Darkness. Complete and total darkness. No sound, no feeling, no pain. Just pure nothingness. It was so peaceful and, at the same time, somewhat frightening. I wondered whether that's what death felt like.

But I wasn't dead. I was not sure where I was or what was going on but I knew I was not dead. I didn't have any control over my body, so I couldn't open my eyes but my mind was still working. What if I remained like this forever, if I was unable to wake up? Panic spread across my body, trying to force it to react but there was nothing. No reaction. Only the continuing darkness. I wanted to shout, to kick, to give a sign of life to the outside world but I couldn't. I was a prisoner in my mind. Me and my darkest thoughts.

Then I felt it- a sense of calmness, of warmth. Like I was receiving a mind telegram that everything would be okay. A familiar scent invaded my senses. Yet, instead of bringing me back to the light, it soothed me enough for my mind to let go and give in to the darkness yet again.

***

How much did I drink last night?

My head was throbbing and my whole body hurt. If this was the results of yet another drunken night out with Scarlett, I was going to disown her as my friend. Friends were meant to look after each other, not nearly kill each other with alcohol. Right now I doubted that there was a painkiller in the world that was going to help me.

I slowly opened my eyes, quickly realising that I was not in my room, not even in my Putney house. Instead, my bed resembled a hospital bed but the room I was in was much cosier than that of a hospital. I turned my head around, looking out of the window where I saw a magnificent lake basking in the last rays of sun for the day. The beauty and colours outside had me in awe. Was this heaven? Then it hit me- Scotland. I was in Scotland. This was the view in front of the Blackwood mansion. I slowly remembered everything from the past few weeks. Lucien bringing me back, meeting Anna and Connor, training the pack, my wild time with Callum, going to the Macalister bash, the man with the eagle tattoo, discovering that I had mates, going for a walk with Natalia. Shit, Natalia. Where is she? Is she okay?

I started to get out of bed but as soon as my feet hit the ground, my knees went weak and I lost balance. I heard a commotion behind me and two strong arms grabbed me before I could hit the floor. I looked up and was relieved to see the familiar face with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Lucien!" I hugged him as he picked me up and placed me on the bed.

"Be careful, sis, you still need to rest." It was so comforting to have my brother around while I was still coming out of the haze that I was under.

"How did I get here? Where is Natalia? I need to see her." I heard a low growl which made me turn around and then I saw them- Aiden, Callum and Rafe, all standing on the side of the room. Aiden and Callum both looked worried and relieved, whereas Rafe seemed more angry than anything else.

"Callum and his bears found you in the woods on the sleuth's ground and he brought you here. You were unconscious and the doctor told us that you had been sedated. It took you 4 hours to come around." My brother said as he held my hand. I felt like a little girl like that but it was too comforting to let him go.

"How did you know I was there, Callum? And where is Natalia?" I looked at the bear Alpha with fear in my eyes as I did not dare think what could have happened to my young friend, the friend that I failed to protect.

Callum made his way to my bed and gave me a weak smile. It was good to see him and I was grateful that he had brought me back to the pack. "We heard rumours about three suspicious humans in the area and decided to check out the area to make sure that they were not the ones behind the traps. Now we know that our concerns were founded. My scouts and I found you. There were no signs of Natalia Macalister though, I'm afraid, aside from her scent."

"I don't get it- why did they take her and leave me behind?" It didn't make sense. Why didn't it take both of us? "Unless....unless they wanted her specifically or they knew that I am human and they were after her because she is a shifter.'

I heard another growl, much louder this time, and I knew who it was coming from without even having to turn around. I understood his anger- I myself was angry over what happened.

"What the fuck happened, Moreau? What did you do to my sister?" He barked and I could hear both Callum and Lucien growl in my defence. I placed a hand on each of them to calm them down- this was my mess to sort out.

"Rafe, I can assure you that I never meant for any harm to come to Natalia. I tried my best to protect her but we were not expecting these guys." I tried to speak calmly, although I could barely keep my voice from shaking. I was as distraught about Natalia's kidnapping as he was. In the past few weeks, I had grown to care for the teenage girl and I was ready to do everything that I could to get her back.

"Your best? You are a fucking human. What good is your best in a world of shifters and magic?" He snarled at me before turning to Lucien. "You should have told us that your sister has lost her animal, Lucien- I would have never allowed Natalia to go with her if I had known."

Now he was crossing a line. It was one thing to have a go at me but my brother had not done anything to deserve this. I pulled all my strength and dragged myself out of bed, despite Lucien and Callum's protests. I made my way to the idiot in front of me and got on my toes to ensure that I was on the same eye level as him.

"Listen to me, Rafe Macalister, and listen carefully. I may be a human now but I did everything that I could possibly do to protect Natalia. These guys were human but they had something that allowed them to fire energy balls at us, which forced Natalia to shift back to human." As the words left my mouth, I saw the surprise on the faces of all four men. Clearly whatever those guys had was trouble for shifters. "My protection bracelet eventually kept us safe from whatever magic they were using but Natalia was injured and by the time we tried to escape with her in her wolf form again, they came at us with a tranq gun. That's the last I remember."

"You should have never left pack grounds. This is all your fault." Rafe continued, pointing his finger at me.

"My fault? It was your little fuck buddy that sent us there." It was a low blow on my part but I was way too emotional and exhausted to play fair.

"My fuck buddy?"

"Yes. Amy. Amy Spade. The busty blonde that you were fucking at your dad's birthday party. I am sure it's hard for you to keep track of all of your little fuck toys but this one seems dead set to have you. In fact, she was looking for you when she came up to Natalia and insisted that we took that trail. She wouldn't leave until Natalia gave in and promised her."

As I explained the reason why we were on that trail, a realisation hit me. "That fucking bitch. She set us up. She knew she was sending us into a trap. I am going to kill if even a hair falls off Natalia's head."

Now I was raging and I couldn't wait to get out of here and track down the bitch. It was Aiden who stepped between Rafe and me, separating us. His calm, poised movements immediately calmed me down a notch.

"Okay, you two. I can see that emotions are running high and we are all worried about Natalia, although I am happy to see that you are okay, Riley. Now, can you think of anything that you heard them say that might give away where they took her?"

I tried to wrack my brain for any clues. It was no easy task as it was struggling to function normally after the sedatives that had invaded my body. I went through the memories of what happened and two words stuck out to me- London and witches.

"They talked about needing to be back in London tonight. And whatever that energy ball that they used was, there were witches involved."

"Fuck, I know where they are taking her," Rafe spoke up and now it was my turn to be surprised, although Callum and Lucien looked just as puzzled by Rafe's statement. "Not many people know this but the same group kidnapped my mother and me when I was a teenager. I managed to escape and get back here but my mother did not have the same luck. I had blocked that place out of my mind for years but I should be able to remember some details that can help find the exact spot."

I was shocked to hear his confession. Sure, he was a prick but he clearly hadn't had it as easy as I thought. Losing a parent in the hands of nutcases seemed to be something that we had in common after all.

"We should find Amy and interrogate her- we need all the information we can get on the kidnappers," Aiden spoke as well, maintaining his calmness. I could still see glimpses of worry in his eyes now and then, clearly showing how much he cared about Natalia as well.

"That's a good idea, Aiden. Get all the info you can get and I can run it past my contacts in London. They will be able to help us out with all the intel we need before we go to get her." I was determined that Natalia was going to be brought back to Scotland in no time and I was going to do everything that I could to make that happen.

"We?" Rafe snapped at me. "There is no we, little human. You have already done enough and you will only make matters worse if we have to look after you as well, which makes you a liability. So no fucking way. Aiden and I are going, that's it."

Lucien growled again and his growls were sounding angrier than before. "I suggest that you rectify the way that you speak to my sister, future Alpha. You should know better than to insult a Moreau. And my sister can only be an asset down in London, so if you really are the strategic warrior that you claim to be, you should be able to see that."

I was glad that Callum kept his cool as I didn't want others to keep coming to my rescue as well- it was only proving that Rafe Macalister was right. Before I could give him a piece of my mind though, the dragon Beta spoke again.

"I think we should all calm down. Rafe is just worried about his sister and doesn't mean what he said, Riley. You have to forgive him about these outbursts." Always the peacemaker, this dragon boy. From what I had seen so far, dragons seemed to be the complete opposite of the wolves- whereas the latter seemed to jump into action without thinking things through first, dragons analysed and calculated their moves to ensure strategic precision.

"Oh, fuck this politeness, Aiden. I meant everything I said." Yeap, typical wolf. It was my turn to put him in his place then.

"Listen up, you prick. I don't need others to speak up for me, so let me lay things out for you. I can take better care of myself than anything that you could ever do for me. I have faced some of the toughest, most dangerous people in this country and have come on top. I don't have a wolf, you say? That's fucking right. But whereas you hide behind your wolf, I have learnt how to fight without one. Weapons, hand on hand combat- you name it, I own it. I am sorry that my human school didn't have classes in defence against magic. Sadly, not every school is Hogwarts. But last time I checked, shifters are not protected from magic either. So take your super speed and heightened sense and shove them up your superior arse. Hell, seeing as how much better you are then the rest of us, you might even enjoy it."

He seemed to be looking at me dumbfounded, as Lucien, Aiden and Callum all chucked at the arse-whooping that I had given him. Well, look at that- I think I left Rafe Macalister speechless.

I got up on my toes again and poked his chest hard with my finger. "And one more thing, there is no way on Earth that I am not coming on this rescue mission. The only way you can stop me is if you kill me and I dare you to try." I don't know what it was about this man but he pissed me off so much every time that he opened his mouth- as kissable as it was- he was constantly setting a fire of anger off in my soul. If I could have, I would have probably burnt him down with the angry flames that were dancing in my eyes by now.

Callum broke the tension in the room. "Right. Well, it seems that it is settled. I am coming down as well- the more we are, the better chances we have of handling whatever is going on in London. And if needed be, Rafe, I will look out for Riley."

Damn it, Callum, that was very sweet but it was not the bloody point.

"So will I." Great, another knight in shining armour joined the club as Aiden spoke up. I didn't need bodyguards, for god's sake- that was my job usually.

"Fucking great, are we becoming baby sitters now? You know what, fine. She will be your fucking problem, not mine. We leave tomorrow lunchtime, as soon as we have more info."