The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (39 page)

More
silence.

“I’ll
be seein’ you later.”

Marcus
walked back into the corner of the cell, those cold eyes calculating as Gavin
left. Trying to wipe away an encounter with Marcus was like trying to get rid
of an icy chill while standing in a deep freeze. Back upstairs, more concerned
faces turned toward him. He gritted his teeth. God damn he loved his family but
they drove him crazy.

“Who
knows where the Tin Can is?”

They
exchanged glances, confused. Fuck all. He pulled out his phone and dialed Hart.
Hart had put out an APB lookout for Alicia. Still it’d been nearly twenty-four
hours and no one had seen or heard anything.

Hart
answered on the sixth ring. He must be busy. “What?” Hart growled.

“I
need to know where the Tin Can is. Some local hangout for teenagers outside the
pack about twenty minutes.”

“Hell,
I don’t know.” He grumbled and cursed. “Let me ask around and call you back.
Maybe someone knows.”

“You
got less than twenty minutes.”

Gavin
hung up and didn’t say a word to the curious stares. He just went, got in his
truck and sped out of the pack heading in the direction Harry said. The
motherfucker better be right.

Eventually
he reached a run-down area. This could be it or it could be completely wrong.
He drove through the streets looking for a warehouse. Old boarded up brick
buildings lined the empty streets. An occasional decade old car sat at the
curb. One was missing its windshield and had been replaced with tarp and duct
tape. There was a payphone with the metal cord hanging down missing the phone
part of it. Someone had spray painted the boarded up buildings with names he
couldn’t recognize.

He
made it to the end of the dead-end street. That’s when he looked right and saw
it. Without thinking, he floored the engine, blazing past stop signs and red
lights. No one was around, this place was like a ghost town.

But
up ahead there was an old warehouse. Looked like it hadn’t been used in ages.
The faded sign on the side of it read
Louis’ Machine & Tool
.
Since
1965.
There were no cars parked in the lot. But around that lot was a metal
fence at least ten-feet tall with barbed wire at the top.

Someone
still owned this property and it looked like they wanted to keep the
neighboring thugs out. Too bad it didn’t work.

His
phone vibrated and he shoved it to his ear as he circled the building looking
for in entrance through the fence. “Yeah?”

It
was Hart. “Listen, there’s a warehouse in the area you’re talking about but it’s
a known crack house.”

“I
found it.”

Hart
sighed in agitation. “Listen, we’re on our way. Don’t go in there. Crack houses
aren’t safe.”

“I’m
going to get her back.” Gavin ended the call.

Braking
to a stop, he glared at the fence. There had to be a way in. The gate had two
chained locks on it and a wooden bar behind it to keep someone from easily
cutting the locks and getting in. If this was the teenager’s hideout then there
had to be an easy way to get in.

“Fuck
it.”

He
didn’t have time to waste figuring it out.

Gavin
put the truck in drive and slammed the accelerator to the floorboard. His tires
squealed, rubber shredded and the scent of burnt latex filled the air before
the truck caught and lurched forward. He blew through the fence with an
explosive crash. He stopped short of the building’s door and hopped out,
running for it.

His
blood raced, heart hopped with adrenaline. “Alicia!” he screamed, pulling at
the door.

It
was chained shut. He ran to the next, but it didn’t budge. He kicked at it with
all its might. The metal squawked under his assault and he paused rethinking
the situation. Something was barring the door shut from the inside. That meant
there was a third entrance. Both these doors had been locked from inside.

He
raced around the entire building without finding another door. Fuck! There had
to be a way in!

His
eyes moved up and there, he saw it. It looked all so obvious now. Perfect for
rebellious teenagers and crack heads to climb into the building. The industrial
sized garage bin was pressed up against the building with two large containers
on top. Climbing up those boxes would put him at the perfect level to reach the
window. The window without any glass in it.

Gavin
leaped onto the bin, climbed the boxes, then peered inside. It was dark and
empty.

“Alicia!”

He
shouldered his way through the window, not so easy as big as he was. On the
other side there was a large crate below him. He dropped to it easily.

On
the ground he spotted empty beer cans, cigarette butts, empty packs of smokes,
and dirty little pipes. He charged through the building, while trying to keep
his fear at bay. “ALICIA!”

Sirens
blared in the distance. Hart was coming, bringing help.

Gavin
spun in circles. There were only two other rooms. An office, which held a trash
can that looked like it’d been used to light a fire and a bathroom with a
male/female logo on the front. It was empty, the toilet gone and sink torn out.
Even the mirror had either been sold or taken. Only hinges were left in its
place.

“Alicia!”
he screamed, his chest burning in agony.

She
had to be here. She had to be here.

Then
where the hell was she?

He
ran back to the doors and lifted the metal hinge and flipped the steel bolt
lock that had been keeping him out. He shoved the double doors open and sucked
in breaths.

She
wasn’t here.

He
was wrong.

She
wasn’t here.

He
looked around wildly, then spotted the garbage bin he’d climbed up on. His
heart sunk. No…it couldn’t be.
Please don’t be…
He walked to it on heavy
steps and shoved away the crates from the top. Breathing through the agony
ripping his heart apart, he lifted the lid and peered inside.

“Fuck!”

He
jumped back from the empty bin and charged back into the warehouse. She wasn’t
in the bin. She could still be alive. God dammit she
had
to be here.
They’d searched every other possible option.

With
the doors bringing in more light, he scanned every single inch of the
warehouse. There was no second floor. No extra rooms. Nothing but…

His
eyes zeroed in on the brown sewer grate. If that’s what it was. There weren’t
bars but a single hole meant for putting a crow bar in to make it easier to
lift the heavy bastard.

On
heavy legs, he walked to it, numb. This was the only other thing here. If this
wasn’t it…then he didn’t know. He’d have failed her.

He
sucked in a breath but all he caught was the rancid stench of days old
cigarettes, moldy water, and muck.

Footsteps
charged into the warehouse. He knew Hart and Elizabeth had brought a team to
search the place. Gavin hooked his finger into the lid and lifted.

It
was dark. Too dark to see.

“I
need a light!” His voice came out much more panicked than he’d thought it
would.

Someone
was by his side in a second. Hart, he realized. Hart handed him his police
issued Maglite. Gavin flicked it on. Light saturated the area below, a small
draining system, an old one. And at the bottom was his mate.

A
choked cry escaped him. He hadn’t even meant to make a sound. “Rope,” he
rasped. His vision blurred at the sight of her.

“Sweetheart,
baby, can you hear me?”
Please be alive.

She
didn’t move. She sat in the cramped space with her knees shoved up to her chest
and her head tucked across her shoulder.

“Get
rope!” someone shouted.

His
eyes devoured her looking for any semblance of life. She was covered in the well’s
filth, her hair covered her face so he couldn’t see it, and he couldn’t tell if
her chest was rising and falling.

“Hurry!”
he yelled.

Someone
shoved rope in his face and they all got to work. He yearned to go down there
and pull her up himself but his bloody body was too big to fit, so they tied
the rope around Elizabeth’s waist and hoisted her down with six guys holding
the rope.

“Got
her!” she called.

They
pulled and pulled, heaving her back up, the weight heavier with Alicia. Gavin
didn’t feel it. He could have lifted them both by himself.

They
broke the surface and he rushed to take Alicia into his arms before the rope
was even cut away. He placed her down on her side and pressed fingers to her
throat.

What
he found there made him cry out in agony. Filthy or not, he covered her with
his body, wrapping himself around her. “I found you, sweetheart. I found you.”
He held his mate, whose gentle breath breathed across his cheek, and he cried
silent tears.

Someone
came and made him set her down. He swiped at him. It was Hart. Hart who looked
him in the eyes and talked him down, told him everything was going to be okay
now, that the doctors needed to start getting her healthy again. Yes, yes, he
realized. He needed to get her fixed, make everything all better.

He
let her go, and took out his pocketknife to cut the ropes, but didn’t leave her
side. He held her hand clasped in his as they checked her for injuries.

Severe
dehydration they said. Shock and contusions.

With
the help of Hart and the officers, they loaded her into his truck; wrapped her
up in blankets. On the way back to the pack, Hart called their pack doctor and
told her to meet them at Gavin’s house.

Gavin
found it ironic that in the few weeks Alicia had come to stay with him, she’d
been in more danger than she ever had in her life. All because of him.

The
commotion in the pack was tremendous. Everyone wanted to see her, to know what
had happened. Where was Will, they asked? Gavin didn’t know. Didn’t care. All
that mattered was getting Alicia well.

He
sat with her in the bedroom while the pack healer, Heather, performed her own
checkup. She hooked up an IV with a saline drip to rehydrate Alicia. Heather
administered some medicine to help with any pain. With the healer’s help, they
cut Alicia’s filthy clothes off and gave her a sponge bath right there on the
bed. He didn’t give a fuck if it ruined his mattress. Not one fuck.

She
still never moved, never came awake. As the hours passed, he started to think
bad thoughts. Like what if she never woke up again? What if something really
bad had happened to her brain?

He
had to force himself to push those thoughts away. Alicia didn’t need his
negativity right now, only his love.

After
Heather left, Alicia was clean smelling and taped up, wrapped up, and medicated.
He curled onto the bed with her and held her gently. Tears filled his eyes and
he said a little prayer that he’d gotten her back.

“I
love you, sweetheart. I love you.”

CHAPTER 25

It
was two days after the attack on Gavin’s mate. Two days which rocked the whole
pack almost as much as the death of Emma and Anthony. Alicia Clarkson might not
be Gavin’s official mate yet, but everyone knew it would happen. Their love was
evident, the sacrifices real. They were true mates.

That’s
how Hanna found herself at the
Burly Bear
getting drunk. She never had
been a drinker. That’s why she came here to let Tish feed her delicious tasting
drinks, because she never kept any alcohol at home. Tish didn’t ask questions
either. She got it. She’d seen plenty of people whose lives were in the
crapper. Bartenders had to be in line right next to therapists, because both
their clients talked about the worst times of their lives.

Not
Hanna though. She wouldn’t be talking about anything. Not even to Kaity. A part
of her wanted to, really needed that advice on what to do about Tom, but since
Alicia’s attack and with Will missing…well, it didn’t seem like a good time to
bother anyone with her ‘problems’.

Hanna
shook her head. It was all so wild to have it happen to you. Things like this
didn’t happen in her family. From how it’s been painted so far, it looked like
Will was off his rocker. Completely.

That
alone was reason enough to drink fruity cocktails.

Alicia
was healing up well. Gavin was in full-on alpha mode. Hart was tense, Jo was
tense. Everyone was looking for Will. Marcus and Harry Graham were hungry for
Gavin’s blood after Gavin beat the crap out of Harry. The parents of Emma and
Anthony craved the murderer’s blood and answers to the senseless death of their
children. Basically the whole pack was a mess.

Even
her life was. Though at least in comparison, it didn’t look so bad.

She
chuckled around her straw and slurped some goodness. Quite suddenly the air
became stifling and a masculine scent reached her nose. Oh, that one smelled
good. She sniffed, cocked her head to the side following that decadent
aroma—then froze at what she saw. Alex stood at the door, his eyes on her, brow
pinched low. He did not look happy.