Chapter 34

Forest's POV

The pain didn't go away.

All day, it was still there, in the back of my mind. It was like an unwavering stream, for hours. "What are they doing to her!" I yelled out when that pain got to bad, I was sitting in the living room, trying to distract myself from Aria, it wasn't working.

I looked over to my parents, "What can we do, what can I do?" I asked desperately, I needed to do something, anything, to get my mind off the pain.

"I don't know," My dad said, he was trying to stay calm but desperation was starting to leak through, "I don't know how they managed to get a witch to work with them, or even why a witch would work with them, we can't stop them unless we could find the witch's motivation for helping."

I sighed, there was nothing we could do, no leads to follow, my mate was in pain and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

I lay down on the sofa with a cushion over my head, trying to block out everything, trying to mindlink Aria, "Aria, Aria can you hear me?"

I got no reply.

Again.

I had been trying to reach her since she went missing but they must be blocking her mind link, she was always slightly out of reach, always.

I tried calling out for my wolf, but he wouldn't help me. He hadn't spoken to me since Aria went missing, he just howled. He howled for his mate. He wanted her back, but felt helpless. We couldn't find her. She ran from us. She was in pain.

I heard the door open and someone come rushing in, "Alpha Maxim is here, he wants to talk to Forest!" Ash yelled out, before turning and running for the door with my parents and me in tow.

"What?" My dad questioned, turning to full alpha mode. I looked over at Ash, he looked really worried, not just 'one of the most feared Alpha's has travelled halfway across the world to talk to you' worried, something more, something else.

"What's wrong Ash?" He started to answer but I cut him off, "and don't say, 'Alpha Maxim is here', there's something more than that."

Ash looked down before answering, "Alpha Maxim, he says he knows who your mate is, who Aria really is, he says he can help."

I just stared at him, not believing what he was saying, "Where is he?" If Alpha Maxim knew who my mate was, I didn't care why he came from America to tell me, I didn't care he might have another motive, I just wanted to know my mate.

My dad held up his hand before Ash answered, "Wait, can we trust him, why would he come all the way from America to help one person," I growled lowly at him, my wolf just wanted his mate, "I'm not saying we can't talk to him, I'm saying just go carefully,"

I nodded in agreement and dad nodded for Ash to answer, "He's at the pack house, in your office," He said addressing my dad.

We all jumped to the car, mum driving to the pack house, "I really hope this Alpha isn't just yanking our strings," She muttered under her breath.

My dad placed his hand on her leg reassuringly, "Why would he come all the way from America just to trick us?" She shrugged.

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Skye was waiting in the doorway of the pack house for us, "He's upstairs," She said, walking over to Ash before following us up the stairs.

My father entered the office and went round his desk, not sitting in the presence of another alpha, we all joined him on his side, "Alpha Maxim, you say you know who my son's mate is," Straight to the point.

"Yes, I heard some disturbing news from some other alphas, just speculation but I looked some more into it and found some, interesting to say the least, information."

"What did you find?" My dad asked, looking at Alpha Maxim sceptically, he didn't believe he could have heard anything from America.

Alpha Maxim smiled to me sadly, "It all started about a month ago. I got a letter in the post from England." He turned to look at my father, "I thought it was from you at first, being the only alpha important enough to know my address, but it wasn't, I wish I hadn't opened it now."

I looked around and wasn't surprised to see everyone's attention fixed on Alpha Maxim, we all wanted to know who the letter was from, I wanted to know what this all had to do with my Aria.

"The letter was very strange, it was typed on a computer and never addressed me by name, I guess it was sent out in mass. It told of a wolf, a despicable wolf, a hybrid, a terrible mix of two species who should of never met. The writer was asking for help, he wanted to destroy this freak of nature, he said he was saving us all, he said she would be our undoing and if we joined him we would be saviours. He set a date and a time, said to be there if we cared about the safety of our packs."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "I, of course, went along with it. I would do anything to save my pack. Anything. Anything but what he asked. At two o'clock exactly we all gathered where he told us to be. Waiting. He stood in front of us, on top of a stage, he addressed us like a king addressing his subjects. He addressed us like a general addressing his soldiers, he had the crowd enraptured. We were spellbound. Trapped like a fly in a spiders web."

He looked over to me, true sorrow in his eyes. Sorrow and regret. "He told us his name was Elias, his son was called Tyler, his daughter was a hybrid. He told us about the hybrid, how she was a danger to our kind, she was unstable, a cold blooded killer who needed to be stopped. Everyone cheered. When he showed us a picture of the hybrid everyone stopped. The picture showed a girl, no longer a child, but not quite an adult. She was laughing at someone, looking away from the camera. She looked happy, she looked free, she looked stable. I knew this woman in the picture wasn't dangerous. I had met her before. Once. Last time I came over to your pack. It was Aria."

I heard a gasp from around the room but I couldn't focus on that my mind was too fixated trying to figure out how he had met Aria before, she was never a part of our pack, we had never met her before.

My mum was the one who spoke up, "How did you meet her? She was never a part of this pack, she didn't know she was a wolf until a few months ago."

Alpha Maxim shook his head before answering, "Your right, she was never part of this pack, but she has been a wolf for longer then she realised, I did meet her once, when she was seven. She told me her story, and I looked into it, all those years, I looked into it, pieced together her history, the man who called her dangerous gave me the final piece of the puzzle, the puzzle of her life that not even she truly knows about. As soon as I figured out what they were planning with her, I tried to call you, but I couldn't get through. By the time I managed, one of your pack members said you were too busy to talk. Your son's mate had gone missing, I was too late."

I was on the edge of my seat, I had tried to find out about Aria's past but could never figure out how she ended up a werewolf when her dad was so obviously human.

Alpha Maxim continued his story, "When I met her, I told her how to shift back, I lent her my shirt and she told me why she was all alone, running in the woods. Her dad was angry with her, she didn't know why, the week before she had gone through a forced shift as her dad beat her, but after she shifted the abuse just got worse. Her dad hated it when she shifted, and I suppose in the years that followed he managed to make her suppress her wolf, to the extent that she forgot about her. She told me she had been in town with her mum when suddenly a man had come up to her, her mum went off with the man and left her all alone in town. Within a week her mum left with the man and never came back. She had no idea why, only that she was gone and her dad blamed her, over the years, with so much abuse, she did too."

When he looked up he had tears in his eyes, "I tried to help her, but she said she had to stay, she said she still loved her family regardless. She wouldn't tell me why. I decided to find out as much as I could about her, I needed to help the poor little girl found in the woods, so once she had ran off back home I looked into her past as much as possible. For almost a month I obsessively looked through every book I could, until I finally found what happened, how she ended up like she did."

Again he stopped, I was really tired of his repeated stopping and starting, "What is it?" I asked. All this talk of Aria, how close she was to me all this time, I could have saved her so long ago. Maybe then Elias, wouldn't have her. Maybe then she would be safe.

"Her mum was a werewolf, she fell in love with a human, a hunter. She was told he was dangerous. She thought he could change. She was correct. For a while he was a loving husband, he loved her and loved their two children. But that all changed that fateful day, when Aria was in town with her mum. That day her mum met her true mate. She thought she loved her husband, but those feeling were eclipsed by the love she felt for her mate. So she left. She knew Aria was a werewolf, she knew Tyler was all human, she knew Elias would hate werewolves if she left, and probably take it out on Aria if she left her there. But she wanted a fresh start with her new mate. She knew what she was doing, she knew what fate awaited her six year old daughter, but she didn't care. I managed to get intouch with her once. She didn't even remember Aria's name. She didn't want anything to do with her."

"How ever much I hated what Elias and Tyler were saying I knew I had to keep listening to their plan, for Aria, so I kept listening. Their plan was to neutralise her, they said she was a hunter werewolf, she was unstable and therefore would hunt down hunters and werewolfs alike, just for the thrill of the chase and the fun of the kill. They said they already had a plan to capture her, and would be doing so very soon, they just needed a new mate for her. She was mated, but her mate let her have free reign, and that would destroy the werewolf population, they needed someone who could destroy her, break her, stop her. Beta Simon from the Cold Wind pack stepped forward."

I shook with anger at the name, the Cold Wind pack were despicable, they didn't care about anyone and believed that any unmarked female was fair game. They think women are below them and disrespected their mates by getting with females that don't, and never will, belong to them. He had no right to go anywhere near my mate.

"He said he would break her, so long as he got something in return. Elias told him he could have her, all of her, if he broke her. Simon agreed."

I felt my wolf push forward, taking control before I even registered what he wanted, he was beyond angry. He wanted blood. Where a man had stood just moments before there now stood a wolf. An extremely angry wolf. My dad stepped forward, ignoring my wolf when he growled at him. I wrestled for control. We were no use to our mate if we we kept losing control. My father used his alpha power to push my wolf down, helping me get control back, he then threw some clothes at me which I put on before we continued our discussion.

"How were they planning to break her?" My dad asked, still pushing his alpha powers into me to stop my wolf from taking over.

"The same way they did when she was young."

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Aria's POV

They told me to keep quiet.

They told me Forest wasn't real.

They told me I was Simon's mate and therefore he owned me.

They told me they were beating me for my own good.

But I couldn't believe them.

Through every punch, every kick, every hateful word I remembered Forest. He kept me safe. He loved me. He was my mate.

Then why isn't he here.

I no longer had my wolf. I was too weak, too tired, too hurt. Instead I had nagging doubt. She was always there, whispering in my mind, feeding me lies all hour of the day.

Simon is your mate. He only hurts you because he loves you. She would whisper as he beat me.

It's your own fault, should have held your tongue. She hissed as My dad punched me for talking back to him.

They don't exist. She'd laugh as I begged to Layla , to save me, to take me home to my mate, to Forest and my family.

She would taunt me, all day every day. You have been a bad girl, if you sit still, keep your mouth shut, forget about Forest, your mate won't have to beat you. If you sit still, look pretty, you can have a normal life. You are a trophy, you would do well to remember that Terra.

I couldn't fall for her tricks, I knew what was real and what wasn't. I wouldn't fall for her lies.

But the nagging doubt wouldn't shut up.

And slowly I began to believe it.