One And A Half Months Later

Rylands POV

I sat at the table with all the Alphas, Luna's and whoever the hell they had with them from the allied packs just like we've been doing every few weeks. Brielle was sitting holding Lincoln's hand tightly. None of us have been well since Octavia was taken. I made sure Jeremiah wasn't. I made sure it haunted him every time I saw him.

"Jeremiah, speak." I ordered him cutting off another Alpha. He knew better than to question me though, especially now, smart man.

"We...Well I, I guess, have a new lead." My eyes shot up at this, he looked unsure and worried, his eyes everywhere but on me.

"Well." I motioned for him to continue, refusing to get my hopes up. We have had various leads and they ended up leading us nowhere. I would go out every night and run as far as my wolf could go to find any trace of her. But it was as if she simply disappeared. I felt myself losing control of my wolf at the thought.

"I think he may be keeping her in an underground temple. I was hoping Luna Brielle may be able to identify it." He spoke quietly refusing to meet my eyes.

"How do you know this." I growled.

"It may sound odd, but I believe the moon goddess came to me in a dream last night." I was about to stand up and kick him out, but this was something. Anything was better than nothing.

"Tell me about it. The temple?" Brielle spoke softly.

"It was cold, dark, there was an arena of sorts with an alter in the middle. I could sense hatred and pure resentment throughout the structure. It was ancient." He finished rubbing his temples. "I realize it's not a lot, but I was hoping you would have more insight on it." He sighed rubbing his temples. He had large bags under his eyes. Good.

"It's more than you think, thank you." She spoke, excusing herself. Lincoln immediately motioned for his third, Jake to follow after her.

I winced earning a worried look from Kolton.

"This meeting is over." I ordered. No one questioned my sudden dismissal as they all rose from their seats and headed towards the door.

We waited until everyone left including Brielle's father. However her brother and sister remained.

"I can feel her pain through the bond." They were hurting her. My soulmate. The pieces of shit were fucking touching her.

"We're going to find her." Kolton reassured me.

"I have an idea." Lydia spoke quietly, she also had darks bags under her eyes.

Kolton looked ready to grab her and throw her over his shoulder.

"I've been reading ancient texts, studying the spells and I think I found one I could try. It's just very unpredictable. I don't want to tell mom, though. She has enough to worry about." She spoke quickly playing with her fingers.

"No." Kolton growled pulling her into his side.

"I'm with Kolton on this one." James sighed.

"I can make my own choices and I want to try." She spoke more firmly.

"What do you need?" I asked earning a glare from Kolton.

"I need your blood, we can use my blood too and I need something like her hairbrush or toothbrush, that has something from her on it." She breathed thinking hard.

"This will take a toll on me, I may b..be out of it for a little. Y..you may need to restrain me, if it becomes necessary." She frowned.

"Please don't do this." Kolton growled not letting go of her.

"I have to, Octavia would've done whatever it took if it were me, I owe it to her to do the same." She kissed him on the cheek.

She muttered something under her breath and a large old book appeared in her hands.

"Let's do it in our room." She looked up at Kolton and he nodded. I followed after them James at my side as we made it upstairs.

I stopped in our room first grabbing her hairbrush and bringing it with me. I opened Lydia's door and walked in; she was sitting on the floor holding a small blade.

I handed her the brush, and she laid it out in front of her.

"Remember do what you need to, if I lose control or something goes wrong." She breathed staring at the items in front of her.

She took my hand and quickly sliced open my palm, the blood dripping onto the floor before it quickly healed. She raised the blade and did the same to her palm having it mix with mine on the floor. Kolton was growling, his eyes shifting from their usual blue to pitch black.

She began chanting, and the lights started flickering in the room. The blood on the floor swirled into patterns in front of us. We all stared in shock as images began being portrayed. There was a temple, like Jeremiah talked about. It was snow covered and well hidden, but there were pillars extending from the ground in the woods. The image swirled again an image of my chained mate replaced it, no details were shown but I could tell it was her. The puddle of blood began rippling as Lydia groaned. Jake was trying to hold Kolton back as I stared at the images that were struggling to appear. Lydia's hands were shaking as she tried to regain the images shown in the blood.

"What on earth are you doing?!" Brielle's angry voice sounded from the door. She ran to Lydia and placed her hands on her shoulders. Both of their eyes were glowing a bright white before Lydia shrunk to the ground and Brielle stepped back.

"If you try to use dark magic ever again there will be severe consequences." Brielle scolded. "You know we stay away from that."

"I found her." She breathed as Kolton pulled her into his lap breathing in her scent. "I found her." She repeated.

Brielle knelt down and took the spell book. She gave all of us a dirty look before speaking, "Let's get my daughter, Lydia is staying back."

"Like hell I am." She groaned trying and failing to sit up.

"Your mind is clouded with dark magic now; you're not going anywhere until it is out of your system."

I turned on my heel and headed out of the room Brielle and James following close behind.

_____________________________

I grabbed as many weapons as I could fit on myself. I was prepared to rip anyone who touched her to shreds without a thought. I had a squad of about ten of my best fighters including Jeremiah and Kolton and her family.

"Ready?" I asked Brielle. She believed she could create a portal to the place that we saw in the blood. She nodded and closed her eyes while raising her arms. The wind became sharp as the wisps of the portal connected.

"Go." She ordered. I went through first feeling a wave of nausea that I quickly ignored. We were in a deep part of the woods that I have never seen before. I pulled a dagger out of one of my sheaths and held it ready to attack.

"I can't portal us into the temple. There are incredibly strong enchantments on this whole place." She frowned. What were they doing to my mate. I began walking towards the pillars I bent down and picked up a handful of snow and threw it between the pillars. Flames erupted scorching the entire pathway in between.

"Goddess." Breathed Kolton staring at the scene in front of us in shock.

Suddenly, a group of men with an X branded on their shoulders walked out. They were all holding daggers and had vicious looks on their faces.

"He told us, you would come one day." One of the men laughed with a vicious smile.

"Who is the Bitch's mate?" He laughed. "I had a lot of fun breaking her, you will be ne--" He was abruptly cut-off when my knife landed directly in my intended target, his eye. He spasmed before collapsing to the ground. Dead. I saw a flicker of fear flash through the eyes of the men surrounding him, I couldn't help as the corners of my mouth quirked up. I withdrew two additional daggers. I refused to shift yet. A few of them shifted the red 'X' prominent on their fur. These were the wolves from Octavia's visions. Before I could let another dagger fly, all of their necks snapped in off-putting angles. All but one. Brielle pushed past us and walked towards the broken bodies. They deserved worse. I motioned for Jeremiah to examine the perimeter with a few others.

"Where is she being kept?" She asked scarily calm. I walked forward towards her. The young man looked terrified, but his mouth wasn't moving with answers fast enough for my liking. I took my dagger and jammed it into his leg right above his knee. He screamed out in agony, tears spilling from his eyes. Coward.

"She asked you a question." I growled.

"P..please don't k..kill me." He cried. "She's in the dungeons, only a few of us are allowed down there, I'm not one of them."

"How do we get in?" I snapped, digging the knife in deeper, earning a scream of pain to erupt from his mouth.

"There is an enchantment covering the door. It is in between the pillars." He cried.

I nodded at Brielle and to my surprise she lifted her small fist and punched him square in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Damn." I heard muttered from the squad behind us. She quickly turned a dark look taking over her face. She raised her hands and closed her eyes, muttering something under her breath. The snow cleared in a gust of wind created by her, taking the shape of a white door, with glowing symbols decorating it. Brielle and I led the squad as we opened the door. There was a cement staircase, leading deep underground.

I could feel her, but barely. She was here somewhere.

"Split up. Kolton you lead half, the rest with me." I ordered. The hallways were dark and reeked of blood. I had my dagger at the ready, I didn't want to be quick with any of their deaths but right now I needed to get my mate out.

Brielle and I led the front of this half of the squad. A woman with two long braids stepped out. She also had the X branded on herself.

She pulled two daggers out and smiled. She was about to attack when her wrists were snapped in the opposite direction, earning a scream of agony to erupt from her throat. Brielle walked towards her and motioned her hand towards the wall sending the woman flying.

"Where is she?" She growled.

"Go to hell." She seethed. I motioned for one of the squad members to get information before killing her as we continued walking down the eerie hallway. We got to a point where multiple doors lined the walls, but one stood out. There was a massive iron door that seemed to almost be bolted. I couldn't hear or smell anything from inside. There were four locks on the outside. I stood in front of the door and felt my wolf fighting for control. I raised my leg and slammed my foot hard into the door. It rattled and crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

My heart cracked into what felt like a million pieces at the sight in front of me. My mate, who was all bones, I didn't see any skin on her that wasn't bleeding or bruised. Her arm was bent at an unnatural angle but she was ignoring it. What killed me the most was the fact that she refused to look up. Chains bound her small body and hands. So many fucking chains. I rushed over to her as did Brielle. Her face mirrored the horror lacing mine.

"Oh goddess." Jeremiah breathed from behind me.

"Octavia?" I whispered. Her tired and scared eyes snapped up at my voice.

Her body was shaking so hard as she tried to push herself away and closer to the wall. Tears were streaming down her bruised face as she continued pulling away.

"You're safe now." I breathed kneeling in front of her. Her eyes began rapidly scanning the room around us, she was scared out of her mind.

"We need to get these off of her." I growled staring at the iron chains hurting her.

"Dammit! They are enchanted. I am going to need a few minutes." Her hands hovered over the metal as she began chanting.

"I'm sorry." She breathed out. "I won't do it again." Her voice so quiet I would've missed it without my werewolf hearing. What the fuck happened?

"We're getting you out of here Octavia. Look at me. Do you know who we are?" I asked trying hard to keep myself from breaking, for her sake.

"It's me, I'm your mate, remember? This is your mom." I sighed watching her frantic eyes. I tried to subdue the feeling of rage wanting to over take my body at the thought of them torturing her to the point of forgetting those she loved. I grasped her arm softly and felt the familiar shocks erupt up my fingers

"Real?" She whispered finally looking at me, her voice so quiet.

"We're here, this is real." I spoke gently bringing my hand up to brush against her cheek, trying hard to not press on any of her injuries, which appeared to be everywhere. What did they do to her?

I heard a click as the chains on her hands clattered to the ground. I almost lost it when I saw her destroyed hands. They were covered in burns and scars.

"Real?" She breathed again.

This time instead of answering I gently took her hand from her good arm and placed it against my chest. Her face morphed into a look of relief as a sob racked through her small body.

"You're alive." She breathed. They made her believe I was dead, that no one was coming for her. I growled and pulled her as gently as I could into my lap, whispering sweet nothings into her hair as I breathed in her scent as she cried against my chest.

Brielle finally finished with the chains as the collar from her neck fell to the floor. I carefully lifted her up and walked out of the cell. We all jogged down the hallway and towards the entrance. Jeremiah mind linked the others telling them we got her.

We hurried up the steps and out the large white doors. I watched as my mates eyes fluttered shut, but she continued trying to keep them open.

"My girl." Her dad's sad voice sounded as he rushed to us. His body shook with anger and hatred as he took in all of her injuries.

"Try to stay awake. Just a few more minutes." I spoke calmly looking down at her exhausted face.

Brielle quickly started moving her hands creating the portal. I rushed through first with Octavia fighting sleep in my arms and immediately sprinted towards the pack hospital.