The Alpha's Missing Mate

Chapter 25

25.

  Angel watched as Rebecca's pack slowly sank to their knees is subjugation before her. Even though it had been over eighteen years since they'd seen her, she could tell the pack still loved her. She knew they would follow whatever orders Rebecca gave with out hesitation.

  "Mom, we need to get to Robert," Angel said as she stepped forward. She turned to the enforcer who had come out to talk to them. "Can you take us to Robert's beta and show Tommy and Connor to Robert's office?"

  "Yes. Follow me, gentlemen."

  Before they could get more than two steps away Rebecca stopped them. "I'm sorry, but what's your name, young man?"

  "I'm sorry, Alpha," the young enforcer said, bowing his head in respect for his returned alpha. "My name is Anthony, but everyone just calls me Tony."

  "Thank you, Tony."

  "No problem, Alpha," Tony said. He turned to his niece and spoke next before he led Tommy,  Connor and their guards off. "Samantha, take them inside and have Richard bring Max to them."

  "Sure thing, Uncle Tony," the little girl said as she grabbed a hold of Angel's hand and led her inside the pack house, Jared, Declan, Alyssa, Derrick, Rebecca and the rest of their guards close behind them.

  Angel studied the pack house as they were led to the pack's living room. The house was a middle-sized, three story house, but she could smell built up dust hiding in several rooms that were closed off. She could see where time and neglect had taken their toll on the grand staircase and along the baseboards lining the front entrance. The seating area in the pack's living room also looked shabby.

  A small group of people, dressed in worn clothing, huddled in a corner of the once elegant room. Angel watched them eye her group warily, and wondered what exactly Robert had put them through. Several of the people in front of them looked as if they would run at the slightest provocation.

  This might have once been a great pack, but Tony hadn't been exaggerating when he said they'd declined over the years under Robert.

  "Momma," Samantha said to a short woman that had followed them into the room. "This is- " She paused and looked back up to Angel. "Gosh! I don't even know your names!"

  Angel chuckled as she glanced at the young girl still holding her hand. "I'm Angel," she introduced herself, then pointed at the members of her group, introducing them in turn to Robert's pack. "That's Jared. He's my Alpha. And Derrick is my father. Rebecca, she's my mother, and Robert's sister, is y'alls true Alpha. Declan and Alyssa are allies of Derrick's. They came to help us find my mother."

  "Where was she that you had to find her?" Samantha asked, her eyes wide. Angel could tell by the looks on the faces of Robert's wolves that they were curious to know as well.

  "Robert kidnapped her eighteen years ago so he could take over as Alpha. He kept her locked up in a cellar about half an hour away from here. He didn't know she was pregnant with me, nor when she'd had me, but when he found out, he tried to lick me up with her so no one could take over from him."

  Samantha's eyes filed up with tears and she ran to her mother. The girl's mother wrapped her arms around the little girl and held her close.

  "Did you live with your father, then?" The woman asked her.

  "No, ma'am. He knew she was pregnant before she was kidnapped, but didn't know I had been born. I was brought up in foster care."

  Gasps filled the room as mothers grabbed their children. Men shifted to stand in front of their families. Several low growls filled the room. Each and every person there remembered what it was like growing up in a pack and none of them could fathom growing up alone. It was one thing to turn into a lone wolf once they were grown, but being forced to live that way as a child? It was a travesty that Angel had been forced to grow up that way.

  Jared watched as the room as a whole stepped closer to Angel, subconsciously surrounding her with the pack love she should have had as a pup. He caught Derrick and Rebecca's eyes and saw they had come to the same conclusion as well. If Rebecca chose to abdicate, her pack would not hesitate to declare their loyalty to her daughter.

  A commotion at the entrance to the door quickly had Jared stepping to Angel's side, with Derrick and Rebecca flanking them. Alyssa and Declan put themselves in front of the small group while the enforcers encircled them all. Robert's pack stepped forward to protect Rebecca and Angel as well.

  A tall, gray haired man stepped into the room pushing a bound and gagged man in front of him. When Robert's pack saw the two, they relaxed.

  'That must be Richard and the beta,' Angel sent Jared.

*

  Tommy followed Tony back up the hall to the stairs, Connor right behind him. He noticed that most of the doors they passed were closed, and looked like they hadn't been opened on years.

  "What's with all the doors?" He asked.

  "They're locked up," Tony said with a shrug.

  Tommy glanced at Connor. The older man had noticed the rooms as well. He, too, had wondered about them, and Tony's short answer didn't satisfy his curiosity.

  "We can see that, pup." Connor said, addressing their escort. "Why are they locked up?"

  Tommy could see Tony tense up at the term 'pup', but he didn't really care. Tony might be a few years older than him, but he was not older than Connor, and Connor was obviously the stronger wolf. If Connor wanted to call the young man 'pup', he wasn't going to stop him.

  "We're a small pack," Tony growled. "Over the years, more and more wolves have left, and our elders have died off. We don't need so many rooms. We started just closing then off. Robert hardly ever interacted with the pack, so he didn't notice we were shrinking until recently. If he did, he'd probably have told us to either have more pups, or he'd order us to raid another pack and bring back 'recruits'."

  Connor gaped at him. "You mean he'd force you to steal wolves from other packs?"

  "Only the pups. The ones still young enough that he could manipulate their loyalty."

  "Has he done that before? Are there stolen children in this pack?" Tommy asked, disgust evident in his voice.

  "No. Not yet, anyways. I overheard him talking to Max, his beta, the other day. They were planning a raid on some pack just across the border." Tony glanced at the men. "I'm really glad you guys showed up before we actually had to do that."

  "Why haven't y'all turned on Robert before now if none of y'all can stand him?" Tommy asked, genuinely perplexed at this pack's docility.

  "Everyone here is afraid of what Robert would do to them if they even thought about that. They didn't know if he'd kill their children or mates if they revolted. Or, if he'd harm one of their families children." Tony looked down at his feet as they stopped on the second story landing. "I had a nephew a few years older than Samantha. He was just about to shift for the first time, and Robert had him removed from the pack because his father was complaining too loudly that he wished Rebecca was still around. That she was supposed to be the rightful Alpha, and that Robert was just an impostor. Andrew was thrown into the neutral territory, in the midst of a group of rogues. They sent us his body, one piece at a time. His father left, but he sent a message saying he'd found out Robert had paid the rogues to kill the boy. No one wants something like that to happen again."

  Tommy looked at Connor as they came to a stop in front of the door to what was obviously Robert's office. If Robert had already committed such heinous acts to keep his people under his thumb, then they definitely needed to take the man out of his position.

  Tony opened the door and led the two men into the empty room.

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I know it's not long, and I'm sorry, but it's been so long since I've updated, I just had to share something with y'all. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!

Kera