I will be back

Aleida’s POV

Darkness. Coal-black darkness. I hear voices and sounds that I can’t embrace. What’s going on? Who or which is talking? What happened? I was going home and stayed to... Oh, shit! The vampire! I spoke to him and got a punch in the back of my head, I think? Ugh! Why can’t I remember? Suddenly something cold trails down my body, and I sit up and gasp from the coldness.

“Wakey wakey, Aleida,” the vampire from earlies says and dares to smirk at me; I growl as an instinct to which he laughs. “Oh, someone’s pissed. Now now, don’t be like that.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You haven’t even told me your name, shit head,” I answer, pissed off at this whole ordeal.

“Oh, spicy, aren’t you? The names Will.”

“Not nice meeting you, Will,” I sarcastically answer; his deep laugh echoes throughout the room.

For some reason unknown, he finds my insults funny. He has shown me that several times.

“Your sass is admirable to me. But I don’t think that King is going to like it.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck about you or this King person you’re talking about all the time. If he’s anything like you, I’m not going to like him. I don’t negotiate with leeches.”

This time he doesn’t laugh. Oh, it looks like I struck a nerve in this whole ‘bad ass’ thing he has going on. Whatever that is. I seriously didn’t care. All I want is to know why I’m here and what they want. This Will person has said that it’s ‘King’ who wants to meet me, but why doesn’t he come by himself. Will is about to answer me when the heavy iron door creaks open. Heavy footsteps move toward where I’m hanging in silver chains from the ceiling. The room is incredibly dark, and even with my werewolf vision, I can’t see much. The footsteps stop a couple of inches away from me. I hear the figure sniffing my scent deeply like he has waited his whole life to do that.

“Sniffing me without showing your face, real classy,” I snort in annoyance.

The person chuckles for a moment before turning to Will, motioning for him to leave the room. Will nods once before stepping out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. I’m now utterly alone with whomever it’s with me in this room.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Aleida,” he says in a deep and almost sexy voice.

If I didn’t have mates and this happened in some other place without me getting kidnapped, I probably would be wet just by the sound of his voice.

“Well, now I’m here. Just go on with it; why am I here?” I huff and roll my eyes; a stinging feeling spreads from my right arm; I hiss from the pain.

“Behave, or that pain is going to feel like a nice bath in comparison to what I’m going to do!” he growls.

Huh, if I didn’t know better, it almost sounds like he’s a werewolf. That’s not very likely, however. Werewolves and vampires hate each other. We can’t stand to be in the same room with one another. The pain subsides, and my breaths slowly return to normal.

“Good girl. Now, we’re going to have a chat, me and you. You’re only allowed to speak when I say so. When I ask questions, I want honest answers. There will be no sass or any of that brat behavior whatsoever. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes,” I grit out through my teeth.

I’m annoyed beyond the horizon. Not just by the fact that this man tries to command me, but also because he still hasn’t shown me his face. Isn’t that just common sense to show yourself and look them in the eye when you’re speaking to them? I guess this guy didn’t get the memo on ordinary common decency.

“Let us begin then. Is your full name Aleida Roza Mendez?"

“Yes.”

“Are your parents’ names Clara and Romeo Mendez, former alpha and luna of the Rose moon pack?” the man continues to ask, and I begin to feel irritated by all these questions.

“Yes.”

“Did you have any knowledge about us me being your betrothed before you were even born?”

Betrothed? What has this guy been smoking?

“What!? No!” I exclaim in horror.

“Oh dear dear, no need to be so disgusted about the facts. I’m not that horrible to look at, I promise,” the man answers in a chuckle.

“And how would I know that? Since you haven’t even shown me your face.”

He takes a few steps forward, and let me tell you guys; this guy looks like an angel. A perfect-shaped face, shiny black hair, buffed body, and piercing eyes can make you completely naked in a couple of seconds. Don’t be fooled, though; this is the devil in disguise.

“Now, what do you think?” he asks me with a smirk on his lips.

It’s apparent that he’s well aware of the fact that he’s handsome. So why does he need my opinion on the matter?

“Seen better,” I answer nonchalantly, which rewards me with a chuckle; what’s funny?

“You should know better than to try to lie, little wolf. I can smell your arousal,” the man says with a smirk on his lips.

Don’t judge me! Even though he’s clearly a delusional maniac, he’s still sexy as fuck!

“You caught me, I guess,” I say with a sigh.

“I see that you can play innocent when it’s convenient,” he snorts. “That behavior of yours is still going to be a problem. You need an attitude change.”

“Well, so do you,” I answer with the same sass I know will get me in trouble.

Wrong choice, Aleida. Bad choice. I don’t know what’s wrong with me and my mouth; I know that he will hurt me if I talk back, and I do it anyway! This time though, both my arms begin to sting from the pain, making me growl.

“What did I just tell you about that attitude of yours!?” he roars at me; I don’t even flinch; I’m an alpha, a queen, and a queen doesn’t obey orders, she gives them.

“I guess that I forgot,” I answer with a faked yawn.

“You bitch!”

This time he slaps me across my face. His claws draw blood. Wait, claws? Vampires don’t have claws.

“What the fuck are you!?” I yell in anger; he gives me an evil smirk, and his eyes shine brighter than before.

“That’s the best thing in all of this. Our pups will be so strong that they can take over and control the whole world.”

“What pups? Are you delusional!?” I exclaim, horrified, but he doesn’t seem fazed about it.

“I’m a hybrid. Half-vampire, half-werewolf,” he says with pride.

“Oh, so you’re an abomination then,” I state in a bored tone.

His nostrils flare; I’ve touched a nerve. Hell, not even a nerve. I’m encountering the most profound spirit this man has in his body, and he doesn’t like it. I barely have time to watch him move before he stands in front of me, tall and proud. His hand grabs a steady grip around my neck and press. The air can’t find a way down my lungs. His other hand moves at my waist, and if he weren’t choking me, I would scream by the pain that the claws give me when they penetrate my skin and makes the blood flow along my leg. He let go of my throat, and I cough heavily.

“Don’t worry, Aleida. We’re going to take care of that problem, and this is only the beginning.”

Michael’s POV

After the conversation with Aleida, I’ve arranged everything she asked me to do. Luis and I patiently wait for her in the office. Minutes turn into hours, and the worries increase for every minute going by. When the clock hit three, we realize that something must have happened. Why didn’t we worry earlier? Because we have the most potent alpha in the whole world, she, if anyone, can take care of herself. But now we realize something is wrong. I try to call her phone but just come up to her answering machine. Luis takes some warriors with him and runs along the way she’s supposed to drive on to come home to us. Meanwhile, I call various alphas to hear how many territories she has passed. She has two regions left to pass, and if you count in time, she should’ve been just outside the penultimate territory when I talked to her. This makes no sense! Aleida always tells us when there’s a change of plans, and now I can’t even mindlink her! This isn’t her blocking me out; this is some kind of force holding me off. Finally, Luis comes back into the office; I shine up when I see him. But my expression falls quickly when I see his grim face.

“What happened?” I ask.

He sighs and looks miserable. His hair is in every direction, as if he has pulled his hand through it countless times.

“We found her car...” he begins.

“Oh, so you found her?”

“She wasn’t inside. We also found signs of struggle. Something or someone attacked her. We found her blood on the ground.”

I fall back into the chair, my legs unable to hold me right now. Someone attacked my best friend, and I wasn’t there to save her and keep her protected. I’ve failed her miserably.

“Keep looking for her; take the trio with you. No one rests until we find her!”

“Yes, beta.”

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, because I can’t do anything! I must stay here. The pack needs me now when Aleida is gone and Luis is out looking for her. Which means that even if I want to, I can’t leave. I’ll have to help some way from here, but I don’t know-how. Wait for a second... Her mates! I throw myself at the phone and dial their office number. It’s ringing and ringing and ringing... Well, it’s in the middle of the night, I don’t judge—finally, a sleepy voice answers.

“Winter blood pack, gamma Jason speaking,” Aleida’s brother answers.

“Jason, it’s Michael. Aleida’s beta,” I introduce myself.

“Hang on for a sec.”

I hear the phone land on a table. It sounds like he’s putting on clothes or something. Scratching sounds come from the other side of the line before he finally picks it up again.

“Yes, I’m with you. What is this regarding?” Jason asks in a sleepy voice.

“If I may be so bold, you should probably get the betas and the alphas for this. You all deserve to know,” I answer with a slight worry about how they’ll react.

“Yeah, of course. Hang on for a second,” Jason responds, and I hear how he walks upstairs and knocks on doors.

“Wake up; it’s important. Get the betas. Come on. We’re on duty. I know it’s in the middle of the night. Stop complaining! Do you really think I would wake you up at this hour if it weren’t important? Just get your asses downstairs!” Jason yells.

Several heavy footsteps are thundering down the stairs. What can I say? I’m a werewolf, and I can rather quickly define which noise comes from what.

“Hey bro, you’re on speakerphone. What made you call us this late?” Jason asks.

“There’s no easy way to say this...” I begin and feel slight fright.

“Just out with it!” Kian exclaims.

“Aleida is missing,” I say in barely a whisper; everything and everyone is quiet for a couple of seconds.

“What do you mean missing?” Miliano asks in a slightly panicked voice.

“I talked to her earlier, and she said she was an hour away from our territory. We didn’t worry at first, since you know, her being the kick-ass queen and all. But she still hasn’t appeared. I even sent Luis and the warriors out to look for her,” I explain.

“What did they find?” Kian asks, worried.

“They found her car and no one in it. There were clear signs of a struggle, and they even found traces of her blood. Something or someone attacked her, and I seriously have no idea what to do!”

“When did you talk to her last?” Miliano asks.

“A couple of hours ago, nine o’clock maybe?”

“How did she sound when you talked to her? I mean, did she sound as usual, excited, stressed?” Miliano continues to question me.

“No, nothing like that. Aleida was just sad.”

“Why was she sad?” Kian asks, and I can practically see the frown on his face.

“She felt like she betrayed you and her pups for leaving all of you again. I told her that it would be fine, and that was it. After that, she just asked me to get Starbucks and print out a couple of documents. We hung up, and no weird things happened.”

“I will call Nathan and make him go there. Killian says that he can go too. He’ll be there in the morning,” Kian says.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and Michael?” Miliano asks.

“Yeah?”

“Find our mate and our son’s mother, to whatever cost.”

“I promise, alphas.”

We hang up, and I sit there with my head in my hands. My eyes shed a few tears of frustration and fear. Everyone close to Aleida knows what threats she’ll have to face as soon as the news of her being queen came out. And now... Now I’m not sure if she still is alive...