Chapter 35

Gunner's POV

Alpha Nik was over in the corner of my room talking lowly with my dad. So lowly that even Maddox couldn't hear them. Although we weren't really trying to either, we were more focused on the 3 people wondering around my room checking for wolfsbane or anything else that could harm us. Once we got the ok from them, I darted to my bed and picked up the note. Maddox nor I could get a scent off the note so we had no idea who it came from. When I opened the envelope and pulled the letter out and started to read it, I could feel my anger rising and Maddox hackles standing and growling in my head.

Dear Sweet Beta, You're little Princess won't be around much longer if she doesn't learn her place. That crown is mine and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure I get it. So, either she steps down or I will have no choice but to make her, and we don't want that now do we? What good is a Beta to his pack without his MATE? Yes, I know exactly what she is to you. If I don't get what is mine, I will end her.

I didn't realize I was growling until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Whoever this is, just changed everything and I needed to speak with Charlie ASAP. This is going to up our timeline by a lot. Dad was talking to me but I wasn't paying any attention. I just handed him the note and walked out. I needed to go for a run to clear my head.

I didn't even bother taking my clothes off and just shifted in mid-run towards the woods. I let Maddox take full control and we took off jumping over fallen limbs and rocks. I'm not sure how long we had been running for before we came to a river. It was moving rather slowly, so Maddox went down to take a drink, when we heard twigs snapping across the river.

Maddox ears perked up and his nose went towards the sky sniffing the air. Just as a gust of wind blew Maddox caught the scent of a rogue. Just when I thought this night couldn't get any worse.

"ROGUE!!!! West border at the river!" I called out through the pack mindlink.

"On our way!" One of the warriors on patrol answered.

"Gunner stay where you are. Do not engage!" I heard Alpha Nik order through the link also.

Maddox let out a loud howl to let everyone know where exactly we were. We hadn't expected to hear a howl in return, but we did. It came from the other side of the river. We still couldn't see the rogue but we could still smell it. It only took a few minutes before warriors started showing up and others were still coming. You could still hear the howls in the distance.

We felt some of the wolves start moving to the side but we never took my eyes off the tree line across the river. Alpha Nik's, dad's, and Ben's wolves had all come up and stood on either side of Maddox and me. Just as they walked up, Maddox spotted movement across the river. We took a step forward, because you know, 6 inches closer makes a difference when you're trying to focus on something over 50 feet away.

"Maddox what are you doing? Stay back with the others." I scowled him. He should know better than this, but then again neither of us were thinking clearly after reading that letter.

"There's something about this wolf. It smells like a rogue but I don't sense any danger. I actually smell…" He stuck his nose in the air again and sniffed a couple of times, "I smell fear."

Just then a small grey wolf came out from the tree line. It was a she-wolf and she was definitely scared. Question is of what?

"Alpha, it's a she-wolf. She's scared of something. Can you send the men to go up and down stream to look for a way to cross safely?" I mind linked him.

"Are you sure about this Gunner? What if there's others?" Alpha Nik asked.

"Do you smell any? She's the only one I scent and Maddox is smelling fear. Besides look at her, she's skin and bone." Maddox turned our attention to Alpha Nik and whined a little.

Alpha Nik nodded his head and then sent 3 warriors in either direction to look for a way to cross over the river. About 8 minutes later, we heard a howl coming from the south. I looked back across the river and made eye contact with her and Maddox let out a bark and howl to tell her to follow us. We only hoped she would understand.

All the wolves started trotting downstream while the 3 warriors that went north caught back up with us. Neither group along their way had noticed any other animals much less rogues. The woods was awkwardly quiet for it being the middle of the night. Actually I think it was closer to sun rise by now but I had no way to be certain.

As we made it to where the warriors had found a place to cross, Maddox looked out and saw some fallen trees. We started to slowly make our way out while calling out to the she-wolf. Surprisingly she had followed us and started to make her way across also with her tail tucked between her hind legs.

"Sir, she's shaking horribly. I can see her ribs. She doesn't look good. Can you have the pack doctor meet us at the packhouse infirmary?" I asked threw the link.

"Already on it Gunner. Good work. Get her back over here and watch yourself out there." Alpha Nik replied.

"Gunner…do not let her fall in. Do NOT!" Ben sounded weird. I've never heard him sound so…worried?

"I got her coming back now." I said to everyone.

As soon as our paws were back on dry land, Ben's wolf Axle came trotting up to us. He was sniffing all over her. She cowered down still shaking from fear. It wasn't until Axle started licking her face softly that it all clicked. She was his mate.

"We need to get her back to the pack house Ben." I said.

"Tell this big fluffy ass that! I'm trying!" Ben said back and Maddox let out a snort which got Axle's attention.

Axle got the she-wolf to stand back up and we made a circle around her with Alpha Nik's wolf in front, Axle, and Maddox on each of her sides, and dad's wolf behind her, with the rest of the warriors flanking us. We made our way back to the pack house, while the warriors that were on border patrol resumed their duties.

The pack doctor, Becka, was already waiting for us by the time we arrived. Normally wolves don't care about nudity, but for the she-wolf's sake nobody shifted until we were inside. Becka held the door open for all 5 of us and Alpha Nik's wolf led the way to the infirmary. Once we got to the door, Axle nodded his head to tell the she-wolf to enter and nuzzled his snout on the side of her face for reassurance. Becka followed her in and when the door closed we all took off towards spare rooms to get clothes and shift back. We all met back up by the infirmary door and waited for Becka to come back out.

The sun had already risen and we had all nodded off waiting for Becka. It was the sound of the door clicking shut that had all of us jumping up.

"Doc is she ok? What's wrong with her? Is she going to be ok?" Ben started in with the 50 questions.

Becka chuckled, "Relax, she's going to be just fine." That's when she turned to Alpha Nik. "She is severely dehydrated and malnourished. I would like to keep her under watch for at least the next 48 hours."

"Can she stay here at least?" Ben pleaded.

"Yes Ben. That's perfectly fine. There is no need to transfer her to the pack hospital…yet." She added that last part softly.

"Yet?!! What's that supposed to mean?!" Ben was losing his shit now.

"It just means that if she doesn't show any signs of improvement within the next 48 hours, then we might have to transfer her, until then she can remain here. I will stop by every few hours or so to check on her." Becka said.

Alpha Nik nodded and thanked her and before anybody could say anything else Ben was taking off towards her door.

"Ben hold up a minute." Ben stopped in his tracks and turned around, "She is sleeping right now and she is very weak. Please do not disturb her too much. You can see her, but do not try to wake her. She needs rest right now."

Ben nodded and then proceeded to slowly open the door and go in. Becka and Alpha Nik and dad were all huddled around talking and I decided to go in and check on the she-wolf and Ben. I softly knocked on the door and then opened it and stuck my head in. When I saw Ben wave me in, I stepped in and then softly closed the door behind me.

"Have you ever seen her before?" Ben asked staring at her.

"No I haven't. I don't recognize her." I replied.

"I was hoping maybe you saw her on campus when you went to school or something I guess." Ben shrugged.

"Hey, she's going to be ok. With you by her side now, she'll heal faster." I was trying to reassure him but I wasn't sure if it was working.

"I'm not leaving until she wakes up and I know she's ok." Ben whispered.

"Doc said she's going to be fine. Relax." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Easy for you to say." Ben muttered.

"Excuse me? Seriously? My mate is halfway around the world being held hostage and I'm getting notes threatening her life! So no, it's not easy for me to say!" I tried to reign my anger in. I knew he was just talking shit due to the circumstances.

"How do you do it Gunner?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"You know. The mate thing. You knew before she did that she was your mate and when she finally did find out she ran and you lost her. How do you deal with that?" He looked up at me and I was pretty sure I saw tears in his eyes.

"Knowing that I will see her again. Knowing that I am fighting every day to get her back and not giving up. You have to be strong Ben. For her. She needs you the most right now." I answered back and Ben just nodded his head.

"I'm going to head home and try to grab a couple hours of sleep. I will fill you in on the note and everything else later when you're ready…" I was trying to leave the room when Ben stopped me.

"Note? What?" Ben asked.

"Don't worry about that right now. You need to focus on your mate. I will update you when you're ready." I said offering him a small smirk.

Ben just nodded and then went back to staring at his mate laying on the hospital bed. I walked out of the room and dad and Alpha Nik were still standing around talking. I told them I was going to go try to get a few hours of sleep and that I needed to speak with Charlie later today. Our timeline for attack just got moved up. I could only hope that my mate would connect with me soon so I could inform her of it.

"What if we try to connect with her?" Maddox asked as we were walking home.

"I don't know if it will work. Lycan and werewolf bonds are different." I said

"It's worth a try right?" Maddox asked.

"I guess you're right. Worst case, it doesn't work." I shrugged my shoulders.

Once I got home, I took another quick shower to get the dirt off me from the woods. I through on a pair of shorts and flopped on my bed. Knowing that my mate was in Scotland, I knew now that they were about 7 hours ahead of the time here so I looked at my clock and saw that it was 8:29am which meant it was 3:29pm over there.

I wasn't sure on how to connect with my mate since she was the one that always connected with me first. So I laid there in bed, and just concentrated on her. Her voice, her scent, the way she looked, just everything about her. What happened next, had to of been a dream but it was so real.

We were in a field and I saw her standing there smiling at me. She was wearing her famous torn up jeans, boots, and a cut off t-shirt. A soft breeze blowing her beautiful long hair behind her, her scent invading my nose. I started walking towards her and she came running at me and jumped in my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist. I held her for what seemed like forever. I never wanted to let her go.

"Is it really you?" I heard her whisper in my neck.

"I guess I should be asking you that." I chuckled.

She picked her head up to look at me. Oh how I've missed those sparkling emerald eyes of hers.

"How is this possible?" She asked.

"I don't know and I don't care at the moment. Last I knew I was laying in my bed thinking of you trying to connect with you. I needed to share some information with you." I said never breaking eye contact with her.

"I know I'm passed out. There's been a lot going on that I wanted to share with you also." She said. She wrapped her arms around my neck tightly again and I couldn't help but squeeze her around her waist.

I felt her start to let her legs go so I softly placed her back down on her feet and then we sat down and then we started updating each other on everything since the last time that we talked. Once we had shared everything, we started coming up with a plan. Whatever realm we were in, it's like it knew exactly what we needed when we needed it.

As we were talking about the plan, my mate made a comment about needing pencil and paper to write this down, although I wasn't sure how it would help because it's not like the paper would travel with us after we woke up. This was just all a dream right? We had wrote down everything and I was copying hers when her head snapped back to look behind us.

"What is it?" I asked looking back to see what she was looking at but I didn't see anything.

"I don't have much time. I'm going to wake up soon, I can feel it." She said looking down at the papers we had scattered everywhere.

"Then if that's the case…" I embraced her in one last hug. "I will bring you home, and when I do, I'm never letting you out of my sight."

"Please get the plan to everybody helping you Gunner. We need to get a move on. Please let me know when to expect the first boat. I will connect with you every chance I get, I promise!" She said.

Just as I started to feel her lips on my cheek, it softly faded and I realized I was holding air. I looked around and didn't see her. Damn it! Then I felt something on my leg and I looked down. It was our notes and the plans. I gathered them up and then started walking. What else was I going to do at this point.