Chapter 3
Jake's POV
Seeing Elijah like that was very... I can't even describe how I am feeling at the minute. Never in a million years would I have thought that my full of life best friend would be like this, so tense and restless.
He kept looking around as if someone was going to attack him any minute, but I am not surprised. God knows what those bastards did to him. What scares me the most is the emptiness in his eyes, at first he looked frightened, but then his expression changed after a few seconds. If I wasn't watching him closely I wouldn't have noticed. I can't believe we have finally found him after a year of him being missing.
"Pack meeting in 5 minutes" I shout through the pack [mind] link.
They all reply. I turn my attention to the head of the War Wolves.
"We are going to go on that trail one last time. I want you to do everything Micah (Elijah's dad) and I say" I tell him
"Okay Jake, I understand I will let the rest know immediately" he replies and leaves my office with a nod.
I stand and look through the window. I really hope we find Eli. I don’t know how long the pack is going to continue coping without an Alpha after three years. I refuse to take the role because somewhere deep down I know Elijah is still alive somewhere and we are going to find him. I miss him so much.
Without him around everything is dull and miserable. Even though he can be scary at times, he was fun and loving.He cared about everyone in the pack even the Omegas. I seriously don't understand why other pack treats them like slaves. They may be weak and fragile but they are just like us. Eli made sure they knew this.
“We are all ready" the third in command Zach says through the mind link pulling me out of my thoughts.
I shake my head and blink away the tears that I didn't realize has gathered in my eyes. I leave the office and go out front to see that the whole pack is out. I walk onto the stage and face them all. When everyone sees me, they all go quiet.
"We are going to search this trail one more time with the War Wolves. I and Micah are going to lead while Zach will stay behind to keep everything going while we are out" I say.
And then someone has the guts to shout out "What is the point you are just wasting your time, Alpha Elijah is gone, probably dead by now. So I don’t know what you are really looking for to be honest".
I hear some people mumble and nod in agreement. I turn to the person and harden my gaze.
"If you don't want me to put you in the fucking cellar I suggest you shut the fuck up" I growl.
My wolf is pissed. We still believe we are going to find him.
"The sun is setting so we are going to head out now, wish us luck, meeting dismissed" I say to everyone.
They all leave to continue whatever they were doing before the meeting.
Micah and the War Wolves already shifted and are ready to go. I shift and go up to them.
"Come on guys I want all of you to search this trail properly. I want you at 110% alert" I hear Micah instruct the War Wolves.
We set out and split into 4 groups, I lead one of the groups. We search for about four hours and we found absolutely fuck all. No scent of rogues or Elijah whatsoever. We have searched every corner of our area, so I tell the War Wolves that are with me to take a break. After a while we turn around and start heading back when my wolf starts whining.
"I GOT HIS SCENT JAKE!" Micah shouts through the mind link.
"Whereabouts are you?" I ask him, he replies saying he is up north from where we are.
The war wolves and I take off in that direction with great speed. I suddenly get a whiff of Eli's scent, I follow it and up front I see Micah has shifted into his human form and is crouching down near Elijah's body. As I make my way there all that is going through my mind is 'oh God, please let him be alive’. I shift back into my human form and jog up to them.
Micah looks up at me with tears running down his face.
"He is just unconscious, but look what they did to my boy?" He moves out of my way so I can finally see Elijah.
The sight before me makes me turn around and throw up. What the fuck did they do to him? He is unrecognizable, everywhere was bruised, and he has wounds everywhere. There are scars all over his body. There are some fresh ones and the ones that has healed. He has also lost so much weight. If it wasn't for his scent I wouldn't believe it was truly him. I hear Micah tell the War Wolves to look around for any sign of rogues around here, and if they find any rogues they should bring them in alive.
I reach down to pick up my best friend, he groans and whimpers. I cradle him to my chest and start walking back to the pack house with Micah and some of the War Wolves who stayed behind. I quickly mind link the pack doctor and the third in command that we found him and they should wait for us in his room.
By the time we get to the pack house everyone is asleep. So we quietly make our way up to Eli's room. Entering the room I hear the pack doctor and Zach gasp at the sight of their alpha. Once I place Elijah on his bed the doctor quickly checks him over.
"He's going to be fine physically. He has a few broken bones which haven't healed yet, but mentally I don't know how he's going to heal" he tells us.
Eli has been sleeping for about thirty minutes. The pack doctor left straight after he fell asleep. We are all downstairs just staring at each other. I just can't believe he is finally back at home. His mum has been crying nonstop and Micah is trying to console her. I look around and see that they were all waiting for me to talk (the third in command and Elijah's parents). I am about to speak when the head of the War Wolves' sends me a message through the pack link.
"We caught a rogue he is unconscious, we found him in an underground house which looks like where they were keeping the Alpha because we found the alpha's scent everywhere" he tells me.
"Alright, thank you, tomorrow I want us to go back to check it out to see if we can find any clues and also put the rogue in the cellar I will deal with him tomorrow" I reply.
"Alright Jake, I will see you tomorrow" he says before cutting off the link.
I turn around to address the people in front of me "Okay guys we will leave him to rest. Tomorrow we are going to announce to the pack that he's back, but he will be bedridden for a while until he fully recovers physically” they all nod in agreement and left.
I go up to check on Elijah. As I am about to make my way into his room I hear him scream. I quickly open the door and in front me is my best friend thrashing around on his bed screaming.
"Please stop, I promise I know nothing" he cries out.
I run to his bed and try waking him up.
"Elijah wake up, it's just a nightmare we have you now and we are going to keep you safe. No one is going to take you away from us or hurt you ever again" I try to comfort him. I touch his shoulder trying to get him to wake up all he does is flinch and whimper.
"Come on Eli wake up, it's just me Jake" I try again
He finally opens his eyes after a minute or two. Tears are streaming down his face. He sits up and pulls his knees to his chest rocking back and forth. Seeing my best friend like this is heartbreaking. I can’t stand it anymore so I sit down next to him and pull him to me. He tense at first but he didn't move away. I hold him tighter and he finally starts to relax. I hold him till he goes back to sleep. I try leaving him without waking him, but that fails because as I let go of him his voice stops me.
“Please don't leave me, stay with me, I'm scared" he whispers.
I am fuming how could they do this to him? He didn't deserve any of this. I climb back into his bed and hold him and look at him while he slept and the tears that have been threatening to spill since we found him earlier finally comes streaming down my face.