Chris' POV
Ivy was a blubbering mess by the time we reached our room and I picked her up in my arms, cradling her as one would a child.
"Hush, now," I murmured softly before sinking into the bed with her in my arms.
She shook her head, burying her face into my chest. I hated that she was hurting like this. And over what? Something that wasn't even her fault.
"Ivy, it's not your fault any of that happened, love. No one knew how that chemical would act," I said to her, wiping the tears off her face with my hand. To be honest, it was frustrating she would even think of something like that. She was only trying to help, we all were. Had someone else found that chemical, they would've tried to help too.
"I know. I was trying to help but now it's all spoiled and he's going to die. I just... I wish I could've done something else. I hate that I've disappoint
Ivy's POV After Chris left to go for his meeting, I decided to go downstairs to the infirmary to check up on how Harper and Fred were doing. I knew they wanted some alone time but I couldn't help but worry. Promising myself that I would only pop in for a quick visit and not disturb them any longer, I opened the door and walked inside. "Hey," I said, waving rather awkwardly at the pair, not knowing what else to say. Harper gave me a small, barely there, exhausted smile. "Hey, Ivy." "How are you feeling, Fred?" "Not well," Fred admitted, grimacing a little as he shifted. The man seemed to have shrunk to half his size within a few hours. I nodded in understanding. The chemical must have been wearing off by now. "So, uh, have you guys decided on what to do next?" "Yeah," Harper said, looking at Fred. &n
Chris' POV "One thing we know for sure is that these vampires can not go out during the day. So any attacks are going to happen during the night. It's the nights where we need to be more vigilant," I said to the other Alphas who nodded in agreement. "Yes," said Alpha Luther. "We will have to take measures accordingly to ensure that no vampire enters into our pack during the night. We will have to put in check posts at every entrance to the pack borders so they aren't able to at least come in directly." "And we can set up traps for them in all the jungle routes to stop them from coming in through there," Alpha Bruno chimed in. I nodded. "And even after this if there's stil
Ivy's POV When I woke up, I felt groggy, too weak to do anything. It was the same feeling I'd had when I had been injected with that drug-herb concoction when that huge man had tried to attack me in our room. My brain felt too fogged up to think or do anything at all. I groaned a little, trying to open my eyes. Even an act as simple as that took herculean effort on my part. Once I had managed to pry my eyes open, I let my eyes adjust to the dim light wherever I was. A quick glance upward told me that the only light in the room was coming from a small bulb hanging overhead. Groaning again, I moved my eyes around, realising that I was sitting on a chair. No, I was actually tied to a chair and a metallic one at that if I wasn't mistaken. I knew without having to try that my entire body had been paralysed just like before, including my tongue and head. I couldn't speak no matter how much I tried to
Chris' POV It had been a total of four hours since I realised Ivy was missing. Fred was dead. He died two hours later of multiple organ failure due to DIC. The only upside was that his death wasn't as painful as that of the others who had died because of the venom. He had been lucid till the last and the best part was that he had at least gotten a chance to say his goodbyes to everyone. Harper, despite knowing he was going to die, was inconsolable after his death, crying uncontrollably and refusing to leave his body alone. Her friends supported her as much as they could but she was still a mess. It was understandable. Her whole world had collapsed. What was left of my council members were devastated, too. So was I, having lost a gem of a person to this venom. Not that I wanted to undermine his death, but what I was more devastated over was Ivy's disappearance.
Ivy's POV Whatever they had injected me with seemed pretty strong this time around. A few hours in, I could speak almost normally but I couldn't do any magic or move even a single muscle. It was as frustrating as it was scary. I didn't know what these people, whoever they were, had planned for me. They could end me once and for all for all I knew. Given the state I was in, I wouldn't be able to do anything. Or they could keep me imprisoned in here forever like Evan. Neither possibility seemed particularly appealing to me. I sighed to myself, feeling completely useless. This drug, whatever they had given me didn't seem like it was going to wear off any time soon. And no one had come in after that one time even though I'd shouted myself hoarse at least three times already. I wondered what Chris would be doing. Probably going crazy trying to find me. And Fred, was he dead already? I'd been here at
Chris' POV It had been three days since Ivy had gone missing but there was still no sign of her. After having thought long and hard about that warning, I had stopped searching for her openly, calling back all the people who I'd ordered to do various different things in an effort to find her. Then, I'd set up a small team consisting of me, Beta Ryan, Mateo, Julian and two of my most trusted warriors, Trent and Dave. These were the only people I trusted enough to say that they were without a doubt on my side and wouldn't betray me. I'd told them to keep looking for Ivy, only a lot more secretly than we had been doing before. The other Alphas had offered to help but I'd declined their help, telling them to go back and look after their packs instead. They all might not have liked Ivy too much but they knew what it was like to loose your mate, even if it was temporarily and had been more than willin
Ivy's POVIt had been five days since I'd been brought here. I knew because that was how many times those good for nothing goons had taken Evan with them to his bed to sleep. So far, they had injected me twice more, which meant that whatever drug they had come up with stayed active for forty eight hours at the most. And I'd been fed a total of four times since I'd been here.But none of these things had been as frustrating as the fact that their master hadn't been here to see me once ever since I'd arrived. Worse still was that he had trained his minions well. They never said more than what was strictly necessary no matter how much I shouted at or insulted them."Ivy?" Evan called out to me.It had been at least a day since I'd been injected so I could at least speak now. "Yes, Evan?""Where is your mate? You said that he would come get us. But it has be
Ivy's POV"I'm here to get you out.""Mom?" I gasped. I'd know that voice even in my dreams. How did she even find us?"Yes, dear, just a second though while I take care of this imbecile," I heard her voice reply but I couldn't see her just yet.Then, within seconds something whizzed past my head before embedding itself into Elder Nigel's midriff. It took me a moment to realise the rather familiar looking dart injection. It was the same one I'd seen with which the venom had been injected into the victims, only this one could be used as a dart and could hence be injected from a distance.I gasped as Elder Nigel fell to the floor at once, both shocked and terrified over what was happening."Oh, my boy, my beautiful, beautiful boy," I heard my mom all but coo behind me.Evan. So she had known that Evan w