The Beta's Broken Mate (Book 3 Of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 55

Jasper stared down at Cora as she looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. The bullet hurt, and she wondered why she hadn't healed from it.

'It needs to come out,' Missy said. 'It won't kill us but it's definitely weakened us.'

Cora could feel the weakness. She felt like she couldn't move. She wanted to get up and rip out Jasper's throat, she wanted to see where Elijah was, and check on Talia and Ragnar. She was scared to death for Talia.

"Hello, Mate," Jasper said. "You've ran long enough. It's time to go home."

"Jasper, I'm not your mate," She glared at him.

"Oh but you are. My father has promised you to me for as long as I can remember. I even rejected my real mate for you. Soon, we'll be mated, but first, I'm going to punish you for leaving," Jasper told her.

Cora felt a tinge of fear at his words, wondering what he meant by punish.

"Alpha we gotta go before we're found," someone said.

"Throw the she-wolf overboard. Bring him with us. He humiliated my father and I, and he'll pay for that. If he makes it back to Colorado alive," Jasper said. He then lifted his gun over his head and brought it down on Cora's head hard, knocking her out.

***

Mitch Browning smiled at Brianna as he guided the boat along. They had become close over the last few months after he'd agreed to move into the Regal Eclipse pack house. Mitch had lost his wife of twenty-eight years that previous February to cancer. His house had been empty now that both his eldest son, Tyler and only daughter, Jenna were both mated to werewolves in Regal Eclipse. His other two sons had both moved out, and Mitch had hated the loneliness of being at the big house by himself.

Daniel had extended the invitation for him to move in and Mitch had accepted it. He had also offered to turn Mitch into a werewolf, as he was only one of two werewolves that were capable of changing humans into wolves.

Mitch had declined at first, as he wasn't sure he wanted to live an overly long life with the pain of losing his Caroline, but Daniel had left the door open, telling him if he ever changed his mind, he'd change him. Mitch was still a member of the pack and appreciated having the companionship of the members of Regal Eclipse. Especially Brianna.

He had brought her out today to enjoy the sun on the water. Brianna liked to fish, and they'd been doing so most of the afternoon. He'd moved the boat twice so far and was in the process of moving it a third time. He brought the boat around a bend. "Brianna?"

She was sitting in the back of the boat, enjoying the breeze. Mitch slowed down as Brianna walked up to where he was at. "What's up?"

"Isn't that the pack house boat?"

She looked to where he was pointing. "Yes. Elijah took it out today."

"How come nobody is on it?" He asked.

"Maybe they're.." she raised her eyebrows at him.

He smirked. "Probably need to find a different spot then."

Brianna laughed. "Probably."

Mitch turned the boat, as Brianna looked across at the other one. "Wait!"

Mitch throttled back down. "What's wrong?"

"I see something floating. Can you get closer?" Brianna scanned the water carefully.

"Can you mind link him?" Mitch asked her.

She nodded. Elijah?

No response.

Elijah? We're approaching the boat.

Still no response.

"He's not answering," Brianna said as they neared the other boat.

Mitch expertly guided his own around and they both gasped to see Elijah laying face down in the water.

"Let me drop anchor," Mitch said, as Brianna jumped off, swimming over to Elijah.

She flipped him over and saw a bullet wound in his forehead. His face was blue, and she gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks. He's not dead, he's not dead, she repeated over and over again to herself. Daniel?

Hey Brianna. What's up?

Someone shot Elijah. Who would do such a thing?

What?

Mitch and I were out on his boat and we saw the pack house boat empty and noticed something floating in the water. We pulled up and found Elijah face down, his face blue and a bullet hole in his head, she sobbed.

Brianna, Is anyone else there?  Daniel asked urgently.

What do you mean?

Elijah took the boat out with Cora, Ragnar and Talia. Are they not there?

Hold on. "Mitch is anyone inside the boat?"

He moved the boat closer and Brianna saw his eyes widen. "No, but there's blood."

He said no, but there's blood. Daniel, I'm not sure if we can get Elijah in the boat.

I'm on my way. I've already alerted Dr. Ben. Dad's coming with me. Where are you at? Daniel asked her.

Brianna looked at Mitch. "Can you tell me where we are so I can give directions to Daniel?"

Mitch glanced around, then told her how to get where they were. He frowned as he noticed something floating closer to the shore. "Brianna, I wanna check something."

She nodded and he moved the boat. He cursed when he saw the large wolf floating in the water. "Someone is over here!" he shouted.

We found someone else in the water. One of the girls. They're in wolf form, Brianna relayed to Daniel as she eyed the wolf. She knew for sure it wasn't Rollo.

Okay. We're close.

Five minutes later, the two men ran out of the trees, both wearing just shorts. Daniel hurried over to the wolf while Caleb began to dive, looking to see if anyone was caught below water.

"It's Lila, Talia's wolf!" Daniel yelled, as he moved her closer to the boat. "She's been shot a few times."

Caleb surfaced. "I can't see anyone down there."

He and Caleb managed to get both Lila and Elijah on Mitch's boat. "Go back to the pack house. We're going to continue to dive and look for them. We'll bring the boat back. Ben knows you're coming."

Brianna got back on the boat and they headed back. She looked Talia over carefully, and linked Ben. Ben, we're bringing in Talia and Elijah.

Status? He asked

Elijah has one gsw to the forehead. I can smell the silver. We found him facedown and he's blue. Talia is shifted. She's also got a bullet in the side of her head.

What about Ragnar and Cora?

Daniel and Caleb are searching for them, she told him.

Okay, we're at the dock waiting for you.

It took them another ten minutes to reach the dock. Dr. Ben, his mate, Marissa, and Tyler and Charity were waiting for them. Tyler was an RN, and worked at the same clinic as Dr. Ben did in town.

They helped get Elijah and Lila off the boat and headed back to the pack house with them. Charity and Charlotte approached Mitch. "Can you take us to where the men are?" Charity asked him.

Mitch looked her over, disapproval in his eyes. She was pregnant with his grandchild.

"I'll be fine," she told him.

"Okay, but no diving," he helped her and Charlotte both into the boat and took them back out to where Daniel and Caleb were searching at.