The next few hours, everybody was on autopilot.

Everybody was going everywhere, but nobody knew what they were doing.

Zephyr was called, but nobody could remember who phoned him.

This had never happened before.

The Alpha of Moonstone Mountain burst onto their pack lands with no warning in a flurry of horror.

Avery had stormed into the emergency room, her trench coat swirling around her legs and her eyes flashing black.

Nurses and doctors had gotten out of the way as quickly as they possibly could, and some patients fainted at the sheer level of dominance she was giving off.

When Zephyr arrived at the hospital, he had found Avery pinning the paramedic she had recognised up against the wall.

Her eyes were completely black, and Sonya didn't even make a note of Zephyr entering the break room.

She was completely distracted by the possibility of bloodshed

"Avery, have you found anything?" He barks, and she turns to him quickly, holding the woman up by her throat.

"No. I'm trying to get information out of this bitch," she hisses, slowly turning back to face the paramedic.

The paramedic's face is bright red, and both of her hands are clawing at Avery's single one. Her eyes are bulging, and she's gasping for breath as she tries to get out of the Alpha's clutches.

"You'll kill her, let her go," Zephyr orders, and Avery shoots him a glare.

"I don't care if I kill her, she won't tell us where Lilith is," she snarls, flinging the woman to the ground and storming to the other side of the room.

"She can't tell us anything if she's dead," Zephyr points out, his tone low and sharp.

There's a knock on the door, and Avery and Zephyr turn around quickly.

Both of their sets of eyes land on a small doctor, and they both shout "Yes?" at her in unison.

The woman is shaking like a leaf in a tornado, and she looks like she would rather be in an actual storm than walking into this tense room.

"Th-the administrator wants me to - to ask you if you could maybe leave the hospital because you're scaring patients," she almost whispers, her pale face matching her lab coat.

"Oh, sorry," Avery shrugs, gritting her teeth.

The last thing she needs is a complaint from the hospital.

She has enough on her plate even without Lilith being missing.

Avery picks up the paramedic by her collar and makes her stand, dragging her out of the room roughly.

Zephyr watches Avery do this in silence.

He isn't sure what to do.

He has no idea where his mate is, and he doesn't know how to find her.

"Who called you?" Avery asks as he catches up with her, and he shrugs.

"It sounded like a girl. I don't know, I thought it might be your secretary," he mutters, and Avery pauses, making the paramedic stumble.

"Get your phone to my investigations team, they'll find out who called, because that could be who took her," she sighs, and Zephyr pales slightly.

"What if they call again and I don't have the phone?" He asks, and she does her best to put herself in his shoes.

I bet you wish we had loved somebody before so we could comfort him, Sonya mutters, and Avery refrains from rolling her eyes.

I'll act like I would if it was York who had been taken, she decides, and Sonya grudgingly agrees.

"If they call, I'll have them patch it into my office phone. You can stay in my office, it's where we have the command centre," she nods, and he bites his lips.

"I want to be there when we find her," he whispers, and Avery hesitates.

She doesn't want to bring up the possibility that she might not be found.

Shaking her head roughly, she turns and stares at him, pulling the paramedic with her.

"Keep trying to contact her wolf," she orders, and Zephyr nods.

"I'll have a guard bring you to the office, I'm going to get some answers out of this bitch," Avery adds, nodding to the paramedic still on the end of her arm.

Zephyr stays silent and nods.

He looks like he aged twenty years in two hours.

Avery mentally crosses her fingers and scowls, yanking the paramedic along once a guard comes over to Zephyr.

"Who the hell was he?" Avery snaps, and the woman shakes her head frantically.

"I don't know, I had never seen him before, I swear," she whispers, her eyes wide.

"I'm going to command you now," Avery warns, flinging the woman to the ground again.

"Don't run," she first commands, and the woman stops trying to scramble away. She is frozen in her half-sitting position on the dirt ground of the forest track.

"Who was the driver?" Avery asks calmly, coming down to eye level with the woman.

"I swear, I don't know! We were supposed to receive new ones this week, so I thought he was my new one," she quickly gets out, her entire body vibrating in fear.

She can't shake because the command is keeping her frozen in position.

"How did he get Lilith alone?" She questions, and the woman furrows her brows and then cringes.

"I got out of the ambulance to open the door to wheel her in. As soon as I got out, he drove off. He didn't even close the doors," she whispers, and Avery's eyes shoot open.

"Was the stretcher locked into place?" Avery asks, rubbing her jaw.

"Yes, I made sure it was. He was a terrible driver," the woman nods.

"Did you find anything wrong with her on the journey?" Avery enquires, almost wanting to take the question back.

The woman hesitates and then frowns.

"Answer the question," Avery orders, and the lady closes her eyes for a second.

"I couldn't figure out what was wrong. She seemed okay; her pain was going down quickly. I didn't even have to give her morphine. There was no bleeding or anything, it didn't make sense," she admits.

"Did you get any samples?" Avery asks, standing up slowly.

"I got some blood; I checked her glucose. It was normal, though," the woman murmurs thoughtfully.

"Do you have the sample still?" Avery asks impatiently, and the woman nods frantically.

"It's in my bag at the hospital. I always take my bag with me no matter where I go... Except for right now, obviously," she mumbles awkwardly, and Avery stands straight up.

"Where is it?" Avery asks, "You need to mindlink somebody to get the blood and get it to testing right away."

The woman immediately nods, and Avery watches her eyes flash as she organises the testing.

"Good. You can go," Avery permits, and the woman scrambles away, looking over her shoulder as she runs. She barely misses slamming into a large oak tree, but she manages to right herself and put herself back onto a straight path.

Avery watches her flee and then curses under her breath.

She can at least try to figure out what happened to Lilith before she was taken, but that doesn't help in figuring out where she was taken to.

Avery grimaces as she walks towards the packhouse determinedly, fielding mindlinks for search requests.

Her guards are coming through every inch of their land, checking houses and bunkers for any sign of Lilith.

She doubts her pack were involved, but she has to make sure so that she can't be accused of bias by outside sources.

The council had been alerted before Avery found the paramedic, and they were on their way to help.

Avery didn't think they'd be much use, though.

Her entrance to the packhouse was noted, and her generals all nodded to her as they walked past.

She storms into her office, a deep scowl sitting on her face as she walks to the whiteboard that was propped up against the wall.

She grabs the marker and scribbles out the bubble with the suggestion that the paramedic was helping the driver of the ambulance to kidnap Lilith.

"Not involved," she announces, and one of the generals lets out a string of curses.

Avery is in agreement with his outrage and irritation, but she can't verbalise that, so she sits silently onto her desk and stares ahead of her.

A knock is heard from the door, and Avery marches over and flings it open before anybody can move.

"Alpha Avery Wilcott?" A teenager asks, looking bored out of his mind.

His smell fills the room, and they all realise in unison that this boy is human.

The generals position their guns behind them and stare awkwardly at the boy, who has a large box in his hands.

"Yes?" Avery asks after a minute, cocking a brow at him.

"You need to sign for this," he sighs, nodding to the paper on top of the box.

"I need a pen," she calls behind her, and three generals produce one from their pockets.

She stares at them distastefully, plucking a black one out of the hand of the general nearest to her.

She scribbles her signature and holds her hands out for the box.

The boy dumps it in her arms and walks out, not seeming to give much of a shit what happens to the box when he leaves.

Avery goes to rip it open, but a general stops her.

"Ma'am, this could be dangerous," she cautions her, and Avery rolls her eyes.

She shakes the package, and there's no noise, so Avery opts to rip it open then and there.

She runs into some trouble due to the tremendous amount of tape used, but she eventually cracks into it.

Everyone is holding their breath, but some of the closer generals are sniffing the air intensely in case they can scent blood.

Avery scoffs once she realises what it is, and flings the box into the corner.

"What is it?" Zephyr asks, hurrying into the room and spotting the box in the corner.

"What was it?" He asks again, walking over to it with ease.

He picks up the silky thing with one hand and stares at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Roman," she says through gritted teeth, stomping over to her desk.

"Ah," Zephyr murmurs, depositing the dress back into the box and leaving it in the corner as he walks back over to the desk where he was initially sat before he went to the kitchen.

"Any progress?" He asks eagerly, watching as Avery clicks into her emails on her laptop.

"No, we have some of her blood, so we're testing it to see if she and the baby are okay," Avery sighs.

"Why wouldn't they be okay?" Zephyr asks anxiously, standing up and pacing in front of the desk.

Avery's eyes widen, and she covers her mouth quietly.

"I forgot we didn't call you. The reason she was in the ambulance was because she was in a lot of pain," she whispers, and his eyes close.

He sits down and leans against the desk, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Everybody out," Avery orders, and all of the generals quickly leave the room, no questions asked.

"I shouldn't have sent her away," he whispers, and Avery sinks down beside him.

"If they got her on my territory, where we had beefed up security already, they would have gotten her on yours," Avery sighs, rubbing his back gently.

"Was she okay when you last saw her?" He whispers, looking exhausted.

"She was in a lot of pain, but she was alright," Avery admits truthfully, looking into his eyes.

"Why did you send her to the hospital?" He asks, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice.

"I didn't know if she was having cramps or contractions, and I wasn't about to risk your baby," Avery states, keeping the irritation out of hers.

He nods slowly, rubbing his eyes.

"She'll be okay, she's tough," Avery says unconvincingly.

Zephyr stays quiet, no doubt trying to calm himself down.

"I can't reach her wolf at all," he whispers, looking heartbroken.

The office door bursts open, and they both bolt upright, instantly in defensive mode.

The two managed to grab guns and point them in unison at the intruder, who raises his hands in confusion.

"We're here to offer our help," Byron states awkwardly, rubbing his neck as his face heats up at the tension.

"Who's we?" Zephyr sneers, and Hayden and Rose appear behind him.

"We already have some people out looking for Luna Addison, and we have people figuring out who took her," he sighs.

Zephyr has his nose scrunched up at the scent of the rogues.

Avery has become used to their particular brand of stink and almost forgets why he looks like a baby who ate a lemon.

"Zephyr, these are three people who have lost people to Elijah Preston's chemical warfare," Avery introduces calmly, "guys, this is Alpha Zephyr Addison."

Zephyr and Hayden nod to each other in an almost familiar manner, which spikes Avery's curiosity, but she knows that her question can wait until later.

"Have you found anything yet?" She asks Byron, and he sighs.

"We found the ambulance, but it was stripped. No scents left, we assume he abandoned it as soon as they left your territory," he grimaces.

Avery nods, putting the gun in her hand onto her desk.

"What can Rose do?" Avery asks, and Byron looks to the woman in question.

"I can be useful when we find something," she says hesitantly, biting her lip and seeming to shrink into herself.

"What about Hayden?" She asks, and Hayden scoffs.

"Darling, you saw me take down that tree yesterday," he smirks, tying his hair up calmly.

Avery slowly nods, before turning back to Zephyr.

"Byron is just really helpful," she shrugs, "a very good organiser."

Byron hides his smile, shaking his head at her.

"Okay, is there anything we can do?" He asks, and Avery look at the whiteboard, and then at Zephyr.

"Maybe we can leave Rose here with Zephyr. She's good at knowing things," she murmurs, walking over to the whiteboard.

"She's a trained psychologist," Hayden pipes up, and Avery raises an eyebrow.

"Perfect, she can listen in on any calls we receive," she claps her hands, the loud noise startling Rose and making her stand slightly behind Hayden.

"Zeph, you stay here. I'll call Kathleen's cell if we find anything," she nods, pointing at the pink phone resting on the desk.

"Perfect," Zephyr whispers, sitting back into his seat and resting his head in his hands.

"We're going to join the search," Avery announces, leading Byron and Hayden out of the office.

She nearly bumps into the crowd of generals waiting outside.

"I forgot about you guys," she murmurs, "I need half of you to come with me to join the search."

"Alpha, we already have all of our trackers out there," one hesitantly says, and Avery stares at him.

"I didn't mention the word trackers, Martin, I said half of you," she shrugs, and he slowly nods at her.

"We don't have enough trackers," the same general says, and Avery grimaces.

"How short are we?" She asks, and the man bites his lip.

"We have one for every twenty soldiers," he whispers, and she swears under her breath.

"Okay, go to the prison and get trackers who are eligible for day release. Link them with a soldier or two, they won't get away. Make sure you get Louisa Wilcott out with them, and bring her directly to me, I'll link myself to her," Avery grunts, and storms out of the door.

Hayden and Byron follow her, quickly pacing after her to try to keep up with the speedy female Alpha.

"Your sister?" Byron asks, and Avery nods irritably.

"She's a terrible person, but she's a great tracker, we'd be on a much more level playing field with these creeps if she was with us," she mutters, and Byron nods.

Hayden is completely silent, and it freaks Avery out a little.

"We're gonna go to the boarder near where you guys have your cabin," Avery sighs, and Byron clears his throat, looking at Hayden pointedly.

"She isn't there, I searched the entire area. Nothing breached my perimeter today," he states, and Avery raises a brow.

"How wide is the perimeter?" She asks, and he clenches his jaw.

"A mile around the cabin. Nothing went within it, not even any animals," he finally spits, and Avery nods at him.

"Okay, thank you," she responds, walking in the other direction.

"Where to, now?" Byron asks, and Avery takes a minute to think.

"My house. They've been there at least twice now, and not all of the lake is on my territory," she grumbles, and the two men stay quiet as she paces ahead of them.

She gets a mindlink and she curses out loud, stopping in her tracks.

"My sister will be here in a minute, apparently," she mutters, leaning against a tree and crossing her arms.

True to her word, Louisa Wilcott is dragged through the clearing by a guard, who salutes Avery and hands her sister over.

Avery gives him a wary smile, and handcuffs Louisa to her arm.

"Hello, Louisa," Avery greets formally, and Louisa scowls at her.

"I can't believe you have me in handcuffs," she huffs, "two months pregnant and I'm in handcuffs."

Avery rolls her eyes, and clicks her fingers at her sister.

"We're looking for Luna Addison. She was kidnapped. I know your tracking abilities aren't at their best because of your pregnancy, but you need to try," Avery snaps, not having the time nor patience needed for her sister to complain.

"Do you have her scent, then?" Louisa grumbles, scowling again.

She hasn't even noticed to two rogues standing beside Avery, which makes her seriously doubt Louisa's current abilities.

Avery doubtfully raises one of Lilith's sweatshirts to Louisa's nose, and she's like a dog with a bone.

After a full minute of Louisa sniffing and feeling the sweatshirt, she puts her nose into the air.

"Okay, I can smell something," she mutters, and in an instant she takes off, leading the three with her.

"Can you tell the rogues to calm down, their anger is interfering with the scent," Louisa scoffs, shooting glares to the two men who look slightly surprised that they're even being brought up.

Both men comply, though, and try to calm themselves down. Byron succeeds, but Hayden somehow gets angrier, his scent becoming more potent.

Louisa scrunches her nose and stomps her foot, shaking her head.

"Avery, tell him to stop, or I won't help," she demands, and Avery rolls her eyes.

She looks over at Hayden who looks ready to rip somebody's head off.

Avery drags Louisa with her as she walks over to the tall man, and she pulls him down by his neck.

"You need to calm down," she hisses, and he closes his eyes, breathing heavily.

"Tobias is on his way here, now calm down before we can't find Lilith," she adds, and Louisa's ears perk up.

"Who's Tobias?" She cackles, and Avery grits her teeth.

"Focus, or you'll be going back to the cells now," Avery snarls.

Louisa shoots her a dirty look, and pulls her sister through the trees.

She's being rough, and Avery suspects it's because she isn't a huge fan of having to do what she's told in the cells.

The trio hurry through the forest until the approach Avery's house, when Louisa suddenly vanishes.

Avery releases a loud swear, and then she's suddenly dragged with her, plunging down a hole.

"Louisa, what the fuck," Avery snarls as they finally land on the ground in a tunnel.

"I could smell her scent," Louisa mutters, and then quickly move as they can hear the two men arguing at the top of the tunnel.

Byron suddenly appears beside them in a heap, hauling himself to his feet.

Seconds later, Hayden lands beside him on his feet, dusting himself off as he lands far more gracefully than the rest of them.