Twenty-five

"Where the hell is she?" Zane growled at everyone in the room. Nico, Truent, Anton and Thaddeus were standing around watching him with terror filled eyes. After the phone call from Whisper that Nico answered, Zane blew it. Her voice made his heart clench in fear for what was going on to her. It took all his strength not to tear apart his house.

"Zane, calm down. Just give me a minute," Anton said, hesitantly grabbing his phone.

"I won't calm down until she is in my arms!" he snarled. Usually, Zane wasn't a vicious person, but his mate was gone. His damn mate was taken from his own home. "Just do what you can, and fast!"

Nico grabbed Zane by the arm and pulled him out of the office. "You need to calm down and think. You're not helping Whisper by barking at everyone."

"She was fucking taken from me!" Zane bellowed angrily.

"And we'll get her back. Zane, think for a moment. You know her better than anyone as it should be. Who would take her? None of our enemies know you have a mate, so who else would it be? The facility doesn't know where we are and they think she's dead."

The Alpha scanned his brain for something helpful, something that might get him to Whisper faster. All her explanations about her nightmares and hallucinations, everything she told him about the facility, everything about her life. He also remembered the conversation with Wren about Whisper's first nightmare. "It's him," he finally breathed.

"Who?" Nico asked.

Zane had forgotten his friend was still beside him. He shook his head. "I-I don't know. She continuously mentioned a him or a male voice."

"She didn't say any names?"

"No, just him like she was afraid of saying it."

"Okay," Nico said, trying to put the pieces together. "Know where this him might take her?"

Again, Zane shook his head. But this time it was more like he was looking for something already there than truly not knowing. "Uh-somewhere she lived. Not with her mother but—"

"Will Beda?" Nico suggested.

"Do you think?" Zane asked, brows furrowing.

"Only explanation I can think of. Plus the only male I've heard of besides who's at the facility."

"Would it have been her friend, Luc?" Zane said suddenly.

"Luc? Why would he kidnap her and make her scream out of fear?"

"I don't know!" the Alpha snarled in frustration. "Because he's stupid! I don't know!"

"Hang on." Nico got out his phone and pressed a few buttons then they heard Whisper's voice again.

"Nico?"

"Goddess! Where are you, Whisper? Look around and tell me what you see?"

"The tree house. I'm in Zane's house."

Nico paused the recording. "She said she saw the inside of your tree. How the hell is that possible?"

Zane shrugged. "Some kind of trick? Like a simulation room?"

They continued the recording:

"No, Whisper. You're not here. I would know. I'm in his house right now."

"You are?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"I'm in the kitchen."

"This is where we heard her running down the stairs, right?" Zane asked.

Nico nodded. "Unless they weren't stairs?"

"What would it be?"

"Well, if it is like a simulator room, most likely just sound affects made for her to hear as if she was going down the stairs."

"Nico!"

"Whisper, calm down! Tell me, did you see anything before Zane's house? Did you see anything that might help?"

"Nico—"

"Who are you talking to, Whisper?"

"That is not Luc's voice or mine!" Zane growled, anger spiked again.

"It doesn't even sound familiar to me," Nico commented.

"Zane! No! Let me go! Please, Zane!"

"Whisper! What's going on?"

"Zane, he's trying to get me!"

Zane put his head in his hands and tried to pull out his hair. They made her believe it was him hurting her, him torturing her however they were doing so.

"Whisper, Zane isn't there."

"Who-who—"

"NO!"

The recording ended with a crash and then a resounding CRACK! that made Zane flinch. But something made him take the phone and rewind a few seconds.

"NO!"

"I don't know what to do," Zane said softly, defeated.

Nico sighed. "We'll figure it out. Why don't you go check on that girl in the infirmary?"

Zane shook his head. "I need to find her, Nico!"

Nico put his hands on Zane's shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes. "We will. You need to take a break. You've gotten no sleep, no food, and no water. Go rest and come back in an hour. Maybe we'll have something by then. You're no good to her dead."

Reluctantly, the Alpha shuffled out of the building towards the infirmary. When he got to Simone's room he saw a male inside with her, smiling and holding her hand. Knocking twice, Zane entered. "Feeling better?"

Simone smiled then frowned. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing for you to worry about." He looked at the male. "I'm guessing you're Alpha Reed?"

Reed smiled. "I am. Thank you for helping her escape and giving her your resources. You have no idea—"

"I know. I'm glad you found each other," Zane said with a bite.

The couple looked at him for a moment. "Is there something we can help you with?" Simone asked hesitantly.

Zane turned to go so he didn't have to look at them. "Not really."

He left but didn't get far when Reed came up to block his way outside. "Let me help. It's the least I can do since you helped my mate."

Sadness clouded his vision as he heard the last word. He couldn't think long because Anton burst through the door behind Reed. "Alpha, we think we have something."

"Please, let me help. Simone will be fine here. I have her father looking after her for now. Just let me help," Reed pleaded.

"Fine," Zane hissed and followed Anton out the building. They were half way to his office again when the others showed up. "What is it?"

"A location," Nico said. "Anton was able to track the call to it's location. It's the only thing we have unless they move somewhere. Her phone is probably in pieces so she isn't going to be carrying it and everything will be useless. Still, it's a start."

"Can I see?" Reed asked. Nico looked at Zane for approval to which he nodded. Reed scanned the map and pressed a few buttons. "I know where that's at."

"You do?" Nico asked excitedly.

"It's close to our pack. We never really dealt with them because they're a bad group of people."

"Not all of them are bad," Zane hissed.

Reed glanced at him for a moment before giving him an apologetic nod. "It's about a day's drive, a day and a half run, and half day flight by plane."

Zane almost groaned aloud. He hated flights. If he had to go on a plane, it was not a pretty sight. He turned green and was trying not to let his guts up. Whisper, he thought. He had to do this for Whisper.

"Zane, we don't have to do the flight," Nico said, knowing what was wrong.

"No, we are going to fly. If we don't, we might be too late."

"If it helps, it's going to be jet, so it'll be even shorter by an hour or two," Reed said with a shrug.

"No, it doesn't help." If anything, it made his stomach worse. But… "But it does help getting there faster. Let's go!"