The Nights Song

Chp 10

*Asher's POV*
I stared at the new picture and note the bird dropped down, my body shaking with anger.

'You're running out of time young alpha, if I don't have the money in the account by midnight tomorrow you will never see the girl again. Good luck~'
In this picture Cress was lying on her side still, but she was awake with her eyes glaring right at the camera, her cheeks, neck and arms littered with cuts and blood that made my blood boil.

"Anything new Ash?" Auntie asked, trotting over to me.
I said nothing as I passed her the note and picture, taking deep breaths to control my inner beast.

They hurt her, I'm going to kill them.
Easy there, we need to find them and get Cress out safely.

Akari's eyes darkened as she finished reading the note and she pulled me into a hug.
"We'll find her Ash, she's strong, she won't leave without a fight."
"I know, that's what I'm worried about. We need to get her back."
She nodded softly.
"Let's talk to your parents, maybe they have a way, they are king and queen of Astoria."
"I don't want them to go in debt because of this stupid ransom, I'll figure something out."
"Asher we need their help, if not money wise then resources. They have the man power to actually find her, the two of us can't do it alone."

I sighed and rubbed my temples, frustrated.
"Fine, we'll talk to them. But we're not mentioning the ransom 'cause we both know they'll insist on paying it if they found out."
"Yeah yeah Mr. i can do it all alone."
I rolled my eyes at my childish aunt before trotting to my parents hut.

"Mom, dad we need to talk."
My mom looked at my from her place on the bed, her hand resting in my dads hair.
I scrunched your my nose at their intimate position, my dads head was in her lap and she was sitting there petting him.
"What's up?" Dad asked, sitting up.
"Cress got kidnapped and we have until midnight tomorrow to find her." Akari jumped in, showing my parents the picture.
"Way to not spring it on them auntie." I muttered.
"You're welcome Ash."

"How long has she been missing?" Mom asked softly, frowning at the photo.
"Since sometime yesterday I think. I went to meet her at our spot when a bird came by and dropped the first picture in front of me." I replied, my fists clenching.
"Have you tried tracking the scent?"
"Of course, it the was the first thing I tried."
"We should look at her cave and ask her pack if they saw or heard anything suspicious, it's possible she was taken in the middle of the night to give them a better chance of getting her out."

I nodded softly and led the way to the Bloodfang pack, squashing down the thread of hope I felt. I couldn't get too hopeful just quite yet.

~~~~

After a few hours of questioning I was beat, we hadn't found anything other than the fact that she was taken from her cave.
Her blankets were on the floor like she hurried to get out of bed, her pillow was sideways and pulled back, showing a knife she had hidden in the pillow case.
We were about to leave when I heard someone talking.

"She sure is loud, I'm glad she didn't come back last night. She was growling a bunch the night before and talking nonsense as if she were about to get taken." Someone laughed.
"That's crazy. Who would be stupid enough to kidnap the future alpha?"
I stormed over and grabbed the first person by the collar of their shirt, my eyes glowing a furious gold.
"Where is she!?" I snarled, the girl I was holding squeaked and clawed at my hand.
I released her and growled angrily.
"I asked you a question!"
"I-I don't know! She hasn't come back in a day or so." The she-wolf stuttered out, rubbing her neck.
"Did you see anything?"
"I saw something black moving that way," she pointed away from the cave. "and it was followed by something shorter. Whatever- whoever they were they wiped their scent trails and left."

"And you didn't think to follow!?"
"N-no, I thought it was just a dream. I-I mean it's a stupid choice to kidnap an alpha by blood, especially one who will soon control two pack."
I snarled and stormed away, unable to take any more of that pathetic she-wolf.

"Asher c'mon, we're meeting with Isla to get more warriors out there." Dad called, leading me towards Islas cave.
"We should have groups of four going in every direction, two trackers and two warriors. In case they run into trouble. Myself, Akari, Hawke and Asher will be in one group, Mira, Jael, Jack and Terrance will be in another, from there we'll pair everyone based on skills. Our groups will be the main form of communication. Mira can call on Hawke, Jack on Akari and Jael on myself. It's the best we can get right now so it's our most likely chance. Everyone ready?" Isla queried, looking each of us in the eye.
"We're ready, let's go."

Isla led our team North and we followed, Akari's group went South and we kept going like that determinedly.

We're going to get you back Cress. That's a promise.