The Beta and his Mate

Blaine’s POV

“It sure is creepy down here” Anna whispered as we crept along the hidden tunnel, making sure we stuck to the shadows so that we had less chance of being seen. Her voice bounced off the stone walls and I had to quietly shhh her so that her voice wouldn’t echo back up the tunnel and towards some guards. That would be just our luck.

“Sorry” she whispered, a lot quieter this time so as not to cause her voice to travel.

We continued the walk down the dark tunnel in silence, the only light coming from the odd electric lamp that had been drilled into the stone walls. Unlike the rest of the cave, this corridor was a lot more rough around the edges. The stone had sharp edges where it had most likely been chiseled at to help make the opening wider and the floors were covered in dirt and rocks, obviously this path was not designed to have many visitors.

Where was this thing taking us anyway? I felt like we had been walking for ages and we still hadn’t found anything.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” I whispered over her shoulder to her, making sure I kept my voice as low as possible.

“I’m sure. It’s not to far now I promise” Anna whispered back to me as we continued to creep through the hallway.

True to her word, a short distance later a scent hit me that made bubbles of nerves appear in my stomach, my brother was here.

“Anna on your left” I whispered as we came to a folk in the road.

“You sure?” She questioned as she surveyed our two options, weighing them up to see which one would be the best way to go.

“One hundred percent” I nodded, having complete faith in my nose and what it was telling me. The nerves that were still brewing in my stomach hadn’t disappeared, if anything they had only intensified. I had a million and one questions running around in my brain which only seemed to swirl faster the deeper we got into the cave. What if they didn’t recognise me? What if they had turned feral after so long being trapped in these little cages, forced to fight for their lives day in and day out. What if... what if they’d died in one of those fights before I got a chance to get them out?

‘Blaine are you alright? I can feel your emotions seeping through the bond they’re so strong’ Xavier questioned.

I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down slightly before replying ‘yes we’re both fine, Anna found a hidden door in the side of the cave and we’re heading down it now to try and find my family. I think this is where they keep them all when the fights are going on because there are a lot of wolf smells down here’.

’You’re where?! Why the hell didn’t you tell me you’d found something? Tell me where it is and I’ll come to you’ he demanded through the link.

If I was being completely honest I wasn’t sure whether having Xavier here with me would be the best idea. I had no way of knowing how my family would react around me, let alone Anna and then an unknown male smelling like pack, it was probably safest just to leave him out there just in case something were to kick off down here. Besides my dad and brother were fairly hot headed at the best of times, I don’t think they’d react particularly well to my mate storming in and trying to keep me from them, that is if they are still the same as when I last saw them.

‘Xavier just stay there, I promise we are both fine and we’ll be careful. If anything does happen I’ll let you know straight away’.

‘But Blaine-’

But I didn’t let him finish, ‘do you trust me?’

‘Of course I do-’

‘Then trust me on this Xav... please, I’ve been looking for my family for so long now the least you can do is let me find them’. I didn’t feel particularly great about guilt tripping him into letting me find my family on my own but I meant every word I’d said. I had been searching for my family for over two years now and if I’d allowed him to come with me he’d just bulldoze the whole thing and have me hiding behind his back the entire time.

The link was silent for a second, making me question whether I had pushed him a little to far, but thankfully Xavier finally replied through the link. ‘Fine, but I want constant updates from you about what’s going on and where you are... okay?’

‘Deal’ I nodded knowing it was as much as he was going to offer me.

I looked over at Anna after I had shut off the link and noticed that she too had glazed over eyes and I could tell just from her expression that she wasn’t to happy. Looks like Xavier had let it slip that we weren’t exactly where we said we’d be.

“Everything alright?” I asked when I noticed she’d closed the link off.

“Yeah fine, I hadn’t exactly been completely honest with Jax about where we’d be going and now he’s super pissed” she sighed with an eyerole “It took me long enough to convince him to let us go on our own in the first place, now he’s not going to let me out of his sight” she groaned. “It’s fine though” she shrugged as she turned and continued walking down the hallway, “I’ll just offer to change JJ for the next two weeks and Jax will be back to normal” she smiled. “You’d be surprised what changing babies nappies could get you out of” she smiled as if she was recalling some distant memory. I hoped me and Xav would be as happy as Anna and Jax clearly are one day.

We continued to walk for another few hundred yards before coming face to face with an old wooden door. It was the type of door you’d find in old medieval movies, with the cast iron cut out so that someone could peek out and ask for the password to get in. Safe to say we definitely didn’t have the correct password if someone asked us.

Thankfully no one was on the other side of the door, from what we could hear and smell anyway, and with one solid push from the both of us the door creaked open to reveal a small, dimly lit room.

“What is this place?” I muttered, my eyes not having adjusted to the lack of light in the room.

At the sound of my voice though there was a sudden rumble through the room, a rumble that was unmistakable to any wolf who came upon it. Growls. Warning growls.

Anna pulled a small battery powered torch from her pocket and switched it on before sweeping it around the room. What we both found made us gasp in shock.

In front of us had to have been at least forty cages, all lined up in rows and each containing a wolf that was crammed into the space, hackles raised and teeth on show there was no guessing needed for what they were feeling.

“Holy crap” Anna whispered as she swung the small torch from side to side, the beam far to small to light up a large enough area for us to take everything in. “How could this...” she muttered but unable to finish her sentence, to shocked to be able to form anymore words.

I stood there in silence as I took everything in with tears in my eyes. This was where my family had been this whole time? Whilst I had been prancing around with my new mate and complaining about my so called issues my family had been suffering through this?

I sniffed but still made no effort to move, I had honestly been rendered speechless.

The cages were so small the wolves couldn’t even stand up properly or walk around in them, being forced to lie on the iron flooring of their cage as they sat there and waited for their turn in the ring. The room stank of blood and urine and there was no doubt in my mind that these poor people were being forced to sit in their own waste. They were being treated like dogs, like vermine and my blood boiled. No one did this to our kind and got away with it.

A flash of ginger and gold suddenly caught my attention and my eyes snapped over just as Anna’s torch had moved on. I’d know that coat anywhere, that was the coat of my sister.

Instant relief washed through me as I realised that both of my siblings were still alive but I knew the fear that was flowing through me wouldn’t completely disappear until I had my whole family out of here and back at the pack lands. Safe.

“Anna over there” I whispered to her as I pointed towards the general area of where I believed she was being held.

As we walked over to her the grumbles and growls from the surrounding wolves intensified slightly, but thankfully they didn’t increase in volume. It was as if they were scared to make too much noise or something because their voices never reached a level that would be deemed appropriate for the situation they were in. If a wolf was feeling scared or threatened they’d make as much noise as possible to seem like a bigger threat to the newcomer, it was only in our nature to do so, so why were these lot being so quiet?

“Which one Blaine?” Anna whispered from in front of me.

I refocused on where I was going and pointed out to where I thought I had seen my sister. “Right at the back, in between these two cages there” I whispered as I pointed to the far end of the room.

I almost cried in relief when I smelt her. My baby sister was pressed up against the back wall of her cage and baring her teeth at me to try and scare me away. It was clear that she didn’t recognise me and my heart broke ever so slightly as I took in her ridged and threatening position.

Next to my mum Marie had always been a quiet and gentle soul. We had always joked that she couldn’t even seem to harm a fly, let alone come on a hunt with us to try and catch some dinner. Knowing her she probably would have given our position away just so she wouldn’t have to see the animal die. Yes I had joined in on the joking, but I had always secretly admired the innocence that always seemed to surround her, how pure she was even when living in the situation we were living in.

Looking into her eyes now though I could tell that that innocence had gone, all that was left was anger.

“M-Marie?” I whispered as I crouched down towards her, “Marie it’s me Blaine”.

All I got in response though was a threatening growl as she snapped her teeth at me slightly. God knows what she had gone through to turn her into this.

“Marie please... don’t you remember me?” I whispered as a tear escaped my lids. Seeing my little eighteen year old sister reacting this violently towards me was like a stab to the chest, the light in her eyes had completely vanished and all that was left was sheer hatred and fear.

I felt Anna’s presence behind me, lending me some moral support, but I didn’t look back at her, I just kept my eyes solely focused on Marie.

I lifted my hand from where it had been resting in my lap and reached out towards her, hoping that my scent would trigger something in her mind and she would somehow remember me, but it only seemed to make matters worse. As soon as my hand touched the cold metal of her cage my sister let out an almighty growl before whining and collapsing to the floor in pain.

“What the...?” I whisper shouted as I felt a spark run through my fingertips.

“Blaine it’s her collar” Anna whispered as she pointed to a small strip of plastic that was looped around my sisters neck. “I’ve seen these types of collars before but only ever on domestic pets, they’re used by humans when they can’t get their dog to stop barking. It issues an electric shock every time it senses vibrations from the wearers voice box, they must’ve adapted it somehow to make the shock stronger.”

I shivered as I thought about the type of torture they had been put through, no wonder all the wolves around us were staying quiet, they knew that if they made a noise they’d be shocked just like Marie was.

“Oh Marie, what have they done to you?” I whispered as I watched her lay there on the metal floor, convulsing slightly from the electrical currents still running through her body. “But don’t worry, we’re going to get us all out of here” I muttered as I looked up at Anna.

Ooh it’s getting soo good! :D I have so much planned for the next few chapters I can’t wait for you to read them and see what you think :)

For anyone who’s interested work is going great for me and I am loving every second of it, even if it is making me shattered 😂 Thank you for all of your support, I appreciate each and every comment and vote I receive ❤️ Love you all!

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