Page 79 of Alpha Brock
“I know, but I’m still going to,” he says, clapping me on the shoulder again. “C’mon, let’s go find your girl.”
~
Two days. That’s how long it has been since Astrid was taken, and I still can’t fucking think straight. Two days since she’s greeted me with her overly-chipper ‘good morning’ over coffee. Two days since I’ve heard that airy little giggle of hers or kissed her lips or held her in my arms. Two days of pure fucking agony. Every time she crosses my mind, which is about a thousand times a day, I feel like I’m gonna lose my shit.
I’ve run through the gauntlet of emotions. Guilt, for not being able to keep an eye on her during the battle. For letting her get taken. For not realizing that Chris was a dirty fucking rat. Regret, for not saying everything I should have while I had the chance. I wish I’d told her how much she means to me- though I don’t think I fully realized it until she was gone. Fear, for if something bad happens to her, or if we fail to get her back before something does. Anger, for everyone involved in taking her away from me. When I come for her, there will be blood.
Of course, anger is the predominant emotion. It’s constantly sizzling under the surface, threatening to spill over and consume me. I’ve been snapping off at everyone, damn near taking their heads off anytime they hazard an attempt to speak to me. I’m even worse company than I was before, and I’ve always been a prickly sonofabitch, so that’s saying something.
To make matters worse, we still don’t have any leads on where they’ve taken Astrid. IT has been working around the clock, but every time they think they may be on to something, it’s another fucking dead end. The constant roller coaster of false hope followed by crushing disappointment is taking its toll. I’ve barely eaten or slept. The more time that passes, the bleaker the outcome seems.
Reid and I searched for hours before he finally convinced me to turn back. When we returned to the Denver pack’s territory, they were already burning the corpses of our fallen enemies. I’d kill them all over again if I could. We lost three squad members, while Denver lost six of their soldiers. In comparison, almost fifty of our enemies fell- meaning that before they retreated, we were winning.We could’ve won.
That would bode well for the next time we go toe-to-toe with the shadow pack, except now we’ve shown our hand. They know how strong we are, and they know that Denver has backup. I’m sure that traitor Chris told them all about the six-pack. All the more reason for us to put an end to this as soon as we can- which is why we’re in the living room of the Denver packhouse again, going over our options for what feels like the hundredth time.
Everyone that was present for our pre-battle strategy session is here, minus Chris and Astrid. We’ve been meeting basically all day, every day since Astrid was taken. Victor, one of Cole’s advisors, suggests doing ground searches again, as if those have turned up anything so far. I’ve joined in on every one of them as a way to try to stay busy, but it’s fucking demoralizing when they never get us anywhere.
“I’m in for a ground search,” Fallon offers, leaning forward from her seat on the couch beside Gray. “I’m sick of sitting around here doing nothing.”
Gray shoots her a look of disapproval. He’s been overly protective since she was seriously injured during the battle with the shadow pack. Fallon would tell you it was nothing, but several cracked ribs, a busted femur, and a broken collarbone hardly constitute ‘nothing’. Thanks to shifter healing, she’s already as good as new, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gray keeps his mate in a glass cage from here on out.
Fallon notices the look on his face, raising a brow in challenge. “Just try and stop me, I dare you.”
Gray’s wolf flickers gold in his eyes, and suddenly he’s on his feet, scooping Fallon up from the couch and tossing her over his shoulder in a fireman carry.
“Excuse us,” he mumbles to the rest of us on his way out of the room as Fallon curses and fights against his hold, and we all exchange knowing glances, chuckling to ourselves. It might be the first time I’ve cracked a smile since Astrid was taken, and I immediately feel guilty for it.
“I’ll lead another ground search,” I grumble, heaving an exasperated sigh. “But if one of these doesn’t turn up something soon, I’m gonna lose my shit.”
“We all want her back, Brock,” Cole murmurs, shooting me a glare. I think he’s having a little trouble adjusting to sharing his space with five other alphas, especially with one of them basically asserting a claim over his sister and criticizing his efforts to find her.
I open my mouth to argue back with him, but Brooke suddenly rushes into the room, her open laptop in one hand as she pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose with the other. She traveled here from the six-pack the morning after the battle to aid IT in the search for Astrid and has been working around the clock since. “I think we just figured out where they’re holing up,” she pants.
All eyes are on Brooke. I immediately leap to my feet, not needing to hear another word. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Cole barks.
“Not so fast, we’ve gotta play this smart…” Fucking Sam. I still can’t stand the guy, but I know he cares about Astrid and wants to get her home safely, so I’ve swallowed my pride and set aside our differences in order to work with him.
“If we know where she is, I’m not gonna just sit here and wait,” I snarl, looking to Reid, Jax, and Theo for support. Theo’s already on his feet, ready to join me and storm in there, guns a’blazing.
“Where is she?” I ask Brooke, moving toward her.
Sam hops up from his spot on a nearby couch, stepping in my path and holding his hands up. “Nuh uh, we have to think this through…”
I glare at Sam menacingly, towering over him and narrowing my eyes. “You have two seconds to get out of my way or I’ll fucking drop you again.”
Sam shoves at my chest, and I push back-hard- sending him careening back down onto the sofa he stood up from. Theo grabs my arm to hold me back, while Cole leaps from his chair at the front of the room.
“Enough!” he shouts, his deep voice reverberating off of the marble floor. All eyes snap to him.
“Sam’s right, we can’t just rush in without a plan,” Cole growls. I’m about to tell him to fuck off when he adds, “it could put her in danger.”
Thatgives me pause. I draw a ragged breath, watching Cole as he makes his way over to Brooke.
“What’d you find?” he asks calmly, and Brooke takes a step forward, sliding her laptop onto the coffee table and sinking down onto her knees in front of it.
“Can you…?” she asks, gesturing behind her to the large TV mounted on the wall.