come back and change places with the others.
“They walked in through the back door and right into Tatum. They grabbed him and Fallon and took them to the cells. I could hear Tatum screaming.” Ash stopped talking as he got choked up from the memory. Matthew went to him and sat as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. After a few minutes, Ash composed himself. “For days we could hear Tatum’s screams. Then suddenly they just stopped. Quincy was livid and took off for the cells. James and his goons grabbed him, beat the hell out of him, and dragged him off too. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to go after them. I wanted to rescue my brothers, but I was afraid of leaving Trevor alone with James and his boys.
“I never saw or heard my brothers again. Then one night I overheard James saying that it was time to take the omega. Now that they had gotten rid of Quincy and Tatum, and Fallon was too weak to do anything, they would have no witnesses to what they were about to do. Andrew asked, ‘What about Ash?’ and James laughed. He said I was too weak and pathetic to stop them. James’s plan was to take me to the running grounds and tie me up to the post in the center, during the full moon gathering. They were going to beat me and strip the flesh from my bones so that the whole pack could see what happened to queers in their pack. Then while the pack was still running, they would come back here and take the omega. They came up with some crazy idea that taking the omega during the full moon would give them his powers and leave him with none.
“The full moon was two weeks away, and we were running out of time. I tried to figure out a way to get Trevor and me out of here, but there was no way. James and his boys would have found us and stopped us. Trevor and I fought over it. He wanted me to run and leave him behind. We had heard pack members whispering about how the new council was more powerful than the former council, and they were making their way through the packs to appoint alphas. So Trevor wanted me to get to the new council. I really didn’t want to leave him behind, but he insisted that he would be safe at least until the full moon.
“Then one night Trevor sneaked to my room and told me that James and the boys were drinking again, and it would be the perfect time for me to run. He said he would cause a diversion so I should get ready to go. I really hated that idea, Trev,” he said and looked to Trevor.
“I know, Ash, but it was the only way. And it did work. You got away,” Trevor said gently.
“But at what cost to you?” Ash cried.
“I was okay, Ash. They became so focused on finding you that they didn’t even have the run on the full moon. I told James that you had heard what they were planning on doing and you were heading to the council. That’s when they blocked the road and put guards there,” Trevor explained.
“Why would you tell them what Ash’s plan was?” Dante asked.
“I knew that they wouldn’t take the risk of doing anything to me with the possibility of the council heading their way. There was no way James was going to let Ash get away and bring others here to stop his plans. I knew he would do whatever he could to find Ash and it would take his focus off me. By the time they realized Ash was gone, I had figured he got out of the territory by then. It was three days later when I heard Carl telling James that they caught your scent in town and you were still in the area.
“So James started taking over the town. He had his boys grab humans and bring them to Malachi. He thought it would be easier to catch you and control the town from anyone coming in if there were fewer human’s around. But then the FBI showed up because of the missing humans, so James stopped taking them. Malachi was not happy and told James it was time to thin the pack even more. To get rid of those who were weaker and would drag the pack down. That’s when pack members started disappearing and being taken for madeup offenses.
“I felt so guilty because it was all for me that this was happening. All these people were disappearing because of me,” Trevor cried. Fallon wrapped his arms around him and held him tight.
“It wasn’t your fault, Trevor. It was all Malachi. Without his influence, I don’t think James and his boys would have taken all those people,” Micah said.
“So what happened to you, Ash? Why didn’t you get to the council?” Trevor asked.
Ash took a deep breath and released it slowly. “When I ran, I made it into town, but then I realized I didn’t have any money. I was going to shift into my wolf and make my way to the council, but then it dawned on me that I had no idea where the council was. I stayed around town, listening to pack members talking, trying to get information about where the council was located. I approached a few of them and asked if t
hey knew, but none of the ones I spoke with did.
“I was getting frustrated and hungry. Seeing as I didn’t have any money, I knew the only way I would eat was if I hunted. I shifted and went looking for something to eat. While I was hunting, I caught a whiff of blood. I started to run the other way when the scent of that blood became familiar to me. I couldn’t believe what I was smelling, so I took off toward the scent. As I got closer, my heart began to pound in excitement. I thought it was over. That scent was my hope of getting back to Trevor and Fallon. It was hope that the pack would become wonderful again.
“Then I found where the scent was coming from, and my heart shattered. I found Papa out near the quarry. He was hiding in a cave behind the waterfall, and he was all bloody and broken. His body was so thin and his skin was ashen gray. I hunted some food for us and brought it back, but he was so weak. I was finally able to get some of the food into him, and he got some of his strength back.
“We were in the cave for a week when I smelled James’s men out in the woods. It was one of the scariest nights of my life. I stayed in wolf form and stood between Papa and the cave opening, watching for any movement outside. When the sun came up, I made my way from the cave and started looking for somewhere else for us to go. I knew they were getting closer to finding us, and I needed to get Papa out of there. That’s when I found the storm drain. It wasn’t good enough to stay in, but it was the perfect place to hide. It took me two days to find the overpass. The ridge and the road below were in a deserted part of town and they were very rarely used. They were also on the outskirts of town, and I didn’t think they would search that far out for me.
“So I got Papa moving. It took us all day and into the night to get there. The next morning I went out searching for wood, blankets, and stuff that I could use to make walls. Most of the wind didn’t make it up to the top, but enough to freeze us. Then the temperature started to drop. It was a daily thing to go out to find clothes, blankets, and food. I don’t know how we made it through the worst part of the winter under that overpass, but we did.”
