Lycan Prince Hunter
After leaving Kailen’s classroom, I made my way back to my office. I left Jake in the middle of our meeting, not that I cared. He was trying to get me to agree to increase the size of his half of the kingdom. Not that I ever would. It’s pretty sad my father has been running that side for years. I would not ask my father to hand over more work just to get it back in a few years. And I didn’t trust Jake to make the best decisions.
When I arrived back at my office, Jake was no longer there, which I was grateful for. I’d had enough of my cousin. I know he’s family, but I hated how he treated my mate. Walking into my territory, acting like he owned her and my uncle even agreed. Ugh. I couldn’t wait until they left.
Sitting at my desk, I decided to get some work done before I met up with Kailen before my class. I knew I was going to be late, and I was okay with that. Kailen has been all over me lately and I’m loving every second.
Greyson and Zach came into my office before I had finished reading over my first report. Looking up at them, Greyson handed me a file before taking a seat in front of my desk.
“What’s this?” I asked him before opening the file.
“There are reports of missing women in the areas of the rogue attacks. Notice anything?” He asked me. I opened the file and growled out. All six victims looked like Kailen. All had golden brown hair but different eye colors. But all of them were similar in height and weight.
“What is the connection?” I asked, while scanning through the reports.
“All the girls went missing in the late evening and haven’t been heard from since. The first taken about six months ago and the last one was two weeks ago. I’m not sure how this relates to the rogue attacks, but both have similar victims.” Greyson explained.
“Let’s move to Kailen’s office. She had a map set up. We can pin up these victims’ locations and see if we can see a connection. I’ll fill Kailen in after her class.” I told them.
Grabbing her office key from my desk, we walked down the hallway to her office. I unlocked the door, and we all entered. Kailen and I got nothing done last night as we couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves. But she had some work done before I came to meet her.
All three of us stopped at the map and Greyson started listing off locations and I placed a different colored pin on each location. After placing all six pins, we stepped back to examine the map.
They took all the victims from the same areas. It was like each area was a hunting ground. But why did someone just start killing them and not taking them? This all made little sense.
“Hunter,” Kailen called out. I looked at my watch to see that she should still be in class.
“Beautiful, what’s wrong?” I asked her. My heart rate increased while I waited for her to answer.
“What’s wrong?” Zach asked me.
“Kailen just linked me. But I can’t feel her through the bond.” I answered him.
“She should be in class, shouldn’t she?” Greyson asked, and I nodded.
“I was there when her students showed up.” I told them.
“Hunter, it’s Jake. I need you.” She linked before I felt her pain through the bond. Rex let out a growl.
“Hunter, what’s wrong?” Greyson exclaimed.
“It’s Jake. We need to get to Kailen.” I told them, rushing to the door.
As soon as I made it out the front door of the pack house, I took off at speeds I never knew I was capable of. I needed to get to Kailen. I could now feel her pain and panic through the bond, and I was terrified.
“Kailen!” I screamed through the link. But I didn’t get an answer.
I ran into the student building, running until I hit Kailen’s classroom. I rushed in to find she wasn’t there, but her students were.
“Where the hell is she?” I growled out.
“We don’t know. Prince Jake was here and when he left, Miss Steele went after him.” One of them answered. Turning around, I ran right into Greyson and Zach, who had just caught up with me.
“She’s not here. She went after Jake.” I told them. I tried to pick up her scent. My stomach was in knots after I found it with Jake.
“They went this way.” I said, walking down the hallway so I wouldn’t lose the scent. It was faint and I couldn’t lose it. I walked past a closet door and Greyson stopped me. I was so focused on the scent, I forgot to listen. He pointed to the closet, and I sniffed, picking up the scent of blood.
“Hunter.” I heard Kailen before I kicked the door open.
Kailen let out a scream, huddled on the floor at the back of the utility closet. Jake’s dead body laid on the ground. Kailen had her face buried in her knees and she was shaking and sobbing as I rushed over to her.
“Beautiful,” I breathed out, kneeling beside her.
“Hunter. He was there.” She sobbed out, looking up at me. I could tell that he had hit her. One of her eyes was swollen and bruised. She also had a split lip and covered in blood, her clothes shredded.
“Kailen, where was Jake?” I asked her, but she kept shaking her head. She was in shock and I needed to get her out of here.
“Baby, look at me.” I whispered, taking hold of her cheeks.
“I know you’re scared. And I’m going to get you out of here. Can you tell me where Jake was?” I asked her again.
“The auction house.” She whispered through her sobs.
“Fuck,” I cursed before I wrapped my arms around her, holding her to my chest as she cried.
“Greyson, I need a medical team, and please alert my father.” I called out.
“I just want to go home.” Kailen sniffled.
“Beautiful, you’re hurt. I need you to see a doctor.” I told her.
“Please come with me?” She begged, gripping me tighter.
“Baby, I’m not going anywhere.” I told her, squeezing her. She winced, and I let go to see what was wrong. Helping her to stand, I saw the extent of her injuries.
She had bite marks on her neck and one of her breasts. And claw marks down her ribs. She was still bleeding and covered in bruises. Kailen tried to pull what was left of her skirt down, and she pulled her shredded blouse around her body to cover herself.
“Can we get a blanket?” I called out, wrapping my arms around her. She had stopped crying, but she was convulsing. Her breathing laboured, and I knew she was on the verge of having a panic attack.
“Baby, I know this is overwhelming, but I need you to take deep breaths. We can talk about everything once you are ready,” I told her and she nodded against my chest. She started taking in deep breaths as I rubbed her back, holding her to my chest.
Zach passed me a blanket, and I wrapped it around Kailen. I didn’t need the entire campus to see her like this. It’s bad enough that she had to go through something like this. I walked with her to the door, making sure that she couldn’t see Jake’s body as we moved.
“There’s an ambulance waiting.” Zach informed me.
“Hunter, please don’t leave me.” Kailen pleaded, grabbing on to my shirt.
“Not going anywhere, Baby. I’ll be in the ambulance with you.” I told her. Pulling her close, I kissed her forehead.
While I walked her out to the parking lot, I noticed that Greyson and Zach had the area secured and warriors were blocking anyone from entering the hallway from either side. As we made it outside, my father was just pulling up. He rushed over to us.
“Hunter, Kailen, what happened?” He asked, concerned about his daughter-in-law.
“Dad, Jake is dead.” I leaned in and whispered to him.
“I’ll handle it. Get her to the hospital.” My father said, and I nodded before walking over to where the ambulance was parked.
Kailen was on autopilot as I helped her into the back of the ambulance. The paramedics were asking her questions, but she just stared off, lost in her thoughts. She also refused to lie down or for the paramedics to touch her. I didn’t blame her. She didn’t know or trust them. Jake was going to be her family, and he attacked her. And who knows what he was doing at that auction house?
We finally arrived at the hospital, and I helped Kailen out of the ambulance. Doctors and nurses had rushed out of the ER, but I motioned for them to stay back. It wasn’t until Kailen’s doctor, Dr. Melanie Connors, came out did I let her approach.
Dr. Connors has been treating Kailen from the beginning and knows her story well.
“Kailen, sweetie. What happened?” She asked her while she helped me walk Kailen into the ER. Dr. Connors led us into a room and I closed the door behind us.
“Dr. Connors?” Kailen asked, surprised, like she was seeing her for the first time today.
“Kailen, do you know where you are?” She asked her.
“The hospital.” She answered, looking around the room.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Dr. Connors asked her.
“I don’t know,” Kailen whispered.
“It’s okay. Let’s get you changed and cleaned up.” Dr. Connors told her and she nodded.
“Prince Hunter, give me a hand, please?” She asked me.
I helped strip Kailen out of her shredded, bloody clothes. I could see the extent of the damage he had inflected on her and it infuriated me to think of his hands all over my mate. It was a good thing he was dead because I would have killed him myself.
“Prince Hunter, I know it’s hard to see your mate like this, but I need you to calm down.” Dr. Connors whimpered, and I didn’t realize I had let my aura slip out.
“Sorry.” I said, dropping my aura and turning my attention back to my mate.
“Kailen, talk to me?” I asked her. But she was just looking through me.
“I’m going to insert an iv and sedate her. This is just too much for her to handle. Whatever happened is on the verge of breaking her.” Dr. Connors said and I could hear her panic.
“Prince Jake attacked her.” I told her and she gasped.
“Let’s get her lying down.”