Chapter 40

**Ezra**


"Nothing! God dammit!" Weston yells throwing a fist and hitting one of the walls.

Another empty warehouse. Another dead end.

"How are they always one step ahead of us?" Sawyer asks.

"They shouldn't be. There has to be someone feeding them information." Throws out.

He's got a whole setup in the back of one of the SUVs. He's trying to access any security feeds in the area, but so far nothing.

"Forget this shit. Let's just go home." Weston growls and heads for the driver's seat of one of the other SUVs but I grab him.

"We need to stick together this time," I tell him but he shoves me off him.

"Why! Who's going to come for us? They're too busy running!" He yells.

I haven't known Weston to lose it like this, but all of this has been wearing on us. Every time we get close they are gone and evidence shows it wasn't long ago. Day or two max.

"Sir!" One of our men calls out. "You have a call."

He hands me a phone. "Ezra," I answer.

"Ezra. This is the chief." His voice sounds off.

"Yes sir, what can I do for you?" I ask moving away from everyone else.

"I'm not sure how to say this." My heart starts to race.

"Just tell me."

"We got a call about half an hour ago. A man called saying a woman ran past him and told him to call the police. He said there were men and a couple of cars following her. He lost sight of her, but the units checks the area. They found her, but she was injured." I feel sick to my stomach.

Why is he telling me this?

"Ezra, the man said the woman called out a name as well. Elise." I swear my heart stops.

"What did you just say?" I growl lowly.

"Her name was Elise. Our men found her. She was lying in an alleyway not far from where the call was made. They found her...she was suffering from a gun shot wound. She lost a lot of blood..."

"Is she dead?" I yell into the phone.

Why was he not coming out to say if she was alive or dead?

"She was rushed to the hospital but it didn't look good Ezra."

I stumble back a step and nearly drop to my knees.

"Where did they take her?" I ask.

As soon as he tells me I hang up on him without waiting to hear anything else. I jog over to where the guys are and I freeze.

"What happened?" Archer asks.

I swallow hard and move toward the car Weston was about to take. I grab the keys from him.

"We have to go. Now!" They jog over and climb in without a question.

I pull out of the warehouse like my ass is on fire. No way am I going to let traffic laws slow me down right now. It doesn't take long for us to hit the main street and I speed down a few streets before we are met by two squad cars. Our radio crackles to life.

"We'll open a way for you." One of the officers says.

They turn on their lights and sirens. Traffic splits for us and I blow past it all in a haze.

"Ezra, what the fuck is going on?" Weston asks.

"It's Elise," I say and I can feel the tension in the car raise.

"What about her? What happened Ezra?" Archer's voice sounds panicked and I can't blame him.

I'm fucking panicking right now!

"She was hurt. The police found her in an alleyway. She had been shot." I replay the information with a blank face.

I'm trying to stay calm because the others are going to go off the handle and one of us has to be level-headed right now.

"Now way. It can't be here. She was home." Sawyer says frantically.

"It's her! The man who called the police mentioned her by name." I don't know if I should be proud of her for that.

She must have known someone would tell us where she was.

"No. It's a mistake." Sawyer shakes his head.

"It's not!" I yell and then take in a deep breath.

The car goes silent and it stays that way until I pull into the visitor parking of the hospital. Weston is the first one out of the car and storms through the doors like a bull. We rush after him but he is already at the reception desk and the woman there is looking wide-eyed at him.

"I'm sorry sir, but who are you? Are you family?" The woman asks.

Her voice is shaky, but if I was on the other end of the look Weston is throwing her I would be nervous too. Well, I'm used to it but if I was her I would be scared.

"We're her pack," Archer says moving next to Weston.

"Oh. Right, yes you can go through that door." She points to the double doors and Weston is moving before she can tell us where to find Elise.

We follow him and he asks every single person we pass where she is until we find one of the nurses assigned to look after her. She leads us back to a room and what we see when we step into the small room almost breaks my heart.

"Oh my god," Archer says before rushing forward and grabbing Elise's hand.

"How bad is it?" I ask the nurse.

"She lost a lot of blood and took a bad hit to the head that caused some bleeding. She has been out of surgery for about an hour, but she hasn't woken up yet." She gives me a look that tells me all I need to know.

What she isn't saying is there is a possibility she never will.

"Thank you."

"Of course, I'll have the doctor come by in a little bit." She gives me a small smile and leaves us.

The guys are standing next to the bed and I take the free spot next to Archer.

"What was she doing? Why would she leave the house?" Sawyer asks. "She seemed fine when I left."

"Why the fuck did you leave her in the first place!" Weston yells turning to Sawyer.

"What? I thought we had a real lead this time and that you guys would need backup." Sawyer bites back.

Weston moves to get in Sawyer's face but we don't need them coming to blows right now.

"Enough. It doesn't matter now. It's done. We need to focus on Elise now." I snap at them.

"How did we not know something was wrong?" Archer asks. "We can always feel her."

"We think we can. Just like her heat, she seems to be able to turn it on and off. She only ever opened the link when she wanted us to know what she was feeling. We were the lucky few to have the link at all." I wish she had let us in, but knowing her she did it to protect us.

"I can't lose her." Archer's voice cracks and the pain I feel over Elise only gets worse.

Archer takes things so hard. If we lose Elise, we'll lose him too. It will be his breaking point.

The sound of my phone going off pulls me from my worried thoughts and I see Liddy's name.

"Hey, Liddy-"

"Is it true? Is Elise in the hospital?" She asks cutting me off.

"Yeah, it's true. We're with her now."

"How is she? I'm on my way." She sounds frantic and I can hear her Alphas in the background trying to calm her down. "I will not calm down! Now, what did the doctor say?"

"We haven't spoken to him yet, but the nurse said she lost a lot of blood and had some bleeding in her brain. She's out of surgery but she hasn't woken up yet. They said it's been about an hour." I tell her and I hear a small gasp from her.

Once again I hear voices in the background but she clears her throat and ignores them.

"Okay, well sometimes it can take a couple of hours for someone to wake up." She says in her usual determined voice.

It doesn't last though. She let out a shaky breath quickly after.

"She'll make it Liddy, I know she will," I assure her because any other outcome is not an option.

Not for our girl. She healed herself before. This will be no different.

"Z..." Her voice trails off.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I was going to call you guys today..."

"Spit it out, Liddy." I don't normally snap at my sister but I am at my wit's end.

"Last time Elsie came to the clinic she said she has been feeling a little off so we ran tests. Ezra...she's pregnant."

My chest tightens and all the calm I tried to muster is gone.

"A-are you sure?" I ask her not recognizing my voice anymore.

"Yes."

"Liddy I have to go."

"But-" I hang up on her and leave the room in search of the nurse.

I see her coming from another room.

"Nurse. Elise...is she pregnant?" I ask.

Her face falls. "Yes."