Emily

It was the day after my birthday. It was ten in the morning and everyone was downstairs. Apparently new leads have popped up. I wasn't sure what kind of leads or from who, but I just nod my head and go with it.

When I walked into the kitchen all eyes turned to me. Hex had joined us and had two laptops open. My brothers were looking over his shoulder and dad was writing something down. Lucian however, was doing nothing.

"What did you find?" I asked. Zane gave dad a look before answering me.

"Jolie is working with whoever is trying to find you." Zane said. It wasn't a shock to me, but it did feel odd. My mother wasn't a very smart person and she didn't like to dwell on things too long. It was strange that she wanted me back so badly.

"Oh." I looked down. Suddenly Lucian's phone rang, breaking the awkward silence I created. He saw the caller ID and immediately picked it up.

"What?... No... That's Rage's job... fine... give me thirty minutes." Than he cut the call. "Bruiser needs me at the club." Lucian grumbled. "I'll be back in a few hours." He stood up and gave me a quick kiss before leaving. I wonder what Bruiser needed.

"No PDA around your very innocent brothers please." Darius frowned.

"I have seen you two do things that were far from innocent." Hex rolled his eyes.

"Father here!" Dad threw his arms up. Hex just gave him a look. I think I should disappear now.

"Back on subject." Zane snapped his fingers.

"Right, so Jolie is working with whoever is after you." Hex pointed at me. "Her last known location was a gas station a few towns over. She owns no form of communication, or isn't using it. She has no credit card in her name, and she is barely holding on to her house." He repeated everything I already knew, except for the communication thing. She has every high-end electronic you could think of. I knew she didn't have a credit card, she always used some guy's card.

"Have you guys found the rat yet?" I asked. Hex nodded.

"He doesn't know we know yet. So far he hasn't left on suspicious trips yet, I think he's trying to find out where you are hiding." Hex said.

"Has Ethan called about the mafia information?" Darius asked dad.

"Yup, everyone is clean. No leaks here." Dad said.

"Good, try to keep it that way." Hex said. Dad raised a brow at him before letting it go. "Nothing interesting will be happening until Alpha gets back, so you can relax for now." Hex nodded to the living room.

"Ok." I took a book from the bookshelf and sunk into the couch. I read twenty chapters before Hex's phone disturbed me. He picked it up as I listened to catch anything. The only thing I heard was swearing. My brothers looked in my direction than quickly looked away.

I left my book on the couch and made my way into the dining room. Hex had some camera footage up that looked like the clubhouse.

"What happened?" I asked. All four men looked at each other warily. "What! Did something happen?" I asked again.

"That was Bruiser, Alpha hadn't made it inside the club, he was kidnapped." Hex sighed. He turned his computer towards me and showed footage of Lucian. He was getting out of his truck when someone hit him with a bat. The person had a mask on so I couldn't even tell what kind of nose they had.

"W- what! W- we have t- to find him." I said. I sat down in a chair to ground myself. How did Lucian get taken out of all people. He could be anywhere.

"I know Emily, we don't know who took him though." Darius said.

"We need to get rid of that rat." I said. My voice wasn't my own. I was upset that somebody took my mate outside of his own clubhouse.

"We need to play this right." Dad reminded me. I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair.

"Do what you need to find my mate." I grumbled. Dad gave me a look.

"Your mate?" He asked. Zane and Darius turned their heads away as if they knew nothing.

"Yes. He asked me last night and I said yes." I said. Dad sighed. He didn't seem to want to fight about it right now.

"Anyway, we think the rat told his people about Lucian coming and they were all over it." Zane said.

"I would say we should go to the clubhouse but that would put Emily in danger." Dad said.

"But they took Lucian! Why would they want me?" I asked.

"They took Lucian to get to you. Lucian is simply a pawn in their game." Darius sneered.

"For now we will stay here. Hex will continue searching for any clues and I'll have Rage confront our rat." Dad said.

"Right." Hex nodded.

I stood up abruptly. I had grown very close to Lucian and now I was his mate. Why wouldn't I be allowed in this investigation. "I want to help!" I demanded.

"Emily, you are the target. We can't lose you." Dad tried to reason.

"Just let me be around. Please. If you go to the clubhouse, I want to go too." I begged. I wasn't going to sit around and wait anymore. I've been here long enough.

"We will discuss this when the times comes. For now you can sit here with us." Dad said.

"Fine." I sighed. I'll attempt that again later. For now I needed to learn as much info as possible.

———