~AUSTIN~
"That asshole lied to us," I growl. "He fucking lied to us, and we believed him like a fool! I've been searching for days now, and none of us have had any good leads to find my sister. What the fuck are we doing wrong? Who the hell has her?"
Lucy rubs my shoulder, "we had no choice but to believe him. Please don't beat yourself up over it. He was the best lead that we had; no one could have known for sure that he was lying. We don't have time to sit down and worry over our mistakes; let's get up and look for her again."
James walks in with Lucas, and they are both just as tense as I am. We're failing my sister; every time we make a wrong turn, she has to suffer. I can feel it in my bones that she's unhappy; wherever she is, she's not doing well. Our bond is strong; I can feel it so clear that she might as well have been standing right here telling me what she's been going through.
Lucas walks up to me, and I can see that he's going through it just as much as I am. Lucas and Maya have always had a special bond; they've always teased each other. They're siblings but also the closest of friends. I was more of a father figure in her life; even though our father is still alive, I've always protected her.
I sigh and pull Lucas in for a hug. My brother needed this right now; I needed to see that I wasn't the only one hurting; I had to be strong for everyone, not just for myself but for everyone that was affected.
Lucas returns my hug, he's always been the joker of the group, but even he can't hold back the pain this time. No one could lighten the mood now, not until we found her, not until we found our precious Maya and brought her home to safety.
Even Lucy has tears in her eyes, but she has been more emotional recently. It was hard to keep up with her emotions at times; they were all over the place ever since she became pregnant with my baby.
James squeezes our shoulders and tries to comfort us both in his own way, "we will find her." He promises. "We will find Maya, and she will be okay. She will be. She's a fighter."
"You guys are going to want to see this," Hunter tells us, cutting into our little grieve session.
The look on his face tells us that it is important. Did they finally get a proper lead? One where someone isn't lying to us? I didn't want to keep my hopes up, but I couldn't help myself. I wanted to wish for the best; I was holding onto the last bit of hope I had in finding my sister.
We follow him out of the room and straight into the hallway; a young girl waits there for us. Someone that I can't remember ever seeing before.
"Who are you?" I ask her. I looked between Hunter and her, wondering who would start explaining what was going on.
"My name is Anna," she introduces herself. "I have some information on your sister, Maya."
There is a dead silence throughout the hall as her words cut through our exposure. Can I trust her? Can we believe her after we were recently fooled by someone else? I don't care; I'm willing to try again because there is a fifty-fifty chance that she's speaking the truth.
"Tell me what you know." I urge her to go on.
"What do you know?" James demands, "and you better tell us the truth. We don't want any lies. Tell us every single detail."
She crosses her arms over her chest, and something about this girl gives me bad vibes, "I know where you can find her. I know where she's being hidden."
I walk closer to her, "tell us. Tell us where we can find my sister. Who's the asshole that has her?"
Her eyes are cold and distant. Something about this entire thing feels off. It feels like she's doing this for a reason of her own, something that can benefit her. There is plenty about this girl that I should find out about.
"His name is Alpha Kane." She answers. "I was a part of his pack, but he kicked me out when I tried to protect your sister from him."
My jaw clenches, and I'm trying hard not to slam my fist against the wall, "keep going. I want to know everything."
"He took her from the Forest when she was out for a run. He has been planning on taking her weeks before it ever happened. He's always had an eye on her. First, he was going to take your wife, Lucy, but he figured that Maya would be the better option to get revenge from you."
Revenge? What revenge? I don't know any Alpha Kane, so what the fuck was she speaking about? Why would he want to get revenge on my family when we don't know anything about him?
"What have my family done to him?" I ask her.
She sighs, "you've killed his father and sister. Ever since their deaths, he's been trying every way possible to make your lives hell. His main one was taking Maya from you."
I'm trembling with rage now.
"Who is his father? I wouldn't have killed a young, innocent girl. He needs to get his facts checked."
"His father was Alpha Eric and his sister Ariana. I think you knew his sister well. Were you not in love with her?"
Lucy gasps at the mention of Ariana, and I glare at the girl.
"I was never in love with her. She had me under a fucking spell. Did she tell her brother that little detail? Does he know that it was his father that betrayed my family first? Everything that we did was because of what his family did to us first. We didn't just randomly decide to destroy his family. They tried to destroy ours first, and now he's called danger upon himself by taking what's ours."
I'm unhappy that Lucy has to hear about this now. She should be resting; she shouldn't have to be reminded about these horror stories and people that tried to end her life. I vowed to protect her, and I was not doing a good job at it.
"And is she—," Lucas starts but takes a moment to regain the strength to ask. "Is she okay? Did he hurt her? Did he hurt my sister?"
She looks hesitant to respond but finally does, "she's alive if that's what you're asking. Is she hurt? Yes, she is. Both emotionally and physically. She is not doing well. He's completely draining her, and I'm afraid that you don't have much time left. If you want to save your sister, you're going to have to follow me. I'll take you to where he has her hidden. But beware, you must come prepared, Kane has a lot of tricks, and if you're not careful, you can walk straight into his trap."
She doesn't need to tell us anything else. We are already on our way, getting everything in order, barking orders at everyone.
James stops me with a concerned look, "do you think we can trust her?" He asks. "Something seems to be off about her, don't you think?"
I took a deep breath, "she does, but at the same time, she could be telling the truth. I'm not going to sit back and watch if there is even the tiniest possibility that she's telling us the truth."
Hunter stops us halfway with a concerned look, "I'm not sure that we should trust her." He says. "Did any of you know that Eric had a son named Kane? Weren't you close to his family before they betrayed you? When did he ever introduce you to Kane? I know I've never in my life before known about his son."
It's true. I've never heard about this Kane, but I was desperate to find Maya. I was willing to fall straight into a trap as long as there was the slightest possibility that I would find my sister along the way. I didn't care about anything else.
"I'm willing to take the chance for my sister," I tell him. "It's unfair of me to ask you to put your men in danger for the sake of my sister; the decision is yours from here but know that I'm grateful for everything you've done for my family so far. We are all grateful and will return the favor in any way that we can if we ever need to."
Hunter sighs, "I pledged to help you find your sister, and I keep my promises. I will also join you."
Now it was just to gather everyone. There would be a war soon. It was coming.
Maya.
If this girl is telling the truth. I'm coming for you.