CHAPTER 8

"I'll make you watch while I eat his heart", Lucius whispered before the line went dead. I looked over at Sam and his face was pale and his eyes were wide with horror. When our eyes met he swallowed hard and then looked away. I'm not sure what he saw in my eyes, be it hate, fear, rage, murder(maybe all of the above), but it scared the piss outta him.

"Dean, I'm so sorry!", Sam croaked. "If I hadn't brought you on this stupid hunt, he never..."

"Sam, don't!" This isn't your fault!", I shot back, cutting him off. "He set this up to get me away from Lydia."

"Yes, and I should have seen it coming, Dean! I should have known..."

"How could you have known?", I growled. "There's no way you could have known that an Alpha werewolf you didn't even know existed would come after Lydia!"

"Dean..."

"I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING!", I roared, squeezing the phone until it finally shattered in my hand. "She told me about him and I never considered him a threat. How could he know that she was even alive?" I looked down at the bits of plastic and glass in my hand and let them drop from my fingers, the pieces sounding like rain as they hit the hardwood floor.

"I don't know. Maybe... maybe he knew there was a way back from purgatory and was hoping to get lucky and someone would bring her back."

"Yeah... yeah, maybe", I whispered. But did I really believe that? I mean Benny had known about the portal, so maybe Lucius did too. My brain was so mixed up right now that I couldn't even think! "Anyway, he wants you and me to meet him in Little Rock one week from now."

"Little Rock? Why Little Rock?", Sam asked, his brows pulled together in confusion. "What's so special about Arkansas?"

"Uh... that's... that's where Lydia died." I looked away and wiped at my wet eyes before any tears could fall.

"Oh", Sam whispered. "I'm sorry, Dean! I didn't mean to..."

"No, Sam. It's ok." I turned to look at him and he was staring at his boots, fiddling with the barrel of his pistol. I sighed and made the decision to tell him Lydia's story. She had told me her secrets in confidence, but I felt that if Sam was going to risk his life for her, he deserved to know why. "Lydia's pack was at war with Lucius' pack and lost. He slaughtered most of her pack, including her mother. Lucius gave her father a choice. Give Lucius his daughter or watch the rest of his pack be wiped out."

"Shit", Sam murmured softly, not knowing what else to say.

"She told me what a sick bastard he was, Sam. He hunts people for sport, not just food. But now I see it goes well beyond his treatment of humans." There was a long, uncomfortable pause before I continued. "She ran. Ran not knowing what would happen to her pack. She just knew that she couldn't let herself be claimed by that sick fuck!"

"She did what she felt was best for her, Dean."

"Oh, I know that, Sammy. But, it didn't do any good." I looked up at my brother and he was giving me that confused look again. "Werewolves, who now I know were members of Lucius' pack, caught up with her and were holding her in a cabin in Little Rock. Keeping her against her will until Lucius could arrive and claim her. But he... he d-didn't get there in time." Sam didn't say anything. He just stood there waiting for me to continue. His expression was full of sympathy and what looked like trepidation. He seemed to know that he wouldn't like this next part. He was right.

"A hunter found them." Sam looked down at his feet again and nodded sadly. He knew how things went when a hunter found whatever they were hunting. "It wasn't just any hunter, Sam. It was Gordon Walker." Sam's head shot up and the look of shock on his face would have been comical under any other circumstance. He killed them all. But, what he did to Lydia before... He... He..." I wanted to tell him what Gordon had done to her, but I couldn't make myself say it. And by the expression on Sam's face, I didn't need to.

"It's ok, Dean. I'm so sorry." Sam moved quickly to close the gap between us and pulled me into a tight hug. I laid my forehead on his shoulder and willed myself to hold it together. I had to be strong for my mate. It wouldn't do her any good for me to lose it now. "We'll get her back, Dean. I promise."

"He said he was gonna make me watch him eat your heart, Sam", I whispered into his shoulder. A hard swallow was his only response. I pulled back, grabbed him by the shoulders, and looked up into his worried eyes. "I can't lose you too, Sam! I can't!"

"Dean, we have a week, ok? We'll figure out what to do." He didn't seem to get the gravity of the situation that we were in. Just talking to that prick on the phone told me all I needed to know about him. Lucius was a sadistic monster who didn't care who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted.

"You don't get it, Sam! He killed Reverend Jim! A strong, experienced Alpha!", I snarled in frustration. "I haven't even come close to being able to control whatever this is..." I waved my hands up and down at myself. "I SERIOUSLY DOUBT I'LL STAND A CHANCE!" And then I waved my hand in his direction. "...AND YOU! YOU"RE JUST...!"

"Just what, Dean?", He looked a little annoyed as he glared back at me.

"HUMAN, OK!", I spat and then I lowered my voice to almost a whispered as I continued. "You're human. He's gonna carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey."

"Maybe not", Sam said, a smirk settling onto his lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?", I snapped.

"There's one way to maybe... level the playing field a little." He didn't expound and it was seriously irritating me.

"What the Hell are you talking about, Sam!", I growled. "Level the playing field, how?"

"You could turn me." My brain shorted out for a few seconds before I could even process what he had just said. And when it came back on line, his words were like a punch to the gut.

That's when I stopped breathing.