“Oh yes, I’m positive it was the Teacher. There’s no mistaking that man. He’s been in my life for nearly twenty years. I could spot him in a crowd just by the way he walks. Besides, I’ve been expecting him.”
“You’ve been expecting him?” Chase asked in surprise.
“He’s been looking for me ever since I escaped two years ago. I knew that if I stayed in one place for too long he’d find me. Joe convinced me stick around this time.”
“But how did he find you?”
“There are others like me. The Teacher has a whole group of us.
Some have used their abilities to keep him away from me. Some have not. I assume that is how he found me. But mostly I think it’s because I stayed in one place for more than a few days.”
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Chase sat forward in his chair, his hands knotting together. “There are more of you? Where are they, and why haven’t we heard about this before now?”
“The Teacher moves us around a lot, so I’m not real sure where they are right now. And I suppose the reasons you haven’t heard about us is the same reasons not many people know about you.
Sometimes, it’s better to keep things hidden.”
Chase nodded in understanding. “It wouldn’t do for the world to know about our existence. Besides the fact that they just wouldn’t understand, Hollywood has made so many movies about werewolves that the general public would be terrified.”
“I am curious, though, what about these others like you?” Chase continued. “Is the Teacher holding them hostage as well?”
“Most of them, yes. But there are a few of them that like the life that the Teacher provides for them. We call them the Teacher’s pets.
They like the money and power that they get from doing exactly what he says. The rest, though, their lives are pretty much hell.”
Joe tightened his arms around his mate when he saw the tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. Even though his abilities weren’t what Nate’s were, Joe could still feel the sadness in him.
“I had always hoped to go back for them, the ones that don’t want to be there,” Nate said. “I just don’t know how. I don’t know where they are, and I’m certainly not strong enough to get them away from the Teacher and his army of guards.”
“Is there any way to get them a message?” Donovan asked curiously.
“No…well…maybe. But I couldn’t guarantee it would get to them or that the others wouldn’t get the message or even intercept it,” Nate replied.
“How? How can you get a message to them?” Joe asked.
“Okay, this is going to sound funny, but I’d have to meditate.
Some of the students have telepathy. If they were receiving at the
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same time I was sending, they might get the message, especially if they were close by.”
“How close?” Chase asked, scooting forward in his seat.
Nate shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly. Justin has been known to read someone as far away as five hundred miles. So, within a few hundred miles at least. The closer the better.”
“Justin?”
“Justin Reid. He’s my best friend. He’s a telepath. Justin can read someone’s thoughts. The Teacher uses him mostly for business meetings and mergers. He also takes Justin with him when he’s discussing a deal with someone to make sure that they’re being truthful with him and not hiding anything. Justin has been keeping me safe for a while now.”
“Safe? How?”
Nate smiled. “He sends me messages every once in a while telling me when to leave a certain area or to avoid certain people.”
“If he can do this, why didn’t he warn you about the Teacher this time?” Joe asked.
“He may not have known. The Teacher doesn’t exactly share all of his plans with us. Justin also might be away on another job, or too far away to reach me. Worst case scenario, the Teacher found that he was helping me and has stopped him.”
“Would he…hurt Justin?” Joe asked hesitantly.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. He never physically hurt us. But he did isolate us. That may not seem too terrible to you, but when the only contact you have is with your other students, you come to appreciate them…a lot.”
“Okay, say you could contact your friend, could you get him to tell you where he and the others are?” Chase asked, looking very serious.
“Yeah, why?” Nate asked.
“What the Teacher is doing is wrong, Nate,” Chase said. “I don’t care what abilities you and your friends have. It’s wrong to hold
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people against their will and make them do things they don’t want to do.”
“You know, don’t you?” Nate whispered.
“Know what?” Chase glanced around the room as if he were trying to avoid the truth he could see in Nate’s eyes.
“You know what it’s like to be held against your will,” Nate said.
Silence filled the room as Donovan leaned forward, patting Chase on the back before looking over at Nate.
“We don’t know personally what it feels like, but we nearly lost our little brother that way. Someone found out that he was a shifter and kidnapped him,” Chase replied. “They wanted to study him and learn how the shifting worked. By the time we found him, he had been so abused and tortured that he was never the same again.”
“Is he…is he alive?” Nate asked.
Donovan nodded. “I’m not sure you can call it living, but he’s breathing, if that’s what you mean. He won’t have anything to do with people he doesn’t know, and he rarely leaves his room. It’s like he can’t connect with anyone outside of the immediate family.”
“Oh my God, that’s terrible. How could someone do that? Don’t they understand that you’re people, just like they are? Everyone has differences. It doesn’t make it okay to treat someone like a science experiment,” Nate said, his voice filled with disgust.
“Not everyone believes the way you do, baby. Some people believe that they have a right to treat people how they want for their own self-interests. Others believe that people who are different don’t have the same rights as they do. Ether way, they’re both wrong.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Joe,” Chase said. “I think it’s important that we save not only Nate from the Teacher, but the others as well.
The ones that want to stay with him have that right, but the others…”
Joe nodded. “Okay, so what do you have in mind?”
“The first thing we need to do is have Nate contact his friend. We need to know where the Teacher is holding all of them. In the
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meantime, I’ll contact a few of my friends and assemble a strike force to go in and get them out.”
“You can do that?” Nate asked, astonishment filling his voice.
“I can, yes. I know several people, some pack and some not, that would be very willing to help us. All I have to do is call them. It may take a few hours for them all to get here, but if I call them, they’ll come.”
“You can get people together that fast?”
“It’s just a matter of knowing who to call. One of my friends has his own plane. He’ll fly around and pick everyone up and deliver them here. He doesn’t do any of the fighting, mind you, but he’ll transport them.”
Joe stared at Chase, suddenly having a new respect for the man.
He had been hoping to just keep the Teacher way from Nate. He never dreamed Chase might help them in other ways. Chase was a dream come true.
“What do you need us to do?” Joe asked, willing to do anything to help out, especially if it meant his baby stayed safe.
“Get a hold of your friend, and find out where the Teacher is keeping him and the others. We’ll take care of the rest,” Chase said as he stood to his feet and looked at Joe. “Is there someplace quiet around here? I need to make some phone calls.”
Joe nodded and pointed to his office. “You can use my office. It’s right over there.” He watched as Chase nodded and walked into the office, shutting the door behind him, before turning to look back down at Nate.
“What do you need to meditate, baby?” Joe asked.
“A quiet spot with no interruptions.”
“Will our bedroom work for you?”
Nate nodded. “Yeah, it should work okay.”
“Then why don’t you go upstairs and do…whatever it is you do to get in contact with your friend. The rest of us will start preparing
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things down here. If we have a lot of people coming, we’re gonna need food.”
“I think your mother might be able to help with that, Joseph. I’ll head over to the house and pick her up, grab some groceries, and meet you all back here. Jim? You want to stay here or go with me?” Daniel asked as he stood to his feet.
“I think I’ll stick around here, Dad, if you don’t mind,” Jim said, his eyes on Donovan, who was staring back just as intently.
“Yeah, okay. Then I’ll see you all in a little bit.” Daniel was shaking his head as walked out of the house to head to the grocery store and home.
“Okay, on that note, I’m going to go upstairs and meditate. I’ll let you know if I’m able to contact Justin. Just remember that I need lots of quiet and no interruptions,” Nate said as he stood to his feet. He leaned over and kissed Joe quickly before heading upstairs.
“He’s quite the man, isn’t he?” Donovan asked as he watched Nate go.
“He’s the best. I’ve never met anyone like him. He has more compassion and caring in him than anyone I’ve ever met.” Joe glanced at Donovan. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep him safe.”
Donovan nodded. “Understandable. He’s your mate. We protect what is ours.”
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Nate could feel his mind clearing as he sat cross-legged on the bedroom rug. He had been sitting here for nearly thirty minutes trying to get into the
zone.
There was a certain mental space he had to get into to be able to contact Justin. He just hoped Justin was receiving.
“Come on, Justin. I need you to hear me. The Teacher is here, and
I need your help,”
he mentally sent out to Justin. Over and over again he tried to contact Justin. He was just about to give up when he started to get a faint response. But it wasn’t coming from Justin.
“Nate, it’s Taylor. The Teacher found out that that several of the
students were helping you, and he isolated them,”
came the reply.
“Taylor? How did you hear me? I was trying to contact Justin.”
Nate was surprised to hear from Taylor. Taylor was one of the Teacher’s pets. He almost cut the connection with him because he was afraid that Taylor was going to tell him where Nate was, but as much as he was afraid of Taylor, he knew that Taylor would never betray Justin. Justin and Taylor had been together, as friends and lovers, for several years.
“I was able to tap into your connection because I’ve also been
trying to reach Justin ever since the Teacher locked him and the
others up. I haven’t heard a peep out of him. Have you?”
Taylor sounded very worried, which only increased Nate’s nervousness.
“Not in a couple of weeks, but that’s not unusual. He usually
doesn’t send when the Teacher is around. Where is he holding Justin?
I have some friends here that want to go in and get him and the others
out.”
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“
Seriously? You found someone to save Justin? Nate, you have to
get Justin out. I don’t care about myself, but you have to save him.
The Teacher was so mad when he found out that Justin had been
helping you that I’m afraid of what he might do.”
“
I’m trying to, Taylor, but you have to tell me where he’s holding
everyone,”
Nate replied, mentally rolling his eyes.
“I’m not sure of the exact address, but we’re in a warehouse in
the industrial district. It’s a small town called Salem. Have you ever
heard of it?”
“Yeah, I’m not too far from there, which makes sense considering.
Describe the warehouse you’re in. What does the building look like?
What did you see when you arrived? Can you see any landmarks?”
“The building is just a red brick building. I think it used to be
some sort of manufacturing plant, but it’s pretty empty now. It’s
older, though. When we came here, we passed over some railroad
tracks, then took a right turn and drove for another few minutes
before they hustled us out of the truck. Does that help?”
Taylor asked.
“It will do for now. If you remember anything else, you contact
me right away. Are you sure that Justin is being held there?”
Nate asked as he tried to memorize everything Taylor was telling him.
“Yes, the Teacher escorted him and the others into this little room
after we got there. But he has guards all over the place, and we’ve
already left. What should I do? The Teacher says he has another job
for me.”
“Just go with it, and don’t let on that you know anything. If he
gets even a hint of our plans, it’s over. You know he’ll hurt Justin if he
has to. If you really care about Justin, don’t fuck this up, Taylor.”
“
Look, Nate, I know you don’t like me because I cooperate with
the Teacher, but I do it to keep Justin safe. He’s a lot weaker than
both of us. He needs protection and medications that I can’t afford. I
made a deal with the Teacher that he would leave Justin alone, let us
stay together, and provide the money for Justin’s medication if I did
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what he wanted. I would do anything for Justin, even work for the
Teacher.”
“Justin’s on medication? Why didn’t I know this? What kind of
medication?”
Nate asked, suddenly getting another picture of Taylor.
“It doesn’t matter right now. You just need to get Justin out of
there before we get back. This may be our only chance. And be
careful. If this new friend of the Teacher’s is right, we’re headed your
way
.
”