ELLIE
The moment I heard their cries, I ran out of the house and was greeted with Jayson and Luca holding one twin each, I didn't stop running until I reached the both of them.
Luca handed me Maxwell. I checked him over to make sure that sick bastard hadn't touched my son and, upon finding nothing, I held him close and cried a little as he gurgled and giggled happily in my ear.
"I am never letting you out of my sight again," I whispered to my son and kissed him on the side of his head before handing him back to Luca so that I could check Nicole. She was crying in Jayson's arm and she continued to cry as I took her from him - she should have realised that I was her mother and that I wasn't going to hurt her but she was fighting against being in my arms.
I noticed the scratch on her cheek and the other one which covered her arm. There was a mark where a needle had
ELLIE I don't know how long I had been here for now. Time seemed infinite when there were no windows to know whether it was day or night and there was no clock for you to be able to tell what the time was. All I could do was embrace the silence and allow my thoughts to consume me. I wondered what Blake what be doing now. I wondered whether he would be looking after the twins or whether he would be pulling his hair out frantically trying to work out where Bradley had taken me or whether he had turned into a recluse who didn't wish to speak to or see anyone. I had heard stories of what happens when you lose your mate. You lose your other half and it feels like your heart has been torn out of your chest. You don't see the point in living because there is nothing for you to live for. To put it simply, when you lose your mate, you want to die and you will do anything to get that wish.
JAYSON "Blake. The twins need you," I sighed for the thousandth time. Ellie had been gone for nine days now and Blake had done nothing besides look hopelessly out of the window. Luca was in charge of the pack running and, being honest, he was doing a damn good job given that he doesn't have any Alpha blood in his system. Jackson had been discharged from the hospital four days ago and was milling about the house as he tried to think of ways to get Ellie back from wherever the hell it was she had been taken to. And I was on babysitting duty since Luca was busy with the pack and Blake was falling apart without his mate for support. I didn't really mind spending time with the kids. I was quickly falling in love with all four of them and I loved spending time with them. Especially Luca's boys - Daniel always wanted to do something new each time he saw me and Michael had stopped hiding behind his book when he was around me and had actu
"Why are you doing this?" I turned my attention back to my mother and growled at her. "Why? Oh son you truly are naïve," my mother rolled her head back in laughter and I was about to answer when I felt Blake's teeth sink into my other shoulder. I could feel the blood rolling down my back and I am almost certain that I heard the sound of my shoulder cracking as he pulled me backwards. His arm was across my throat and my back was against the wall before I could really register what was happening. Mixed with the amount of blood I was losing from both my shoulders and the fact Blake was cutting of the air supply to my body, I could feel that I was close to passing out and then I didn't know what he was going to do to my mother. "Are you a part of this? Is this the reason you came back?" Blake growled. When I refused to give him an answer he applied more pressure to my neck and I could feel my life slowly slipping away as I fought to stay away. "Fucking answer me.
ELLIE I swallowed as he told me her name. The name of the person who had been forcing him to make me suffer and I was in shock. I never thought the person who had once saved me would be the one now making me suffer. I wish I knew what I had to make her hate me so much and then I could work to fix it. But she didn't bother talking to me, she simply went after the people who mean the most to me before going after me personally. I had been trying to contact Blake since I got here but I had been unsuccessful in all attempts but I didn't think there was any harm in trying again. I just wanted him to know what I was alive and I also wanted him to know who was really behind what was happening - it was probably stupid telling him but I knew he would go crazier if I didn't tell him that I was alive. Blake? I called out and hoped that he would answer me. I just wanted to hear his voice again. I wanted to know that he was coping and
JACKSON I don't even know why the hell I thought trying to calm Blake down was a good idea but it needed to be done. He needed to stop before he did some serious damage - and I'm not talking about simply throwing a sofa through the window or putting his fist into a wall. I put my hands on his shoulders and I could feel him physically shaking as he eyed Nicole up and down. Jayson seemed to have done enough damage for now if the smell of blood was anything to go by. "Blake," I pushed him backwards as he made another attempt at Nicole and Jayson. I may not have trusted Jayson but he was still my friend and I knew he would never let anything happen to Ellie. He was the one who saved her and allowed me to speak with her. He was the one who lost his temper with her when she admitted that she didn't want Blake because he didn't like the idea of his best friend hurting. He was the one who came back here and asked for Ellie's help
ELLIE "-But I don't really remember all that much about my mother. She wasn't my father's real mate and he banished her from the pack once she had done her job of raising me," Bradley sighed. He had successfully managed to get out us out of the cellar I was being held in and had spent the last forty-five minutes telling me about his family. He had tried to assure me that his father and sister hadn't always been ruthless and he remembers a time when they both actually loved him. I knew he was kidding himself and that he wanted to remember that side for his own benefit but I wasn't going to tell him that, instead settling for smiling and nodding whenever he spoke. "What about you? Do you remember anything about your family?" Bradley asked curiously. "Not really. I didn't even know I had a twin until she turned up but my brother does make an appearance in my dreams every so often," I smiled as I remembered the
ELLIE "I don't want to cause you problems in your pack Ellie. I would rather run the risk it going alone than put a rift between you and the people who care about you," Bradley finally said. We had been sitting in my office in total silence for twenty minutes now because I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't think there was anything to be said. I knew my pack were going to hate him and they were never going to accept him as a member of the pack but that didn't give them the right to make attempts on his life every thirty seconds. If he really did want to kill me, if he was the one who thought of the entire plan he was carrying out, I would have been dead the moment we were out of the cellar. He would have taken the opportunity to do it while we were alone and there was no one to prove he was the one who had murdered me. "No. I'm not giving them what they want. It's happened for too long now and it's time they remembe
"The same pain you feel?" Jackson enquired. "My mate. She's dead. She killed herself after she lost our pup for the seventh time," Bradley whispered the words as he sat back down in his chair and sunk backwards with tears in his eyes. Daniel, being the kind and caring little boy he was, moved himself from Luca's lap and walked over to Bradley before Luca could stop his son. He climbed onto Bradley's lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. "Elliot makes some awesome cookies. They always make me happy when I'm sad. Do you want some?" "She does make some badass cookies. You really have to try them," Michael grinned from beside his father. Luca's look was undefined and I didn't know what was going to do when Michael moved from the side of his father to stand beside Bradley. He took hold of Bradley's hand and pulled him from his seat. "I don't think that's a good idea," Bradley muttered without moving his eyes from the boys in front of him. "No.