Maddox POV

I didn't know why my wolf Aaron was following his scent, but I didn't doubt his wolf senses. In just 20 minutes Taylor's scent became overwhelming, but another scent was present.

Aaron howled in happiness as he smelt the apples and pears that meant Phoenix was nearby. We ran faster until we spotted Taylor in his human form covering up some kind of hatch with dried leaves. It appeared to be some kind of underground bunker. I stopped in my tracks and growled.

Taylor's head shot up and his face drained of color, "King Maddox, I, umm..."

I tell him through mindlink.

His grey wolf nods in response and then shifts into his human form and begins to approach the young Alpha. I trust Hunter to take care of it and I go to the small door, and claw the lock off. I shift and open the door, ecstatic to finally see mate.

The first room I walk into is rather small, I turn the lights on and glance around. I throw on a spare pair of clothes I found sitting on a table. Besides the extra clothes are a variety of weapons, and I hear Aaron whimper in my head, the smell of blood fresh in the room over.

I stride over to the door, I unlock the simple lock and hesitantly open the door. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they do, my heart breaks.

Phoenix is lying on the ground, her tiny arms cuffed behind her to a pole. Her clothes have been torn almost completely, just small pieces of fabric covering her. Tears stained her face along with blood covering a majority of her body. Scars and cuts littered her small body, she looked like a twig I could've snapped with a single hand. Her beautiful messy hair covered most of her face.

"Phoenix?" I whispered, just loud enough for a wolf to hear. No movement. I approach her cautiously, I didn't want her to wake up and be scared that I was there to hurt her. She remains still, I hear her heart beat disturbingly slow.

I go to rip off the handcuffs, but my hands recoil as soon as I touch them. Silver. My wolf whines in my head, in absolute agony seeing his mate like this. I ignore the pain and grasp the cuffs again ripping them with my bare strength. My hands burn briefly, but heal quickly thereafter.

Her teeny wrists are raw, skin missing in certain spots from being exposed to silver for so long.

I gently pick her up, she felt like she was barely 100 pounds, which was extremely unhealthy for wolfs, despite her shorter height. Her head limply falls onto my chest, and I exhale a quiet breath, just relieved that I had found her before it was too late.

I speak through mind link informing my closest confidants,

my Beta Isaac responds. He had been watching over our territory when I was gone.

Upon arriving back to my territory, she still hadn't woken up which worried me.

One of our best doctors, Wyatt, approached me in a hurried fashion. He looked over her, a look of fear and sadness evident in his face

"Come on, bring her to the operating room," he coerced me.

I followed him into the elevator, being the Royal Pack, we had a pretty impressive hospital with a great staff, I knew Phoenix would be ok, physically at least. I did however fear for her emotional and mental state after going through weeks of abuse.

I followed Wyatt into the correct room and placed her down on the table, he began to work on her almost immediately, putting an oxygen mask over her beautiful little lips, putting various IV's into her arm. A few nurses flooded in, and they politely asked me to leave so they could help her.

Unlike, the doctors from her previous pack, I actually trusted them to help her, and I complied, going out into the waiting room.

Before I could even sit down, Hunter walked up to me. "Maddox, is she ok?" I hesitantly nodded.

"She should be, eventually," I sighed.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but Alpha Taylor..." He trailed off a bit, and I glanced at him, wordlessly giving him permission to continue. "I brought him to the cells, and he is currently being questioned, he's not exactly cooperating though... As for the rest of the pack, we have our suspicions that more of them were involved, so I've asked some of the warriors to stay behind to figure out who is innocent and who is guilty. Once we've sorted that out, all those suspected to have hurt her in any way, will be brought back here to be questioned, and inevitably, you will decide their fate."

I imagined ripping off Taylor's head, a smirk crossed my face.

"Obviously, you need to be there for your mate right now, so we'll take care of as much as we can without you," he finished his spiel.

"Thank you, Hunter," he nodded his respect, then left.

Then it became the waiting game, waiting for updates from nurses, waiting for the beautiful girl in that room to wake up, waiting to start my life with her. My wolf was anxious remembering how nervous she was when we first met her. What if she didn't like us?

She will just need some time to warm up to us, after everything she's been through I assured my wolf. We will get her to love and trust us, and when she is ready she will become our beautiful Luna, and an amazing queen of the werewolves.