Isaac's POV
I hate myself. I let the Praetorian take her without putting up a fight. My own mate.

You screwed up.

I know! Just shut up. You're not helping.

Isaac -

Nate, unless you have any ideas, be quiet.

Fine.

I wish I could talk to her but I can't since stage two of the suppressant set in. I hate it. I hate this feeling of guilt in my chest.

You could break her out.

No.

Why not?

It's wrong.

And so is leaving her alone for no reason other than the pathetic one the Praetorian gave you.

What did I say about being quiet?

She's our mate Isaac! What the hell are you doing? We both know the Praetorian isn't going to let her go any time soon; she's not going to give him what he wants, not if I know her. We are going to rescue her. Now.

No.

Isa-

SHUT UP! You think I don't know what you're saying?! I hear you, but I can't break her out. The Praetorian will just have his suspicions confirmed that Iz is not who we say she is.

And? The Praetorian is not the leader of this pack, you are. What you say, goes.

I'm going to check up on Carrie, I remark, changing the subject.

What about Iz? Are you just going to -

I block out Nate. He thinks I don't feel guilty? It's eating me up inside. I love her but I can't go against the Praetorian. I can't stop him. Or he'll tell everyone what happened.
Getting up from the bed, I exit the room to go and find Gwen, who I know has Carrie with her.

I have barely opened up my mind to the pack link when I am bombarded by the frantic voice of Gwen, desperately asking where Carrie is.

What? I thought you were looking after her.

The Praetorian took her. He said she was trespassing and was to be locked up. I tried to resist but -

It's okay. I'm going to get her back. In the meantime, can you tell Xander to meet me at the interrogation block?

Yes Alpha.

Thank you.

I sigh; I guess everything is going wrong today, and the Praetorian is responsible for all of it.

You need to get rid of him.

How? Or he'll tell everyone.

You can't live in fear of him forever.

Now isn't a good time. I need to go get Carrie.

I block Nate out yet again and stride to towards the prison block, the sun's cheerful rays annoying me to no end. A sudden pain shoots through my chest, causing me to wince in pain, and my throat hurts like it's being squeezed.

It's not my pain though, meaning there's only one possibility: it's Isobel's.

I take off at a run, my heart pounding in my chest frantically; I swear, if he's hurt her, I'll -

"Alpha?" Xander questions. Good, he's here already.

"No time. Follow me."

He obeys without comment, his face deathly serious as I race into the detention block, following Iz's scent, thoughts of Carrie briefly abandoned, all my concern spent on my mate. The smell of her gets stronger and stronger, the pain in my throat building but I block it out; she needs me.

Eventually, I reach a large steel door, heavily bolted and with a keyhole but no key. I quickly undo the bolts but there's no way to easily open the lock. I'm certain she's behind it but there's no way in except by breaking it. I need to make sure she's out of the way of the door if it falls.

"Iz?"

No reply.

"Iz, can you hear me?" I repeat.

"Alpha?" A small, childlike voice replies.

"Carrie?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes Alpha."

"Is Iz in there with you?"

"Yes."

"Is she okay?"

"No."

"Right ... If I knocked the door down, would she be hit by it?"

"No Alpha. Is she going to be okay? She's not awake." My heart thuds in fear. She can't be dead, please don't let her be dead.

"Carrie, move away from door, okay sweetheart?"

"Done!"

"Thank you. Don't move from where you are."

I gesture to Xander to help me break down the door and we both set our shoulders to it, pushing with all our might. It suddenly jerks open and we fall into the room.

Iz is lying in the corner, inert and still, her face and throat completely swollen up. I recognise the symptoms immediately: she's having an allergic reaction, an incredibly severe one. We need to get her to the pack hospital as soon as possible.

"Xander, look after Carrie. Take her to the hospital behind us. I'll speak to you later."

He nods, giving me a growl of affirmation.

I immediately race out of the room, carrying Iz's limp body in my arms, praying against all hopes she's going to be alright.

She's not dead. The bond hasn't broken.

Thanks.

I sprint even faster, propelling myself to speeds I didn't know I was capable of, fear driving me forwards. Charging into the hospital, I am instantly surrounded by a group of nurses who gently take her from me and move her to intensive care, putting her on oxygen before she's even out of my sight; Xander must have sent a message ahead of me, warning them.

I seat myself in a vacant chair, resting my face in my hands. She's going to be okay. She has to be okay now. She's safe. She's safe.

My entire body is shaking from stress, my hands trembling like crazy. I don't know how to cope if I lost her; I've grown close to her already despite in reality, only knowing her a few weeks. She's my mate.

Is she going to be alright?

Hopefully. We got her to the hospital on time I think. Now we just have to wait.

We wait. For an innumerable amount of time, we wait. And wait. I stare at the clock in suppressed agitation, waiting for something to happen, for someone to confirm she's going to be okay. A doctor walks towards me, her face serious and my heart drops.

When she reaches me, she breaks into a smile.

"Luna Isobel is going to be okay, talking will just be a bit painful for the next few days. You can see her now Alpha." I nod in acknowledgement and she briskly walks away and I follow Iz's scent to her room.

She's lying on the hospital bed completely still, but her eyes are open. The swelling at her throat has gone down but there's drip attached to her arm, feeding her presumably steroids to reduce any sort of inflammation.

"Iz ..."

Her eyes instantly snap to mine and I offer her a sad smile, taking a seat on the chair beside her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him take you. We were lucky to find you when we did."

She clears her throat and attempts to speak but all that comes out is a croak; what's she's trying to ask though, is obvious.

"By we, I mean me and Xander. I was headed over there to retrieve Carrie after Gwen made me promise to get her, when I felt a pain my throat, from you. I'm sorry Iz."

She shakes her head and I take her hand, kissing her fingertips.

"Iz, I should've broken you out earlier. I was almost too late when I did, you were barely breathing. I thought you were dead. I'm so sorry Iz, I'm so sorry." A single tear traces my cheeks and she reaches up to wipe it away.

There is a quiet knock at the door.

"Come in."

Xander enters, Carrie holding his hand nervously.

"Izzy!" Carrie bounds towards her and Iz freezes before giving her a tired smile. "You're okay!" She throws her arms around Iz's body and she winces in pain.

"Carrie, sweetheart, Iz isn't very well so hugging her isn't a good idea. You can talk to her but because of her throat she can't speak, okay?" I carefully pull her off Iz as I speak and she gives a barely audible sigh of relief.

"Okay." Her expression diminishes slightly in happiness but that doesn't stop her instantly starting to chat away to Iz.

A small itch at the back of my mind alerts me that someone is trying to talk to me over the pack link.

What is it?

We need to talk outside Alpha.

Xander? Why?

Outside. I'll explain in the corridor. Isobel should be safe in here for the moment.

Alright.

"I'll be back in a moment. Carrie, I'll be just outside. If anything happens call me okay?" I say to the two of them, not missing my mate's veiled panic at my statement.

"Okay!" Carrie replies, her mouth as immovable as ever.

"Good girl." I give her a small hug and follow Xander into the corridor, and closing the door behind me, I give him an expectant look.

"What did you need to talk to me about?"

"We can't trust the child," he whispers, his voice barely audible.

"What? Carrie?" I fall into the same tone my beta is speaking in, my eyes flicking towards the door to check those inside can't hear us.

"Yes. I'm certain she's not a werewolf. I think she's a vampire."

"And your reasoning is...?"

"She doesn't smell like a werewolf. In fact she has no smell, as if she's hid it. The other main reason is that, if you look closely, you can see two pale scars on the side of her neck, as if she was a bitten by a vampire. They've faded so she must have received them when she was little."

"But that means she's - "

"A turned, yes. Which means we have no idea of her actual age. She's probably not six," Xander finishes.

Turned. Someone bitten by a vampire and turned into one due to the venom that can be secreted by vampire bites, should the predator choose to do so. The host then goes through an excruciating process to become a vampire but when they emerge, they are as strong as any other vampire, regardless of their race pre-turning.

That would explain why she doesn't open her mouth when speaking. To hide her fangs.

"What do we do to capture her?" I ask Xander, irritated at the fact that all of this could escape my notice.

"We bring in Matthew."

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Hi?

Anybody?

Hello?

Hellooooo?

Oh, there you are. Hi!

Did you enjoy the chapter? 🙂😐☹

The effects of editing. Yay.

I didn't have to rewrite that much but I thought that I could better work in Carrie with this story line. The original (props to you if you remember it) just created a massive loose end that could never be answered.

You're probably bored of me and these pointless author's notes.

So goodbye!

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