The Four Beta Brothers
Chapter 104

ETHAN

I pulled at the door, but it was locked. There was no surprise there. I started to pull out something to unlock the door with when I heard the faintest noise. It was like a breath on the wind, but I knew I wasn't alone. I grabbed a dagger instead and spun around. The blade sliced into the chest of my silent assailant, and he screamed. He continued coming at me, despite the fresh blood running down his chest. I grabbed his fist midair and chucked him over my shoulder. His body slammed into the door, and the lock splintered open, sending him tumbling down a set of stairs. That's one way to break through a door, I thought to myself.

Despite the attack, a wave of relief washed through me. Someone was trying to stop me from entering the basement of the library, which told me I was on the right track. I stepped through the threshold, prepared for even more attacks, when my phone started buzzing.

"Hello?"

"Ethan, Nathan wasn't in the warehouse." It was Asher on the other side of the line.

"What do you mean?"

"It was a decoy," he explained. "They had a body that looked like him, but it wasn't Nathan. It was a trap. I thought they were trying to kill us, but they only had regular bullets. If they truly wanted to kill us, they would've had silver bullets. We know they are capable of getting them."

"I don't understand what their plan is. Why lure you all that way then?" I asked.

"My best guess is they wanted to keep us distracted for as long as possible. Maybe they wanted us far away from the school when Alpha Williams showed up," Asher said. Or to take Juniper.

"s**t," I muttered to myself. Whoever was pulling the strings on all of this was clever. Juniper was their goal all along, and they knew that if Asher and Axel were with me, they would never have had a chance to take Juniper. They deliberately split us up to ensure they were successful, and now when I needed my brothers the most, they were hours away by plane, even farther by car.

"What?" Asher asked.

"I need you and Axel to get back here as soon as possible. I need you two to explain everything that has been going on with Alpha William when he gets to the school," I said. My chest was tight, knowing that I was likely walking into another trap-one I didn't know if I was going to make it out of. The people we were dealing with were several steps ahead of me at all times, so it only made sense that they were preparing for me to come after Juniper.

"We already sent an email to Alpha Williams and to you with pictures of all of the documents we found. We lost most of the hard copies, but the pictures we found should be sufficient proof of what Father has been up to. I'm sure you'll be able to explain it without us just fine. We need to keep looking for Nathan here."

"No. I need you to take over talking to Alpha Williams. I don't know if I'll be able to."

"What are you talking about?" Asher's voice was on edge. "What's going on?"

"They took Juniper, and I'm going after her." There was no room for argument in my statement. "If what you say is true, then I don't know what's going to happen when I find her. I will do everything I can to bring her back. Everything I can."

Asher was silent. I had wondered if he was going to argue with me, tell me not to go after Juniper alone, but part of me also knew that wasn't true. I knew that if he was in my shoes, he would do the same thing. Juniper was our mate. We would do whatever it took to protect her. "We're on our way back," Asher finally said. "I expect to see you alive when I get there."

I smiled, knowing Asher was speaking from a place of love. Our relationship wasn't always on the best terms. I had acted like a father to him growing up, because that was what my brothers needed. However, it had only caused strain on our brotherly dynamic. Things were different now, and I had Juniper to thank for that, which was why I had to make sure she came back alive and well for my brothers. Even if I wasn't there, I knew they would be okay as long as they had Juniper.

"I'll make sure Juniper is here for you when you arrive," I said.

"Ethan," Asher said, but he cut himself off.

"I hope to see you soon, but if I don't, I know you're more than capable of taking over as beta. Asher, you're smart and strong, and with Axel and Juniper by your side, you'll be capable of anything." "Don't say things like that," Asher said. His voice was filled with quiet reservation. He was holding himself back from saying what he wanted to.

"I don't know what's going to happen, and I wanted to make sure you heard those things. I have to go now, but I think they took Juniper to the basement of the library. If we're not at my apartment, check there first and make sure to bring whatever back up you can handle. Bye Asher. Make sure to tell Axel that I love you both, and I'm proud of the men you two have become."

I hung up my phone before Asher could argue. I didn't have any more time to waste. Juniper needed me.

I pulled out two daggers and descended the stairs in front of me. The library basement had been closed off for years for "construction" purposes. It was the perfect place for the Clandestine family to run their operations. No one would expect werewolf hunters to be on the campus. It was supposed to be one of the safest places for werewolves. Then again, werewolves were not supposed to be werewolf hunters.

I stepped over the body of the man who had attacked me. He was at the bottom of the stairs and was unconscious, but he was still breathing. I left him there, knowing there wasn't time to deal with a peon like him. He was just a tool that was being used by someone more important-someone like my father.

I knew he was behind all of this. I just didn't know why Juniper was still alive. He must've had some sort of sick plan in mind.

My ears perked up as a foot scraped against the floor. It was barely a sound, and most werewolves wouldn't have heard it, but I wasn't most werewolves. I was the future beta, trained from birth in any skill I might need to help the alpha run his pack. I was faster and smarter than most, which was unfortunate for anyone about to face me.

My knife was in the attacker's throat before he even had a chance to react. I pulled out my weapon and moved on without a second thought. I had killed plenty of times before when it came to protecting werewolves, but this was different. I wasn't killing because it would save more lives or innocent ones. This time I was ready to destroy anyone who dared to touch my mate-my father included.

I didn't know if I was strong enough to take someone like him down by myself. The only advantage I had over him was age. He had more years of experience than me, which was why I didn't know how things were going to play out.

I cut down another guard in the blink of an eye, and more and more started coming at me, realizing they had no chance one on one. First they came at me in groups of two, trying to attack me from behind while another distracted me in the front. Then there was a group of three. The group of four was just pathetic. They hoped the numbers would overwhelm me, but they just ended up getting in my way in the small hallway.

Several bodies lay on the ground when silence finally surrounded me. Most of them weren't dead, just severely injured. If they were werewolves, like I suspected, then most of them would be able to walk out of here alive with the assistance of their healing abilities. If everything went according to plan, they would walk out of here and directly into the alpha's jail cell.

I grabbed the closest guard on the ground to me. "Where is she?" I demanded.

"Who?" the guard sputtered.

"You know who. Where are you keeping Juniper?" The basement of the library was a maze-nothing like I had suspected. There were countless doors lining the hallways, and because of the attacks, I hadn't made nearly as much progress as I had hoped, and I didn't want to waste another second searching for my mate.

"If I tell you, he'll just kill me in a worse way," the man sputtered, fighting against the injuries. The fear in this man's eyes told me more than his words. He wasn't afraid of me. He was afraid of his boss. Fear drove this man to attack me. It didn't make him or any of these other people bad people, just people who had done bad things.

"Do you have a family?" I asked.

He gritted his teeth. "He'll kill them too. I'm no rat. Kill me now. It'll be better that way."

I dropped the man's shirt, and his body slumped to the ground. I stood up, looking at the people holding their injured bodies and groaning. I had been ready to do whatever it took to get Juniper back without thinking about the people involved with all of this. "Tell me where Juniper is being kept, and I will make sure your family stays out of this," I said. I didn't want to become a monster like my father, and I had felt myself on the verge of doing just that. I was desperate to get Juniper back, but I wasn't ready to give up my humanity to do it.

"You can't promise something like that," the man scoffed.

"I'm Ethan Burrell, son of Beta Burrell and future beta of all werewolves. Alpha Williams has been informed about my father's treason, and he will be here soon. I can and will promise that the innocent will be kept out of this once the head of the snake has been chopped off." I used my beta tone to emphasize my point. "Now tell me where my mate is."

The man started to lift his hand up, as if to point in a direction, but before he finished the action, a scream echoed through the halls. I'd know that scream anywhere. Juniper was in trouble.