Her Brother, Her Mate

Vincent POV

“Hey, have you seen Simone?” I asked Casey as he and his mate went back into the party room.

“Last I saw her she was re-straightening the already straight table cloths because Miss Witch told her to,” Casey responds. He’s got hold of his son by the ankles, carrying him around like a sack of potatoes while Calum laughs hysterically. The kid is much like his father. A little tank.

“I can’t find her. No one has seen her or that horrible shouty woman for half an hour now,” I told him.

“Where was the last place you saw her?” Courtney, Casey’s mate, asks me.

“She went out with that woman to wait for the caterers,” I told her. She looked around confused.

“What caterers?”

I looked around and noticed that no food was out, no uniformed workers setting up the buffets, and looking into the kitchen, I could see it was empty except for the older woman who manages it.

Hurrying towards the kitchen, I looked around again. Are they still waiting for them?

“Ma’am,” I addressed the kitchen manager, head chef, whatever she is, “Have you seen Mary or Simone?”

She shakes her head, “That headache hasn’t come back from outside yet, and Simone was with her if I remember correctly.”

“Okay, thank you.”

I hurried out of the room, Casey and Simon noticing my anxiety and following after me.

“No luck?” Casey asks.

“No. They went outside to get the caterers but never came back in.”

“That was quite a while ago,” Simon said.

“I know,” is all I can mutter, anxiety eating at me since I can’t find Simone anywhere. I felt something strange through the bond for a fleeting second earlier. It was so quick that I wasn’t even sure it was her, the feeling of fear and shock, but now that I can’t find her, my insides feel like they’re lodged in my throat.

“They’re not out here,” Casey says, circling around the looped driveway.

“Did the caterers ever show?” Simon asks.

“I don’t know.”

We jog back into the pack house, all three of us on high alert now, and almost run straight into Jared.

“Have you three seen Mary?” he asks us breathlessly.

Fear. Overwhelming fear overtakes me. “No. She and Simone are both missing,” I told him.

He turns and runs back to the offices, barging into Parker’s, interrupting him and Carli in a very heated embrace on his couch.

“Get out! We’re kind of busy here,” Parker yells, shielding Carli’s half-naked form with his body.

“They’re missing,” Jared panted, hurrying around Parker’s desk and pulling up the surveillance footage on his computer.

“Who?” Carli asks, leaning up, totally unbothered that all us men can see her naked chest.

“Simone and Mary,” I answered her, focused on the footage Jared is pulling up on the screen.

He rewinds the footage for several seconds until we see a black van pulled up next to the curb by the front doors. He stops it right when the van is pulling up, Simone and Mary standing off to the side waiting for it.

“Miguel’s Catering?” I asked, reading the name on the side of the van.

“Do you know of it?” Jared asked me.

I do. The man I had to fire because he was stealing from my businesses is the owner. He was the employee closest to my father, and hated me. Before I can answer, what happens next on the screen has all of us gasping in disbelief. Simone and Mary are being injected with something in the neck while peering into the back of the van, faces full of confusion. Then, they are very roughly thrown in the back of the van, the doors slamming shut as the men come back to the front and drive off.

Jared’s growls shake the entire office and Parker is at his side half a second later. I start to mist, I’m so livid and murderous. It takes everything in me to keep myself whole. I am going to murder Miguel and every traitor he has working for him.

“What? What is it?” Carli asks, righting her shirt and pulling back on her shorts, then coming around the desk to see what has us reacting so violently.

“Simon,” I said his name like a command. He saw the video. He knows what to do. He nods and pulls out his phone, stepping out into the hall to make the call to Lady Delilah. I will be killing many of her subjects today. It’s only polite to inform her beforehand.

“Who is Miguel for Miguel’s Catering?” Parker asks, rewinding the video and watching it again. Miguel isn’t in it, but the two men who were, were working for him already at the time he was fired.

“I fired him not long ago for stealing. He was one of my father’s men and held a grudge after everything that happened that led to my father’s death.”

“Oh, goddess,” Jared plops down in Parker’s chair, devastation written all over his face. “We didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” Carli asks.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“He told us he was friend’s with you, Vincent. He said he watched you grow up. Mary hired him because of that. He started up a conversation with her at that doctor’s office. He was there for the first time and was talking with her while I paid and booked our next session. Mary thought it would be good for the pack and would make Carli proud if she hired a vampire caterer, especially one associated with her friend’s mate. We had no idea.”

“Aiden,” Casey says, “That’s why he was digging into your family, Parker. He was looking for a way into the pack house to get to Simone. s**t!” He turns and punches a hole through the wall. None of us even flinch, all of us feel the same way.

“Do you know where they are? Where this Miguel is? We have to go after them,” Carli asks frantically, leaning over Jared to rewatch the tape again, scanning the screen for any details we may have missed the first few times.

“No. You are not going after anyone, Carli. No way in hell,” Parker pulls her away from the computer.

“That’s my best friend and my mom,” she argues.

“And both of them would rather you not put the pup in your belly in danger. You’re staying here,” Parker commands her.

Her eyes narrow at him and I can see the argument building but Jared’s voice stops her, “You’re pregnant?!”

Neither Parker or Carli respond, both of them in a stare off, a battle of wills ensuing. I don’t have time for this. My Simone, my love, my everything was just taken and I know in my gut that it’s that mad man behind this.

“Carli, you’re staying here. If something happened to that baby because of trying to save either of them, you would never forgive yourself, and neither would they,” Casey tells her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her away from Parker. “If you can’t stay here willingly, Parker needs to command you, because no way are you coming with us.”

“But,” Carli’s eyes started to fill with tears, and the brokenness inside her started to come forward.

If I wasn’t so pissed and in my own downward spiral, I could have helped her, but I’m having a hard time managing my own emotions right now.

“Carli,” Jared stands, coming around his son to stand in front of Carli and bending down so they’re on the same eye level, “We will save your friend. Trust us. They will be no match for 2 alphas, let alone all the other warriors and vampires we have on our side. Saving them will mean nothing if it costs us our Luna or this child,” he places his hand tenderly on her belly, “Please, let us do this, and you stay here. This pack, my son, and all of us need you to stay here and stay safe. If Simone or Mary were here, they would be telling you the same thing.”

Jared lifts his hand and wipes a stray tear from Carli’s cheek. “Save them both,” she whispers in a broken voice. “I,” she bites her l*p hesitantly, “I want mom to have the chance to love this child too.”

He smiles sadly at her, pulling her into an awkward hug. After a few seconds, she throws her arms around his waist and starts sobbing into his chest.

“We’ll bring them both back. I promise you, Carli,” Jared tells her, kissing her on the top of her head and rubbing her back while a few of his own tears escape from his eyes.

Simon pops his head back into the office, “We’re ready, boss,” he tells me.

“Good,” I exited the office, Casey following behind me. Jared is passing Carli over to Parker. His eyes glazed over and I can tell he was mind linking to someone. Probably someone to come stay with Carli while we do what we have to do.

“Did you know?” Casey asked me as we followed behind Simon. Simon is walking towards the front doors where most of the warriors are standing with Matt and Trevor.

“That Carli was pregnant? I did. We have known for a while.”

He nods. Courtney meets him in the foyer and I hear him whisper to her to go to Parker’s office to be with Carli so the alphas can join us.

“What’s the plan?” Matt asked.

My phone rings at that moment, and I pull it out of my pocket to press ignore, but Simone’s name is the name that pops up on the screen.

“Hello? Simone?” I answered frantically, and everyone’s attention snapped to me.

Manic chuckling is the first thing I hear on the other line, “My Mona can’t come to the phone right now. She’s a bit preoccupied.”

“Aiden,” I hissed, venom dripping from my voice. “Where is she? What are you doing with her?”

“Nothing she wouldn’t like. Don’t worry. I’m giving her everything she’s been begging me for.”

Screams break through the line, causing my b***d to pump furiously through my body as I pull the phone away from my ear. I can hear muffled cries in the background and I selfishly hope the cries are Simone’s and not the screams.

“Don’t you f*****g touch her,” I yelled, spit flying from my mouth.

“Oh, it’s not her I’m allowing to be touched right now, but it will be soon. I’m just waiting for you. I’m going to give you an even better show than the one you gave me on your patio all those weeks ago. I’m going to make you watch as I override everything you did to her, and then I’m going to make her watch as I kill you.”

Chills ran up my spine. How sick can one man be?

“Where are you?” I commanded him to tell me. I can’t let him hurt my Simone. I can’t let that evil man touch her. I heard another b***d curdling scream and I knew everyone around could hear it as well.

Jared and Parker walk out of the hallway and when the noise hits them, a broken look takes over Jared’s face and he rushes to my side, shaking in fear. Another scream comes, this time broken off by a gargled cry and he drops to his knees.

“Come alone, or I’ll kill the old b***h and let these men have their way with Mona instead.”

“Where?” I ask. My voice echoes in the foyer, since all is dead quiet, shock at what this man is implying is being done to their former luna.

“The place where your parents met their demise. Seems you have an old friend that wants to honor their memory.” With that he hangs up.

Jared is a broken heap on the floor, his son right beside him trying to hold him together.

“We will save her, dad. She’s going to be okay,” Parker consoles him with tears in his own eyes.

The warriors around us look at their alphas feeling heartache of their own. If he wanted us to hear that being done to Mary to weaken our resolve, it’s working. Everyone looks scared and hesitant at that moment.

“What the f**k are you all staring at? What are you waiting around for? Are you going to let that sick f**k dishonor our pack, our family, our luna and get away with it?!” Casey yells at the men. “Are you going to sit back and let that evil prick do what he wants with our women?!”

The atmosphere changes. Fear is replaced with anger and resolve, growls and snarls filling the once silent space. Bloodlust and carnal rage thicken the air as the wolves start filing out of the packhouse with determination.

“Boss, Lady Delilah is aware and is on her way to assist,” Simon tells me.

“She is coming herself?” I asked. He nods then runs off to retrieve my SUV to load up more warriors.

Casey hands me the key to the motorcycle he has been borrowing from Carli.

“Get there and we will join you shortly after. f*****g save her. Save my sister,” he demands from me.

I’m going to, and I’m going to kill every last one of them.