Chapter 3 - Icy Call

Harvey Caine's POV

Today is another wintery day, the birds are twittering their evening melody and the warm breeze setting it's sights on the dimming skylight. I've been trying to make as normal and as stress free as possible for my wife. It's been a few months since we lost our 7th child, Patricia, my wife, has been having difficulties with her womb, the doctor says we've got a 50/50 percent chance but the early months of the gestation period would be the hardest and it has been, we've been married for almost 10 years now and have only tried to have a baby at least more than 5 times so far and with every child we've lost it's felt like a million years before she felt like having another go. Every-time I think that I've seen her breaking point she gets back up just to fight again. I know she's broken I mean so am I but I'd always make sure she never dwells on her sorrows even though they're as painful as a searing knife through the heart. Days ago I decided to take her to our cabin in the woods and of course she was more than hesitant to go but I know she needed it, I spent the whole of last night packing our necessities then the whole morning trying to convince her and by lunchtime I just gave up and carried her to the car. By the way, my wife is a werewolf so the term wife doesn't really count in her world but mate. Being a werewolf also means she has a close association to a pack and with much thanks to our alpha's kind and just leadership I got permission to leave the pack for a few days with great consideration of her condition. We set out by 1 p.m. in hopes to make it there before dark, it's a simple 2 hour drive but traffic was an issue and with the temperature gradually dropping my hopes of getting there before dark were equally dropping and her constant whining were not helping at all. We drove past a convenience store seeing as the cold weather has brought by a conveniently manageable number of customers, it's good to know the winter isn't keeping families locked away in their homes. Arriving at the threshold of the highway a police car was parked on the side of the road with no one in it but tracks lead into the dense forest. Like any other town, crimes were a normal occurrence even in a territory of wolves and with ware patrols on standby all these issues were handled swiftly and with the utmost discretion as the existence of the werewolf community is only known to trusted and mated humans and this always gave me a sense of security. We drove further for a couple more minutes before my wife suddenly yelled, "Stop the car!" I was too stunned to react, this is the first she's ever shown such emotion for anything. I collected myself and turned to fully face her, "What the hell was that! Why would...". She grabbed my arm rather tightly, "ssshh. Did you hear that? It sounded like a...". Without finishing her statement she got out of the car and dashed into the forest. Getting out I rushed to the back of the car, grab a few weapons and ran after her, life as a military officer meant my life could be in danger at any moment not that I am anymore but with what my wife/mate is, you can never be too careful. I followed her tracks till it lead to an old run down shack, the tracks lead to the door, as silently as I could opened the door then followed the wet footprints till I came to her kneeling figure cooing at something, stepping closer the sound of someone sobbing caught my attention. In front of her set a little boy about 4 maybe 5 years old wrapped up in dirty blankets, as I got closer his cries got louder, she warned me, "Harvey put your gun away, you're scaring him." I hesitantly did so and stepped closer putting my hand on her shoulder, "Baby what have you found? You can't just run into the woods like that. You scared me." She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and turned back to the child trying to calm him down.

Patricia Caine’s POV

I couldn’t help it, I thought I heard a child scream, no, I know I heard a child scream, I yelled for Harvey to stop the car, I knew he’d be upset but it sounded like the child really needed help and after what I’ve been through there’s no way in hell I’d ignore a child. I held onto his arm and heard him wince a little, sometimes I forget he’s human but I love him either way. I knew he was talking to me but I just kept my ears focused on the cry and the second I heard it again I quickly got out of the car and dashed into the forest knowing all too well my mate would come for me. I had no idea where I was going I guess I just followed where my wolf was leading me until I caught a scent it was very young and from it I could tell it was of a young pup but there was also another scent with it, a human, male, being the only scent around, it had to be what I was following so that’s what I did but fear creeped in, what if the child was kidnapped, what if he’s hurting him, what if… My trail of thoughts wasn’t helping so I took a deep breath and hurriedly followed the scent until it lead to an old abandoned shack and ran in as soon as I heard sobbing from inside. I followed the sound and it lead me to a beautiful baby boy all wrapped up in dirty blankets for a moment I was worried about the male’s scent but it seemed weak inside as it was outside, I thought maybe he left him in here but what kind of sick bastard would do such a thing to a child. I got down on my knees to check him for injuries and to comfort him but his cries got louder so I just kept my distance cooing him and it was working until I heard the door shut and his all to familiar mouth watering scent hit me. It amazes me how you could be married/mated to someone for so long and despite all the tragedies and heartaches you’ve gone through that person makes you feel like a sixteen-year-old everyday. I knew it was my mate Harvey, he can be a sweetheart but it sometimes annoys me that he has this intimidating look that scares every child and sometimes pups away and for some reason my wolf got upset that he scared this child so I told him to put his weapons away then came and knelt down beside me with a comforting hand on my shoulder. He finally calmed down but he kept on saying a name, Towi, I think, it was so cute, “ Sweetie, can I come closer? I promise no one is going to hurt you, we want to get you out of here you might get sick.” I could tell he wanted to nod but something held him back and it broke my heart when he spoke, “ No, Towi might get mad. I don’t want Towi getting mad. It’s scary…” I needed to know where his parents are, ” Where are your parents? Who’s Towi?” He couldn’t hold back his sniffles, ” Towi is my big sistew. My pawents? I don’t know.” I didn’t know which was more painful not having your parents or not knowing them, “Sweetie, look your catching a cold, please let me take care of you and I promise we’ll fine your sister.” I held my hand out to him and he nodded I looked over to Harvey and he gave a reassuring smile and nodded also turning to the boy, ” We’ll find your sister, I promise you.” I reached out and grabbed him holding closely to my chest, ” Thank you sweetie. My name is Patricia and this is my mate Harvey. What’s your name?” He giggled shyly and smiled at me, it was so cute, ” Alexyn but Towi calls me Al.” My wolf was so happy that he’s starting to trust us, ” Alexyn, that’s a very unique name.” His eyes lit up at this, ” Towi says I was named aftew my mommy.” This was so nice, we continued talking as we slowly made our back towards the direction of our car, with my heightened hearing I could hear sirens in the distance, being human Harvey couldn’t hear what I heard, I told him of what I heard and we quickened our pace with him on high alert. During our slow walk Alexyn fell asleep, it only took a few more minutes before a loud scream caught my ears I look to Harvey and it was obvious he heard it too, ” Harvey, that was loud, what do you think it is?” He put an arm around me ushering me to move quickly, “ Your hearing is better than mine, if it’s that loud to you than we have to move quickly, we don’t know what that could be. But it definitely came from where we left.” I couldn’t help the thought, ” But what if it’s his sister?” He reflexively pulled me closer to his side, ” We don’t know that for sure, let’s just inform the alpha, I’m sure we’ll find her once he’s sent out a search party.” We walked for a for a good ten minutes or so before a growl stopped us, I instinctively held onto my mate as the growls got louder it sounded like it was behind us, we turned and just stood there in shock, before us stood a girl, eyes blood red, skin blue as ice, little claws and fangs, I can’t believe seeing all this on a pup. She demanded we give her brother back but the voice wasn’t her own it was her wolf’s. Her growl just got louder making Alexyn stir in my arms then realisation hit me, she’s an alpha, I didn’t realise I said that out loud because Harvey took a defensive step in front of me with a gun in hand while I gently got on my knees and bared my neck in submission. Alexyn looked to her and called out her name, ”His sister? Harvey be careful!” Harvey helped me up and ushered me away from him, “Take him to the car, Trisha.” He gave me a look that I knew not to argue with and before I know it the girl lunged forward but fell-short and landed in the snow motionless, Alexyn called out to her but got no response. Harvey took slow steps towards her and gently turned her over and called back to me, ” She’s barely breathing and she’s got a few frostbites, we have to get her to the doctor quickly before… anything else happens.” I know Harvey hesitated because of Alexyn in my arms, crying for his sister, ” Will Towi be okay? Towi…” It broke my heart seeing him like this, I looked over at Harvey, ” Trisha, inform the alpha we can make it back if we hurry. Okay, don’t worry.” He picked her up and we hurriedly rushed to the car, I carefully followed behind whilst mind linking the alpha of our situation, Harvey always tries to seem calm in dire situations but I can feel through our mate bond that he’s as equally worried as I am. Harvey laid her in the back seat, when I touched her arm it was as cold as ice, he quickly took the wheel while I got in the passengers seat still cradling Alexyn in my arms trying to calm him down and as fast as we could, made our way to the hospital on record time.