Part C: Chapter 48

"Why haven’t I seen Jemila around?” Shelly asked over supper as we all sat around the table in the main house.

My hand stilled on the fork that I had been holding. I hadn’t told anyone about what had happened and I intended on keeping on like that. “Why do you care?” I spat, pushing my food away suddenly having lost the little interest in food I’d gotten.

It had been over five days since that had happened and to say I was sleeping or even relaxing would be a lie.

Shelly shrugged and I could feel both Carter and Ivan’s eyes on me during the whole interaction. “Just curious, she’s supposed to one day lead by your side and yet she can’t show herself to her people. That says a lot about her character,” she said casually as she continued eating while my world was breaking and she was putting fuel to the fire. “Can’t she have supper with us? Or is she too good for us now?”

“Shel, I think that’s enough,” Ivan intervened.

I felt the fork in my hand bend from the pressure I was exerting on it. “No, no, no, let her say her mind,” I said through gritted teeth. “After all, she obviously thinks that I’ll spare her life just because she is my sister and I’d like to see just how brave she truly is to challenge my word.”

Carter’s eyes just kept moving from me to her and to Gerald who was apparently sat quietly eating his food. It was strange not having him say anything because he always took Shelly’s side no matter what even when she was his adoptive child and I was his biological one. Guess it must be because I never liked taking orders from him even from a young age and that pissed him off because I wasn’t as obedient as Carter and Ivan used to be or like the loyal Shelly.

“Gerald, won’t you add anything?” I asked sarcastically, just trying to get under his skin. “Don’t you have some degrading name you’d like to call her? Because I know everything that happens in my pack.”

Gerald sighed but continued eating without answering. Whatever he was going through was something I had never seen because he always had an opinion. “Just eat quietly, all of you.” Those were the only words that left his mouth followed by a large gulp of whiskey.

Shelly murmured something under her breath but I chose to ignore it. “Can’t I just want to find out where my future sister in-law is?” she asked with a huff then she turned to face me with a sour expression. “Just because you are the Alpha doesn’t mean you know everything, much less have the right to threaten me like that.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Do you want to try me, little one?”

“That’s enough, all of you,” Carter finally spoke. “Geez, you are brother and sister, stop acting like a bunch of rivals for no justifiable reason.” He was looking at me which earned him a glare and nothing more, then he turned to Shelly. “And you, stop trying to get under his nerves. Cut him some slack because he works tirelessly enough that you can afford all those fancy expensive things that you like.”

A small smile made its way at the corner of my lips as Shelly glared at Carter for pointing out the obvious things.

“Now, let’s all just eat in peace and I don’t want to hear any snarky comment from anyone for the rest of this delicious meal.” Carter picked up his water glass and drank from it.

We all ate in silence after that, though I hardly touched my food, feeling sick with myself for having something to eat when I didn’t know if Jemila had had any form of food given to her in the past days.

*****

I picked up my phone as Carter stared at me expectantly. “You really want me to do it?” I sighed. He was the last person I wanted involved in any of this but it seemed Carter wanted to make my life that much more harder than it already was.

“Yep, you have to call him and ask for his help because he is probably one of the only people that we can trust when it comes to Jemila.”

I hated the fact that he made a valid point. “Fine, but you will regret making me do this.”

Carter shrugged, “as long as it gets us the results that we desire. I don’t mind.”

I dialled his number and he answered on the third ring. I put him on loud speaker so that Carter could also listen in to the conversation.

“Carmichael, what do I owe this phone call?” he asked, going straight to the point. “Are you calling to accuse me of doing something again? No, wait, or maybe you finally want to tell me that you were wrong last time?”

I gnashed my teeth, feeling them grinding hard against each other. “Very funny, I didn’t call you for any of that,” I replied through pinched lips. It was taking a lot for me to keep my composure through this and he was making it hard while the smug look on Carter’s face made me feel like smashing his face in. “I have more important things to talk about.”

There was silence on his end but I knew he hadn’t hung up on me just yet. “Hmm, and why are you calling me if it’s that important? Don’t you have Carter for that?”

“I do, but I need outside help in this and you are the only one I could think of asking,” I said finally with a sigh. “I need your help Danvers.”

“Well this is strange Carmichael, you never wanted my help when I offered it not too long ago, especially not my apology,” Sean spat, “so why would I help you now?”
“Because it’s about Jemila.”

The room fell silent and I was almost certain that I heard him swallow and then curse under his breath. I knew it was a bad idea but once upon a time he and I had been really good friends and he had helped me a lot back then.

“What did you do this time Carmichael?” he finally asked, his voice sounding shaky. “I swear to the Goddess if you hurt her I will personally kill you for it.”

Carter’s shoulders were shaking with inaudible laughter while I felt like I was going to be sick from hearing him say those words.

“Unfortunately, I know all that so you can save your threats for another time,” I said. “I need your help in finding out who took her and where they took her.”
“Wait a minute, what do you mean who and where?”

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. If this was going to be a pointless conversation, then I was sure that Carter suffered painfully for making me do this in the first place. “Yes, arsehole, someone took her again and they didn’t leave any traces unlike what you and your sister did.”

“You want my help or not?” Sean asked, sounding pissed. “Because insulting me and my sister is sure not earning you any brownie points in my books.”

“Apologise,” Carter mouthed to me, enjoying this much more than he should.

“I apologise for that, will you help or not?”

Sean paused, making me run mad with thoughts of what they might be doing to her while we wasted so much time to find her.

“Of course I’ll help you find her,” he finally responded. “But who knows about this?”

“Carter, Ivan, the pack doctor and I,” I replied. “The less people know, the better because I still haven’t found out who had helped Lila the first time and that’s still cause for concern.”

“Good, keep it like that,” he replied. “I’ll see what I can do, but in the meantime, is there anyone who might have wanted her for whatever reason?”