Fifty Three

Mila

"Mila…Mila…Mila!"

My eyes fluttered open. I looked around the dark basement. Lira looked at the stairs then back to me. She turned back to me and shook me again. Slowly, I sat up. The pain shot through my body and I cried out. Lira quickly threw her hands over my mouth.

"Shhhhh, get up. We don't have much time. Come on," she said putting her arms around me. I tried to lift my arms up to wrap around he but when I lifted them up, the pain was too much. Lira tried to stand me up but she couldn't. If I could have helped her I would have. I would have done anything to get out of that basement. I had been down there so long; I didn't know what day it was. I only knew it was a new day when Hal would come down. He always came down after work.

The first four days, I fought back. I fought back with everything in me but eventually I got tired. He was bigger, meaner, and nastier. He would always shit me back but when he got tired of that, he switched up his torture. He had Lira tie my arms up and stopped giving me food. Last night was the first night he untied me. I thought he was going to take me out of the basement but he didn't. What he did do was much worse. The flashbacks came on me quickly. I closed my eyes and tried to shake them away.

"Mila, I know you're tired but I need you to help me. I can't carry you out with me. We have to leave today."

"Lira we both know if we leave he'll find us. He found me that day."

"Mila trust me, we will make it this time. I just need you to get up."

"No, Lira! I'm not leaving. If I leave he will kill me…he'll kill you."

"Mila," Lira said to me. She grabbed my face and turned it to look at her. It was then I noticed the bruises on her face. They looked fresh. "I don't care if he kills me but I'm getting you out of here."

"Lira we're no match for him."

Lira shook her head and stood up. I laid back on the cool basement floor. It was the only thing that made my body feel slightly better. Lira looked back at me before turning and running up the stairs. When I heard the door shut, my heart didn't break like it usually did. I didn't wish for somebody to come get me like I always did. I didn't feel anything for the first time. The door being shut was a welcomed sound for me.

Embry

Arizona was hot and that was saying a lot for me. I ran hot but Arizona was practically unbearable. I knew things would have been better had I just been able to get in touch with Lira. We had been there for almost a week and were no closer or finding Mila or Lira. I had barely slept since we landed. Every day we went out asking if anyone knew them. Every time we were met with the same answer: no.

The door opened and Jake and Nessie came into the hotel suite we were all sharing. I turned and looked at them Nessie looked at me then quickly ran into the bathroom.

"What's wrong?" I asked Jake. He looked at the closed door and then back to me. "Did you find her?"

"No but Alice finally called. She said she Mila."

"That's great. Where is she?"

"We still don't know. All Alice said was that she seemed to be in basement somewhere. But the only reason that she saw Mila is because she made a decision."

"A decision?"

"Yes. Embry she decided that she's going to kill herself."

I felt as if all the air had been sucked out the room. This wasn't happening. This couldn't happen. If Mila killed herself, I would die…literally. I shook my head no.

"Jake I'm not letting that happen. We have to find her. If she dies I die!"

"Embry we're doing all we can. There is nothing else we can do. We've been here for days and we don't have any other information. We are no close to finding her than we were when we home."

"Do you hear yourself Jake? You just said my imprint is going to kill herself! What kind of mate would I be if I didn't keep looking?"

Jake walked closer to me. "I'm not saying to stop looking for her Embry. I'm just saying we need to accept there may be a chance we don't find her. We need to figure out what's going to happen to you if that happens."

"I don't care what happens to me Jacob!"

"EJ cares," Nessie said from behind us. We both turned and saw her coming out of the bathroom. Her face was red and I could tell she had been crying. I knew she meant well. I knew that that statement was supposed to be one that made me think differently. But it didn't change anything. If I died, EJ would still have Bree. The pack would be there for him. He would be well taken care of. He would have all the love from everyone around him and the Spirits.

The door to the suite burst open. Seth, Sam, Caleb and some guy who I didn't know all came in the room.

"Who died?" Seth asked.

"Who the hell is that?" Jake asked before I had a chance to say anything to them.

"This is Alexander. Alexander here was telling his friends a pretty interesting story at a coffee shop."

"Ok but why is he here?" Nessie asked.

"Tell them," Caleb said pushing Alexander on the shoulder. He looked around the room and I could smell the fear off him. He turned and looked back at Caleb. Caleb snatched his hood off his head and hissed at him. Alexander turned back to us.

"I was at work about two weeks ago. This girl came running in asking for help. I took her the back and was going to call the police when Hal came in the store. He asked me if I saw her and I was going to say no but then he gave me five hundred bucks. I told him she was in the back and he grabbed her up."

"What!" I yelled at him. I tried to get at him but Jake and Sam stopped me. "Why would you do that?"

"I needed the money."

"Why didn't you just call the police?" Nessie asked him. Alexander looked at her like she was crazy and shook his head no.

"Call the police? Hal's father and brother are on the force. His mom is the mayor's personal assistant. His sister is a lawyer who knows all the other lawyers in the state, the real important ones anyway. And Hal is not somebody you want to piss off. Even if she called the police, nothing would happen. His wife tried it once when she first got here. Litchfield is a small town in case you haven't noticed. Hal's family basically runs it with an iron fist."

"OK so do you know where Hal lives? Where can we find him?"

"No I don't know where he lives but you can find him at the bar. He's always there when he gets off work for a few hours. It's a place called Cherry's."

"You're coming with us," Caleb said grabbing Alexander by the collar.

"What? Why?"

"We've never seen Hal. And I don't trust you to not let him know that we're coming," Caleb said cutting him off. They walked out and Jake and Sam let me go. I started walking towards the door but Sam put his hand up to stop me. I looked at him confused. "What are you doing?"

"You need to stay here Embry. Let us go and go get Mila."

"You're out of your mind if you think I'm staying here while you guys go and get her."

"Embry, you need to stay here. You know that we can't hurt a human."

"I'm not going to hurt him!"

"Embry, you don't know what he's done to Mila. Just stay here with me. The guys will go get her and they will bring her back here to you safe. Trust them Embry…trust me…Caleb will be there and they will take care of her."

"Please Embry, don't make me have to order you," Jake said quietly. I looked at him and saw he was hurt. He really didn't want to order me but he would if he had too. I knew it. I looked at Nessie and Sam.

"Just bring her back to me Jake. Bring her back to me…please. I need her."

"I will," he said before turning and walking out of the room. The door shut and I stared at it for a few minutes. Sam let us know he was going to get some food. Nessie walked over and grabbed my hand.

"Let's call EJ. Bree sent me a text and told me he smiled today. Don't you want to see it?" Nessie said to me. I smiled and went with her, thankful for the distraction.