He had been looking all night and all of the next morning. He couldn't sleep or focus on anything other than trying to find him. Even with their bond, it seemed as if he were completely cut off from him. Bree had been giving him updates as to the other Alpha's progress to no avail. Everyone was nervous at this point, waiting to see if they were actually going to find the man in question.

Bree had somehow managed to convince him to stop by the pack house to grab something to eat when it happened. He felt the pull ever so faintly as he went closer to his pack house. For a second, he thought that Shiro had magically showed up there. He raced towards it hoping that he wasn't just getting delusional. With how little he had rested or eaten, he was feeling a little out of it. But his body just wouldn't rest. It didn't want to. Instead, it bypassed the pack house and raced towards a pull that could have easily led him to another dead end.

The fog was thick in the forest. The visibility was slim, so they were all having to fall back on their sense of smell and hearing. It only made their search ten times more difficult.

But he still saw him.

About ten miles away from the pack house, at the end of an open field, he saw a shadowy figure standing there. Long black hair moving crazily in the soft breeze. He couldn't smell him, but he knew who it was.

"Shiro?" he changed into his human form and took a few steps across the field. "Is that you?"

He couldn't get a good look at him, and he didn't want to move too fast. That could easily scare him away. He wasn't even sure it was him in that moment of silence. For all he knew, it could be an enemy. But he was willing to risk it for the chance that it was the mate that he had been looking all night for.

After a second, the wavering figure fell to the ground. Jett raced over there, hoping that it wasn't just a mirage. The forest liked to play tricks on the mind. As soon as he reached the area, his heart almost stopped. He had found him. He had actually found him!

"Bailey!" he mind linked with his doctor. "Prepare a room."

"You got it."

His celebration was short lived as he truly got a good look at the man. He had never seen someone in this bad of shape in a long time. Silver chains were on tight around his wrists and ankles. His feet looked like they were stained red and his hair was matted and dirty. His whole body was bloody and battered. Jett didn't even know where to start. He just grabbed him and started running for the pack house.

Complete and utter chaos came from him entering the house. He hadn't exactly told Bree to clear out the hallways. All he could do was run through them with Shiro tucked in his arms as he ran into the infirmary. No one saw just how bad of shape the man was in, but they saw the silver. Jett didn't have time when he first saw him to try and get them off. He was unconscious and on the verge of death.

That thought scared him the most.

"Bailey!" he yelled, laying Shiro down on one of the infirmary beds.

"Right here," she told him, shutting the door behind her. She had a large set of pliers with her to take care of the shackles. "I smelt the silver from a mile away."

As soon as she was set to work, he was forced outside in the waiting area. If he wasn't worried about him when he was merely trying to find him, he sure was worried now.

"Jett!" Bree ran over to him. "You found him?!"

"By a field," he told her, pacing in the room. "Just ten miles away from here."

"How did he make it this far?" Alex popped in, Geo on his tail. "The search parties should have found him before now!"

"We should have been able to figure out he was in our territory from the moment he stepped over the border," Blake walked in. Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. "I don't know how he got away with that."

"Is he going to be okay?" Geo asked. "How bad are his wounds?"

The room went silent at that. That was the true question at the front of all of their minds. Jett didn't want to answer it. Because he wasn't entirely sure of the answer himself.

"We'll have to wait for Bailey for that answer," Jett told him, before looking at his sister. "Bree, tell Jin and Miki to get here. I'm sure they're going to want answers themselves."

It must have taken an hour that they were all waiting in that tiny room. Even Manny and Sophie were there that day, as Jett had asked for Manny's help with the search parties. Now that they were all called off, and the truth was out about Jett as well as the Reverence Pack, everyone was wondering just how Shiro was doing.

He was wondering how Shiro was doing. He didn't seem like himself when he first saw him. Jett hadn't even smelt him until he was unconscious. His scent finally wafted through the air as strong as it had ever been. Jett missed that scent, but it also allowed him to pick up on other smells, like blood. He wanted to tell someone about it, but he felt as though his heart was going to implode if he said anything. Shiro looked like a torture victim, one that had spent years being abused rather than just one day. And that scared the shit out of him.

As soon as that door finally opened, and Dr. Bailey came out, everyone jumped from their seats. They looked at the doctor with worry.

"I don't have much time to talk," Bailey said, her grey hair bouncing with her movements. "There's still a lot of work to get done with him before I can give an accurate summary."

"Is he going to be okay?" Jett asked her.

"I don't know yet," she shook her head. "We're prepping for surgery at the moment."

"Surgery?" Geo looked at her. "For what?"

"Shiro has ten broken bones that have all healed incorrectly," she told him. "Six of them are his ribs. He also has immense blood loss, most of it stained his feet from my test of that. There's also two unknown substances that I found in the slashes on his torso. One is a paste that seems to be from a few local flowers here."

"Marigold, Rose's, and Sage?" Geo asked her.

"Yes," she looked at him with bafflement. "Is that a common concoction in your old pack?"

"It's something that healing witches taught us," Geo explained. "That, mixed with Aloe and the sap from the trees of BlackCreek forest can help increase how quickly your body makes blood as well as closing the wound."

"Well, I'll be damned," Blake shook his head. "I never heard of that in my life."

"That definitely answers how he was able to survive after all of the blood loss," Bailey nodded at him. "Maybe you can help me with the other substance that I found."

"What is it?" Geo asked. He had a determined look in his eye. It was good to see him a little more focused today. Of course, it probably helped that they had finally found Shiro.

"I believe that it's a type of poison," she handed him a piece of paper. "Nothing seems to come up when I enter it in the database."

"A poison?!" Jett asked. "He was poisoned?!"

Did this mean that Sakdah had poisoned him? If it was from something in the forest, he was sure that they would already know of it. It would be in the medical databases in the very least.

"It appears so," she frowned. "However, that's not the reason why he's in such bad shape. It seems as if his body is immune to whatever poison it is. It hasn't affected him at all from what I could tell."

"I've never seen this," Geo told her. "I'm sorry."

Jett looked over to Alex. He could tell by his friends look that neither of them liked the sound of that. Just what was this poison? Where did it come from? And why did Shiro have it in his system?

"Send it to the Noble and Dynamic pack doctors," Jett told Alex. "See if they have any information on it. I want Roger to look through the police databases for it as well."

Alex nodded and grabbed the piece of paper.

"Make sure to tell them that this is a top priority," Bailey told him, shocking them all. She never said that anything was a top priority unless it was dire. "This poison is obviously man made, and can be extremely deadly to those who aren't immune to it."

"Then how is Shiro immune to it?" Bree asked. "And who made it?"

"I wish I knew," she sighed. "I need to get back in there for surgery. You'll all be updated by my nurses as time goes on."

They all watched as she went back inside. The silence consumed them once again. They all just stood there, taking in everything that had been said.

"Hey, Jin," Manny got the tall man's attention. "Do you know how Shiro could be immune to something like that?"

"Shiro trained every day for many things," Jin told him. "Every possible outcome was planned out specifically. But there were some things that he would not tell us. Some things that he kept to himself," he looked sad and pained as he talked now. "I believe if anyone knows about what truly happened the most, it would be Shiro."

"Why did he keep things from you?" Bree asked. "You guys are supposed to be his council. Shouldn't he trust you all with everything?"

"He told us that it was for our own safety," Jin told her. "For the safety of the entire pack. Only on the day that he was the Alpha would he reveal all of the truth in the pack and seek out justice."

That didn't sit right with him. He thought they were finally figuring out what was going on, but it seemed like there was even more to this mystery. The deeper he dug, the more he found.

Jett looked around the room. Even Manny and Sophie seemed unnerved by that answer. If Shiro was hiding things about the pack for their own safety, then what else could be happening over there? They already knew about the killings of the members, as well as the reason why they were doing it. What else could they be doing? What else could they be hiding?

The surgery finished up quickly. All the bones that were injured had to be rebroken and put in the right position so that they could heal. Dr. Bailey told them that she was surprised at how well the surgery went.

"He seems to be on a path of great recovery," she told them all. "Unfortunately, because of the silver, it's going to be a while before he wakes up."

Those words started the longest two days of his life. Jett thought that waiting six years for a mate would be the longest by far. But nothing compared to the stress and worry of wondering when his mate would ever wake up. For all they knew, it could be years before he did. There had been long hours of just praying and hoping that everything would be okay. He couldn't even leave the room that he was in. He felt lost without being near him.

Bree was the only one who could convince him to actually eat during that time. He mainly munched on things that were easy and light, not caring about his stomach. It was already tied in knots as he sat next to Shiro. He was wrapped up everywhere. The only place that didn't seem to have gauze on it was his face. Instead, he had a feeding tube in him. It was painful seeing him this way. Shiro was strong, there was nothing anyone could say that would make him believe otherwise. To see someone who could spar with him so well, every muscle in his body working with him in one fluid motion as he danced through the fight, all of a sudden get brought to this state. It was horrible.

"I'm simply amazed that he made it this far," Bailey told him. "He must have hiked a hundred miles over to the spot that you found him. In the state that he was in, it's truly a miracle that he survived."

"I just want to know what happened to him," Jett shook his head. "None of this is ordinary at all."

"He's healing at an impressive rate," she told him. "I'd say his metabolism rivals yours."

That reminded him of Manny saying that they were both of the same strength. They might have had different fighting techniques, but they both had the same strength when it all came down to it. He was glad that Shiro was strong. Most people in his position wish for a weaker mate; one they could protect all the time and take care of. As much as he did want to protect him, Jett liked that he had the strength to handle himself against enemies. That was why he was okay with him being the Alpha of the Reverence Pack. He enjoyed fighting with him at his side, or against him when it was simply for fun. They both challenged each other to be the best they could be.

And now that was getting taken from him.

"Has he woken up yet?" Geo came in the room and sat down.

"Not yet," Jett shook his head. "Apparently, he's healing quickly, though."

"It's never gotten this bad, you know," Geo lowered his head to the ground. "Alpha Sakdah's never done something like this."

"That you know of," Jett said.

"What do you mean?"

"Those wounds weren't from an amateur, Geo," Jett told him. "Sakdah knew what he was doing."

They stayed silent after that. He guessed Geo was taking in what he had said. The more he talked about Sakdah, the worse the man became. After all this time, and so many years where they simply thought of him as the annoying Alpha that was too lazy to help them all, Jett had no clue what was going on right under their very noses.

It wasn't until he saw something twitch that he snapped out of his thoughts and onto the bed again. Shiro's fingers moved ever so slightly on the bed, his face scrunching and changing expression. He didn't know whether it was from a nightmare or if he was actually going to wake up, but he wasn't going to take his chances. He called for Bailey through the mind link, along with everyone else.

"Do you think he's actually going to wake up?" Geo stood up and grabbed one of those hands. Jett was holding the other.

"I don't know," he shook his head. "I'm just hoping that he does."

Everyone got in at what seemed to be the perfect time. Shiro was slowly starting to open his eyes. Jett never focused so much on those eyelashes as he did right then. They were pitch black, like the rest of his hair. They fluttered open slowly, like someone waking up from a deep sleep.

But they weren't the eyes that he was used to. They weren't Shiro's eyes at all. It didn't even seem like there were eyes for a second. All Jett could see was black as Shiro opened his eyes. They stared at him for a split second in confusion, quickly looking around at his surroundings.

"Shiro?" Geo even looked baffled by what he was seeing. But looking at Geo only seemed to alert him more.

That was the moment that they all witnessed the true power of the growl that they had all heard just a few days before.

"Get out of the way!" Jett pushed Geo back, trying to hold onto the beast that had taken over Shiro's body. He was strong and seemed out of control, but Jett could hear the fear in the growls of rage. He didn't know where he was.

"Pin him down to the bed!" Bailey yelled over the commotion. She held a needle with some strange liquid in it.

It took him, Alex, and Blake to keep him on that bed. He thrashed and snarled the most venomous of sounds. It wasn't anything that he had ever seen before. After a few seconds of pinning him down, Bailey inserted the needle into Shiro's shoulder. The instant that it went in him, he was knocked out, sleeping just like he was before.

They were all trying to catch their breaths after what just happened. Everyone in the room looked like they had just seen a ghost. Jett didn't blame them.

"We don't have much time," Bailey broke through the silence. "That shot will only work for about twenty minutes before it goes through his system."

"How did his eyes get completely black like that?!" Blake asked.

"I don't know," Jett shook his head. "He's not thinking like he usually does though. He's thinking like a survivalist would."

"How do we get him to go back?" Blake asked. "It's not safe having him here if he's going to be acting like that."

"Bailey," Alex looked to the doctor. "Put some restraints on him."

"That will buy you some time," she said, working quickly to grab them. "But not a whole lot. With his adrenaline kicked in, he'll most likely get out of these in a minute or two. Possibly less."

They had to think of something, and fast. Jett looked at Geo. He looked so hurt and shocked to see his friend act like that after seeing him. It was obvious that they weren't going to get him to snap out of it through familiar faces.

He thought back to when he first found him. That shadowy figure didn't say anything when he tried to talk to him. He stood there, as if frozen by something. Then he just collapsed. At first it just seemed like he had been too weak to move. But if that were the case then Shiro would not have been able to fight them while he was still wrapped up from head to toe.

"Everyone, leave the room," Jett told them. "Even you, Bailey."

"What are you thinking of doing?" Alex asked.

"Convincing him that he's safe," Jett told him. If Shiro was thinking like a wild, wounded animal at the moment, then he had to think like one as well. "And I'm going to do that alone."

"Wouldn't Geo be a better person for that?"

"No," Geo shook his head. "Jett's right. It has to be him. I think I just remind him of our pack."

They all looked warry of leaving him alone, but they listened to his orders. He knew that Blake and Alex would be right by the door in case something happened.

As soon as the door closed, he locked it from the inside. He looked back to Shiro. He seemed much more peaceful when he slept. It was as if he had nothing to worry about at all. Jett only wished that were the case. He walked up to his bed and gently took the restraints off. He didn't want him to injure his wrists anymore than they already were.

It didn't take long before those fingers started moving again. This time, Jett was a little more prepared for when those eyes flew open. He wrapped his arms around him as soon as he started thrashing. The growls were still loud, but not as much as they were before.

"It's okay, Shiro," he kissed his neck. His instincts to have his scent all over the man kicked in. While Shiro struggled against him, he rubbed his back soothingly. "You're safe."

The thrashing slowed down a little more after he said that. Jett just kept repeating himself as he continued to kiss every bit of him that he could. He could feel him finally start to relax a little underneath him. He seemed so weak against him. It hurt to see him like this. He wanted the man who was complaining about being in his hold. The one who wanted to get up so early just because he was starving. He wanted the man who laughed after being chased through the woods and who's eyes sparkled with happiness whenever he looked at him.

He needed him back.

"Jett?" the familiar soothing voice came like music to his ears. He looked up to see that those dark brown eyes were back, along with the whites that surrounded them. He had no idea how happy he would be to see them again.

"Shiro," he smiled, cupping his cheek with his hand. "You're back!"

He could see every emotion that he was going through on that face. From confusion, to understanding, to anger and worry. Then, those beautiful eyes teared up, as the greatest emotion of all started to pour out of him.

Jett didn't say anything. He just laid on the bed with him and pulled him onto his chest as he cried. He could feel every bit of pain that came from those sobs. It was the first time he had seen Shiro cry, and he was sure that he wasn't the only one.