Chapter 57
Chapter 57
THE CRAGS.
LUCAS.
I woke up to gross darkness. It felt like my body was burning. I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything. I was lying on something soft.
This smell. I thought.
I knew I had smelt it somewhere but I couldn't place where. My brain was foggy.
It felt like I could hear voices.
“What are we going to do?” I heard a voice say
“I - I don't know?” another replied.
“You know you can’t bring him amid the pack?” the first voice repeated.
“I know” The second sounded worried.
A sniff.
Another sniff
Something liquid fell on my eyes and my eyes opened to the last name I had thought about.
She was looking down on me with so much worry I have ever seen in someone’s eyes.
“Hi…” she said so quietly
I tried to talk but no sound came out.
“It’s okay -Lucas” She looked up at someone I didn't know was there too.
“Guys! He’s alive”
Bodies crouched down beside me.
“You’d be fine, okay,” she said as she laid a delicate hand gingerly on my face.
I slipped into another tunnel of pitch darkness.
********************
FAYE
“Fuck!” my Wolf cursed!
What is it?
“Something’s not right”
What?
She was beginning to walk around in my head.
What is it? I queried as she began dragging me away from the pack, taking power.
Ouch! Stop it!
“Mate!” she growled, painfully.
I was at the Blackwater pack discussing ways to get the collector when my Wolf stood at the back of my head.
The moment I heard mate, a shiver ran through my spine.
“Come with me, please” I whispered to Mellissa and was out the door in seconds.
“What is it, Faye?” I could sense the confusion in her voice as she called out after me. She stood looking as I changed into my Wolf form.
“Lucas!”
“Your mate?” she inquired
“Who else?”
“Grrrr!” she growled in disapproval. “ he is from the skylight pack”
I turned and growled at her. I was beyond reasoning. The hairs at the back of my head stood erect like spikes.
She looked at me a little fazed but jumped into the air changing into her Wolf form.
I could smell his scent but it was mixed with something else.
What smell is it? I wondered just in time to hear Mellissa ask it aloud
“Faye, can you smell that?”
“Yes. What is it?”
“I don't know, I thought it was Lucas’s scent”
“One of them is, but there is another”
“There - “ she started before her voice trailed, stopping dead in her tracks.
“Faye!” she growled at me and whatever had made her stop.
I spun around and saw her going in circles and sniffing.
“What is it, Mel?” I was walking back towards her, impatient but curious.
“The collector!” she blurted.
I could feel the mad rush of adrenaline running through my body. It was a mixture of different emotions. Fear. Hate. Fury. And sadness.
I thought of Lucas and a knot formed in my throat.
“The - the collect…” I stuttered. I couldn't bring myself to complete his name.
She nods.
“He was here. I can smell him” She sniffed a little and stood, eyes widening with realization
“ I think he has Lucas!”
My heart sank to several depths.
Is he alive? I asked no one in particular
“Maybe.” my Wolf replied “but we have to get there before it skins him alive”
“This way,” Mell said and began running towards a thick forest of tall trees.
“Ouch!” I yelped in pain as a thorn cut through my fur
“Careful, Faye” Mel said and stopped behind a rock. “Quick! Squat!” she commanded.
I ran wildly to her and did as she had said. I was grateful I had remembered to ask Mellisa along in all my confusion.
“Shhhh!” she said through the mind link. She covered my mouth with her palms. “ listen!”
I heard a whistle. A thud. And then a quiet groan.
I winced at the sound as my jaw dropped.
“Grrr!” my Wolf snarled. It was turning wildly.
“Let us go inside.”
“Nah, let's wait for Mel” I cautioned her.
“He isn't Mel’s mate, so she doesn't know how to make quick decisions”
Shut up! I snapped.
Mel is one of the greatest She-Wolf I have seen in my life and I know better than to trust her judgments.
“What are we going to do, Mel?” I was apprehensive.
“We’d have to make sure first it's what we think it is”
“It is, Mel,” I answered impatiently. I could smell Lucas alright.
“What if it's a trap?” she answered thoughtfully.
“A trap for who? Me?” I was confused. Why would the collector want to set a trap for me?
“I don't know,” she snapped. “Remember The Falcon said he is very well calculated and tricky. We need to know they aren't smearing Lucas’s scent everywhere to lure you. Us.”
She runs to a nearby tree to get a good view of what's happening down the forest. Everywhere was pitch dark but I was grateful for Mell’s unique gift of seeing clearly in the dark. I ran with her, my heart panting heavily inside my chest.
“What if he has plans of capturing me? Thereby luring Damon, to him?”
I weighed what she had just said and it made sense.
“So what are we going to do?” I repeated. From NôvelDrama.Org.
“We wait '' She sat, unloosening her crossbody bag to smear the red bamboo stalks she had precariously taken with polished acetone and vinegar.
“We can't Mell;” I protested.
“Why can't we?”
“It's risky. What if it's truly Lucas?” I began. “What if he has been truly captured and we get there late to save him? He’d be dead before we even try”
The thought of how the collector kills people, drying them up and cutting off their skin flashes through my mind and I inhale sharply.
Just then we heard a loud thud and a louder groan
“Lucas!!!” I screamed out my lungs.