The Alpha’s Companion - Chapter 68

Julien headed up the stairs to check on Lacey. When he checked on her earlier, she was still sleeping, so he went to dinner with the pack, at Raye’s and Brock’s insistence. Julien hadn’t had dinner with the pack in a while, so he reluctantly agreed. Then Scarlett urged him to have a last-minute Council Meeting and walked over with him. Before Julien knew it, it was late.

He hurried to their room, hating himself for having spent so much time away from her. Because she had slept all day, he knew that she was probably awake by now. And since he hadn’t seen her downstairs, he knew she was probably hungry. From the way she had been sleeping, she was either pregnant or coming down with the flu. It wasn’t like Lacey to sleep all day, but he was glad she had. She obviously needed the rest.

“Lacey?” he yelled, barging into their suite… then he saw it. Their suite was a mess. Two tables were broken along with a lamp, and the picture window was shattered. He ran over to it, afraid of what he might see at the bottom, but thank goodness, Lacey wasn’t there. “Lacey?” Julien ran into his bedroom and she wasn’t there either. Then he ran as quickly as he could into every room, even throwing open the shower, and she was nowhere to be found.

“Sound the alarm!” Julien yelled, running out of the suite and down the hallway as quickly as he could. Shifters came out into the hallway, wondering what was happening. “Sound the alarm! The Alpha Queen is missing!”

All of a sudden, wolf-shifters began running about, trying to find Lacey.

Julien ran down the stairs. At the bottom, Brogan ran up to him. “Alpha Grey, what’s happened?”

“Sound the alarm! The Alpha Queen is missing!” Then he ran outside to see what evidence he could find.

Outside below the window, lay broken glass scattered over the ground. He looked up and it was clear that someone had been thrown out. He just hoped it wasn’t Lacey. Julien bent down to take a closer look on the ground, and as he suspected, blood was mixed with the broken glass.

Julien quickly thought back to what had transpired earlier.

Scarlett had been insistent that they hold the Council Meeting tonight, against his better instincts. Also, Raye and Brock had kept him at dinner longer than he had intended to stay, talking strategy. For a split second, he wondered if they had anything to do with her disappearance and had been keeping him away from Lacey so she could be taken.

He didn’t know, but he was going to find out, and Scarlett was the best one to ask. Julien ran up the stairs and beat on her door. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

Scarlett opened the door immediately, dressed in a robe. “What’s wrong?”

Julien grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off her feet, and backed her into her suite. “Where is she?” he growled gritting his teeth.

“I… have… no idea…. what… you’re talking about,” she choked out, clawing at his fingers.

Julien tightened his grip around her throat. Just a bit more pressure and he would snap her neck. But then again, if Scarlett knew anything, he would never know. “The Alpha Queen is missing! Where is she?”

Her eyes widened in fear, something rare for Scarlett. “I… don’t… know!” Tears started welling up in her eyes as her fingernails scraped at his skin, causing blood to trickle from the wound.

Keeping a tight grip on her throat, Julien shoved her through her huge plate glass window that matched his, causing her feet to dangle in mid-air outside the castle as glass shattered inside and out of her room. “I will only ask one more time,” Julien growled, his voice low and demonic. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know!” Scarlett was openly crying now, holding on to his wrists just in case he dropped her.

At this point, he knew that even Scarlett would have spilled her guts by now if she knew anything. He pulled her in and let her go. She fell into a heap onto the floor, gasping for air. He bent over and grabbed his knees, fighting the shimmers running down his arms and spine, along with the red haze with black edges clouding his vision.

Scarlett lay on the floor, catching her breath, crying softly with bruises already raising on her neck. “How could you even think I would do such a thing?” she demanded through her tears.

“Scarlett, you called a Council Meeting tonight to rehash what we had already discussed!” Julien yelled. “You also detained me on the practice field when I wanted to get back to Lacey!”

“But I had nothing to do with her disappearance!” Tears ran openly down Scarlett’s face. “Are you sure she wasn’t just in the kitchen, getting something to eat? I didn’t see her at dinner—”

“You know full well that she wasn’t at dinner!” Julien growled a she stood, pointing a finger at her. “You better hope and pray that I never find out you had anything to do with her disappearance, or I’ll kill you with my bare hands. And you’d better hope that Lacey is all right when I get her back. If one hair on her head has been harmed, everyone responsible for her disappearance will die.”

Scarlett glared at him as he hurried from her suite.

Julien hoped that Scarlett was right, and that Lacey was just downstairs in the kitchen getting something to eat. But if he finds out that Lacey has been taken, God help the parties responsible…. for He is the only one who will.