Argent POV

My entire drive home, I was seething. That complete arse tried to defend himself. He had all but stolen Aida's life up til now. And he didn't even explain why?

I had missed a ride with Father, but he sent the driver back to wait for me. He's great like that. He and I have a good relationship, really. He's just strict and expects a lot from me, but I know that I can go to him for anything. And that he will help. I'm planning to go straight to his office and lay this all on the line.

As we turn into the gates that surrounded the pack house, I feel a calm sliding over me. I am still so wound up from what has happened in such a short time frame. Everything has changed.

Today was epic.

I met my mate. In a mental institution, not that it matters. But it was just as father had explained it. The instant connection. I felt like I wanted to protect her immediately. And now I have to try to figure out what the fuck Dr. Jasper has done to her and hope to hell it's reversible.

We pull up at the front of the house. I sometimes take for granted how lucky I am to live here. We are quite well off as far as packs go, and the house is no exception. It stands four stories high and has immense grounds extending from the house into the wooded area beyond. It closely resembles a traditional hunting cabin in the woods, just on steroids. The contrast of log walls and floor to ceiling windows give it a natural and earthy feel but the modern updates such as the multiple levels connected by a spiralling staircase and concrete and marble interior let on that this is no normal cabin. It's a super cabin, wolf pack style. Inside, the house is sleek, simple. The original fireplaces are surrounded by all white walls, modern fixtures such as large screen TVs and surround sound stereo systems, but the old style is still evident in the well-trodden wooden panels of the flooring and the interior structural beams that come from our own trees. It's a perfect mix of old and new. The traditional and the modern. And it is steeped in pack tradition.

The houses of the extended pack families are a similar style, just smaller and are dotted in small rows around the edge of the woods. The area between my house and theirs is shared and highly guarded. We must always be protected from outside view. Here we are free to be ourselves, and I want Aida to be a part of this, too.

I head in through the large double front entrance doors and up the winding stairs to the second level. The house has a simple colour scheme, white walls and the same marble accents in all the wet areas. The large windows give so much natural light, making the space seem open and endless. We keep a simple life. We have the newest gadgets where it matters but we aren't materialistic. The house is simplistic in its furniture and yet still homely. Comfortable. But it's the pictures on the walls that make it truly home for me. The pack are all represented on our otherwise bare walls. The large and central den is covered top to bottom with photographs of our pack. The old and the new. No matter the rank or position. Each and every member is important and that is shown here, for all to see, on our main wall of the house. The heart of the pack home.

As I ascend the stairs and head up to the second level, I go to my room first and check for any messages on my phone. Nothing. I was hoping that dick of a doctor had at least called and left a message by now.

I know it's after four in the afternoon, but I need to get this sorted now.

I decide to head straight to Father. I bypass any unwanted attention from female pack members in the halls and go up the stairs. My body is filled with anxious anticipation and energy. I need a run after this, to expel some before I explode.

When I get to his office, I forget to knock and barge straight in. I find him with our pack Beta, James.

"Excuse me father, James, I should have knocked, but I need to tell you something," I say quickly, ignoring their curious stares.

I move over to the right-hand side of the desk they are both seated at and sit next to James. Father stands up just as I am about to tell him what the doctor had said about Aida.

"Son, I need to talk to you about something. It's about Aida and your sister. The doctor, he is not what we thought."

I feel like the worst brother ever. I forgot for a moment that Amalie was being treated with that sham of a doctor too and now, the look on his face tells me this is not to celebrate how awesome the doc is.

I nod and reply, "Dad, I know. Well, I didn't know that he was a sham, but I do now. And I want to tell you now that I did something today. I know you will be mad at the risk I took, but Aida's my mate, and I felt like I had no choice." I finish quickly, trying to get it all out before his anger forces him to interrupt.

His expression darkens.

Oh shit.

"What did you do, Argent?" His tone is loud. Already above its usual octave.

Shit. He won't like this.

"I'm sorry, Father. It's just, she didn't know she was a wolf. She had no idea about any of us. That wanker doctor had lied to her all along and dosed her up somehow to stop her shifting."

He and James look at each other, horrified.

I just blurt it all out. I go for broke. What choice do I have?

"So anyway, I thought the best way to explain it and to help her believe me would be to show her. So, I did."

I stand, shrug my shoulders, and face them both, waiting for a response.

My father looks as though he is trying to decide whether to be mad or downright furious. James is trying to hide a smirk.

Father blinks a few times, shaking his head before he launches into his verbal attack. "Argent, are you telling me you shifted? In public? In front of an unstable girl? Have you not learned a thing? You know pack law."

I approach him carefully, arms raised as if giving up. Pleading almost.

"Dad, this isn't just any girl. It's my mate, and no one saw. We were in the woods. Dad, please, she needs our help. What that disgusting excuse for a wolf has done to her ... It's horrible. Please. I'm sorry I let you down and broke the rules, but she needs us."

He's quiet for a few painfully long seconds.

As he walks over to me, I start to freak, wondering what he's going to do about this recent abuse of the rules. He shocks me by placating himself and putting his hand on my shoulder. "I know. Shit, I get it. I don't like it, but I understand. We take risk when we need to for the sake of the pack. And if she is your mate, she is included now."

Holy shit. I wasn't expecting that. I sigh with relief. "Fuck! Thanks, dad," I say and laugh as James chuckles in the background.

"But Argent," he continues, more worry creeping into his voice now. "There is more to this." Okay. That's not ominous or anything.

"What is it? Is it Amalie? Is she alright?" I ask, panic rising again.

He walks back to his desk and opens the little gold case that sits by his desktop. It's been there in that same spot for as long as I can remember. Since my mother gave it to him, even. He takes out a cigar and lights it. This must be bad. He only ever lights these when things are bad.

"What are you not telling me, dad?" I ask, slowly taking a step towards him.

He takes a breath and puts the cigar on the ash tray. "Amalie. She's in danger. We need to get her out. Tonight. And Aida too, now, I guess. I told the doctor we would be coming for them tomorrow, and he didn't even put up a fight, which means he doesn't care. That makes me wonder what he's up to tonight."

Tonight. Shit. What is he doing? Are the girls in trouble?

Dad continues, "We seem to have missed what has happened from the time the doctor returned as a member of the pack and somewhere in between lost his way and began experimenting on children. On my child. There is something we've missed." His expression falters, showing a rare glimpse of an emotion I almost never see. Fear.

I feel my breath catch in my throat. My mouth has gone dry. He was experimenting on Amalie.

"Dad, not just Amalie. He has been doing it to Aida too. All her life. He has somehow stopped her shifting, ever. He said he did it for her own well-being as she was unstable or dangerous or some shit. Like her mum. But dad, what he did to her, it's unforgivable."

It's seems my father did not know this. His face goes red. He stands up and slams the golden box shut. He brings both his fists down on the desk like hammers.

"He has lost his bloody mind. He needs to be stopped. Tonight."

"Dad, what if there are more? What if the girls are not the only ones? Did he say anything about more?" I start to pace around the room.

James springs up and gets his phone out. He starts calling the pack leaders in. We're going to need everyone. Father comes over to me and places his hands on my shoulders. He leans in, and the look on his face is one of devastation. I know he feels guilt about leaving Amalie there. I do too. But we had no reason to believe that she wouldn't be in good hands. The doctor has never given us reason not to trust him before.

He did lose his way. After some of his family perished in the last vampire attack, he left the house and didn't come back. He was gone for over a year, and we all had no idea where to. Not even James.

It wasn't the first time we had lost pack members. Seventeen years ago, we had lost almost half the pack's women and children. Dr. Jasper was the only male home. He lost his wife and youngest child that day, and Father believes he never got over it.

The last attack saw him lose another daughter, James's older sister. Dad believes that was the last straw for him.

Father officially stood him down at one year of him being gone.

When he returned a few months ago and turned up at the house, he wasn't even concerned. He just stated that he was taking over the physician role at the institution, and my father offered to fund it because it was on our grounds, it was a tax write off, and it always came in handy to have a pack doctor.

He never expected that the doctor would do anything to negatively affect the pack. We all assumed he was just working with these lost kids, trying to make up for lost time.

We obviously have no idea who he is anymore.

James stands in the corner by the fireplace. I hadn't even realised he had stopped talking. He was staring at the picture on the shelf. It was a picture of my family with Dr. Jasper's, including his two kids James and Evelyn and their tiny baby sister.

He has lost so much and now his father, who only recently returned to him, had seemingly lost his mind.

My father stood there beside him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "James, you are a wonderful Beta. You hold your pack above all else. You've lost so much. I'm sorry that this has to happen again to you," he says quietly.

James drops his head. He is only twenty years old, but he has been through so much. We're lucky to have such a hard working Beta.

"I'll be okay. I'm always okay. I have the pack. But Alpha, there's something you need to know." James stares at Father. He seems unsure. Scared, almost. "Alpha, when my father returned this year, I knew something was off about him. He seemed too obsessed with getting into the institution. When he said he wanted to work again, I asked him to take it slow, to reintegrate himself back into the pack."

James sits down at the table again and runs his hands through his dark brown hair. His almond shape eyes are water filled and red.

"I started looking into where he'd been all that time. Made calls to other packs. I went through his passport and travel details and traced his path all the way to Lithuania. I called some of the packs there and they were all in strife."

He gives me and Father a worried look before continuing.

"The packs had all but been destroyed by vampires. They had some sort of weapon. A drug. It was wiping the packs out. Alpha, I don't know for sure, but I think my father was involved."

My father slowly rises from the desk. "James, what are you trying to say?"

James wipes a tear from his face and stands to face his Alpha. "Sir, Argos, I think my dad is working with the vampires."

My father lets out a growl so deep and terrifying it shakes the core of the very house itself. I see his eyes turn to the deep yellow of his wolf, and mine turn to the grey of my own in response.

He slowly walks over to James, placing a hand on his chair. "James, call a pack meeting now. Everyone except the children. Argent, you know the drill. Call the neighbouring packs. They have kids in BetaStone, and they'll want to know."

He starts for the door but stops with his hand on the handle, rage rippling down his back muscles. I'm almost worried he'll turn.

"Boys, tonight we storm the institution. We take the girls and any other of our patients and we take the doctor down."

He leaves the office without another word, slamming the door behind him, leaving me and James alone. I can hear the house rumbling. People are already on the move from his shouts.

Tonight, we go to BetaStone and we save the girls. I'm going to have to try hard to keep myself from killing that bastard Jasper.