Chapter 2

Nico

"Cruz, wait for me," I screamed to my twin as I chased him down the hall of the pack house where we lived. His head swung around, and he was clearly laughing at my inability to catch up with him, but he didn't slow his pace.

I awoke with tears dripping down my face and an ache in my chest that I knew would never fade. That dream was a distant memory of when we were probably six or seven. For my whole life I had crawled, walked, or chased after my brother.

Now, with no one to follow, I felt lost. I lay still in the soft plush bed that was in the center of the massive room the men in black had brought me to the gods only knew how long ago now. 

For a moment, I considered just falling back to sleep so that I could be with Cruz in my dreams, but then I remembered why I had even encountered those men and what I should be doing right now.

Sitting up, I swung my legs off the side of the bed and realized that while there was another bed in this room, it was completely empty. The scent of Lecia filled my nose as I took in a deep breath. Gage whimpered a little and even though I wanted to soothe him, I knew that there was nothing I could do.

Not many people knew this about Cruz and me, but it wasn't just us that were twins, our wolves were as well. So, I was not the only one who had lost their brother today or yesterday, f*ck, I really needed to figure out what time it is.

Stumbling towards the small table at the opposite end of the very dark and spacious room, I found a few of our belongings, but none of our phones. Looking around the room, I finally noticed an ornate clock hanging as a decoration.

Apparently, I hadn't slept as long as I thought, which was good, but I still needed to figure out exactly where we were and what was supposed to happen next. 

"Ha," when I woke up this morning, I had no idea that my very normal, very average day would end up like this. Gods, I probably would have just gone right back to bed, right?

Tears filled my eyes and thankfully I was near the wall, and I was able to lean up against it and let it take the weight of my body. I felt it the moment that Cruz died. Just as Gage had felt it when he lost Sev. It was as if half of my entire being had gone numb.

Closing my eyes and letting my head lean against the wall, I let the sensation run over me again. It wasn't as strong as it had been when it first happened, but the tendrils of the feeling were still strong enough to cause me to gasp.

He was gone. He was really, truly gone! 

"F*ck," I yelled as I slammed my fist so hard against the wall that was now holding me up completely. The plaster cracked and crumbled a bit under my fist, and I heard a "tsk" come from somewhere behind me.

Slowly, I turned my head and met the piercing gaze of a man I definitely did not see when we first arrived here. Things had seemed to move so quickly from the moment that Alpha Rogan's wolf attacked to the time we arrived at this heavily armed fortress.

I had clocked and registered every face that we encountered and so had Gage and he was not one of them. We had scented out all the wolves and all the humans even though we were surprised to encounter so many wolves from an outside pack.

Wait, what was I thinking. I had no pack anymore. I could never be bound to Blood Mist after that d*ck killed my brother. No. I was the outsider here. Me and Lecia and Dylan. We were our own little pack now and I would do everything in my power to protect them and keep them safe from Rogan.

But this man, there was something about his scent, it seemed off. There was the scent of a human coming from him, but also the scent of a wolf. It was odd because neither was more dominant than the other, and I had never encountered anything like it before.

Annoyed that this person, wolf, whatever the f*ck he was, had the audacity to stand there and judge me when he had no idea what I just lost. I wasn't sure if it was everything that had just happened, or if I was just over it all, but I snapped, "and what are you? Who are you to judge what I do?"

Using this oh so sturdy wall, even though it now had a nice fist sized dent and small fissure like cracks coming from it, I pushed myself up to a standing position. To my surprise, I stood at the exact same height as this guy.

I watched him take my measure. He looked me up and down before a cocky smirk crossed his face. "Well, since you asked so nicely, this is my building, so I do care a little about what happens to it since I'll have to pay to fix it."

Shame or embarrassment should have filled me at his words, but surprisingly, I just felt Gage huffing and growling a bit. Something about this guy was putting him on edge and I had to admit, his scent was really bothersome to me as well.

Unsure if I should apologize or introduce myself, or just demand to know where Lecia and Dylan were, I ended up just standing there and looking at him. "So, you're a talker huh," he joked, but I didn't have it in me to laugh.

"Well, let's get introductions out of the way so that I can get to the important stuff before you damage any more of my building, shall we? My name is Roane Winters, and I am the CEO of Aspen Communications and this, again is my building so please refrain from destroying it if you can."

This silver haired man looked like he just stepped out of some movie screen. His suit screamed expensive, and his persona, while annoying, was impressive I'd give him that, but I would not apologize for my pain or grief and the way I took it out on that nice little wall.

"Where is my sister? The blonde girl that came here with us. And Dylan, where is she? She was taken to another room. Is she still unconscious?" But before I could ask anything else, there was a sudden burst of thunder outside. 

This room had one window and while it looked a bit dark outside, I had scented no sign of rain. Lighting crashed and another blast of thunder struck so quickly that the building actually shook.

In the same moment that the building began to shake, Gage howled, and I was struck by a sudden urge, need, desire, hell, I don't know what it was, but I knew that I had to move. It was as if I was being summoned. Roane, or whatever his name was seemed a bit startled, but I didn't have time to waste with him.

A tether that had never been there before seemed to be pulling me to whatever had caused the building to shake. Running towards the elevator, I pressed the buttons to all the floors since I had no idea where the hell this pull was leading. The doors slid closed, and I fell to my knees.

Gripping my chest, I felt Gage urging the damn thing to move faster. Thankfully, we only had to go up one floor, but to my surprise, the second the doors swung open there were tons of armed guards. Some were wolves and some humans, but they were all dressed in black suits.

So, this is where they all must have gone after they took us to see that doctor, I thought, but I had no time to think of much else because the moment I took one step off the elevator car, a scream like nothing I've ever heard before came from inside the suite they were guarding.

With no warning, Gage pushed himself forward and I felt him take control of my body. If there would have been more room, he probably would have forced a shift, but this was the best he could do right now. 

The gut wrenching scream held more than just despair, it was a call to shatter the world, to burn it all down, and to make me help them do it. Scents that seemed familiar and also different filled this floor, but Gage was already moving towards that pull.

Surprisingly enough, the wolves who were among the armed men in black seemed to all be caught up in something similar to what I was feeling because I noticed that they were turning towards the suite door that I was moving to as well.

Unfortunately, the human guards stationed here did not seem to like my sudden appearance, but Gage did not give a sh*t. He forced his way around them with so much ease as the pull intensified and the screaming continued. 

With no warning, he let out a soft whine, but we were grabbed by two very large human men. Struggling to push them off without hurting them too badly took longer than I would have liked, but I finally made my way into the suite where the screaming was still coming from.

Lecia's scent hit me as Gage charged past a group of men who were huddled in a large spacious living room. Glancing around he quickly found the way the tether was pulling us, but the closer we got to the room, the more Gage whined and the tougher it was to stay on our feet.

It was Dylan's scent that suddenly filled my senses and Gage surged forward into a room with a bed double the size of the one I had been sleeping on. Lecia was crying hysterically, and the red-haired man, the one that had come to Blood Mist, was kneeling there beside Dylan. 

It was her. It was Dylan. She was the one screaming. She was the one calling out to us. She was the one who was not only making the building shake, but making it storm outside.

Gage tried to take in the room and find the source of her pain, but the force of Dylan's scream was almost unbearable. It wasn't until he saw the doctor take something from his pocket and jab it into her arm that both Gage and I got a sudden burst of strength.

So many things were happening at once, Dylan slowly stopped screaming, the red-haired man was holding her and rocking her back and forth as he cried, Lecia seemed to be going into utter shock, but right before Dylan's eyes closed, she turned her face to us, and I saw utter despair in them before her head lolled forward onto that man's shoulder.

Before I could say or do anything, Gage was moving across the room towards the salt and pepper haired doctor who was trying to put the syringe back in his pocket. In the blink of an eye, he had both of my hands wrapped around his throat as we growled, "what did you do to her?" 

Tears were running down my face and while Gage was in control, I had no idea if they were coming from me or him, but I felt each one running down my cheeks. Those tears were for her, and for me, and Lecia, and for the pain that we all were feeling right now.

Sputtering was the only thing the doctor could do as I slowly choked the life out of him, but too soon, the same wolves that I had passed coming in here were now on top of me and prying my hands off the man's throat.

"What did he do? What did he do to her? Why did she call out like that?" Even restrained, I was still pulling myself towards Dylan. The lightning and thunder may have stopped, but the rain continued to pour.

I forced Gage back and took control over my body just to make sure that he didn't lose control and try to shift here inside this room. I needed to get answers and that was not the way to do it.

There was so much commotion and people were scrambling here and there trying to figure out what had just happened, but it was the purple eyed man who helped us get out of Blood Mist who came over to where four wolves were restraining me.

"Can you please explain to me what you just said pup? You said that she called out, correct? What did you mean by that?" 

Looking around the room, I checked on Dylan, who was now unconscious, and Lecia who had gotten closer and was cradling Dylan's hand to her face, and the man who was clutching Dylan to his chest.

"It's just like I said, she called out to me and my wolf. I don't know how or why, but I had no choice but to come to her. To find her. To protect her. It was like a command and a request all in one."