The Alpha's Underworld Princess

Cashing in on the Treaty

Wyatt

His guards stopped me, and I parked the car. "Tell the Alpha I'm here. I need to speak with him immediately."

"Does he know you are coming?"

"No. But tell him I said it's urgent. Life or death urgent." As if listening, Harold was walking to his territory lines.

"You are going to get yourself killed driving like that." He had a smile on his face until he was close enough to see me clearly.

"Fuck Wyatt." He looked me up and down.

"Someone took her," I said through clenched teeth.

"Who?"

"My mate." My whole body was shaking, and saying it out loud made it real.

"Alpha, no one here would hurt Luna Valkyrie." He looked insulted.

"I'm not here to accuse you. I am here to see if you know anything." I assured him. And it was true. I wouldn't see Harold hurting any she-wolf, especially a luna. Plus, Luna Lily and Val were friends, and he always seemed to like Val. He wouldn't want her hurt.

"Wyatt, I would be on your doorstep if I knew anything." I hadn't thought of that.

"Then I need your help." He nodded, linking someone.

"My warriors are getting together. They'll be on the grounds shortly for instructions. What do you know?" He asked. It was amazing how quickly we all turned into soldiers.

"I think whoever took her was a rogue, but I don't think it was their idea. I'm going to assume it was a paid job."

"Does seem more likely. Do you have something of hers?" Anthony went back to the car and cursed at the amount of laundry we had in the back until he found one of Val's shirts. I hated watching him smell it and hated more that it would be passed around to warriors of another pack, but I didn't protest when Anthony handed it over.

He told one of his guards to give the order to the warriors to look for her and turned back to me. "Don't go to any of the other packs."

"What?" I wasn't sure why he would say that. I needed to look everywhere, even if it was to rule them out.

"You don't know who is involved. I always have your back, but I'm unsure who else you can trust."

"He's right, Wyatt. We aren't thinking straight." Anthony nailed it. I could not think straight with her hurting.

"Whoever did this hit you where it'll hurt the most on purpose. And you have a lot of enemies, Wyatt—way more enemies than friends. I'm basically your ally, so you don't try to kill me." I wanted to think he was kidding, but I didn't. He knew very well what would have happened if he had not signed the treaty.

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes. He wasn't wrong that I had next to zero friends, but it still didn't feel good when friends would be helpful in this situation. "Harold, she's pregnant. So even if she could shift, she won't. He's already... touched her. She's chained to a bed with silver. They gave her wolfsbane. My son had to be sedated. He's so upset." Saying it all made me feel vulnerable. A side that Harold was shocked to see and probably didn't know I had.

"We will find her." He clapped me on the shoulder. "I'll call Bryan to help."

"I'll go there." I offered. Showing up on his doorstep would give him less time to try and get away if he was involved.

"We will go there," he corrected, but we turned, seeing a car skidding to a stop and Alpha Bryan jumping out of his car.

"Is everyone I know coming over without calling now?" Harold mumbled.

"Maybe he heard us talking about him somehow," Anthony said, watching him walk over.

"Wyatt." He approached me slowly, hands up and neck exposed in submission. He knew something. "Luna Val... she's missing, right?"

"You should speed up your thoughts on this, Alpha Bryan." Felix wanted to rip him apart to find out what he knew. I could feel my claws and teeth starting to shift.

He held out something and dropped it in my hand—her necklace, which I had dipped in gold for her. "Where did you get this?" I roared at him, taking him by the throat. No one else moved.

"There was a car that crashed into a tree near the edge of my territory. My warriors found it and scented blood. I didn't quite recognize it, but the blood was from your pack. I'm sure of it. And I remember Luna Val wearing that the other night at the party. I thought it was unique." I was not thrilled he noticed her necklace, but I didn't comment. In this scenario, it was helpful.

"How much blood?" Anthony asked.

"Not much, but enough to smell it. And I think that she left the necklace there for you to find. It was hanging on a tree branch a half mile away. The trail runs cold, though."

Anthony put his hand over mine, and I let him go. 'She's cutting herself on purpose.' I linked him.

'Yeah, is my guess. Trying to leave a trail for us to find.'

'She was always the brains.' Anthony commented with pride, and I felt that, too.

"Take me there," I commanded Byran. "Harold, can I take a few of your men with me?"

"Of course." He whistled, and a small group of men got in the car, and Anthony joined them. I got in the car with Bryan. He looked terrified. Overall, I liked the guy, but he was young. His father was killed by rogues when he was only sixteen, just two years ago. Taking over the pack at that young age was hard, and I had to give him credit. I felt terrible that I attacked him. Plus, I risked the treaty that we signed only a couple of months ago by doing so. He seemed okay with it overall. Having found his mate, he understood.

"I'm sorry, Bryan." I didn't apologize often, but it was due in this case.

"No need. If anyone touched my mate, I would rip anyone apart who got close to me. I think you are quite calm."

"That's all, Val. I know she is pulling my panic into her. And she's trying to keep us both calm for Tobias."

"How is Baby Alpha?"

"Sedated."

"Oh shit." He swerved slightly at the knowledge.

"Val's pregnant again."

"Okay, I... why is everything with you always a mess?" He asked.

"I don't fucking know." I felt pain wash over me again. "Son of a bitch!" The images flashed in my mind. They had multiple men now holding her down. I didn't recognize any of them, but she made it a point to look at each one in the face. One crawled on top of her, the same man from before, and she cut the image before I could see what happened next. But Val couldn't block the pain entirely. I felt it. I knew what they were doing but worked to keep it together.

When we finally reached the crashed car, I quickly picked up the scent of her blood in the trunk. It wasn't clear to me what caused the crash, and I wonder if they were trying to make it look like they had been fatally wounded? I didn't buy that, of course. I smelled the same scents that had been in my bedroom but minimal blood from them. No one was seriously hurt in the accident.

Bryan showed Anthony and me where he found her necklace, and we lost her scent in a cabin. It simply disappeared.

"How does that even fucking happen?" I asked Anthony. "It's like they vanished from here."

"Some underground compound? Maybe a witch cast a spell?" he offered his thoughts. "Have Harold and Bryan's warriors search this area. They will know it better. If nothing else, they didn't stop here and certainly didn't do it on foot. We need to follow each nearby road. Get our warriors out here, and I need a map to see where all the roads lead."