***Conlan's POV***

"Well?" I urged Theo to explain. His face was banged up pretty bad. One of his eyes was swollen shut. Moments earlier we found this punk by the Jeep wondering what happened to us.

"We were worried to death." James was angry. I think I would've been too if I hadn't been through the emotional roller coaster from hell previously today. "We couldn't reach you. You had just been medically released and then you disappeared, and then-"

"He gets it. Now let him talk." I interrupted James.

James and I looked at him. Theo took his time gathering his thoughts.

"I was on my way." He shook a little as he made a fist. "Then I noticed that a few of the pack members started to act weirdly. I don't even think they knew I was there." Theo paused, apparently searching for the right words. "They.... No, I followed them. I'm sorry but I had to." His words rushed out of him as his gaze locked with mine. Guilt evident in his amber eyes.

"Go on." I urged him again.

"It was a few words that got my curiosity going. They were talking about Zara. Some stuff about her mom and her mom's dad, who I guess was their previous Alpha before Alpha Patrick." He breathed in and out, trying to calm himself. "They said some horrible, horrible things. As it was part of our mission here to find Alpha Bryce's mate Ingrid I followed them down to what I assume was a training area to learn more. They said that Ingrid, Zara's mother, got what she deserved. She failed to save her father and then in grief slept with Alpha Patrick who had been pinning for her since they were kids. That's how Zara came to be." Sadness etched his young face. "They kicked her out of the pack for it and called her terrible names." There was a brief pause as his tone lowered. "Poor Zara. She's a rogue because of these people. Zara should have been in a pack and trained to be the next Alpha. But instead she's a rogue and grew up in E.T. Which to them is also a derogatory term. They laughed when they said it was perfect for Zara because she's an 'Extraterrestrial.' So," he smirked. "I helped them realize that they were wrong and a bunch of idiots for bad mouthing Zara and our Alpha's true mate."

"Then what took you so long to show your new mug?" I asked, eyeing him up and down in mock suspicion. A ghost of a smirk threatened to play on my lips. Truth was that I was secretly proud of this young one.

"Well, I kinda got lost." Theo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Then I started to freak out when I couldn't mindlink, and then next thing I know I'm in some kind of earthquake. You guys have no idea how freaked I was, okay. I'm talking like a little girl shrieks." He confessed.

This time I had to grin to suppress a chuckle.

"Don't you dare laugh." James commanded.

"This still doesn't explain how we couldn't mindlink each other." James pointed out.

"I can answer that." Rolland emerged from the shadows. So quiet. He definitely has some skills. "Remember the path to the cells?" I nodded. "Well, there are secret passageways beyond that. I took you down one, and Theo followed some members down one we keep open most of the time. As a safety measure, this pack house was built to keep the wolves inside as safe as possible. This territory is rife with rogues. The Thorne Alpha family built this house using pure silver in the lower levels. With so much silver it's impossible to mindlink those who are above the lower level. In addition to that, there is a toxic silver leak in the walls. Fine mists of silver also inhibit mindlink communications. Our pack found it beneficial though, as we are now less grievously affected from weapons or poisons made from silver."

"Are you going to spill all of our secrets son?" Ronald walked in smirking. His face freshly shaved and his hair trimmed. The suit he was wearing looked very expensive, but not odd on him at all. Rolland nearly ran up to him.

"Dad. You look good." Unshed tears moistened Rolland's eyes. Father and son embraced in a touching hug. An old ache throbbed in my chest as I watched them. From what I've gathered about my short time here in this pack house has been that Alpha Patrick was a blind idiot. Edith abused her position and created her own faction that locked up those who opposed them. It's been awhile since Ronald was a free man, if I were a good judge.

"How is Zara doing?" Rolland asked.

I didn't care for him asking the question and I couldn't explain why.

"She just fell asleep." I answered curtly. "We will leave immediately."

"You can't just take her." He almost shouted in challenge. "She belongs-" Ronald's arm came across his son's chest to hold him back. They exchanged a look before he turned and stormed off.

"Sorry about my son." Ronald stated. "But the situation is this." He paused to look at James and I each in the eye. "We no longer have an Alpha. No Beta. And Zara has support here." The gentleman put up his hand and closed his eyes when I was about to interrupt him. "But what we will do is wait. We'll wait for Zara to come back." Both relief and worry filled me. It was so strange. Relieving that I didn't need to fight them, but also worrisome that I never wanted Zara to come back here. I sighed internally because I knew that I didn't have the right to keep Zara from her rightful place as the next leader of this pack.

"As a token of good faith, I'll arrange for the pack house to be repaired as well as the roads. King Zachariah will want to make sure that this pack is taken care of now, especially since it has been through so much recently. The matter of succession will be brought to his attention and dealt with in time." With that I bowed and left with James and Theo trailing behind.

Once outside of the pack house I got an incoming call from Alpha Bryce.

"Alpha." I answer.

Silence stretched on as I stood silently on the line. The tension was so tight. There was so much to say and decided that I needed to wait patiently for him to ask questions.

"Did you find her?" He finally asks.

"If you are referring to the rogue, then yes I have. If you are referring to the 'other' matter then I think it's best I continue that topic in person."

"Is that so." Bryce simply stated. "So it's true that the witches wanted a rogue with a forced mark from the Rogue King?"

"There is much to debrief. Essentially, yes. But there is one problem though that needs to be taken care of before I can report back." I comment.

"And that is?" He prompted.

"The kidnapped witch's house needs to be destroyed. It was left untouched while the entire street was burned magically to the ground." For some reason I felt guilty wanting to destroy that witch's home.

"Wrap it up then. I'll schedule a debriefing upon your return."

***

"Hey witch. Wake up." I tried to wake Zara's witchy aunt. "Hazel. Wake up now." I groaned louder. She was still soundly sleeping while she made odd noises in her sleep. If I try to wake her any louder or rougher I might wake Zara. Both of them were in the backseat. Hazel had laid Zara on top of her so that she could sleep more comfortably even though she was gagged and bound. It was enough torture for one day for me to see the shell of the Zara left behind a wall of madness. Theo was also passed out in the Jeep next to James.

James and I exchanged a look. "Try again." He shrugged.

"Hazel." I called in a normal voice. Nothing. "Hazel." I said a bit louder. Frustrated and tired I called a third time. "Witch!"

Zara's brows furrowed. Slowly she opened her eyes. 'Damn it.' In the mirror we made eye contact. Her expression was a mixture of recognition before it fell into despair. Water gathered along the rims of her thick eye lashes as she tried to suppress her oncoming sobs. Obviously the moments leading up to need to be gagged and bound replayed in her mind. In seconds the damn broke as well as my resolve to be indigent. Without looking away she tilted her head slightly and tried to say something through the gag over and over. It now seems that Zara was back, but completely broken.

My heart was shattering. Karr's whines rang in my ears as he urged me to do something to make her stop. I did the only thing I wanted to do, hold her. While making my way out of the truck and getting to her side it felt right and wrong, but mostly right. She snuggled into my embrace. Sobs etched in pain muffled even further as she buried her wet face into my chest. The knot behind her head was taking forever to come undone. Earlier, I was so angry and spiteful that I made the knot for the gag just plain ridiculous.

Once off, she opens and closes her jaw in an effort to ease the pain. "I'm sorry." She repeated quietly with her voice cracking almost every other word as she sobbed. My hand gently found her face and feathered my thumb along her cheek. The action forced her to look at me. We held that connection for what seemed seconds or minutes in complete silence. Not an awkward silence, or even a comfortable one, but rather a type of silence that one endures during a death of someone else's loved one.

"Are you better now?" I ask. She nods with even more tears in her eyes.

"Conlan." James tone low with concern. "I'm not sure what you're up to but I'd like to get this over with so that we can make some time."

"You're right. We need to finish this quickly." I respond. A long sigh escaped and Zara took a quick look in James's direction before looking back at me. She created a breadth of space between us. The action irked me, and Karr stirred with agitation. Contact with Zara had calmed us so much that I realize now how much it's affected us.

In her eyes I can tell she wanted to ask what is wrong with me. To answer that question I'd have to know the answer first.

"I need your help." I said quickly changing the subject.