'Father where are you'

'Dungeons'

I can feel myself grinning like a madman. They have yet to catch Kermit, but seeing as we now have Thomas and John – the traitor, in our grasp I have a feeling we will catch him soon. Rushing down the steps my father is already waiting at the end. I pull him in for a hug, "How's Maya?"

"Um, still not talking. She's eating, and Amber I think is back because she's healing." My lips spread wide yet again, "She actually touched my cheek when I told her I was leaving. Yes, I mean we lay together all the time but it's me who pulls her into my chest and she just doesn't protest. So, baby steps." I muster out and Jax nods in agreement. I'm surprised he's as calm as he is, I know he wants to hear Maya's voice, and see love in her eyes just as much as I do. "So why am I down here?"

He jolts his head behind him, silently telling me to follow his lead. We pass by Thomas' cell and it's like Jax has taken full control whenever we see him. He's right on the edge, I can feel him. One wrong word and we'll be feral. Thomas got away from us once when we were ambushed by some of his pack members on our way to Maya. We handled the wolves and got out of there to get to Maya but we were too late. He lifts his head and stares at me, his body a lovely color of black and purple, "42 days and I'll very much enjoy killing you."

'He won't talk.'

'Why?' The annoyance of my tone comes out before I have a chance to stop it. Anyone will talk, it just depends on their pain tolerance.

'Let me rephrase that. He can't talk.' I raise my brows, silently telling him to elaborate. 'When we were questioning him on the whereabouts of both his pack and Kermit's he bit off his tongue.'

Without wasting a second I unlock the cage and swing the cell open. "TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" My fist connects to his face, a satisfying crack echoing within the cells. "You can still write though, can't you?" Again, my punch hits his nose. Getting down at eye level, my amber orbs flash into his terrified brown ones. "You. Aren't. Done. You are a coward Thomas and I have every intention of finding out what you know. Just because you bit off your tongue doesn't mean I'll stop getting information from you because your fingers work fine. Lifting his right arm, I clasp it to the chain attached to the wall, and repeating the same actions with his left. "Just so you won't get any ideas. I'd hate for you to lose your fingers." My clenched hand connects to his ribs before I exit the cage. "You stop feeding information when you're dead Thomas and not a second before."

My father glances at me and I can see pride flashing in his orbs. "This way." I'm led into a solitary cell where John is already waiting.

'Katie and Melody?'

'Currently unavailable, at least to him.'

"Let's start from the beginning John." My father grits out, I can feel his frustration through the bond. "I brought my son down here so you can tell him why you helped out in Luna Maya's capture." Jax growls, he's urging me to take a step towards him. So, I do. My power emanating from me with each and every step. "NOW! Or Melody will be the one suffering from your incompetence."

"He would get rid of Kris and his whore of a mother if I helped with Maya's escape." I can feel fur sprouting from my skin. "Eventually you'd be too weak to run the pack, I'd challenge you and I'd win."

He's pinned up against the wall by his throat before my mind even registered what I did. "You are one stupid son of a bitch." I punch his ribs, and watch as his face contorts from the pain. "Do you honestly believe that you could defeat me? Depressed or not, Jax would have torn you to shreds." I tighten the grip on his throat, his face turning a deeper shade of red. "For shits and giggles let's just say you did beat me. Do you think my father would allow you to run this pack? You don't think he would have challenged you for the position?" Blue spots start to form on his cheeks, "As for Naomi and your son, you are the absolute worst kind of male and I hope that I never meet anyone like you ever again in this world." Putting Kermit aside for the moment, "That is your son." Lifting him off the wall, I loosen my grip only to slam him back into the concrete, "And whether you like it or not he is part of you. YOU, were the one who slept with Naomi." Again, his back connects to the concrete. "YOU didn't wait to have sex till you were mated." Again. "YOU filled her with your sperm you worthless trash!" Letting him fall to the ground, he coughs and gasps for air. "If in your eyes Naomi is justified to die then so are you. She kept her male, only to lose her mate. In my eyes, that's the best kind of female."

Rising from my squatted position, I lift him off the ground and place him in the chair. "So you knew about the attempted kidnapping by your children. You offered up your parent's old home and let them add a tunnel from the house to rogue territory. You betrayed this entire pack so you could get rid of 2 wolves who weren't living here. And even if Kris was moving here for his mate, he wanted nothing to do with you and I see why. Not to mention your false hope of becoming Alpha, Kermit set you up there. He knew that you'd never stand a chance. You'd be an Alpha for mere minutes if you could defeat me."

"We know all of that." My father chimes in, "What we want to know now, is where the packs are. Where is Kermit?"

I just shake my head, "He won't know. Even if he had an answer, it would be a lie. Once a traitor always a traitor. The moment things get too rough or too tempting they'll flip sides. Kermit knows that, Thomas will know though. I have no doubt their packs are together."

"Looks like we've gotten all the information we need from you today John."

He doesn't look up, almost like his head is too heavy. "Put him in the cells with his wife and daughter. Let them live their last few days together. If Melody truly wasn't involved then John can look at her for the next few days knowing he put her there. That because of his greed, she will die."

Without wasting time my father grabs him by the back of his neck and places him in an empty cell before leaving to get Melody and Katie. Me? I'm standing in front of Thomas' cage. "How the mighty have fallen." He lifts his head and glares at me, "Oh no need to get all hostile. After all, you did this to yourself."

'Zay, bring a pen and paper to the dungeon right away.'

I grab a human muzzle before entering the cell and placing it around his mouth. "I'm going to ask you some questions." I release his hands and let him fall with a loud THUD to the ground. "You'll write down the answers. The muzzle is purely precaution." We both avert our gaze to the hall when we hear the clanking of chains against the ground. My father is coming back with Katie and Melody, instantly Alpha Thomas is at attention when seeing Katie. I watch as Katie inhales deeply and flips her gaze towards the cell. Even with our wolves gone, our senses remained heightened. "Well look at that." I help Thomas to his feet and focus his attention on Katie. "Someone got a second chance mate. That sucks." I muster out when I catch a whiff of Zay's scent. "Especially since you'll both be dead soon anyways."

My focus diverts to Katie, "You want to know what ironic Katie? Well, even if you don't I'm going to tell you anyways. You were wanting to be my mate." Thomas growls lowly, so I punch him in the face. "Thomas was wanting my mate. But because you both were impatient and selfish bastards you are here. In these cells, waiting to die." I shrug and set the paper on the floor. I am pretty sure this is the Moon Goddess' way of punishing them. "You would have been mated to an Alpha, and you would have had a second chance mate, a beta's daughter no less. Not as strong as Maya, but not a lot of people are. This whole thing never would have happened. If you had just waited and been patient."

Irony.

I set the pen and paper on the floor, "So Thomas you answer my questions and Katie doesn't get hurt. Deal?" I don't wait for him to acknowledge what I said before I continue, "Fantastic. First question, where is Kermit?"

When he hesitates to answer, I motion for Zay to go towards Katie seeing as my father could pummel her with one punch. I need leverage. He hurriedly lifts the pen and I hold my hand up to my gamma to halt his movements. He's an Alpha his pack is everything, but since he's already lost a mate once he doesn't want to go through it again. Which is why I'll kill Thomas before Katie, which seems fair that's the least I could do. Ripping the paper away once he's done, I read what he wrote.

Either with our packs or his last ally.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and set the paper back down, "I thought that this would go without saying but I need to know where the packs are and who his last ally is."

When he starts writing again, I feel pretty happy with myself. "Good boy. Now your reward."

'Zay bring Katie to this cell.'

He does as I say, while I'm passing off the information to my father. I'd love to go on this raid but, I'd rather be with Maya. "If I find out that you lied to us, you can say goodbye to Katie." She inches towards him in the cell and clutches his face. "I figured you two could get to know each other. Strengthen that bond a bit." You know, before I kill you both. She releases the muzzle off of his face as we're exiting the cells.

"Hi." Her voice is barely a whisper.

And because I'm feeling like a dick, I face palm myself. "I forgot to mention Katie he bit off his tongue that's why he has to write." He pecks her cheek and strokes her hair, I swallow the lump in my throat. "If this tip pans out, I'll get you some paper and a pen." Exiting the dungeon, I need a minute to catch my breath. I wish I could have been there for Maya. Pecking her cheek and telling her things will be okay. Maybe she would have remembered me then. Placing the back of my hand to my mouth I try to prevent a sob from escaping.

"Son."

"I'm fine." I muster out, my breathing is becoming more and more erratic.

"No you're not." My shoulders start to shake from the tears that wish to be shed. "When you met your mate, you called her a disgusting rogue." I told him the truth when Maya disappeared, it's one of the things I regret and wished I could change. "Then you let her die on your way back from the power pack." Clenching my fists I will myself to not shift. "You let her fend for herself whenever she needed the comfort of her mate, which resulted in her leaving to find a witch close to Crescent Moon territory. You- You didn't even find her. Her guardian did!"

"Shut. Up."

"And then, you let her get captured." Jax is a comment away from taking full control. Why is he doing this? "You let her, get beaten, whipped, starved and you were here. Sitting on the bed, wallowing in her clothes." I shift to fur mid leap and tackle him to the ground. Our teeth clamping onto his arm and throw him into a nearby tree. He stands right back up as if it didn't even affect him, but I know it did. Jax can taste his blood on our tongue. "If you had just gotten your shit together, then you would have found her sooner. You came into that office and thought of something no one else did within minutes! Hell, we could have had her back within the week and she would still remember you."

Our claws dig into the earth as we sprint towards him. "SHIFT!" My father's voice full of authority has us stopping in our tracks, "I said to shift." I growl out, we don't like taking commands from him anymore. Not after the things he said. "You don't want to do this Jax. You can't lead this pack, you aren't strong enough and you sure as hell can't handle a mate."

We growl again in satisfaction, we can sense the worry in his tone. We can take this male, for our female. We can show him that we aren't worthless, that we deserve Maya and deserve to lead this pack. His words are so taunting, "I'm speaking the truth and you know it."

'No he isn't'. That's the last thing that Jax thinks before running full sprint towards our father and our role model. But he is no longer the Alpha around here. We feel that he shifted to fur more than see it, sharp teeth clamp onto the back of his neck. Claws come up to scratch my underbelly that we dodge just in time. We can feel the blood rushing through our veins, adrenaline fueling us and making us stronger. Throwing him on the ground, my head rams straight into his ribs. My paw landing firmly on his leading front leg, a crack bounces off the bark of trees. My father howls and bucks us off, his claws scratching our side while he gets to his feet. Jax circles our prey, his eyes never leaving our fathers.

We deserve this pack.

Running full speed, we knock his paws out from underneath him before circling him again.

We deserve Maya.

Our teeth clutch onto his neck while he struggles to stand again. His dominant paw is useless at the moment. They pierce skin, just barely. Just enough to show that we could end him should we choose to do so. After 30 seconds of him fighting to get out of our grasp, his body stills when he realizes he isn't going anywhere. A sign of submission. Jax gives me full control again, he wants me to enjoy this moment. Stepping back a few feet, I throw my head to the sky and howl.

We are the Alpha. Not just in the packs eyes but our eyes as well, my father's and I.

My father joins in moments later, pride exuding off of him in waves. He's proud of me.

Slowly I saunter towards him and nudge his paw. His eyes squeeze shut but he makes no sounds. I shift to skin side and run to the closest tree that holds clothes in it and pull out two pairs of basketball shorts. Sliding one on, I rush towards my dad who has already shifted. "You did well." He says while sliding on the shorts with his left arm. His right is clutched to his chest, "We need to make sure you have that kind of power at all times when fighting. Not just when provoked."

"So you didn't mean what you said?"

He shakes his head and chuckles, "Of course not." He jolts his head towards the pack house, "You are worthy and capable of being Alpha. You have proven that already, because you found Maya so quickly because you can get information out of people, because you didn't attack Kermit and Thomas blindly, you have patience and are kind. I saw you get bothered by Katie and Thomas."

I remain silent. What am I going to say to that? That I have pity because right when they find their mates I'm going to rip them away from one another? "You deserve Maya because of what you're doing for her. You have declared war because of her, you are taking care of her when she isn't even speaking and she has no idea who you are." I can't prevent myself from flinching, even though it's a compliment his words cut to the core of me and quickly. "Sorry son."

"It's okay, you aren't speaking lies."

He simply nods and the rest of the walk back is silent. I'm not surprised to see my mother waiting on the front steps with her hands on her hips. "WHAT DID I SAY?!"

"My female, relax." My father takes her in his arms and I can see the tension fall off her shoulders. "Our son has defeated me. After this month is up, my presence here won't be necessary." Before my mom can hug me to death I saunter upstairs, I want to see Maya. I was gone for about an hour and that's too long. Both guards are standing at attention, and I dismiss them both. Stepping inside the room, Riley is laid down next to my mate who is sleeping.

'How long has she been asleep?'

'About 10 minutes after you left. She woke up with a jolt, I'm assuming you got into a fight and she felt your pain.' Damn it. I can't believe I didn't think about that. 'She fell right back asleep but she didn't eat. Has she eaten for you Alpha?'

I nod and gesture for everyone to leave and they do so without hesitancy. She won't eat unless it's from me? 'Riley.'

'Yes Alpha'

She turns around and gives me a hesitant smile, 'Thank you for everything. Not just for today, but since I met you, you've always been there for Maya. I appreciate it.'

Her smile becomes overwhelming and if we were humans I'd give her a hug. But, I am in no way shape or form going to fight my beta over something so petty. I close the door behind her, and of course Kris stands beside the door. Deciding to take a shower to rid myself of the dungeon stink and the dried blood from my father's claws I step into the bathroom and let the water rid me of everything.

Not just physical, but I try and let it clear me of the guilt I've felt for what happened to Maya. Though he was trying to agitate me, there is truth to his words. If I had gotten out of my slump earlier, then I would have been able to find her sooner.

'It's not your fault. I should have pushed you harder.'

I disagree with Jax but I don't reply. Hurriedly I dry off and put on a pair of clean basketball shorts before climbing into bed with my mate. All the sleep I missed out on when she was gone, I've definitely caught up on. Cory told me she would sleep a lot though, her body is healing. I sigh contently and pull her towards me, the warm sparks of her hands come and rest on my chest. Right when I'm about to fall asleep, I feel fingertips brush against my scratches that have almost healed. I don't move a muscle, because again she's touching me on her own. She's such a strong she-wolf, I'm so proud of her. "You have the eyes."

My eyelids fly open, I can already feel my orbs welling up with tears. Stay calm, stay calm don't scare her. "Whose eyes?" I question as calmly as possible, even then I can detect the excitement in my tone. Her eyes dart towards mine, wide eyes. It seems as if she wasn't even expecting to speak. Or she wasn't expecting me to wake up. Though I'm wondering if I asked the wrong question. She didn't say 'his' eyes, she said 'the' eyes. So when she doesn't answer, I ask again. "What eyes baby girl?"

"Safe eyes." She replies sleepily.

I press my lips against hers and hold her tight. Though she doesn't respond to my kiss, I don't try and make a big deal out of it. At least I know why she was staring at my eyes all the time. "I love you so much baby girl. I won't ever leave you, and I won't let you leave. I swear."

GMWGMWGMWGMWGMW

Let me know what you think lovelies.

My conversation with my daughter today.

Blake: MOMMA!

Me: "Yes lovebug?"

Blake: Ummm… Bye.

I just nodded my head and continued the dishes since she took off into the other room. Seconds later, she's back. Blake: MOMMA!

Me: What baby girl?

Blake: Ummm… Bye.

This continued on for several minutes until she finally asked for a snack. My little chunk.