“Fuck!” He fell to his knees. Blood mingled with the sweet scent of his mate. Very gently he rolled the man to lie on his back. His mate’s body went willingly. Rage pumped in his veins when he caught the first sight of his mate’s beautiful face. It looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to it then used the bat on his body. “Baby, can you hear me?” He brushed his mate’s hair off his forehead, trying to rouse the man.
“Does he have a pulse?” Seth knelt down next to him and placed his fingers on his mate’s neck. Jake resisted the urge to growl at Seth. The man only wanted to help. “I can feel it. It’s strong. He must just be sleeping. Damn someone really did a number on him.”
“Where’s his brother?” Holden asked.
“You can’t possibly think his brother did this to him?” Jake couldn’t believe that. He had two brothers of his own and no matter how mad they got at one another they would never take it so far as to harm the other.
“Casper,” his mate said weakly. “I need to find Casper.”
Jake pulled his mate close to him and rested the man’s head in his lap. “We will but we need to help you first.”
The sound of his voice must have startled him. His mate propped up and crab walked until his back hit the far wall. “Stay away from me.” One eye was swollen shut and the other bloodshot as he stared at Jake.
“It’s okay.” Jake softened his tone. “We’re the men from the other day.” He paused for a brief moment, giving the man the opportunity to remember. “I swear we’re not here to hurt you but we need to know what happened.”
“Th–th–they came and took him,” his mate stuttered.
“Who’s they?” Seth asked.
“Our alpha.” His mate’s eyes darted from him to Seth. “I have to get him back.”
“We will.” Jake reached out his hand then quickly pulled it back, thinking better of it. He didn’t want to frighten him more than he already had. “Can you tell us what happened here?”
* * * *
Carl tried to piece together what had taken place. His head hurt like hell and he couldn’t see out his right eye. Every time he blinked his one good eye pain shot through his face. If he felt this bad he could only image what he looked like.
“Kid, what happened?”
Carl’s head snapped up as he looked at the visitors from the previous day. The man, who he had shot, Jake, squatted down in front of him with sad eyes racking over his face. As he gazed into Jake’s bright-green eyes the fear he felt started to drift away. He couldn’t explain it but he knew deep down Jake wouldn’t hurt him. The man had kind eyes and kindness had been something Carl hadn’t experienced much of in the past three years.
“Baby, please talk to me. Why would your alpha do this to you?” Jake whispered and Carl found himself leaning forward to try and capture the warmth coming from the man.
Did he just call me baby? Carl’s brain snapped back to attention at that one word. He pushed away from the man and overcompensated the distance between the back of his head and the wall and slammed against the unforgiving surface. Stars flashed behind his clenched eyelids.
That word brought back to many bad memories. Tobias had called him that.
Stop! Jake isn’t like him. Carl willed himself to relax.
But how do you know? A little voice in his head whispered a warning and it was right. He needed to keep his guard up if he was going to find his brother.
“Get away from me now,” he growled at Jake. Carl didn’t know him and he could be just like his alpha, wanting something from Carl that he wasn’t willing to give.
“I’m just trying to help you,” Jake started to explain but Carl didn’t want to hear it and turned his head away. “Us being ma—”
“Jake, now isn’t the time.”
Carl looked at the tall man with blond hair standing in the corner. His eyes held a warning and Jake stopped talking.
“What’s your name?” the dark-haired man who talked to him yesterday asked. “I’m Holden. You remember us, right?”
“Yes, I do.” Carl nodded his head. “My name is Carl.”
“Carl,” Jake said his name real slow and Carl found himself wanting to lean closer to him again but stopped himself.
“Well, Carl, this is Seth.” Holden pointed to the man standing in the corner. “And you remember Jake, he’s the one you shot.” Holden turned his finger to point at Jake. “As you can see he pulled through just fine.”
Holden rested his hand on Jake’s shoulder and Carl could feel a growl rumbling in his chest. He didn’t like Holden touching Jake. But why? There were so many questions and no time for answers.
Carl brought a hand up to his face and used his fingers to feel around his puffy eye.
“We need to get out of here before whoever messed him up comes back,” Seth ordered.
“I can’t leave.” Carl started to panic. “What if Casper gets away and comes back. I need to be here.”
“Listen, kid.” Seth kneeled down next to Holden and Carl felt surrounded by the three men. “I’ve seen your brother, I don’t think he’d be able to overpower anyone.”
Carl had to agree with that assessment. Casper and he had grown thin and weak over the past three years but even more so once they left the alpha’s house.
“Look, we’ll help you find your brother but you need to come with us.” Seth said it as an order.
“But why do you want to help me? What do you want in return?” He had to ask because he’d learned everything came with a price.
“Nothing, Carl.” Jake reached
