Unprotected

Saint-Three Months Later

I watched Cole Van Helsing climb out of the Blackhawk helicopter, shield- ing his eyes as he moved toward me, shaking the snow from his heavy coat. Tat- tooed fingers righted the collar of his jacket, and he smiled upon seeing me. "Van Helsing," 1 announced, running my eyes over the tattoo that covered his brow and his temple to vanish into his hairline. "Kingsley, pleasure as always," Cole said in a heavily accented tone that most women would fawn over. "You are causing quite the issue for us. I hope your mate is worth it," he concluded, nodding at the other helicopters that were coming in as Cole's took off to refuel.

"She is, and I believe she's pregnant with my child," I announced, watching his face pinch with distaste.

"Seems to be in the water lately," he grumbled. "Someone needs to invent some immortal-proof birth control."

"You too, huh?" I asked.

"No, not me." he said in a tone filled with anger. "Rhys is going to be a daddy, but he's rejected his mate and denounced his child. You could do the same and recall that fucking reward you put on her head." "Rhys as a father? I didn't see that cankerous ass ever finding someone he trusted enough to have his offspring."

"No one said anything about trust, and she's a Silversmith."

My body jerked to a stop, turning to look at Cole with wide eyes as shock rushed through me. I didn't need to ask to know Rhys wasn't happy with the predicament. I was old enough and had heard of the war between their blood- lines multiple times. It was a tale of legendary enemies that had fought to de- stroy each other for decades. At one point, the Van Helsing family gathered a group of immortals to murder the Silversmith line. "Fuck," I exclaimed, unable to get much more past my lips.

"Yeah, fuck. Remington is a newborn and isn't even immortal yet. But she carries Rhys's child, sure as shit. Lucky prick ended up with her on Beltane. Magic, pretty women, and a fertility festival, well, it doesn't end in any other outcome than fucked." I shook my head, thinking Rhys and I had more in com- mon than I thought when it came to the women in our lives.

"Anyway, back to your girl, Kingsley. This million-dollar reward has hunters up in arms. Even the sodden pricks at E.V.I.E. are out hunting for any sign of her. It's caused the sanctuary to be overrun by out-of-towners, and Rhys is in danger of declining sanctuary to them. As you know, Van Helsings aren't al- lowed to do that." I signaled toward the lodge, and we began to cross the field to- ward the gates leading up the path. "I should also mention that Carleigh has asked to join the hunt, but she is still awaiting judgment and is not permitted outside of the compound. Given the circumstances, I thought you would want to know."

"Braelyn is carrying my child, and she's never been off this mountain until now. She's alone with her best friend, who we thought was a beta, but we have since learned she is also an alpha. How they ended up paired together, well, who the fuck knows. Our women carry their pregnancies for five to six months, and Braelyn's out there unprotected, Cole. She's my fucking mate." "So you put a bounty on her head? Why not just track her?" he countered, entering the hall where I'd set up a command room since losing Braelyn's trail inside the tunnels.

"Encouragement, plus it stated she must be alive and unharmed." I turned to one of the monitors as the men infiltrated a trafficking ring. I studied the cells, shivering at the memory of being caged in one for entirely too long. "How many have you freed?" Cole asked, watching the same monitor that showed Xari and Xavier entering the screen with their changeling team spread out behind them.

"Too fucking many, and yet never enough. Not until we've freed every one of them from that life," I muttered, nodding at a woman to fill our glasses with whiskey. "I can't stop looking for her, Cole. I have to find her. Braelyn does not know the target that's now painted on her back because of her ties to me. I've more enemies than friends, and while I have very powerful friends, they can't protect her unless we find her. Even if she chose never to come back, I'd feel better with eyes on her."

"You'd let her go?" Cole asked, raising an eyebrow. "No, I wouldn't. I can't. It's not within me to allow Braelyn to live without being at my side. She rejected me, but I can't stomach living without her near me. She's in my soul. I accused her of being involved in her father's trafficking ring because I couldn't prove she wasn't aware of what had been happening here. We didn't know how Harold could smuggle them in and out without the pack knowing. We found out after she'd left that he'd used the tunnels. Inside her mother's crypt is a mass of tunnels, and one of them leads into his fucking private quarters. Harold didn't even have to enter the lodge with his victims be cause he'd built a way to bring them in with no one ever knowing he had them."

"So she may not have been aware after all?" Cole steepled his fingers in front of his mouth, and piercing blue eyes studied me, knowing my answer without me saying it. "Did she say she wasn't part of what had been going on here?"

"Of course she did," I scoffed. "I couldn't take her word for it, Cole, espe- cially after she mentioned the killing fields where we found the buried con- tainers. But she had an excuse for that, too." Sighing, I lifted my glass and downed the contents, pushing it forward to be filled again. "Braelyn rejected me as her mate, which she claimed was to protect me. I'd asked her to run away with me multiple times, to escape her father before he discovered we were mates. She declined every time. Then she destroyed me in front of the entire pack. She denounced our match, saying I'd forced her to believe lust was love. Harold banished my entire crew and me. Only they never let us leave, choosing to sell us to the highest bidder to be fucked and tortured by sick assholes pass- ing us around for entertainment. You know the rest since you helped Xavier free us."

Cole blew out a loud breath, grabbing the glass in front of him. I watched him take a long drink of the whiskey before Xavier spoke into the speaker, an- nouncing they were heading back up the mountain. I deflated, peering up at the men and women escorting the children toward the medivac vans that waited.

"If my torturers figure out that Braelyn is mine, they'll go for her. I can't live with that. I can't stomach the idea of Braelyn being held captive by the same sadistic monsters I'm fighting against," I admitted, turning as Eryx entered the room with files in his hands. "More leads?" I asked, watching his dark head nod before he smiled at Cole, grabbing his hand to yank him up, patting him on the back roughly. "Hey, asshole," Fryx chuckled. "Long time since I saw your ugly face."

"Careful, puppy. If I recall, you called me ugly once before, and I fucked your girlfriend the same night while you fucked her throat."

"She enjoyed it, and it didn't bother me one bit." Eryx shrugged his shoul- ders before he sat, tapping his fingers on the files. "This shit is driving me in- sane. One report says someone saw Brae at the circus, riding a donkey."

"I don't foresee her riding a donkey."

"Nah, not riding," Eryx stated, using his fingers to emphasize his meaning. "Riding the donkey, asshole."

"That shit's kinky, even for you, assholes," Cole laughed, running his finger over his bottom lip.

The doors opened, and Xavier and Xari walked through with Enzo and Ezekiel on their heels. They tossed pictures down on the table, and my stomach clenched, hating that we'd be going through them for signs of who they were and from where they'd been taken.

Since the day Braelyn vanished, we'd started bringing the orphans here for rehabilitation. Brae had left the herbal concoction combination and medicine chart with Jacob, surprisingly, and the pack had helped administer the doses. Well, it had surprised the pack, not me. Braelyn may have been hurt by her pack turning against her, but she didn't want them hurt. That simple action spoke more about her character than anything else she'd done since I had returned.

"How many saved?" Fryx asked, his eyes guarded to shield the painful memories those words stirred. Once upon a time. Cole asked the same question as we stood behind him, with the same crew present.

"Twenty-three, one was too far gone to save," Xariana announced. "Did you find any trace of your Jane Doe there?" I asked, noting Xavier looked paler than usual.

"No, but we found a collection of videos I intend to go through. I can't help but feel like I failed this girl. It's been over a year since there's been any sign of her. I just need to move on and focus on the ones I can save now. The ones that are still alive out there, waiting to be found."

"Speaking of videos," Cole announced. "We raided a compound of shifters a few weeks back. They were heavy into torture and enjoyed watching wolves slaughtered on video. My men came across one that I thought we could watch together. They think this victim was held in the same place you were, Saint, because she called out your name."

"It's possible, but few escaped that bitch's pit when they were placed in there with Eryx or me. Not that I'm bragging, but she pitted us against anyone they put in the pit. They were normally higher on the food chain than we were." I frowned as Cole produced a memory card and slid it to Sian, who had just walked in, his suit on point even though he had no fucking reason to wear one. Zayne smirked, dropping more folders onto the table before I nodded at the card. "Put it in. Let's see if one of us can't identify the girl on the video."

Grabbing the whiskey, I poured everyone a round while Zayne got the feed up on the main screen. Once I'd refilled the glasses, I turned, wincing at the sight that came to life on the monitor. Harold stood beside a victim, his eyes filled with something dark and sinister. The woman was bound, her arms tied above her as he peeled a large piece of skin from her stomach.