Chapter 26

Raphael dropped Duma off at the prison. He had given the guards very detailed instructions: to give him the nicest cell, don't chain him up, give him food and water when he asks for it, and so on. He watched as Duma walked towards it, his head hung low. When the guards grabbed his arms he looked back at Raph with a panicked expression, Raph gave him a reassuring smile and nod. When he went inside he drove off.

As he drove he thought about his mate. He had heard her screams, been just a couple feet from her! Why? Why couldn't he just have gone in and given her a quick hug and kiss? He was trying to contain his anger at the Luna. He knew it wasn't her fault, she was just following her mate's orders.

He made a promise to himself that he would try to never order Brooke around like that.

~~~~~~~~~

He arrived at Thresh's "office" near three-thirty. Thresh didn't really own the office, well he did, but he didn't really run it. Thresh made his money by being the secret head of over a dozen different companies. All of them well paying. Because Thresh, and Raph, never seemed to age it would be difficult to run a company for over thirty years without having aged. So Thresh had appointed human CEOs that would step down when they were ready, and new ones that were ready to step up.

The humans got a fair amount of the money but Thresh and the pack got more.

They had started doing this around one hundred, or one hundred fifty years ago, and it worked great. No one was ever allowed to take pictures of them or anyone accompanying them. Most of their companies were actually based in Vancouver one was in Calgary, but that was pushing it.

He parked his car and went inside and up the stairs. He was doing his best to calm down and not to sound hostile when he spoke to the Alpha. He opened the door and saw the Alpha sitting on the couch with his laptop. Raph took a deep breath.

"You needed me, Alpha?" He asked a slight impatient edge to his voice.

"Yes." He picked up a yellow folder and handed it to him, "I need you to go deal with this." He said while not even glancing up.

Raphael clenched his fist and grabbed the folder and opened it. It said that the Alpha that was in charge of the Vancouver area was requesting help with a border dispute.

He couldn't believe that Thresh was sending him there. Raphael was staring at his Alpha with hate. How could he send him to Vancouver?! He had just been away from Brooke for two days! He needed to see her.

"Alpha, why? Wouldn't it be better if you sent someone else? I don't think my mental faculties are at their best."

Thresh still hadn't even glanced at Raph, "And why not?" The tone the Alpha had used made Raphael almost want to back down, but no! He needed to see his mate now!

"Alpha, I haven't seen my mate in over two days. Could I see her before I left?" He asked trying to keep the pleading out of his voice. Thresh didn't like begging.

Thresh finally looked up from his laptop and took in his Beta's disheveled state.

"Very well. But you will pack your bags and leave immediately once you're done."

Raphael had to stop himself from leaping in joy, "Yes, Alpha" he tried to keep his voice even but he failed.

He ran down to his car and drove back home. He didn't care that it was over two hours back. He would get to see his mate. He had a huge grin on his face the entire time.

He got back to his house at seven forty-five and bolted up to his room. Still smiling. Luna and everyone else gave him free passage through, "Let's give them some privacy." He heard Luna say as the door closed.

His eyes were trained on his flushed mate, her once plump, round face looked gaunt and her hands and arms seemed willowy. She had been changed from her previous black shirt to a thin hospital gown. He inched toward her. She looked like if he touched her she would break. Her breathing was shallow with sharp intakes every couple seconds, and her body spasmed in pain. Her forehead was shiny with sweat and tears. Her nose was dripping blood. He quickly reached for a tissue from the table and dabbed at it, then pulled her in to rest on his lap.

She seemed slightly conscious, because when he pulled her in she sighed. He smiled and stroked her back and breathed in her delicious scent. Her long hair was in knots but it still smelled good. She moved her hand slowly to rest against his chest. His wolf chirped, liking that feeling.

-You're back.- her happy voice spoke in his head. He was shocked. She'd learned to mind link. He beamed with joy, maybe it would be over soon then.

-Yes. I came back.- he said to which she smiled.

-You have to go again.- She said, Raphael was confused.

-How do you know?-

-You're not very good at guarding your thoughts.- she replied, he could hear a slight smirk in her voice.

-Are you making fun of me?- he asked jokingly.

-Ha, ha no.- then she trembled and whimpered. -It still hurts. And I get vertigo every time I mind link.- she said.

-Well then don't mind link.- he said with a worried expression on his face.

-But I wanna talk to you. Where did you go? And where am I?- She gasped and grabbed onto his shirt.

"Shh." He started stroking her back, "Hmm, why don't you let me talk." She nodded weakly.

"Okay. Let's see, you remember the Elves I was telling you about, well that's where I was. My Alpha defeated the Elf and I helped free the prisoners. Later we caught a few Sha-" he was about to say Shapeshifters but decided not to, he didn't know how Brooke would handle it, "Prisoners, one of them was an eighteen year old, so I let him go and now he's staying at the pack. His name's Duma."

He stopped for awhile breathing in her scent while holding her close. The calm and contented feeling of having his mate in his arms after so long was perfect. He cleaned her nose again, with a concerned look.

"Brooke. How old are you?" He'd been waiting to ask her for awhile.

-Nineteen. I'll be twenty in October.-

"Hey, I told you not to mind link anymore." He said not entirely serious. She giggled slightly at his words, he nuzzled his nose in her hair. So she was twenty, she looked younger.

-Raph, where am I?- After she spoke, she let out a shaky breath and her trembling started anew.

"Uh…" She had made it quite clear that she didn't want to go with him back to Prince George just before they'd kissed. "My house."

She didn't reply.

He tried to keep talking about little things like how things worked in the pack, and where he'd be going, and eventually she fell asleep. He laid her back down and stroked her face, she had a peaceful look on it. He smiled sadly, he didn't want to leave her.

He got up and packed his bags, he didn't know how long he'd be. He noticed that the bags he had packed for her were on the couch.

He packed his chain and a gun with enchanted silver bullets. He might need it. The packs surrounding Vancouver were dangerous and wild.

He gave Brooke a kiss on her forehead and then left.