The Trouble With Love

Chapter 9

Garrett's POV

I almost lost it when Mac told me that Brad and Candy were missing. I think they knew what they had done and were hiding to avoid us. "Let's call the enforcers in for a meeting. We need the best on this. We only have about twenty-two hours to find them." Drake said, rubbing his temples. The enforcers are an elite team of trackers, warriors, and intel specialists. They can find anyone, anywhere. "Agreed. Mac, call them in." Mac nods worry clearly written on his face. As he goes to leaves, he turns, "I have known Kat for a long time and she is one hell of a woman, I will do whatever I can to help." 

Drake smiles, "Thanks, Mac." Mac nods and leaves. Drake looks at me, "She is the perfect Luna, she inspires loyalty from everyone she meets." I laugh, "She is one hell of a woman for sure. Don't worry, we will get her back, even if I have to split Hell wide open." Not two minutes later, our enforcers burst into the meeting room. This team looks fierce, but nowhere near as fierce as they really are. "OK men, your Luna has been taken and in order to get her back, we need to find her ex-husband Brad and his mate, Candy. They are the ones who owe the debt, but they took the coward's way out and offered your Luna as payment." A round of growls echoes through the room. "Agreed", Drake continues. "This is Brad Miller and Candy Miller, we need them found and we only have twenty-one and a half hours to do so. Let's move." 

The team gathers to make a plan, we are going to their last known address and starting there. This place is a dump. After driving for about twenty minutes, we reach the house they had here on our pack lands. The outside is in disrepair, but the inside is worse. I don't think either one of them knows what a broom looks like. There is stuff everywhere. The trackers get to work, pulling out their scents. "Alpha, they have a baby with them. I smell a newborn, maybe three days old." Dave, a tracker tells me. "I thought the baby may have come already, but it changes nothing, we need to find them. The baby will not be harmed, in fact, I am certain we are doing her a favor." I know it's a girl because there are baby dresses still in the closet. 

"We have a good read on their scents, we are going to track them in wolf form. They haven't been gone long. Their scents are still fresh." Dave says and four of them shift in large gray wolves and take off. I look at Mac, "Who did you talk to? The trackers say they were here not too long ago." Mac sighs, "I talked to Candy's boss, apparently she was stripping right up until the baby was born. Some guys and their weird ass fetishes." He shivers. "Anyways, he said she didn't show up for work the last few days and he even came by here but no one was home. He has been trying to get a hold of her to give her a paycheck." 

I think for a second, "Maybe she was having the baby, let's check the hospital, while the trackers follow their scents." He nods and Drake, Mac and I head to the pack hospital. Since this town is about half human, we have a combined hospital in the middle of town. It is a big gray brick building that I find mildly depressing. "Good morning, how can I help you?" A young blonde behind the visitor's desk asks as we walk in. "Yes, we were wondering if someone gave birth in the last couple of days, Candy Miller?" Drake asks her and she furrows her brows, "Are you, family?" He shakes his head and she sighs, "I am sorry, but I can't just give patient info out to anyone." 

"Call Dr. Reynolds, now." Drake barks out. The girl huffs and picks up the phone. After a brief conversation, Dr. Reynolds comes running out, "I am so sorry, she's a new hire, follow me." We all follow him into his office. "We need to find out if Candy Miller gave birth recently. They are all missing and we need to find them." I tell him and he nods, "Gavin called me and filled me in, Candy had a healthy baby girl yesterday and then they disappeared from the hospital in the middle of the night, the baby was brought back early this morning." I looked at him, "You mean, they brought the baby back?" He nodded, "They left her at the front desk, didn't say a word, just set her down and left." 

"Thank you for your help. We will let you know what to do with the baby as soon we get this situation handled." I tell him and we head out. Dave is waiting outside, "We have their scent, we have tracked them to a warehouse just outside the city." I look at Drake, "What in the hell are they doing in a warehouse?" He shrugs, "Who the hell knows. Let's go." We follow Dave in wolf form. We get to the warehouse in about twenty minutes. The smell of death and blood hung heavy in the air. 

I check the time, we only have about ten hours left. "What the hell is this place?" I ask and Drake looks at me, "The last I knew, it was empty." We approach the door and Drake wastes no time, he kicks it in. I didn't want that to be in here, but the place is swarming with vampires. "Well, this is cozy." Drake drawls and they all freeze and turn to look at us. There has to be about sixty of them and only about fifteen of us.  "Who is in charge here?" Drake barks and a very tall skinny bald man walks forward. "My name is Bernard and I am the leader and an Elder." Drake nods, "I am Drake and this is Garrett, we are the Alphas of the territory you are on. Usually, the Alpha grants permission to anyone that wishes to move on to their land." Bernard bows, "I was unaware that this was on your pack lands." I nod, "It is just on this side of the line. We are looking for Brad and Candy Miller, they owe us a debt and we need them to pay it back." I don't want them knowing all the details of our mess with Kat. 

He nods, "They are in the torture room, they owe us a debt as well." Drake sighs, "I will honor any money owed, but their debt has caused our Luna to be captured and in order to get her back, we need to get them. We are running out of time." His lack of patience showing. I place a hand on his shoulder and Bernard's eyes soften. "I lost my beloved to a similar fate. They are yours, we can talk about peaceful cohabitation at a later date." I nod, "Thank you, we will do so." After about ten minutes, they are brought out, chained with silver and beaten to a pulp. We thank the vampires and throw them into the car that Mac brought around and race to the office building with the gate to hell in the basement. 

Candy was quiet, but Brad was begging for his life, "Please, I don't know what you want, but I just had a baby, you can't kill me." Drake growls as I drive, "Shut up, you are the reason they took Kat, you bastard." Brad laughs, "Kat, who the hell cares about her? A stupid human? Come on, fellas. She is worthless and never was any good in the sack. She is pathetic." Drake snarls, "You will respect your Luna, worm." His eyes grow wide, "What in the hell?" I roll my eyes, "Do you know who we are?" He nods, "You are the Alphas of our pack." I sigh, "Very good, now, Kat is our mate, which means?"  He sucks in a breath, "She is the Luna, oh fuck." Finally, Candy breaks her silence, "She was always a tough woman, makes sense that she would be a Luna. I only met her a couple of times, but I admired her." 

"Shut up, Cow." Brad barks and Candy growls, "NO, you shut up, Brad. IF it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess. You always have to gamble every penny and borrow from the shadiest people. Alphas, please just take care of my little girl. I named her Alana Katherine." Drake turns to her, "Don't worry, we will. I am sorry that it has come to this, but she is our mate." Candy nods, "And he is mine, we go where ever our souls take us, no helping that." 

We reach the portal with very little time to spare. As we enter, Brad and Candy a shaking with fear and Drake and I are barely able to contain ourselves. Lilith sits on her throne, reading a book when we enter the throne room. "Ah, there you are, I see you brought me a gift." Drake roughly shoves Brad towards her and Candy moves forward on her own. Lilith glides down to them, "Brad you were a naughty boy, you borrowed something and then paid me back with something that wasn't yours. Now, the price is greater than your own life, it is your life plus the life of your mate." Candy nods and Brad screams, "No, just take, Candy. Leave me. I have a daughter, you can have her." Candy turns to Brad and hits him, hard, in the face. "You bastard, you leave Alana out of your shit! I, Candy Miller, reject you, Brad Miller, as my mate." He howls in pain. Lilith laughs coldly. 

"Well, that is just delicious. Candy, I absolve you of Brad's debt. You and your daughter will have a good life without Brad, in fact, you will find yourself a second chance mate that will treat you well." She snaps her fingers and Candy is gone. "Now, for you two, I believe I owe you your mate." She snaps her fingers again and Kat is carried into the room by two large demons. She is bloody and beaten, her clothes are torn and she can barely hold her head up. As soon as she is carried through the door, she launched out their arms and across the room to us.