Chapter 162 Cold

Chapter 162 Cold

Pete's POV

“Daddy… Daddy…”

My entire body went still.

For one terrifying second, I couldn't even process the voice coming through the phone.

Then I heard him again.

“Daddy, please come.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

“Matt?”

His breathing was uneven. I could hear the little hitch in his voice, the sound he made whenever he was trying desperately not to cry.

“Matt, where are you?”

There was a muffled sound on the other end. Then his voice came again, smaller this time.

“Daddy…”

I gripped the phone tighter against my ear.

“I'm here. I'm listening. Tell me where you are.”

A sob escaped him.

“Daddy, please come.”

My stomach twisted.

“Matt, where's Mommy?”

There was silence.

“Matt?”

I heard something in the background. A movement or a voice. I couldn't tell. Then my son's frightened whisper reached me.

“The bad man has us.”

The call ended.

I stared at the phone and for several seconds, I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. The words kept repeating inside my head.

“The bad man has us.”

No.

My mind rejected it immediately.

No. That wasn't possible.

Diya and Matt were in the hospital and Mike was with them. There were doctors, nurses, security guards…How could someone have gotten to them?

I pressed the call button again but the number didn't connect. I tried again.

“Come on.”

Nothing.

“Come on, damn it!”

I called the number a third time, but the same message came through. Unavailable.

I stared at the screen in disbelief. Then I called Mike. The phone rang.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

But no answer.

My chest tightened.

I called again.

Still nothing.

“Pick up, Mike.”

Another ring.

Nothing.

I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Mike never ignored my calls. Not when he knew I had left him at the hospital.

Not tonight. Not when I had specifically told him to keep his phone on.

I called again.

Nothing.

A terrible thought crawled into my mind. Something had happened. Something had happened to them and I wasn't there.

I suddenly remembered leaving the hospital. The way Diya had looked at me when I told her to stay with Matt, the trust in her eyes, the way her fingers had slipped from mine.

I had promised her I'd be back. I had promised her that I would protect them, and I'd fucking walked away, because the council had summoned me.

My jaw clenched.

“Fuck.”

I called Diya. The phone rang and rang but no answer.

“Please pick up.”

I didn't care that my voice sounded desperate.

“Diya, please.”

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

I could feel panic spreading through my chest, cold and suffocating.

What if she'd been hurt? What if Matt had been taken? What if the person who had called me had been standing right there with them?

My mind immediately returned to the voice I'd heard in the background.

The bad man has us.

Who was the bad man?

Dimon? Richard? Someone working for my mother?

The possibilities came at me so quickly that I couldn't hold on to any of them.

“Alpha?”

The driver's voice barely registered.

I looked up.

“Drive faster.”

“I am, Alpha.”

“Faster.”

He pressed harder on the accelerator.

I leaned back, but there was no comfort in the seat. My entire body was tense, my fingers curling and uncurling against my thighs as I stared through the windshield.

Every second felt like a betrayal.

The hospital was only minutes away, but it felt like an eternity.

I called Mike again.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

I called Diya.

Nothing.

My hand shook as I lowered the phone.

“Goddess…”

I closed my eyes.

Please. Not Matt. Anyone but my son.

He had already been through too much. He had spent months fighting to get better. He had endured pain that no five-year-old should ever have known. He had already been forced to deal with adults, threats, fear and things he shouldn't even have understood. And now someone had him.

My son.

My little boy.

I opened my eyes.

“No.”

The word came out like a promise.

“I'm coming.”

The hospital finally appeared ahead and relief hit me for half a second. Then almost immediately, fear swallowed it. Because I still didn't know what I was going to find.

The car had barely slowed near the entrance when I pushed the door open.

“Alpha!”

I ignored the driver and jumped out and ran inside. My shoes struck the polished floor as I raced through the entrance.

People turned to look at me, a nurse stepped aside and someone called my name, but I didn't hear them. All I could think about was Matt…Matt and Diya.

I reached their corridor and stopped.
The hospital looked normal. That was the first thing that frightened me.
There were no alarms, no screaming, no doctors rushing around or even security officers running through the corridor.

A nurse walked past carrying a tray, two people stood near the reception desk talking quietly and somewhere down the hall, a monitor beeped steadily.

Everything was normal. Too normal.

My breathing became shallow.

If someone had taken my family, why wasn't anyone reacting?

I ran faster and Matt's room came into view.

The door was closed.

I stopped in front of it.

My heart was beating so violently that I could feel it in my throat. For one second, I was afraid to open it. Because some part of me already knew that whatever was waiting on the other side would change everything.

I pushed the thought away.

“Matt?”

No answer.

I opened the door.

“Matt?”

The first thing I saw was the bed.

It was empty. The blanket was pulled back slightly, as though someone had climbed out of it in a hurry.

My eyes immediately searched the room.

Diya wasn't there and Matt wasn't there.

“Diya?”

Nothing.

I stepped inside.

“Matt?”

Still nothing.

Then I saw the blood.

My gaze dropped.

A dark pool had spread across the floor. And beside it…Mike.

He was lying on his side, one hand pressed weakly against his abdomen while blood soaked through his clothes. For a moment, my mind refused to understand what I was seeing.

No.

No, no, no.

“Mike!”

I rushed toward him and dropped to my knees.

“Mike!”

His body was frighteningly still.

I grabbed his shoulder.

“Mike, look at me.”

Nothing.

I shook him harder.

“Mike!”

My hands were already trembling.

I pressed my fingers against his neck.

There.

A pulse.

Weak.

But there.

I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

“Thank Goddess.”

I looked at the blood again. There was so much of it.

My stomach turned.

“What happened?”

Mike didn't respond.

I looked around the room desperately, as though Diya or Matt might suddenly appear from somewhere, but they didn't.

The room was eerily quiet, their things were still there. Matt's little jacket was hanging over the chair, his toy was beside the bed and Diya's bag was still on the small table. Everything they had left behind was exactly where it had been.

Except them. They were gone.

I looked back at Mike.

“Who did this to you?”

His eyelids moved.

“Mike?”

His eyes opened slightly, but his gaze was unfocused, his breathing shallow.

I leaned closer.

“Mike, listen to me.”

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

“Where are they?”

His eyes shifted toward the empty bed.

“Where is Diya?”

Nothing.

“Where is my son?”

His lips trembled.

I grabbed his hand.

“Mike, please.”

My voice broke.

“I need you to tell me where they are.”

His eyes finally met mine and fear flashed across his face. And that frightened me more than the blood, because Mike wasn't easily frightened.

He tried to speak again.

“Alpha…”

“I'm here.”

His fingers tightened weakly around mine.

“They…”

He swallowed painfully.

I leaned closer.

“Who?”

His eyes closed for a moment.

Then he whispered,

“They took them.”

Something inside my chest shattered.

I stared at him.

My son was gone and my mate was gone. And I had been sitting in that council chamber while it happened.

My blood ran cold.

Then my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I froze.

Slowly, I pulled it out and the screen lit up.

Unknown Number.

My heart stopped again.