Silenced: Book 1 of the Bound Trilogy

~Unknown POV~

I put on the night-vision goggles. These things were bulky and uncomfortable, but I needed to know what this maniac was up to. I figured he would kill the wolf bitch when I brought her in. Instead, he took her to this dump and locked her underground.

Hey, I’m all for getting information about my enemies, but trying to get something out of this mutt was ridiculous. She couldn’t even talk for Christ’s sake! I say kill the bitch and be done with it.

I followed quietly behind the boss so as not to make him aware of my presence.

I heard her cell door open and the boss yelling at her to get up. I turned the corner in time to see him hit her across the face.

I looked at her through the goggles. She was short, tiny, barely any meat on her bones. Her hair was cut short and she had a scar running down her left eye. She was only wearing the shirt she had on when I took her from the Alpha’s home, and from the looks of it, the boss used water to wake her up, as she was soaked through.

I felt my lower half stir at the site. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I think all these mongrels should be exterminated. They are the scum of the earth, but I’m still a man. As skinny as she is, the bitch is hot.

The boss was murmuring to her so I wasn’t able to hear what was said. I did however, see him grab her hair and yank her head to the side revealing her neck. He pulled a dagger from his back and I was sure he was going to kill her, until he placed it flat side down. I watched as the bitch writhed in pain from the contact.

Huh, must have been a silver blade. It clicked then. He was removing her mark so the Alpha dog couldn’t find his precious bitch. I still think it would be easier to kill her. Kill her and kill the Alpha. Simple.

The mutt’s hand reached up and touched where her mark used to be. Her eyes fluttered closed and she slumped to the ground. Boss gave a satisfied grunt and kicked her while she was out. Her body lifted in the air before falling into a heap on the stone floor.

He started pacing the room, mumbling about how now he could take control of the weres. About how with her by his side he would be unstoppable, and about how he could take over the supernatural and human world.

This dude was nuts!

You couldn’t control these creatures. They were inhuman. They needed to be wiped from the face of the earth! If he thought, having this slip of a girl was going to get him total domination over the world he had another think coming.

I carefully brought my wrist bow up to my line of site. I made sure it was loaded and took careful aim at the sick bastard pacing the cell.

I was about to fire when he turned and stared right at me. I didn’t care I fired and watched as the arrow penetrated through his goggles and into his head. He was dead before he hit the floor.

I knew the girl wasn’t a threat as she was chained and unconscious. I left her there and made my way up towards daylight. I made sure the door was shut and sealed before heading away.

Since she was here and her mark was gone, it was a sure fire bet the Alpha would be on his way to rescue his whore. I’ll just have to get to him first.

Going to the shed behind the abandoned house the boss had been using I gathered my equipment and quickly headed out.

I had some hunting to do.

~Devin’s POV~

My wolf was getting weaker. Without Leah having our mark, it was making it harder for us to go on. We needed her to keep us strong, to give us hope that she was still alive. Now, we couldn’t connect with her. We couldn’t feel her warming presence in our soul. We were empty. I just wanted to curl up on the ground and die. What was there to live for now?

‘Son,’ I didn’t look up at my father’s words. I was beaten down, a shell of a man and wolf.

His wolf was taller than mine by mere inches, and the only way to tell our two wolves apart was the fact his had a white star running from the crown of his head to the tip of his nose. The rest of him was pure black like mine.

I didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes that were so similar to my own.

‘Son, you need to get a hold of yourself.’ His wolf nudged me to get my attention. ‘We don’t know if Leah is gone. All we do know is that someone took away your mark. We need to keep searching for her.’

I gave a barely perceptible nod. It was painful, even to do that.

It was silent for a few moments. All that could be heard was the wind whipping through the barren trees and the shifting of the wolves around us.

My father nudged me again, ‘Devin, I’ve just been notified by the Alpha of this area that there is something unusual going on just north of his territory.’

That peaked my interest, and I looked at my father, not wanting to get my hopes up.

‘What does he mean unusual?’ I asked emotionlessly.

I heard my father’s mental sigh. ‘He said there was some activity around an abandoned home a mile or so north of his borders. It’s located in the middle of unclaimed territory so there won’t be any issues with other packs if we want to check it out.’

Who cared about an abandoned home? It was probably some stupid homeless human wanting to use it as a shelter. There was no way we could get lucky and it is the Hunters we are looking for.

‘So,’ I sent to him. Who cares? Nothing means anything without Leah here.

‘Son, this could be what we are looking for.’ He nudged me in the shoulder. ’Don’t give up! We still have to find her. She could be in that shack with those crazed idiots while you sit here and mope. She needs you! Just as much as you need her! Let’s go find your mate and bring her back home!’

He’s right. I need to stop thinking about her being gone, and focus on finding her. This was the first real lead we had. There was no way we were going to let it slip through our fingers.

‘How much farther do we have to travel before we get there?’ I asked.

‘According to the Alpha, we have about another three hours before we reach the abandoned home. It should be close to dusk when we arrive.’

‘Let’s get moving then,’ I shouted through the link to the wolves around us.

Leah would have been gone for almost two days by the time we reach her. I just hope she is there. I don’t know if I can take not finding her soon.

We had been running for an hour and a half when all Hell broke loose.

~Leah’s POV~

I was back where the images flashed before me.

What does this all mean? I thought to myself.

‘It’s all the wolves in the entire world,’ I heard whisper through the blackness.

I spun around in circles. There was no one there.

‘No need to be afraid,’ a shape formed out of the dark. It was my wolf. She came and sat next to me and watched the images fly by.

‘What do you mean all the wolves?’ I too went back to staring at the images.

‘Surely, you remember our little talks while we have been locked up all these years?’

I thought about it for a minute, and then it came to me. We were a White Wolf. We were special.

‘That’s right Ainia, we are special. So special, that we are hunted down for what we can do.’

‘Buy why? What did we ever do to deserve this?’ I asked her.

‘It is because we are descended from the Moon Goddess. We alone have the power to communicate and control all wolves. It was our gift from her, and our curse.’

I was confused. If this was the case and we were so special then why did our father lock us up and hurt us for all these years?

‘Ainia, he is not your father,’ my wolf said reading my mind.

My head whipped around and I stared at her, her silver and white coat shining like a beacon of hope in this pit of despair.

‘What do you mean he is not my father?! Every time he would torture me, beat me, starve me, he would claim I had to be a good little girl for Daddy. Why would he do that if he was not my father?’ I wanted to scream out in frustration.

‘We were taken when we were very young,’ she replied, ‘Look at the images before you.’

‘Why?’

‘All will be explained. Please, look at the images and concentrate.’

I faced them once more, ‘What am I to concentrate on?’ I enquired.

‘Focus and make the images stand still. Once you have done that you can make them reverse, go back in time to see what happened to you all those years ago.’

I focused, and caught hold of an image of the man claiming to be my father and myself in the cell right as he removed my mark. Tears rolled down my cheeks, remembering the pain and separation from Devin.

‘Concentrate, we will see our mate again. Right now, focus. Make the image reverse, make it go back to before.’

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and concentrated. Suddenly, the image started to move. I saw my mark reforming, myself falling awkwardly to the ground, my abuser walking backwards out of the cell.

I relived my moments with Devin only backwards. Some of the images were quite funny, but I kept concentrating. My life flickered faster and faster before my eyes. It finally came to a stop.

What I saw broke my heart.

~Devin’s POV~

We were running when all of a sudden we were under attack. I had no idea how many enemies we were up against, but I didn’t care. They were interfering with me finding my mate, and they were going to die!

Several of my warriors were caught in a trapper’s net and suspended fifteen feet off the ground. Others were being shot at with arrows from the trees. I tried to find out where the source was coming from, when I realized we had landed in a Hunter’s trap.

I howled and it echoed through the forest. Hopefully, the Alpha of these parts would hold up his promise to help if we needed it. Right now, with my men going down quicker than I can blink, I need all the help I can get.

A scent caught my attention. I growled lowly, dodging the arrows flying all around me. I know that scent. The bastard that took my Leah was near. The sick bastard set this up. He knew we were coming.

I dodged more arrows as I tried to sniff out the coward that set this all up. I traced his scent into the woods several yards away from the trap. I looked around. I couldn’t find him. Then I looked up into the trees.

I came face to face with the business end of a rifle.

I heard howls from the cavalry as I the Hunter pulled the trigger.