Chapter 18
Conrad POV
Jace is growling furiously inside me while I try to contain him. “That bastard better get his hands off our mate if he wants to keep them”.
He’s not wrong. When he moved her to shield her from us, I just about lost control until Liam jabbed me in the ribs and reminded me where I was.
Arthur looks at Eve and I can tell there is bad news coming. “There something I need to tell you. The royal soilders found her during the raid”.
Her face quickly went pale, and she froze as she got a look of pure determination in her eyes. “Where is she?”.
“The small pack house on the eastern edge of the compound. The one with the red door”.
She spun around and took off running. I immediately took off after her. Even at full pelt, I could barely keep up.
I could see Liam follow with the ladies in a golf cart behind us. We use them to get around the pack as they run on batteries, meaning no pollution. They are also convenient for our older wolves to get around the territory.
She slowed down as we got near a house with a red door. She ran in, and I caught up as she stood in the living room. She was frozen still. There by the fire was the old she-wolf we had found in the dungeons at Blood Moon pack. She was sitting in a big, cushioned armchair and just staring into the fire.
There was another she-wolf standing in the room who seemed to know what was going on and just patted her on the arm and left to wait outside. Lewana starts to approach her when Liam and the ladies come inside as well. Lewana touches the old lady's face and starts to talk softly. The old lady doesn’t even register the touch.
“Hi. Do you remember me? I’m sorry I left. Please talk to me. Mother, please”.
We all look at Lewana in shock, who is now crying in to the lap of her mother who doesn’t even register there is someone else in the room let alone her daughter crying on her lap.
“We found her in the pack dungeons. The medics cleared her, but said the psychological damage was too much, so we just need to care for her the best we can and make sure she is no longer in pain”. I’m trying to be as comforting as possible, but it doesn’t seem to be helping her.
“17 years,” she says at the end of her sob.
“What?”.
“She survived down there for 17 years”. She turns to look at us. Her eyes were full of water, and they glistened in the light of the fire. “I should have gotten her out. I should have known she was still down there. I should have ….. “
I crouched down before her and gently lifted her chin so her eyes meet mine. “No, you couldn’t off. You weren’t even 13 when you escaped. It took 4 soldiers and military equipment to get into that dungeon. There was nothing you could have done. None of this is on you. The blame solely lies with Alpha Blake for putting her there”.
“She was only down there because of me”. She tries to break eye contact, but I don’t let her.
“You were down there with her, weren’t you? That’s why you were so injured when the humans found you. How many of those years did she spend with you down there?”.
“Five of them”. She starts uncontrollably sobbing in her mother's lap while I just rub her back, trying to give any comfort I can.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry”.
She starts to notice the crowd gathering outside and I can see Arthur through the window. She gets up and goes over to him and cry’s on his shoulder as he hold's her tight. When it’s dark she comes back into the house and checks on her mother, who had fallen asleep in the chair.
We head back to the house in silence, and the ladies all go to their room. I hope she could sleep tonight and that she isn’t woken by nightmares of her past.