Mason's point of view

Jack came through with the information half an hour after the call was ended. There were three houses with red trucks. One was a shinier, newer looking one. One was obviously abandoned, with leaves and debris covering everything. The last truck was our obvious target.

Exactly what I told him. He had sent all three photos to Lex's phone, since hers was the fancier version of mine.

There wasn't enough time to grab back up. It was Jamison and I out to catch Emerson now.

I would've rather had Dean with me, but Jamison was the only one at the house who could actually be useful.

It would've been a perfect world if I could have waited for someone from my pack to come down, but time wasn't a luxury. Emerson had been moving around a lot.

Jack's information was new. Emerson was at that house. Heat signatures had confirmed that there were two live bodies in that house.

I could have taken Emerson on my own, I just needed a witness. Lex wasn't going to be put in the line of fire. I was going to do everything I could to make sure that she stayed pregnant long enough to get that baby out alive and healthy.

Lex needed this baby. She needed something good to happen because of all this craziness her life had thrown at her.

Taking Jamison along with me would make everything much neater for Finn to deal with if anyone questioned why he sent me out to hunt down one of the wolves on Finn's territory.

Finn could handle the alphas diplomatically, but if that didn't work, he'd just remind them that he was the supreme ruler. This wasn't a democracy. They were alphas and they were living because he allowed it.

Lex rested on the bed as I changed. I would go as a wolf so I could rip out Emerson's throat for everything he'd done.

When I had completed the change, I hopped on the bed and stood over her.

She smiled up at me and ran her fingers through my fur. "Will you keep the bond open to me?"

I shook my head. I couldn't keep the bond open in case I got hurt in the process. I didn't want her worrying about me. I didn't want her to track me down using the bond if I was away for too long.

She could sit here and worry, but I wouldn't be giving her any other reason to worry.

She sighed and nodded. "I guess it's better if I can't stalk you through the bond."

I gave her the wolf's version of a purr, which was more of a growl. I let her feel how much I loved and adored her before I shut off the bond completely. I wouldn't be getting anything from her, and she wouldn't be getting anything out of me.

It was immediately lonely to be separated from her, and everyone else in the pack, but it was something that had to be done. The sooner this was done, the sooner we'd be back home.

---

We took my rental truck. I stayed low as Jamison drove towards the house. It wasn't a long drive, but it was too long of a run. It would have just wasted time.

"We're a few miles out. We can run from here."

I got out of the truck after him. If Emerson knew we were coming, we would lose the element of surprise.

I didn't run as hard as I wanted to. I had to make sure Jamison could keep up. He was barely able to keep up as a human. He had kept his human form for when we got to Emerson's hide out. He would find the remaining girl and take her to safety while I took care of Emerson.

That was the plan.

But he was so slow, I started to grow anxious. I didn't want to lose my chance at ending Emerson.

The house was quiet when we got there. I recognized the truck immediately and knew we were in the right place.

I let out a growl that I knew Emerson would hear.

I was challenging him on, what he thought was, his territory. He wouldn't back down from it. He thought he was a strong wolf.

Emerson sauntered out of the house, not looking surprised to see me or Jamison here.

"Finally found the place, huh?" He smirked at me before looking at Jamison.

That was when everything snapped into focus. Jamison was a traitor, just as his wife had been. Jamison and Emerson had some kind of plan to kill or capture me.

It involved the drug Emerson had used on Jamison.

Jamison thought he was fast, but he wasn't.

I hadn't trusted Jamison for a second, but he hadn't known that. I had my suspicions about what happened with his partner from his pack. I knew Jamison was a rat bastard, but I didn't know if he was a treacherous rat bastard.

I felt the tranquilizer take effect as soon as it entered my blood supply. Being a wolf, made my metabolism just a tad bit elevated than when I was a human. That would burn off some of the drug before it took effect.

Jamison had been expecting me to fall down immediately, just as he had. But I was stronger than Jamison, much stronger. I had time to make sure Jamison was dead before I lost consciousness.

I whirled around, catching him off guard and sunk my sharp teeth into his arm. With a quick twist and pull, his arm from the elbow down was gone.

He let out a high pitched scream when he realized what had happened.

I leapt on him, forcing him to the ground. He didn't have time to fight back. He only had the time to realize that he had made a huge mistake that would cost him his life.

I brought my sharp teeth around his head and sunk my front claws into his shoulder. I pulled up with my head and pushed down with my claws. Jamison fought against me, but I fought through the progressing effects of the sedative to make sure that Jamison wouldn't be recovering.

I twisted and pulled until his head severed from his body.

His body twitched as I spit out his head. The wolf was satisfied with Jamison's death, but we both also knew that as soon as the world blacked out, we probably wouldn't be waking up.

Emerson would find some creative way to make sure that I wouldn't be going back to Lex.

With a growl in Emerson's direction, the world disappeared as darkness took over.

Lexi's point of view

I was past the point of being worried. I had waited up for Mason as long as I could. I fell asleep without realizing it and by the time I woke up; the sun was up and shining.

Mason hadn't been back. He would've woken me up. We would have celebrated his victory. But he wasn't here.

I reached out, only to feel the same shut down bond he established yesterday. He wouldn't let me in, no matter how persistent I was.

This was wrong.

"Alexia," the alpha roared from down the hall.

I had been trying to reach out to Mason for hours, but I couldn't. He was solidly keeping me out and that had me worried. He had been gone almost twenty-four hours. I knew something was wrong.

"You're the only one with a link to Mason. We don't have time for your pack to get here. It would take too long. You have to open your link with Mason and lead us to him."

"What do you think I've been trying to do? Knit a blanket?" I seethed angrily. How dare he assume I wasn't a caring enough mate to have our bond wide open for him to access me? "I have been trying to reach him since last night. He has it locked down. He won't answer me."

"The human may block you out, but as a wolf you could force that bond open. If his wolf was in trouble, he wouldn't lie to his mate about it."

"I-I can't change."

The alpha scoffed. "You'd let your mate suffer and die at the hand of Emerson because you're afraid to shift?"

"No!" I screamed. "You have no idea what I'm going through!"

"Jamison's death rolled through the pack, but didn't leave us with an idea of where he went. We need you to tell us where he is by following your mate's pull."

But… the baby, I thought to myself.

My wolf shook that feeling off. I needed to rescue my mate. Nothing was worth anything if I didn't have him. I couldn't lose him because I was afraid to shift.

I felt her joy spread through me when I made my decision. I was going to save my mate, no matter what it cost me. Mason was my everything.

I nodded, swallowing the nausea as what I was going to do sunk in.

Dean backed out of the room to give me the privacy I needed to change.

Sorry baby… maybe you'll make it. I let go and started my shift.

After the pain, I felt relieved. Werewolf women were not meant to give birth to children. Holding off the wolf was painful and irritating. Every werewolf woman gave into the call of the wolf, and now I knew why. A burst of endorphins were released, making me feel fantastic. This was what I was meant to be: A wolf.

I dashed out of the house and pried open my bond with Mason. I could fell his pain and suffering. Whatever Emerson was doing to him, I was going to kill him for it. He wasn't going to get away with hurting what was mine.

I followed the pull of my mate. The pull slackened when Mason realized that I had reopened it. He knew what that meant.

I dug deep and sprinted as fast as I could. I needed to get to him. He needed me and I needed him. It wasn't a long sprint. Mason had conditioned me to be a marathon runner. He wanted to ensure that I could run, fast, until he could reach me and save me.

Now it was my turn to save him.

Mason's point of view

I was sore when I came to. A dull ache throbbed through my body from the sedative Jamison had stuck me with.

When I moved, or breathed, I felt sharp pains. Emerson had given me a beating while I had been asleep.

Tough guy.

I felt heavy chains which were, oddly enough, werewolf quality. I couldn't break out of them. The way they burned told me they were silver lined for my discomfort.

There was a window in the room, which told me I wasn't in a basement.

There wasn't any room for me to move around, the chains I was connected to didn't allow that luxury.

My muscles were knotted and stiff. My guess would be that he had kicked me around while my unconscious body was reverting back to its human form.

I tried to stay quiet, but the chains rattled with every move.

The door cracked open. I could make out a smaller body and knew that it was the girl that was left.

I didn't see Emerson spying on me.

"You can come in here," I barely managed to say without any temper. My wolf was thrashing around from the injustice that we were being forced to endure.

"I won't hurt you," I promised. "I've been trying to find you."

The door opened a bit, but she didn't step into the room. "I'm not allowed to go into your room," she whispered. "He would be furious if I broke his rules."

I nodded and tried to focus on healing. "Well, you should definitely stay out of this room then. I don't want Emerson to turn his focus onto you while I'm here."

She let out a relieved sigh, looking around before looking at me again.

"Did you really come here to rescue me?"

I nodded my answer.

She smiled sadly. "That's very sweet of you, but I don't think I'm going to get away from him. He's ridiculously attached to me and I don't know why. He's hurt so many girls. I think he's just practicing so that he'll know what he wants to do with me."

I gave a noncommittal grunt. As much as I'd like to tell her that I was going to get her away from Emerson, I couldn't make her any promises.

There was no guarantee that I was going to get out of this alive.

All I knew was that I needed to heal for when Emerson came back. If I opened the pack bonds, I'd be able to siphon off some energy to quicken my healing.

I reached for my brother's bond. Being an alpha, he had more power and energy to spare. He'd know what was happening and tell Dean that I was up shit creek.

If I could show Emerson that I was a fast healer, that would tell him that I was powerful, which he wouldn't be expecting.

He had underestimated me since he had met me.

"He's going to be back soon. If he had left a key or something, I would help you." She looked down. She was skinny and bruised. She was traumatized. "Emerson's different." She looked me in my eyes. "I don't think he's human, but I don't know what he is."

I nodded. "Have you heard the sounds of wolves around?"

She nodded. "Every night."

I tried to smile, but by the fear that flashed through her eyes, I knew it was more of a sneer. "Emerson is a werewolf."

She gasped. "So I was right."

She would never go home now that she knew.

She'd go through an interview with Finn to determine if she were trustworthy enough to keep our secrets, if not, she'd be killed in her sleep.

Finn couldn't risk the packs coming into the news while he was still dealing with the rogue problem.

"You were." I told her as I heard Emerson come into the house. She couldn't hear him, so I kept her attention on me. "We're not all like him."

"You're one too?"

I nodded and locked eyes with Emerson.

"Mary," he said gently. She jumped as if someone poked her with a cattle prod.

"I didn't go in," she repented. "I was just curious."

Emerson gave her a reassuring smile and ushered her towards him. "I need you to go downstairs for a bit. I'll tell you when it's safe to come up."

She nodded and did as she was told.

If Emerson was alive longer than I was, she would pay for her curiosity, I could see it in his eyes.

He turned back to me when Mary was downstairs.

"Trying to brainwash my girl?"

I shook my head and mentally readied myself for what was going to happen. I felt Grayson through the pack bonds. He had waited until Emerson was in sight before lending me the power to heal my wounds.

Emerson saw the bruises and cuts he had given me heal until there was nothing left.

"How did you do that?"

I smirked. "I'm stronger than you."

Grayson didn't approve of my taunting, but didn't do anything to distract me. Grayson would be my lifeline through whatever Emerson had planned for me.

Emerson threw his knife at me, slicing my bicep as I moved to avoid it.

I reinsured that my bond with Lex was locked down as Emerson walked over to me.

The chains kept me on my knees with my hands behind my back. I didn't have slack to stand or move much.

I wouldn't be able to escape from whatever Emerson was going to do, but I sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy for him.