The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 114

CAULDER

Mason spread a giant map out onto the conference room table. It outlined the entire territory and then several miles around it. He handed me a pen to mark the information I knew.

I made a small X where I last followed Harper's scent. "Based on her trail, she followed the vampires in this direction." I made markings to indicate the correct direction. "Before our link was cut off, she said that the vampires brought Remy to 'a little, and then the connection broke. She couldn't have traveled too far based on how long it took her to get there, but I'm not sure what's out there."

I had explored the entire territory, but this was beyond the area I had been trained to know. We had done several runs outside of the territory before the vampires showed up, so I was vaguely familiar with the forest beyond, but it wasn't enough to know where they would have taken the girls. I hoped Mason or my father could fill us in.

My father leaned down and studied the map closely. "There's only one thing I can think of that's out in that direction that isn't miles and miles away."

"The bunker," Mason said.

My father nodded. "That's what I'm thinking. They could have easily repurposed it for a base. It's close by, which would explain how they had been able to watch us so closely without us seeing an obvious camp."

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner," Mason said. "It makes perfect sense."

"What is this bunker?" I asked. Something like that sounded important, but it had never come up during my training sessions for my alpha duties.

"I'm not sure exactly why it was created in the first place, because it was already here when we created the pack here," my father admitted. "I just know that it looks like a small shed on the outside, but it goes underground and is significantly bigger below. It's what we based our own prison off of."

"It was too old and too far away to be repurposed for us, but the plan of the building was well laid out, so we created ours in a near perfect image of it," Mason explained. "We haven't gone out there in years, so I completely forgot about it."

"They have to be keeping Harper and Remy out there," I said. It sounded like this place would be perfect for a base for Draven.

"At least for now," Blade said. "Draven won't waste much time before he takes Remy back to the city. He'll want to get as far away from here as possible, so we can't rescue her. We need to go now." Blade curled his hands into fists. He hadn't said a whole lot since we made it back to the pack house, and he had barely stopped moving.

"Alpha Reyland is getting the warriors ready. We should be able to leave soon," Mason said.

"How soon?" Blade asked. I could tell he was ready to leave immediately. Even though he was the one who insisted we wait in the first place, he was running out of patience.

I understood how he felt. Every minute we were here was another minute I wouldn't know if Harper was alive. I hadn't been able to reconnect our link since it dropped initially, and I was trying not to think about the worst-case scenario. I hoped she was just unconscious and hadn't woken up. There was also the chance they used wolfsbane on her to suppress her wolf abilities. Either way, I needed to make sure she was okay before I completely lost my mind.

"Soon," Mason said. I could tell he was hesitant to give a specific number. It took time to gather warriors and inform them about the plan we devised.

"Right. I'll be outside if anyone needs me," Blade said. He moved out of the room, unable to sit still a moment longer.

I reached for his arm to stop him, since we hadn't finished discussing the fine details of the plan, but my father touched my shoulder, stopping me. He gestured for me to follow him out of the door. He moved out of the conference room and stopped in the hallway. "What's up?" I asked, a little confused about why he pulled me away from the others.

"Look, your mother doesn't know about Remy being missing yet," he said.

I pulled my lips tight. "Shouldn't we tell her that?"

He took a deep breath. "She's still recovering, and she has been sleeping a lot. I'm worried she'll push herself too hard too soon if she knew Remy was missing. Until we know more, I think it's best we keep her in the dark a little longer."

I understood my father's reasoning, but I wasn't sure if I agreed with her. However, I wasn't going to waste my time arguing with him, not when I had to prepare for a battle. We were about to face an unfamiliar enemy, and I just hoped all of Blade's training would be enough to handle all of the vampires we were about to face.

"Won't she realize something is going on when everyone suddenly disappears?" I asked. I felt like my mom would only get more upset if she discovered we kept Remy's disappearance a secret from her.

"That's why I'm going to stay behind," my father said.

I stared at him for a moment, fully expecting him to tell me he was joking. He was the alpha. We needed him on the battlefield. He was the strongest werewolf in the pack, and we needed every ounce of strength if we were going to take Draven down. "What are you talking about?" I finally asked when my father didn't say anything else. "We need you."

"No, you don't," he said with a smile. "I've seen how you are handling this situation. Despite your sister and mate missing, you are keeping a level head. You are taking the proper steps to make sure they come home safely, and you are incredibly strong. You took down the Council of Magic single-handedly. You don't need me."

"I might seem like I'm okay on the outside, but I feel like I'm barely keeping it together," I said. I held out my hand to show him how much I was shaking. "I can't do this on my own. I'm not ready."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "You are more ready than you think. I know you haven't wanted the responsibility of being the alpha in the past, but you have shown me you have the strength and the heart to be the alpha, and I hope you reconsider taking over. You are strong, and you can handle getting Remy and Harper back safely, and you won't be alone. I trust you, and your mother needs me here. After you went missing, she was a complete wreck. If she finds out Remy is missing while still recovering from the head wound..."

I stood tall as I watched his face change. My mother was his whole life, and if anything happened to her, he would lose a big part of himself. I could see it in his eyes as he spoke, and I knew this was something I had to do.

I gave him a small nod and said, "You can trust me. I've got this."

"I know you do," he said with a smile.

-

REMY

"The others are going to come for us," Harper insisted. "Caulder wasn't that far behind me, and they aren't just going to leave us here. They will bring every single warrior to get us back if they have to." Listening to Harper speak was helping calm me down after the incident. "If they come, the wolfsbane is going to hurt them," I said.

The air felt thicker the longer we stayed in the room. The only advantage to the smell of wolfsbane lingering in the air was that it made my body feel a little numb, which dulled the pain in my arm from where Julie had been dragging me. It felt like the bleeding had slowed down, but it was difficult to check with the way I was restrained.

"I wish there was a way we could warn them, but I'm not going to be able to link because of the wolfsbane," Harper said. Based on the quiver in her voice, she was frustrated and scared, but she was trying to stay strong for me.

She let her head fall back against the pillar we were tied to. "I followed Julie here because I was being selfish, and I've only made things worse. If I hadn't been here you wouldn't have had to..." Her voice dropped, and she swallowed hard.

"First off, nothing that man does is your fault." I had to take a deep breath to force the memory out of my head. "Secondly, how is you coming here to help me a selfish reason?" I wish I could hug her and make her feel better. She shouldn't feel guilty about Draven's twisted mind.

She let out a rough breath through her nose. "After Caulder was taken by Winslow, I felt useless. I felt like I should have done something to stop Caulder from being taken, so when you were in trouble, I didn't want to sit back and do nothing. I wanted to feel useful. I wanted to make a difference. I should have just listened to Caulder. He told me to not go after you by myself, and he was right. I only made matters worse."

I shifted to the side so I could get a little closer to her. "I know this is a terrible thing to say, but part of me is glad you are here with me. I mean, I don't want you to be in this terrible situation, but I think I would have completely lost it if you weren't here with me." Harper half-chuckled to herself. "You're too nice to me, Remy."

"Harper, you're one of my best friends, and I love you dearly. I'm not just going to say things to make you feel better. I mean it. If you weren't here, I'd have no hope. At least we know the others are coming. We just have to hang on long enough for them to find us." I knew Caulder and Blade would be working as fast as they could to rescue us. I just hoped they could find this hideout before anything deadly happened.

"There has to be something we can do while we wait for them. I hate feeling like a damsel in distress." Harper pulled against her restraints and grunted with frustration when they didn't budge.

"If I focus really hard, I can use my magic, and I might be able to get out of these restraints," I said. "But I'm too weak to get anywhere, and I'm sure they are guarding the door. I don't know if it is worth it with the wolfsbane weakening you, too." "Wait, can you use your magic to reach out to Caulder?" Harper asked. She shifted just enough that I could see her face better. "Like some sort of telepathic link?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "We have only ever communicated through our wolf link, but I can try."

"If you can get in contact with him, maybe we can tell them exactly where we are and warn them about the wolfsbane," Harper said.

I bit into my lower lip. My magic had been sporadic because of the wolfsbane, but if I could get my mind to focus for long enough, there was a chance I could send the warning. It wasn't like I had anything better to do right now, anyway.