Taking a few steps back away from the couple I tried not to think of what he could be doing to her. Travis didn't need to tell me who it was. There was only one that would push me far enough by taking my mate and using her to bait me, others would have already killed her. "George," Reynolds said as he turned towards me. "Sire, Queen Charlotte's scent continues past the barn, do you want to follow it?" A tracker runs back into the clearing where we were settled, already slightly out of breathe. "How far away is she?" I ask dismissing Travis and his mate. "Over an hour sire." "Ryder, there are rebels attacking the castle." Reynolds says softly. Growling I pull at my hair. "If he is using her as a distraction, he won't have many men with him. With the other Alpha's and their warriors they should still be out numbered. We need to find Lottie before he hurts her." Two hours and we were still following Lottie's scent. I couldn't feel her yet but I could sense that we were getting closer, my wolf was calling to her. "Ryder?" Opening my eyes I see that Reynolds is leant forward in his seat his chest rising and falling rapidly. "The trackers have found her. She's unconscious but alive. There are only two she wolves with her." He takes a deep gulp before he says the next thing. "She's suspended from the roof. Do you want them to get them down or wait for you?" A growl left my throat at the image of what he had just told me. "Tell them to make sure she's comfortable." My eyes were beginning to sting as I fought back tears. I couldn't cry but I couldn't stand the thought of losing Lottie. The location where her scent stopped was a small shingled house and as soon as I stepped out of the car I was overwhelmed by the strong tangy smell of Lottie's blood and a lot of it. There were only ten warriors positioned around the small residence but even they were tense with the smell that claimed the area. I couldn't breathe without feeling it in the back of my throat. George's scent was gone and Lottie was my only worry at the moment I quickly moved up the few steps and threw open the door. I nearly collapsed at the sight of seeing Lottie on the floor. She was laid on her stomach with her head in one of the she wolves laps. The span of her back, arms and legs was coated in blood from where her skin had been shredded. There was too much blood for her to still be breathing but she still released strangled breathes. She was almost naked, her shirt had been torn from her body and her bra and jeans were in tatters from where he had cut into her skin. "Lottie," I whisper as I slide into the position the she wolf was in. "Its okay baby, I'm going to take you home." Carefully I pulled her up into my arms, pressing her chest that was clear of any cuts to mine. She was cold and when I feel her against me, I don't feel the familiarity of the electric shocks. Our connection was still broken and I was ready to rip off George's head. Reynolds sat in the front seat of the car while Cyrus, Charlie and Theo all shifted to run along the side of the car. Gently I laid Lottie on to her stomach as Riley settled into the seat across from us. She gulped as her eyes moved over the shredded remains of her skin. "I can't feel the bond. My wolf keeps trying to heal her, but we can't feel her." Riley meets my eyes her hand over the back of Lottie's legs that are dripping blood into the material of the car seat. Gently Riley lifts her arm and looks at the inside of Lottie's arm. "There's a small puncture wound on the inside of her arm, he mostly likely drugged her but I can't tell with what until I can do a blood test." Riley started to work on all the cuts be cleaning them up first and stripping her of everything but her underwear. She cried in pain every time that Riley cleaned inside the cuts, her hand gripped my shirt as she made painful noises that pulled at my heart. When we get to the castle I see that some of the warriors were cleaning up the bodies of the dead rebels. Reynolds had already reported to me that it was only a small group of rebels but they still managed to do some damage to the castle. We rushed Lottie to the hospital wing and every time I watched Riley stitch the large gashes of Lottie's skin I resist crashing her to the ground for the pain she was causing my mate. If I did that though I would be removed from the room and with the connection between us lost I didn't want to let her out of my sight. Riley recommended I mark her again to see if it bonded the connection again. She screamed in pain when I did but I held her still until I felt my saliva moving into her, connecting her to me but I felt something rejecting it. "She's to rest." Riley says bandaging up the last of Lottie's arm. "You can put her in a bra that will cover her but make sure it's not tight around her back, nothing else. I'll check on her in a few hours but as soon as the bond is back she will heal fine but she might scar a little where he's cut deep into her muscle." I nod my head at her but I keep my eyes on Lottie as I push my hand through her hair. Riley left the room leaving her vibes of worry behind. She was trained to keep a straight face when a patient was in the best position but she couldn't hide her fears from me. Lottie should have been dead from the amount of blood she lost and was still losing. She was still breathing though and until that stopped all I had was hope. She wanted to be the mother of our children and I wasn't going to lose her now. Carefully I pulled her into my arms, pressing her chest to mine and placing her head on my shoulder. Covering her with the blanket I walk out of the room and instantly all the guys surround me, Reynolds standing the closet as he looks at Lottie over my shoulder. When we reached the top floor my eyes moved to the double doors a little down the hallway. Behind those doors was our trashed room and I couldn't take her in there so instead I turned to the other double doors on my left that lead to my childhood bedroom. Reynolds was the only one that followed me into the common area that attached to the four bedrooms. He gave me a long look before he nodded at me and settled into the lounge. He wasn't going to leave the room until Lottie was awake and I admired him for having that relationship with my mate. He'd always protect her and she'd always trust him. Shouldering open the door to my old room I swallow deeply. I'd always dreamed of bringing her back to this room when I was younger. What it would feel like to have her in my arms after I had to deal with my father telling me what to do all day. Gently I manoeuvred Lottie so I could rest her on her stomach. Instead of finding a bra for her I just run my hand over the thin bandage that rested on top of the irritated skin as I lay down next to her. "I'm going to make sure you're okay." I whisper stroking my hand back through her hair. I growl when Reynolds pushes the door open after a single knock. "Her parents are demanding to see her." He says holding the door tight to his body. Lottie's parents were very involved in her lifenow, though she didn't know that. Pushing up from the bed I get up ready todeal with her mother's wrath for putting her daughter in danger. Again, she'dtell me. They tried to keep her away from it and I'd bought her right back into it.