Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

36. The past that haunts us

RILEY

"She is fine, but I think that they have drugged her to keep her unconscious most of the time. My fox could sense her wolf without a problem, so they haven't harmed her," James reassured us.

"Give her to me," Rafe stretched his arms to take Natalia over from him.

But instead of doing so, the fox Alpha pressed her closer to his body. "No! No way I am giving her to you. Look at you, you are a mess - all bloody and all- and frankly, you don't seem very stable right now. I'll take her back to the van, you sort out the chaos here- I think some of the cells have different shifters in them."

We had been so focused on getting Natalia that we had not thought about what else this house of horror could contain. We couldn't leave anyone here though.

Rafe stood there frozen, suddenly staring at the darkest corner of the room. It was like he wasn't even with us at this moment. I was not sure what but something inside me was breaking into little pieces at the sight of the cocky, smug arse that was Rafe Macalister, my supposed mate, looking lost and vulnerable. Was it my heart that felt like that?

He moved closer to the corner and just stood there. I motioned to James, "You are right- we will take care of things. Connor is waiting at the van, so get Natalia to safety and we will be there soon. If you need, take her back to my place- her wellbeing is a priority."

As James walked out of the cell with Natalia tightly in his arms, Rafe didn't even blink. This wasn't a good sign and I was now worried. I took a step closer to him, and then another. It felt like I was approaching an injured fawn that I was trying not to spook. When I finally reached him, I saw the claw marks on the wall in front of us. On the adjacent one, there were little lines etched in the wall in groups of five, all 30 of them. Next to them were two initial. "R.M."

"How old were you?"

"Thirteen," he said with a trembling voice. My eyes filled up with tears that I was fighting back as I was not going to be of any help to anyone if I was a sobbing mess. My heart was hurting so much for the little boy that had spent 30 torturous days here. "My mother was in the next cell for most parts of it but not on that day. The day that they took her wolf away. All I heard were her screams echoing throughout the mansion. That's when one of the human guards decided to let me go."

His mother's wolf was taken away? Could it be the same people that were after me and my family? I pushed those questions aside though as I couldn't let Rafe fall apart.

I stepped in front of him, blocking the sight of the walls behind. I looked up and saw his face contorted with sorrow and grief. A single tear rolled down his cheek. I could only imagine what he was going through right now but it was probably similar to when I got all the memories from the night that my parents died. So I lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek, gently wiping the tear away with my thumb, smudging the blood that was still on his face in doing so.

He blinked and the frozen look in his eyes was gone. Instead, I saw gratitude that quickly changed into a fire when he looked right at me. Something inside me stirred but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. What I knew though was that somehow, deep inside me, I felt his pain lessen as calmness and warmth made their way from me to him. It was as if it all went from my heart straight to his, using the touch between my hand and his cheek as a bridge. He blinked once again before he cleared his throat.

"We need to get a move on. We don't know whether they might have reinforcements coming and we need to free up the rest of the people in here," he said as he walked away from me and towards the door. But before he exited, he stopped and turned in my direction again, "Thank you."