“Sean’s gonna go crazy when he finds me,” I retorted confidently, glaring at them all in turn.
Byron smiled. “Of course he will, but we’ll be prepared for that. It appears that those gifts that you gave him when you bonded, the ones he relies on so much, well, those are quite useless when he dosed up with the inhibitor drug. I hope he comes soon, and when he does I think I’ll make him watch as we kill you before we kill him.”
I gasped and shook my head desperately. “Please just leave Sean alone. Please just…. please don’t hurt him,” I begged. Tears stung my eyes as I looked between the three men opposite me.
Eli glared at me. “That prick will get what he deserves for killing my uncle Peter. I’m gonna made him wish he’d never been born,” he growled menacingly.
I flinched from the promise in his voice.
Byron stood up, nodding at Eli as he patted him on the shoulder. “Have fun. And don’t forget the tape,” he told him. “Put her back in the basement when you’re done.”
Tape?
Edward and Byron both walked out of the door, Edward grabbing a pair of pants from the kitchen side as he went. Unease washed over me as my whole body seemed to go cold. Thomas’s brother, Billy, shook his head. “I don’t want any part of this bit.” He turned and walked out of the door too.
My eyes instinctively flicked up to Eli as he stood up with a predatory grin on his face. “Been a long time since I’ve had my hands on you, sweetness. Bet you’ve learnt a few new tricks, huh?” he cooed.
I groaned and shook my head, horrified as one by one the five wolves all shifted back to their human forms. Each and every one of them had ‘that’ look. I recognised them all from my nightmares.
Knowing it was useless, but still wanting to try, I jumped up, struggling to pick up my chair with my weakened arms. I slung it as hard as I could at Eli, hoping it would kill him. Instead, he literally caught it in one hand and threw it aside, his smile getting even bigger. “Go ahead, fight back. I always did enjoy it better when you fought me,” he growled, closing the distance between us.
“No, no, please no. Not again, please?” I begged helplessly, trying with all my might to stop the inevitable.
Both mentally and verbally I screamed for Sean to help me, but he never came. My heart broke all over again at the hands of the monsters that used me for their own pleasure, just like they did when I was fourteen years old.
Chapter 35: The Search Begins
Sean
I watched him tiredly as he shuffled all of his papers, handing out copies to the three of us and the liaison from the British government. As Chief of Police, Michael Connor was a very imposing and important man, that much was easy to see from his confident demeanor as he spoke and talked us through their gathered evidence.
Michael had one of his technicians going through the surveillance footage from the Japanese ‘train crash’. It was pretty clear it wasn’t an accident though - that was just what was told to the press and families of the victims to stop widespread panic. In reality, C4 explosive had been attached to the track, designed so that when the train went over it, it blew up. Over two hundred people had been killed or injured - a lot of them shifters. Apparently, the origin of the train was a shifter only electronics firm, so it mainly consisted of employees and the odd person that got on at the various stops along the way. The Jefferson Organisation had claimed responsibility this morning, so now we were review footage using Scotland Yard’s facial recognition technology.
Roland sat forward in his chair suddenly, pointing at the screen that was main focus. “Isn’t that Bob Parry?”
I squinted at the screen anxiously; the guy in question was only half in view, the image slightly grainy. Charles and Michael leant in too. Daniel, the technician, stopped the tape and backed it up a little, zooming in on the guy. I’d read about Bob Parry in the council’s files, he was the organisation’s explosives man - it totally made sense for him to be there.
“I think it is,” Daniel agreed, pressing a few buttons and scanning the guy’s face as another screen started searching their databases for him.
While that was going on I focussed on Tyler. The feelings coming off of her were of contentment so I forced myself to get back to the task at hand rather than talking to her in my head. The system threw out three possible matches; one of them was indeed Bob Parry.
“Well I think it’s safe to say that their claim on the bombing can be taken as fact,” Charles stated, frowning angrily.
“Let’s see what he does,” Michael suggested. Daniel pressed some more switches, typing in commands quicker than I could read them all. Another five screens flickered to life around us on his console panel, so now we had about ten angles of the train station security footage. He clicked on the guy in question and the cameras started following him immediately, searching him out.
I chewed on my lip, watching avidly as Daniel manoeuvred from camera to camera, following him as he moved freely throughout the station. The guy on the screen made his way confidently through the station, not even looking slightly concerned, a bulky black backpack was casually slung over his shoulder. He suddenly stepped out of view and Daniel frowned, wheeling himself over to another computer console.
He pulled up the blue prints on another screen, pointing at it. “That’s the section of track that was targeted; the last place he was on footage was here.” He pointed to a section just next to where the track started, easily within reach of the where the explosives were set. “There’s some kind of black spot, none of their cameras cover that section of track for about five meters, if they had access to that information then that’s probably why they chose that section to target.”
“How long is he dark for?” Michael asked.
Daniel wheeled himself back to the other console again, speeding through the footage, his facial recognition scan still running over the crowd. It beeped showing a match and we looked at camera four as Bob stepped back into view, his backpack now looking decidedly flatter on his back. He’d been dark for a total of four minutes according to Daniel’s timer. That was plenty of time to set the explosives according to Michael. Daniel tracked the guy out of the station and we watched as he got into a black Jaguar. Daniel quickly logged into the DVLA databases, running the plates of the car as he followed it using speed cameras and CCTV footage of the streets. How fast he worked literally blew my mind, I could barely work a toaster! They lost him twenty minutes later as he went into a tunnel and failed to come out of the other side though.
It was while we were studying blue prints of the tunnel, trying to work out where he would have gone, that it happened. Tyler’s feelings just completely disappeared from me which was an odd feeling and one I’d only experienced once before - when she was given that stupid inhibitor drug yesterday. I groaned and frowned, a little angry. Could Jeremy really not just wait until I was back before he started conducting experiments on her? I hated not being able to feel her; I couldn’t relax at all even though I tried my hardest to remain interested in what was going on around me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to settle until I spoke to her and she told me she was fine. It was a natural part of our bond for me to worry about her so much; my body just seemed to be on high alert all the time.
At this rate the girl would cause me to go grey before I reached twenty.
“Excuse me a sec,” I muttered, knowing I just needed to do it so I could get back to helping. I left them avidly checking maps and passages within the tunnel so that they could try and find where Bob came to surface again. I stepped away to get some privacy and pulled out my cellphone, hitting speed dial and calling her. I put it to my ear, waiting for her to complain and tell me I was worrying about her too much. Instead of her answering though I was put through to her automated voicemail.
I scowled down at the table as I waited for the beep so I could record my message. “Tyler, it’s me, baby. Call me as soon as you get this.” I hung up and promptly dialled Jeremy’s number instead; maybe Tyler
had no reception in the lab or something.
“Hey, Sean,” he chirped.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead, stressed. I really wanted to go home now. This whole thing just felt like we were wasting our time and chasing ghosts. The Jefferson’s were so far underground that it would take a miracle to find them. No one had officially seen Byron Jefferson for almost twenty years - maybe he was already dead and we really were chasing ghosts by continuing to hunt him.
“Hey, Jeremy. Seriously, could you not just wait until I’m back before starting? You know how stressed it makes me not being able to contact her,” I grumbled, trying not to growl my words.
“Huh? Wait for what?” he questioned.
I rolled my eyes. “To pump Tyler full of that shit,” I stated sarcastically. “Look just put her on the line would you? I can’t get through on her cell.”
“Tyler?” he asked sounding confused.
“Of course Tyler! Am I bonded with someone else?” I snapped. Was it really too much to ask for him to pass the phone over to my wife so I could speak to her without going through all of these stupid questions?
“Er, Sean, Tyler’s not with me. We’re not doing any testing today, I haven’t seen her since breakfast,” he replied.
My tired brain struggled to understand. “Not with you? But she’s….” I shook my head, confused. I tried to search my feelings for her and call her in my head, but nothing. “She just up and disappeared from my head; one minute she was there and the next, nothing. Is this some side effect from the drug you gave her yesterday?” I asked. I’d hate it if the drug had somehow made out connection unreliable. It had better not be a long term thing or Jeremy was in serious trouble.
“I… I don’t know. You can’t talk to her? Maybe it is a side effect. Um…. I didn’t give her that much, but maybe….” he trailed off sounding unsure.
I sighed deeply and looked over at the people that were working on the case. I couldn’t just up and leave because I had a problem with controlling my worry about my bond mate, I needed to stay here and finish up. “Page her and tell her to call me,” I said to Jeremy. “You have that loudspeaker thing in the building, right? Just tell her to call me so I can concentrate on this meeting. Oh, and Jeremy, no more tests on Tyler, got it? I’m not having side effects like this pop up again, it’s a shifter drug and shouldn’t be used on humans,” I all but growled. I was putting my foot down now, it was one thing for him to test out that shit on me, but quite another when he pumped that crud into my wife.
“Yeah, I’ll page her now. The last time I saw her she said she was going to read and get some sun,”
he replied. “She’s probably outside with no phone signal.”
“Yeah, probably. She did buy a book on the way in this morning,” I agreed before disconnecting the call and heading back over to the others. I was completely unable to focus on what they were saying though; instead I was chewing on my nails, thinking about my girl and waiting for my cellphone to ring. My leg was bouncing on the spot with anticipation.
After twenty minutes of just my own thoughts going on in my head, I started to get really annoyed.
Why the hell had she not called me? I checked and rechecked my phone to make sure I had a signal.
Just like before it was full strength so there was no reason that my stupid cellphone hadn’t started ringing yet. I didn’t say too much because Michael and Daniel didn’t know anything about my abilities, as far as they were concerned I was a grandson of a council member that would take over at some point in the future, humans weren’t privy to information about the prophesy. I just told them I was waiting for an important call, nothing more.
When I could stand it no longer, I tried her number again, but there was still no answer so I called Jeremy. He answered on the third ring, sounding a little out of breath. “Jeremy, where’s Tyler, put her on the phone,” I snapped.
He cleared his throat before he replied, “Sean, we…. we can’t find her.”
Can’t find her? What the heck did that mean? The building wasn’t that big, she couldn’t have gotten far! “What? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jeremy sighed. “No one’s seen her since this morning. Tyler’s not answering any pages or anything that I put out for her. The lab staff have done a quick search but we can’t see her anywhere. I’m just heading down to security to talk to them.”
I gulped. That was seriously unlike Tyler not to answer, she knew how important it was for people to know where she was, she was always reachable. “You’re telling me that she’s not there? Like not in the building?” I asked incredulously.
“I…. I don’t know, Sean. I have people looking for her right now and I’m about to speak to a security person when you called,” he replied.
I was on my feet before he’d even finished his sentence, my nerves already fried as I started to panic. Where the hell was my wife? “I’ll be right there. Find her and tell her to call me!” I growled.
I disconnected the call and looked at Roland and Charles. “I need to go back. I can’t reach Tyler, they can’t find her in the building,” I muttered, shaking my head. How on earth could she just go missing like that?
Roland frowned and stood up too. “You can’t reach her?” he asked, touching his temple discreetly.
I shook my head and tightened my jaw.
His frown deepened as he turned to The Chief of Police. “We have to cut this meeting short. I’ll call you later and rearrange. I’d appreciate being kept in the loop if you find anything more,” he said, holding out his hand to Michael.
Michael nodded, looking a little confused but apparently him and Roland were old friends. “Sure thing, hope everything’s okay.”
I didn’t wait for them to exchange pleasantries; I was already heading out of the building in an attempt to get back to the lab quicker.
~#~
By the time we got back to the building I was feeling sick. Jeremy had called while we were in the car and told me that one of the security guards in charge of the security room, had been attacked and knocked unconscious. They’d found him in there, still out. The cameras for the building had all been stopped for over an hour. The last footage they had of Tyler was her sitting in the grounds at the back, reading on a bench.
This was it. This was my worst nightmare coming true. They’d somehow taken her, I knew it.
Everyone said that I was jumping the gun, that I was being pessimistic but there was nothing pessimistic about the fact that I couldn’t reach Tyler in my head and that someone had knocked out a guard and disabled the security footage. They all thought it too; they were just trying to keep me calm.
I was on edge while police were called, while they searched the building for a third time, while we split up and searched the surrounding streets. But nothing. Tyler was nowhere to be found.
I felt like someone had ripped a part of me away, like someone had literally torn my heart out. Right now I was struggling breathe deeply and not let my anger take over and rip everything and everyone apart.
The whole day we searched, then it started to get dark and I felt even worse. Tyler hated the dark. I tried not to let myself think about what this could mean, or that whoever took her could be hurting her, or maybe they could kill her. I couldn’t think about things like that because I’d go insane, and an insane husband wasn’t what would find her. Everything seemed to be moving so fast, the people around me, the time, the sun disappeared too quickly. I couldn’t keep up with it all. All I could think about was her, her face, her smile and the fact that I’d promised to never let anything hurt her again but right now there was a chance that I was breaking that promise.
Ryce flew to England as soon as I called him and over the course of the next three days, we got organised. Search parties went out combing every inch of London, we handed out fliers with her picture on, we called all of the hospitals - but nothing turned up. It was like she’d vanished and no one had seen a thing. The police were looking too, everyone wa
s, and they were all hopeful that we’d find her. But dread and fear were the only emotions I was capable of feeling at the moment.
People’s words of comfort weren’t helpful at all.
I knew the Jefferson’s had her before the package even arrived.
In a way I was grateful to finally have it confirmed, at least now people would stop telling me that she’d gone sightseeing and got lost, or that she’d hit her head and got amnesia. I knew what had happened and the waiting for them to contact me had driven me to the point of madness.
The courier had arrived five minutes ago to the lab. The police had confiscated the package immediately, opening it with protective gloves and immediately sending the packaging off for analysis. The delivery guy, a guy from Parcel Force, had been arrested and was currently being questioned about the sender but it from the looks on the investigating officer’s faces; it didn’t look like a good lead. The package had been addressed to me and contained just one thing, a CD in clear plastic wrapper.
I stood there dumbstruck as people ran around trying to find somewhere to play the disk, I had no words. Over the course of three days I’d been through all the stages of grief, to be perfectly honest I don’t remember them all. I’d obviously been through the anger one pretty recently though because people seemed a little terrified of me, only a couple of people were still talking to me and understood that I was just lashing out - of course Ryce was one of them. He seemed to be able to handle this a lot better than I could even though I knew he loved her too in his own way. I guess he was trained to stay detached, but sometimes I saw him staring at her photo on a flier we were giving out in the street and I knew that he was hurting too.