Chapter 79 - At The Bayou

Christian barged into the room and started scolding, "Are you nuts? Why the hell were you trying to solve this all alone despite me telling you countless times not to! If working alone was that effective we won't need a pack"! 

"I said I am sorry", Caleb put on his puppy eyes, "plus we got a lead" he tried to use that as an excuse.

"We are not done young man, after we are done with this, you're grounded. You won't be stepping out of this house for two months". Christian ordered in his Alpha command voice. Caleb gulped seeing his brother this serious. His parents were quick to ground him, so he didn't care much but if it was his brother, then he knew he screwed up big time.

"What if I have heat"? Caleb shrugged pining for a loophole. "You don't give out scents anymore, remember? You are good to stay here". Ashton remained quiet in the background as the Wrisberg brothers dealt with their stuff. 

Once they were silent for long enough he asked, "Can I have a white paper, and a pencil or a pen"? Both the brothers gave him an odd look before Caleb handed one that was lying on his table to Ashton. Using the table at the nightstand he started to draw something. After around 20 minutes a rough sketch of the man they recently dealt with.

Both the brothers gawked at the sketch before looking at each other. Caleb's expression was filled with amusement while Christian had a confusing frown. "Who is he"? Christian asked. 

"This… is the man we are looking for". Caleb mumbled. "I never knew you could draw! This is awesome"! Caleb complimented him, taking the page away from him. Ashton simply remained quiet and let them inspect the portrait carefully. "Does he look familiar to you"? Caleb asked his brother. 

Christian shook his head before taking it from him, "I can ask Dad about it, then we can head off to the bayou".

"Great, can't wait"! Caleb exclaimed. 

"Oh you're not coming". Christian glared at his brother. "... and neither are you" he turned around to Ashton. 

A sudden shock overtook his face as he questioned him, "And why the hell not"?! 

"Aren't you the one who is obsessed with guarding your secret? My Dad will be there, many pack members will be there, you think you can handle yourself? Plus I doubt 'humans' are allowed to join in our pack hunt". Christian shrugged and left.

"But I…" before Ashton could say anything Christian left the room. Ashton turned around to Caleb and unloaded on him instead, "How the hell he can expect me to sit idle and do nothing when my sister is in danger"? He voiced loudly.

"Feels frustrating, doesn't it"? Caleb smirked. 

"Yes"! Ashton exclaimed before he noticed to sly smirk on Caleb's face. "Okay, I see what you did there". He mumbled. 

"I know it's hard to sit idle, but it's better than doing the wrong thing impulsively. I mean, I was glad when you showed up back there… otherwise I could have ended up dead on spot". Caleb confessed. "Don't worry, I will keep linking my brother every half an hour. In case he doesn't let me, then we can go personally". He assured Ashton. After giving it a proper thought, he agreed to Caleb's plan.

~~~~~~

Christian informed his father about the tiny mishap that occurred while at the warehouse. He modified certain facts to hide his brother and his mate's secrets, like how it was him who fended off that wolf. Or how Christian was with him the whole time when that happened. 

His father accepted the story and decided to check out the bayou taking many of his wolves along with him. Most of the Alphas and few betas accompanied them making their total count to thirty. They searched the entire area where Caleb's tracker showed the location. The whole place was either surrounded by trees since the bayou was in the middle of the woods, or it was simply the flowing water.

"I doubt if anyone is here. Even if they kept the omegas here where would they keep them? There is no place". Christian mumbled, while he stood right next to his dad.

"We found something"! A man shouted from the other side of the road. Everyone gathered around the source of the call to see a dead bloody rusty brown wolf lying on the floor. It was brutally injured to the point it could not recover. Christian knew Ashton beat him up, but to what extent did he beat him? Was Ashton the reason that wolf died? If the wolf died on his way then the tracker was useless. 

Trying to link his brother be asked, [how bad did Ashton beat him?]

[Why? Pretty bad, he would need at least a few days to recover] Caleb asked.

[The wolf is dead. It's lying in the middle of nowhere. This whole thing was useless]

[No… it can't be. If Ashton almost killed him he wouldn't have been able to shift let alone run like that. I don't think it's Ashton who killed him. Ariel said there is water nearby, look around a little bit more, please. Maybe they are still there] Caleb pleaded.

His brother sighed before continuing, [Look, I know you are trying to protect him, that you are desperate to find her. But believe me there is literally nothing here! We have searched the entire area.] His brother exclaimed. [I will be home soon, we need to fi-] His conversation with his brother was cut short when Christian heard another group of wolves calling them. [I gotta go, I will talk to you later] Christian informed Caleb before cutting down the link. 

They walked by the river to a tiny cave-like entrance. Having never been here before they were quite intrigued and curious about what was inside. A major part of them hoped that they would find the lost omegas there, but unfortunately it was too dark for them to see anything. The only scent this place emitted was a strong peppermint fragrance which seemed kind of out of place. 

As wolves they had quite the sharp vision, and the ability to see much clearer in dark than regular humans, however it was still a bit harder to see in this pitch black environment. Luckily, one of them had a flashlight with her, so they used it to look around the cave. There was a tiny stream that flowed from the cave, and all the walls, which were made of thick large locks, were mostly wet. However, there was no sign of any life present inside this cave, not even a tiny plant.

The tiny ray of hope that flickered in them a while ago vanished one more time. "Let's retreat" Mr Wrisberg ordered everyone. On their way out, due to the slippery nature of the rocks, one of them slipped and went straight down the cliff like depression. All them halted due to the large scream they heard and tried to look down, able to find literally nothing. 

"Mason, you there"!? One of the wolves shouted. They waited for any sort of reply that would give them a flicker of hope. The one who called a moment ago, called for Mason once more, getting desperate by the moment. After almost a whole min the wolves heard his voice. "Come down here! They are here"! 

"What"? Christian mumbled. Mr. Wrisberg looked around while everyone looked at him, waiting for the next command. 

"Use those ropes and anchor it to something up here. Let's abseil down there" Mr Wrisberg ordered. Following his instructions they collected the ropes he was pointing at and some found some extra ropes as well. After reaching below, amdist the dark they heard some whimpering noises. The one who brought the flashlight with him switched it on to see multiple women tied to ropes and what not.

There condition was too horrible to not let it bother them. "Let's get them out of here" Mr Wrisberg ordered before looking around for anyone else, perhaps the perpetrator to this whole incident. Finding no one he looked around to count the number of people who were present there. Making the total count to twenty two, they rescued all of them. The total count was indeed more than what they calculated, denoting that how they missed many omegas because there was simply no one to report them.

They climbed back, with almost each person carrying at least one omega on their backs. Most of them were unconscious, few of them were terrified and flinched back every time someone tried to approach them. He had no idea exactly what had happened in here, but he knew it wasn't something nice.

It was Christian who found Ava lying on the floor as if she was asleep. He was surprised and glad to see her without any scars whatsoever. Taking her in her arms he climbed as well. The last one to leave the area was Mr. Wrisberg. He wanted to make sure everyone was safe before he left. While everyone was busy taking the omegas away, he was busy looking for clues. He collected the pieces of clothes or blood stains he could find. He took a final glance at the entire area before he headed out himself.