Chapter 4

*Oliver*

We sat in the car in front of an old bar, the LED sign flickering through the afternoon sun, trying to shine bright and show everyone it was open for business. 

It was about five in the afternoon. The sun had slowly started to set with daylight savings now in place. By 6:30 pm it will be pitch black. 

Zander had to do a lot of convincing to be ‘allowed’ to come here tonight. I doubt he will do anything stupid, but given their history with this girl, I can see why Ash wasn’t as open-minded as she usually would have been. It only took him and his team a few days to track down the last location of Grace and where she stayed. The not-so-smart girl paid in cash but still used her name in the bookings for some places, and the crappy hotel across the road was one of them.

Zander sits in the passenger seat, frowning at the place before us. “You're all good. You have a constipated look about you,” I chuckle, raising an eyebrow in question. 

He turns to scowl at me, “Shut up,” he mumbles, scrubbing a hand over his face. “It’s just ... I knew a bit about her. There’s no fucking way Grace would have come here, she liked high-end stuff, and her apartment was filled with the crap. She would have thought this bar and that hotel would have been way too low for her.” 

“Maybe she didn’t have a choice. She was trying to stay off the radar from you and who knows who else?” I shrug, climbing out of the car and heading toward the bar. 

Zander let out a frustrated sigh and moved with me. I could feel his aura pulsing through just as we reach the front door. I look up and see his wolf moving around in his iris, sharing control. 

“You all good?” I question, tilting my head to him before walking into the bar, I didn’t want to spook anyone with his wolf being all out of place. He hated the girl when he found out what happened, and I really don’t want to deal with the human authorities if he loses his shit. 

“Fine,” he grunts, pushing through the door. 

‘Wonderful, he’s a fucking loose cannon,’ I sigh to Ace as he shifts around in my mind in response to Zander's frustration. 

Alcohol assaults my senses as we walk further into the bar. It is a medium-sized place, with booths up the back wall, a pool table in the middle and a few taller tables and stools gathered around. The lights were all dimmed, on low setting, offering a semblance of a romantic mood. 

Humans mainly occupied this bar, most of them turned to see who entered, and I assume because they could feel Zander’s aura radiating from him. 

“You seen this girl?” he grunts at the guy behind the bar. He frowns and looks at the photo and then back at us. 

“Who wants to know?” The bartender asks, placing the finished drinks on the bench. 

Great. With the way he’s asking the questions, we will find fuck all because he’s in a pissy mood. I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping it will calm him down some, but instead, it only aggravates him, making him flinch away and glare. Guess we aren’t that friendly yet. I let out a low chuckle which only seems to piss him off more, much to my amusment. 

“She’s not in any trouble. We just want to ask some questions, that’s all,” I say, trying to defuse the tension. 

The bartender nods over to the back corner, where two people were whispering together in the far booth. 

I frown, remembering the last time I saw Grace, she definitely wasn't blond, and she definitely had longer hair. As I run through my memories of the girl, Zander doesn’t seem to care as much when he stomps over to disrupt the happy couple. 

I move my way through the people throwing an apologetic glance as Zander barges his way forward. He stands before the couple glaring down at them as they sit in their booth, looking like deer in headlights. “Grace, care to explain what the fucks is going on?” he snarls. 

I’ll give him a little credit. Given how pissed off he has been lately, I’m a bit surprised he didn’t just rip her head off. Maybe Ash has had more influence over him than we all realise. 

The guy moves his arm around Grace, pulling her in tightly, almost in a protective state. “Who the fuck are you?” he snaps, looking between us both. The girl in front of us shrinks back into the human turning pale, almost like a ghost.

“She knows exactly who I am, and I want some fucking answers,” he says, not even glancing at the bloke. 

“Zander,” she whispers softly, moving her eyes down and submitting to him. 

“The ex,” the human says, more of a statement than a question, eyeing us both. 

“The Alpha,” Zander grunts, still staring at her holding his command. I can feel it rolling off him in waves of anger. I’m a little surprised the human hasn’t felt anything, but some humans don’t. 

“The asshole,” the human mumbles, reaching over to grab his beer. 

I chuckle a little at the last statement. As Zander’s wolf pushes forward, I roll my eyes and slide into the seat opposite them. If this is how he was going to ask the questions, we will be here for a while. 

“So, I will repeat myself. Care to share what the fuck’s been going on before I name you as a traitor and bring you forward for treason,” Zander snaps folding his arms across his broad chest.  

“She holds no ties to you or your pack. She owes you nothing. Grace was always a part of her father's pack, you never completed the link to Charwood or to you as Alpha, which means you can not hold her accountable for treason,” the human snaps, slamming his beer back on the table, matching Zander's glare. 

“You know an awful lot about pack law given you are human,” I say, raising an eyebrow towards the human. 

“I know a lot of things, and one of those many things includes who you two are. Now, if you are just going to piss me off and make my mate anxious, I will kindly ask you once to get the fuck out,” he responds, narrowing his eyes at me. 

“Mate?” Zander says curiously, looking between the two, completely ignoring everything else he said. Even his command has lifted a little, and I see her slowly coming back. 

“Yes, mate,” he shoves down his shirt collar on the left side of his shoulder, where he bares Grace’s mark, completing their bond. 

“Huh, wasn’t expecting that,” Zander mumbled. 

“Look, sorry for coming up all like this, but we would really appreciate the help. Zander saw a matching mark that you have that is similar to the rogues. We need help figuring this out if you know anything,” I explain, trying to defuse the tension. The human looks like he’s one more stupid comment away from punching Zander in the face. 

Grace now looks a little better. Some of her colour had come back into her face, and she’s a lot more at ease than when we first walked in. The bond between these two was strong if it helped her that much. 

“I’m sorry, I can't tell you anything of what you’re asking,” she whispers. Her mate reaches over to her other hand and holds her tightly before giving her a small kiss on her head. It was a nice gesture, one that helped calm the last of her tremors. 

“Grace, so many people are going missing, I’m sure you’ve seen the reports on TV. If you can tell us anything at all that will help lead to what has been going on, it will be appreciated.” Zander sighs, sliding into the booth next to me, finally realising that his pissy mood isn’t getting us anywhere.

So far, between Charwood, Liverpool, and Riverview, about 100 people have gone missing. It’s a massive amount in the three months since the attack on the school. We’re getting desperate. We want to check over every other lead we can before we seek out the witches. 

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I can’t,” she sighs, looking at her mate with concern. 

“What do you mean?” I frown, looking at them both. The human begins to rub her hand and nods at her, encouragingly. 

“There were so many times I wanted to tell Zander what was going on, but I’m just not able to,” she says, squeezing his hand tightly as though she’s in pain. 

“The tattoo you are asking about is a marking, a blood bond, between us and them. Anything we say about it, it will burn our skin. Even us telling you this much has set it off.” Her mate says, rubbing her hands in comfort. I see Grace flinch as he moves one of his hands from her back and places it in front. 

“How do you know what it is?” I ask him, completely confused. If she can’t explain anything to us, how does he know the meaning and what it is? 

He flips over his left wrist, where an old scar shows in the same symbol. “It took me years to be able to get it removed. I had to find the right person and ingredients to perform the spell. It still burns sometimes with some information I say, but overall I am free of them.” 

“Blood bonds are usually only performed between vampires and their covens. Very rarely do they engage with humans or wolves,” Zander comments, looking over to me to see if I have anything to add.

The human shrugs, “I only ever dealt with humans, some of them hunters and doctors, doing different experiments. A lot of the time, it was moving drugs from one place to another, I never knew what type of drugs they were, but it was only ever between humans. There was a name going around at the time, Lazarus. I never met him, but they all seemed to be afraid of him.” 

“Some packs were involved, I’m not sure if they were threatened or if they had no choice like my father, but we weren't the only ones,” Grace said, her voice strained and tight. Her mate pulled her in tightly again, wrapping his arms back around to comfort her. 

“You don’t have to say any more. It’s already burning too much,” her mate whispered. 

“I do, Elijah. We promised if we got the chance to tell someone, we would. I can handle the pain,” she whispers. Elijah’s jaw tightened in frustration, but eventually, he nodded, agreeing with her request. 

“Most of the packs were small, like my father's,” she continued. “They borrowed money to stay afloat, help with the council's financial expenses and help pack members. Many of them have been in debt. They have to look elsewhere if they don’t have any businesses to support them.. My father knew someone who knew someone who was in the same situation as us. 

I had no idea we were in that much trouble until they came to collect. 

Between my stepmother's ridiculous spending habits and my father's gambling and drinking, you can imagine how much money they owed, but we didn’t have any money coming in, so they offered me. They sold me so I could pay off their debts in any way required. They said I’d be doing their pack a great service, and my brother will take the title.” 

Tears were streaming down her face. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the betrayal from her family or if she was unable to tell any of this, and she was fighting the mark. Either way, I wanted to know more about how this would help us. As much as I felt pity for the girl, I was still pissed off at how Ash was treated. 

“How long were you held until you met me?” Zander asks, his body tense, jaw tight. I can sense the frustration and anger radiating from him. Given the situation, I can see why he is frustrated, but the poor girl has been through hell, and we have no idea what she actually went through.

“About two or three months, they were trying to decide between Riverview or Charwood. They already had information on Liverpool and Westfield, they didn’t need anyone else there, and when you came to Alpha training, they took that as an advantage, being away from your pack, and I wans’t the only one, there are many others hiding in plain sight, not just me.” she whispers. 

“What do you mean they already had information on Liverpool?” I ask. 

My body tenses as Ace returns to the surface upon hearing about our pack. He hates people who give information and betray us. He has always found it hard to trust people and only ever trusted family. Given our current situation with family, he’s finding it hard even to trust them these days. 

“I don’t know what it was, but they were pretty confident in not worrying about Liverpool or Westfield. I know they regularly got information from somewhere about both packs. I know it was an old debt, one that is still being paid today,” she winces back at my reaction. 

I can feel Ace move to the surface with his anger taking over, I see red. The only one who pays the finances and has complete control over them is dad. If this is a financial situation, he would know what is going on. 

“Are you sure Liverpool was one of them,” I grind out, trying to hold Ace back from going shit crazy, but it makes little effort when he keeps on chomping at the bit to get out. 

“Yes, they kept commenting on the regular cycle,” she confirms with a nod, glancing worriedly at us. “They relied on the money each month.” 

Ace is furious, wanting out, wanting to see what the hell is going on with our members, and how our own father and alpha can be so okay with so many disappearing and not having any say about it. I’ve never seen any marking on him like what the others hold, so the blood bond may not be in place here, but I do know financially, we should be more than okay.  My mind races a thousand miles a minute, with so many more questions than I had before. 

“Thanks, I’m sure that was hard to say, but I appreciate the info,” I grind out, fighting the urge to shift. My body starts to shake, and I know if I don’t get out of here now, Ace wouldn’t care where we are. He’d go after dad and anyone else he thought was responsible. 

Zander has already moved away from his spot next to me, allowing me to leave the booth. I storm out of the bar, my anger palpable. 

I faintly hear Zander thanking them for speaking to us before he moves quickly behind me.

I’m not sure if it’s to protect the humans or simply to stay close to me. Nevertheless, I am grateful that he’s around. Besides Ashleigh, he is probably the only one who could possibly calm Ace down or at least stop him from doing anything stupid. 

“You need to calm down, Oliver,” he says, moving silently closer. My body shakes behind the old building. Ace is fighting to take control and wants to shift. I’ve only just managed to keep him from shifting, but only just.

“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down, Blackwood,” Ace snarls, “Father knew what’s been happening this entire time. He has done nothing to protect our members. If anyone is to be tried for treason, it is him.” 

‘Ace, please, I know this sucks. Fuck, it more than sucks, it’s fucking bullshit, but we are around humans and cannot shift here,’ I plead with him trying to regain control as we fight each other. He and I have always been in sync, it was rare for me to lose control over him like this, but I understand his reasoning. 

He shuts me out, blocking our mind link as I’m barely holding on to my human form. Ace’s fur starts to sprout, and I know I won’t be able to hold on much longer. With one final push, he locks me away from our connection. My mind goes black as the last image I see is Zander wide-eyed, backing away from us before ripping his own shirt off.