ROMAN

It had been three hours, and I'd heard nothing from Scarlett. Not a peep. I was shaking, furious that I'd allowed Nyx to take away my girl. I'd just found her, and she'd been snatched away from me just like that.

She really believed that this was her calling, though. She was put on this planet to save her kind. She'd expressed it to me more than a few times, telling me that she thought we'd been mated to help put an end to the gifted wolves' suffering. Why did it have to hurt so fucking much, though?

I was scared for her safety. What was Nyx doing to her right now? Beating her? Subjecting her to hours of labour where her body would eventually give out and she'd be left on the ground for hours in the pounding rain, her cries for help being drowned out by the precipitation?

My mind was running amuck, and I hated it.

"How could I have let her do this?" I muttered to myself, cursing and pacing the office, causing Brandon to gaze up at me with a heavy sigh.

"Roman, Scarlett needed to do this. Nyx wants every gifted wolf alive. They're rare, and there aren't many of them. He'd be an idiot to get rid of her. Don't worry. She'll remain alive." His tone was calm, but it did little to ease my anxiety.

I wish I could speak to her through her mind, too. But I didn't possess that power. I despised how there was no way for me to respond to her. She just had to trust that when she did contact me, I'd understand what she was saying.

"Other packs are at the ready," I said, glancing at my laptop screen again. I'd informed them of the plan, minus the fact that my mate was gifted. Her identity needed to be kept a secret in case anybody tried to harm her. Instead, the packs had been told that I was receiving intel from a hidden source and I would need their assistance soon.

They were more than happy to oblige. They were tired of Nyx's desperation for power. He was constantly testing the boundaries and threatening people with the use of the gifted wolves, and it wouldn't be long before he had enough of them to take down larger packs - packs my size.

Erica had spent the day crying - her pregnancy hormones were causing her brain to run wild, and she was being eaten alive by her own guilt for handing Scarlett over. It wasn't helping me, and I'd had to send her home where I couldn't see her beat herself up. Otherwise, I was going to do the same thing, and that wouldn't help anyone.

"Alpha Roman, are you still there?" another Alpha's tone echoed through the phone line, and I blinked, bringing myself back to the call and unmuting myself.

"Yep, I'm still here," I sighed, running my hands through my hair and tugging on the strands painfully. "You know what you're getting yourself into, don't you? I can't guarantee that people won't be harmed or even die."

A laugh. "We understand, Alpha Roman. We know what Nyx is capable of, but we won't allow him to use fear to control this community. He has to be stopped. Are you sure you're going to be given the information on where Nyx usually hides out, though? That imperative to this."

I nodded. I had faith in my mate. "Yes, I'm sure. Just hold tight, and I'll update you and the other packs with any other information we get."

"I look forward to hearing from you soon, Alpha Roman."

I ended the call.

Soon couldn't come soon enough.

SCARLETT

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, glaring out of the window, trying to memorise where we were headed. Every bush. Every plant. Every tree. I'd engrained them into my brain.

"To your assigned pack," Nyx told me, pulling into a small lay-by and hopping out of the car along with the other clan members on either side of me. They directed me through the trees and I stumbled through.

I was starving. I hadn't been given any food since in the holding area after I'd been booked in. Water was accessible, but my guess was that they wanted to keep us weak so we couldn't fight back.

Nyx pushed open a large black gate, the metal squeaking and rusty, and we followed in after him. My mouth almost dropped to the ground at the sight.

There were wolves everywhere, scurrying about as they built walls, weeded crops and lugged heavy materials around. There wasn't one person who looked like they weren't out of breath or sweaty, the blazing sun beating down on them as they gritted their teeth in pain.

"What the hell?" I muttered, shock taking over my body.

Clan members stood at every corner, lurking around every corner and crevice. No gifted wolves were talking to one another, and my guess was that they weren't allowed to. They were being monitored, and the clan members yelled at them to hurry up as they worked.

This was a living hell. How was I going to gather the information necessary?

"Is this where you all stay?" I asked, turning to the clan members, shooting Nyx a curious gaze, too.

"Enough with the questioning," one of the clan members muttered, leading me forwards.

"I'll ask questions when I want to ask questions," I murmured, gaining me a glare.

I needed to let Roman know that I was okay, but that was easier said than done. Talking to him through my mind took a lot out of me and it wasn't something I could just do while looking around casually. I really needed to focus, and I was being watched like a hawk.

Even in my holding cell, they had people keeping an eye on me. If they were to see me scrunching my eyes up and rubbing at my temples, they would assume I was trying to use my gift, and that wouldn't go down very well.

"The doctor has deemed you fit to work," Nyx told me, leading me down a path and into a small building. It looked almost like a house from the outside, but the inside was filled with small cells, clinking metal causing me to jolt. "But nobody works straight away. You'll be held here for the next few days until you learn that answering back and asking questions doesn't slide here."

I scoffed loudly at his words, and I was grabbed by a clan member who led me towards the stairs. Nyx turned to someone to his left. "I'm going to visit the pack four, but I'll be back soon to check on her."

Pack four. Okay, that was good to know. I'd be telling Roman that later.

"Get off me!" I yelled as I was dragged towards a cell, being thrown in, the door slamming shut behind me. I glared at them with hatred as they disappeared, snickering to themselves, leaving me alone with my own looming thoughts.

There was nobody here. How was I going to gather the information that I needed?

"They're trying to break your spirit."

I jumped at the voice, gasping and leaning my head out of the cell, spotting a middle-aged woman in her own cell a few down from me. She sat in the corner, picking at her nails. "I was like you when I first arrived. I had a hell of a mouth on me, but I've learned that it gets you nowhere but back rotting in the cell."

"Who are you?"

"My name's Margaret," she responded, nodding at me, waiting for me to introduce myself.

"Oh, Scarlett."

"What's your gift, Scarlett?"

I remained silent, cocking my head at her.

"Keeping it a secret?" She smirked, spitting out the top of her thumbnail she'd just ripped off. "I like you already."

I huffed, dropping to the ground and cursing under my breath. "How long have you been in here?"

She hummed, thinking. "A while. They see potential in me, though. I'm strong-willed, and secretly, I think they like that. My gift could get them far, so they refuse to put me down in the dungeons."

I arched an eyebrow at the wall. "Aren't we in the dungeon?"

Margaret cackled - loud and witchy. "Oh, no, honey. These are the cells. They're nothing compared to the dungeon. That's where wolves go to rot. To die. They're beyond training. The rumour around the pack is that it's haunted, the souls of the gifted wolves who were left to starve to death lurk down there."

I knitted my eyebrows together. I didn't believe in ghosts.

"So, what do you have to do to be put in the cells?" I asked out of curiosity.

Margaret clicked her tongue. "Try and escape. You do it once, and there are no second chances. You're disposed of, and starving to death is supposed to be one of the most painful and drawn-out ways of dying there is."

I gulped, closing my eyes and attempting to block out Margerat's tapping boot. I focused on Roman, imagining myself sending words right into his mind. My brain zapped at me, begging me to stop, and my stomach lurched, vomit threatening to make its way up my esophagus.

He's going to pack number four.

"Fuck," I spluttered, coughing and clutching at my chest. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to leap right out of my chest. That sentence was far too long, and although I was sure it had been delivered, I wasn't going to be able to do that for a little while - especially if I wasn't going to be given anything to eat or drink.

All Roman needed to do was find out where pack number four was.

I was praying he'd be able to work it out in time.