Held For Ransom

Chapter 23

Waking up next to Cole, with his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, is perhaps the best feeling in the world. No joke. His arms aren't heavy at all, rather a more pleasant weight. A very warm, pleasant weight.

I face him and smile, raising my hand and trailing my fingers along his cheek. His eyes flutter open, and he grins widely. "Good morning," he greets, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

I sit up as well and snuggle up against him, replying, "Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Best sleep of my life, actually. You?" He pecks my temple, causing heat to spread in my cheeks.

"Same here," I mumble shyly. He chuckles and just shakes his head, then wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me closer.

Ask him about Ryland, my wolf urges, eager to know if they've killed him for disrespecting us or not.

I sigh, not wanting to ruin this perfect moment, but knowing we have to talk about it sooner or later. And in this case, sooner is much better than later.

"So, how'd it go with Ryland yesterday?" I ask uneasily, not wanting to anger him at all.

I can feel him tense, and automatically pray he doesn't get mad. "He told us everything," Cole eventually growls, and I know he's pissed, which lets me know something else obviously happened after I left.

"And?" I prod, anxious for him to go on.

He sighs, then says, "He tried going after you, and he...said a few..unpleasant things. Anyways, when he tried going after you, obviously we held him back, but he attacked and we had to chain him to the chair. I wanted to kill him, but it's evident we wouldn't be able to get anything out of him then. At first, he was hell-bent on not saying anything to us. So, we had to..do a few things we don't normally practice, but the situation called for it."

I shudder, grateful he didn't elaborate on the topic. I've always thought torture was wrong, and still do. RIght now, though, my pack's, mate's, and my life are in danger. Besides, in all honesty, I don't have much of a liking for Ryland after yesterday.

Cole continues, and I immediately tune back into what he's saying. "He told us the army is getting close. His little troop was only to scout the area, and see if they could find us or at least something to lead to us. Well, obviously they found us. If they found us, they were supposed to immediately head back to the army, not attack. Well, they attacked, and we killed them. So their supposed army has no idea what happened to them, much less where we are."

"Alright, so what about the army? Did he say anything about how big it is, who the leader is, or what it's whole point is?" I ask, trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. How in the world was Ryland involved with people like..them? Like my father?

"Their army is about as big as we thought, about one hundred wolves. The thing is, though, they're all trained. And I mean, highly trained. They've got weapons made of silver, and all the works. Ryland says no one knows who the leader is, because he never shows his face at meetings. He's always wearing a black mask, supposedly. As for their whole goal, well, he doesn't know for sure, but he heard the boss talk about revenge on our pack for something that happened years ago. About when I was twelve."

I take a moment to take in all the information. After a few seconds, I can sense something is way off. "Is Ryland close to their leader, or something?"

Cole takes a deep breath, and I know he's about to tell me something huge. "Hannah, I want you to know that I am so, so, sorry.. Ryland is their second-in-command. He's second in charge of the whole army."

I feel as if my heart has just stopped beating in my chest. Cole watches my shocked expression, trying to gauge how I'm taking this.

Ryland. My loving, caring uncle. The only one other than my mother who actually stood up to my father. Second-in-command to an army trying to get revenge and kill us?

After these thoughts, my vision goes red and I can feel my wolf trying to take over. Kill him, she snarls, over and over again. She wants his blood, and her emotions are starting to mix with mine, causing me to growl as well. We both want him dead. Lifeless. Gone. No more.

However you want to say it, it doesn't matter. We want him off this earth.

"Hannah! Calm down, ok? There's still one more thing I can't figure out, and I need your help. We can't kill him yet," Cole pleads, running his hands down my arms in attempt to calm me down.

It works, too. Really well.

Exhaling in defeat, I slump down beside him. "What is it?"

He shrugs, "I don't know. All I know is there's something he said that indicates that he's hiding something big. Bigger than anything we've ever imagined."

My mind picks and searches through everything he told me, trying to find any hidden meanings. Then it hits me.

No one knows who the leader is.

No one, except him.

"He knows exactly who this damn leader is," I growl, fury swelling inside me. "Everyone except him. Come on."

I jump out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a simple t-shirt. Cole does the same, and I rush out of our room with him in pursuit.

When we reach the dungeons, Cole unlocks the door and leads us in. I'm shaking with anger, or rather, both my wolf and I are.

I stalk over to Ryland's cell and send a deathly glare at him. He's on the metal bed, picking at a loose thread on his torn shirt. "I know what you're hiding. Who the hell is your leader?" I ask, not hiding the anger in my voice.

Ryland sits up, and I see an expression of shock cross his face, before he quickly morphs it into one of mockery. "I already told you, no one knows, Hannah."

"Yeah, everyone except you," I snarl.

"Ah, so you caught onto that, did you?" He wonders, smirking.

"Haha, you're just hilarious, you know that? Now cut the act and tell me who's leading your so-called army."

Cole stands behind me in silence, and I'm thankful for that. I need to be the one to handle this. Ryland isn't my family anymore; he's the enemy, and he's going to get what he deserves. From me.

Ryland's expression darkens, and his eyes take on a more grim look. "Hannah, you're not going to like this...at all."

I almost slap my forehead. Duh, I'm not going to like it! This guy is trying to hurt my mate, and my pack!

"All the more reason to kill him," I say in a hard tone.

Ryland gulps, then says, "Your father is the leader of the Raging Dark Blood Army."

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

Holy cow! So who expected that?? *wiggles eyebrows*

I'm also sorry for the wait, I kinda had no idea on what to do next and it's short so I apologize greatly for that.

So yeah I'll try real hard to get another chapter out soon because this was kinda sorta a mean cliffhanger, but who doesn't love those?!

Please comment and vote!

Thanks to everyone!!

~Caiti xoxo