Xavier's POV
Just under the snow, I catch her scent. Celeste was here.
The house is cute. Like a little old woman would live here and bake pies, kind of cute. Right up against the side of the mountain, it's hidden cleverly away between a wide crevice. As was told to us, the door is knocked down. That's where Celeste's scent is most clear, under the scent of several rogues and snow. Before we enter, as we wait for everyone to gather, I trace the scent as far as I can. I get maybe fifty yards back into the woods before it fades into an indiscernible mass of nature and cold.
'She's gone,' I link to Josh. 'They must have known we were coming. She's gone.'
'It could be a trick,' he tries to reassure. 'Let's investigate while we're here.' I huff, coming out of the tree lining and returning to the little house. 'Hey.' He nudges me. 'We'll find her.'
My breath gets caught in my throat, my eyes blurry as I look away. She has to be here. She has to be.
'Xavier.' My head snaps to Josh, snow beginning to fall on my shoulders. 'We're ready.' They are. Fifty wolves stand behind Josh, ready to enter the house. I take the lead, an anxious feeling bubbling just below my skin.
The interior of the house is also cute. It annoys me to think of how I can picture Celeste and I in a place like this. For as long as I can remember, the pack house has been my only home. When I was a kid, I used to run through the halls on Christmas mornings, a giggle bursting through me like a scream. My mom used to prop me up on the counter as she cooked dinner. When I was a teenager, I would seek solace in my room or the library. A moment away from training and with a good book was everything. When I became Alpha, I immediately started planning redecorations of the office. Of my room and the living room. A new era but one that was ultimately tied to home. Just several weeks ago, I bought paint chips for Celeste and I to go through. Yet another era that I was sure would turn to something much like this house in front of me. Celeste doesn't seek frilly colors but something about the texture of the curtains and pillows here ring distinctly with what I imagine she would like. If I focus even just a little, I can imagine the two of us swaying through the kitchen, the smell of chicken or a cake coming from the oven.
'Xavier.' Josh again. 'You okay?'
I nod and continue through the house. There was some sort of struggle here. Things are askew; the couch pushed at an awkward angle, an accent table tumbled on its side. In the kitchen, a large floor to ceiling cabinet is broken. Josh and the warriors follow behind me at a slow pace. Inside of the cabinet, there's a long tunnel leading back. 'It's here.' I look around my shoulders. 'Split up into the same groups from before. The tunnel is going to branch out and I don't know how far back it will go. If you are even the slightest bit unsure about something, if you feel like something is off, then retreat and call for backup. Got it?' A series of replies flow through the link.
Josh and I take the lead. I try to catch a scent, a hint of my mate, but all I can smell is this damp smell of rock and dirt. A few other scents that I push together as the scent of different rogues linger on some of the walls. Not far into the caves, there's a deep stain on the ground. I sniff at it generously, needing to assure myself that it's not Celeste's blood. Only when I'm satisfied that it's not, do I let Josh pull me further into the cave.
We walk in several circles, bumping into groups of our warriors who are seemingly lost as well. I take to running my fur along several of the cave walls as the true expanse of the maze is revealed. The amount of time it must have taken to build this. . .
'Do you find it odd that we haven't crossed any rogues yet?' I huff at Josh's question.
'It's because they've abandoned it; taken Celeste with them.' I'm only more sure of it every minute.
'Let's go this way.' His intentional ignore of my remark is pushed aside as we come across a door with a large lock. There's a key up on the wall. I nudge Josh and we both shift. The key feels rusted in my hand but it still slides into the lock. The door opens with a creak. "Do you smell that?"
I don't answer him, my legs carrying me quickly towards the back of the room. I pass by cell after cell. Water repetitively drops to the ground somewhere far back in the cell block and I realize how cold it is in here. The entire cave system is cold, but this room is worse. Outside of the room, there were lights strung up to light the way ever so slightly. Here, only three or four lights go along the entire way. I stop when her smell is the strongest. On the ground, is a clumped fabric that I quickly grab. I bring it to my nose. Her scent is faded from her sweater but still clings to the fibers.
"Is that hers?" I nod. "You don't think. . ."
"I don't want to think. Not there." The fabric sinches in my hands, my knuckles straining with the force put into them. "Only where. Where is she?"
"Alpha," he trails again. "There's blood in the ground." Looking up, I see he's right. Multiple dark spots decorate the floor from where we're standing to inside the cell in front of us. Josh crouches down, rubbing his fingers into the layer of dirt on the rock. He brings his hand to his nose, inhaling softly. My knuckles pop. "It's hers, Alpha."
"How much is there?" I can't look, can't study it. I can't bring myself to do the calculations.
"Not enough to seriously worry about. She's alive, you know that."
"When I get my hands on the rogues-"
"Let's focus on one thing at a time, Alpha." I nod. He's right.
'Alpha, we've found a lab.'
"Let's go." I nod to the door, making my exit with Celeste's sweater still in my hand. I bring it to my nose again.
'Celeste,' I try to link her. 'Celeste, where are you?' There's no response.
Several of the warriors have also shifted back into their human forms inside of this lab. There's two tables with several straps along them. Pitchers of different liquids on a series of tables and locked cabinets on the opposite side. Several of the cabinets and locked drawers have already been broken into. "Alpha," Calvin, one of the warriors, pulls my attention. He eyes the fabric in my hand. "There are notes here," he slaps at what looks like a journal of some kind, "on 'failed transformations' and 'tests.'"
I take the journal from his hand. The handwriting isn't too legible but I can make out enough of the words. "Experiment 102: failure. Genome successfully wiped, new installation unviable. Alive." I skip back several pages. "Experiment 86: failure. Seizure mid genome wipe. Fatality." The rest of the pages continued on like this. Failure after failure. I've fought these 'experiments' and I feel like not much about them were failures. Sure, they look hideous but if all he's going for is greater strength, then surely they aren't all failures.
"Josh?" He hums, going through the vials of liquids. "What do you make of this?" I held out the notebook to him. He does a small jog, taking the book from me and giving it a scan.
"I think," he trails, continuing to flip through the pages, "that if he ever succeeds in whatever he's trying for, we'll be screwed."
"And what is he trying for?"
He shrugs. "Wish I could tell you."
'Alpha, we've found something.' Another voice links me.
'Be right there.' I give a glance around the room, eyes settling on the locked cabinets. "Josh, figure out what's in there." He nods, tucking the book under his arm and heading for the small locks. "Meet me outside in an hour. This place is abandoned."
"You got it."
I trace another of our group's scents until it mingles with Celestes. My heart leaps into my throat but when the sight inside the room greets me, I can feel my stomach clenching. Chains are in several spots along the wall, one set broken. Across from the broken chains, sits a chair that also has several straps on it. Celeste's scent clings to the chair in the faintest of ways. There's blood soaked into the ground through the room and on the chair. I pray to the goddess that none of it belongs to my Celeste.
'The straps on the chair are broken, Alpha.' I nod to the wolf, Mel, who sniffs at the chair. I pick up the straps. The break is uneven and harsh.
Someone links me but I can't hear it. My heartbeat pulses so loudly, I can feel it in my ears, in my temples, in my fingers.
'Celeste,' I try. I repeat her name over and over, walking to one of the walls and resting my forehead against it. 'Celeste, Celeste, Celeste.' I need to hear her voice. The ripped sweater falls out of my hand as my eyes begin to sting.
'Alpha?' Mel nudges me with her nose. 'Let's go. There's nothing more in here to help us.' I nod, taking a harsh breath in through my nose.
'Alpha?' Josh links me. 'It's wolfsbane. A shit ton of it.' I stride out of the room, stopping only momentarily to pick back up the sweater.
'Smash it all.'
'Alpha?'
'Do it, Josh. I don't want them to be able to come back to this place in one piece. Not tomorrow. Not ever.'
'Okay.' The link cuts out.
'Anything to report?' My link goes out to the entire group. A series follows of finding rooms with beds, with tables and couches. When nothing of value sounds, I call for everyone to retreat to the entrance of the tunnels.
"Josh!" His head snaps towards me as he exits the house. "Is it done?"
"Yes, Alpha."
"Good." I take a look around the clearing. Snow starts to drift down; faster, I can see, on the mountain top. The trail of Celeste's scent is mapped out like a dotted line going into the tree line to nowhere. And I watch as it fades further and further away under the oncoming snow.