Page 130 of The Alpha and His Childhood Sweetheart

I whispered, “Alexander.” He linked, “From what I saw when I pushed, she isn’t in as bad as what Jane was.” I wanted to scream and curse at the sky that my younger brother has seen his mate in worse shape, considering Madeline and her wolf were hurt pretty badly.

Alexander rushed in and told the Hackura, “Hold her hand. I’ll heal her, but you can hold her while I do that.” I asked Cayden, “Who is he?” Cayden answered, “The youngest son of aLord in our realm. Good guy and a great fighter.” I was relieved, “She might just need that right now.” I left.

I went to check on my mom. She was still healing Jane. Brutus snarled, “It was really bad.” It had to of been. Mom could heal people very quickly. Alpha Nathan McDermont was waiting just behind her. I left them to that and found there were two other male wolves in this facility.

To our surprise there was a half Demon too. Lastly, we had a partial Hood. I called Heath. He answered, “I was on backup duty so I’m about five miles away. I didn’t expect a call though. What’s wrong?” I told him, “We’ve got a partial Hood down here.” He cursed, “God damn it! I’ll be there in a flash.” Of course he would.

When he arrived and saw her condition he was enraged. He was going to figure out whose daughter this was. I couldn't say I wanted to be that man when Heath found out who’d fathered the girl. Aunt Lexi was inside her room, speaking with her and explaining what she was. For her part, the girl seemed genuinely thrilled there were others like her.

I went back to where my family was waiting. My mom finally sat back from healing Jane. Jane woke up with a start. She locked eyes with Theo and started crying. They both growled, “MINE!” She wrapped her arms around him. He told her, “I’ve got you, Jane. No one will hurt you ever again.”

Alpha Nathan McDermont watched them with tears pouring shamelessly down his face breathing heavily. His Beta put a hand on his shoulder. Alpha Nathan whispered, “She’s ok. My pup is ok. I thought I’d lose her and her mother.” I cringed away from that thought altogether not wanting to be in his shoes.

Madeline ran to Jane from across the room. She cried, “She was telling the truth! She brought help and got us out. She wasn't a trick! Oh God Jane, I thought we’d meet the Moon Goddess together.” Several growls filled the room that it was that close.

I asked, “Who is she? Did you see her face?” Jane frowned, “It was…” She trailed off. She whispered, “I can’t remember her. I know I talked to her but what she looked like won’t come to me.” I asked, “What was her name?”

Madeline scoffed, “They don’t do names down here with the fighters. I know her fighting name though. She’s called The Swiffer because she wipes the floor with her opponents. She’s the most popular fighter to watch. They had Jane out so much because she was hurt and they didn’t have their star, but she came back. She took Jane’s fight tonight. They didn’t care because she draws a crowd.”

I frowned, “Why did she take the fight? And how?” Madeline winced, “She took the fight because Jane wouldn’t have made it.” Theo growled. Jane added, “She saved my life, but she definitely shouldn’t be fighting. She’s hurt pretty bad herself.”

Alexander growled, “How bad?” Madeline offered, “Really bad. Plus, her thing is letting people beat the shit out of her before she snaps and kicks their ass. According to everyone down here, just when you think she’s going to lose she fights back and wins. No matter how badly she’s hurt. She’s practically a legend to everyone we fought and met. Like wow and could fight Alpha Alexander and hold her own good.”

I blinked several times because there was only one person I thought could ever go toe to toe with my brother. I shoved that away. Brutus agreed, “She’s living her dream.” I knew that. Plus, my dad had a guy following Melanie around. He’d notice if she was hurt that badly and would’ve reported it.

Alexander yelled, “Who the HELL would fight like that?” Jane whispered, “The Swiffer. She doesn’t lose, but she’s not like the other fighters though.” My mom asked, “What do you mean?” Jane answered, “She was sold into this by her aunt, but she’s their money maker. She went to the guys in charge and somehow got them to agree to pay her. She makes money fromher fights. She told us she uses it to free people. To fight back. She…”

She trailed off, then pulled out a card from under her bed. I looked at it and handed it to Alexander. It was the Ring Resistance circle with a line through it. I linked Alexander, “Now we know how they are so well organized. The sniper is funding their operation through fighting.”

Alexander raised an eyebrow, “And we know why she tends to go missing in action for periods of time. She’s letting herself get beaten to hell when she fights before winning. What the fuck, EJ?” Brutus growled, “I do not like that. We need to stop it.” I was on board with that plan, I just didn’t know how to get it done.

I asked our other witness, “Madeline, did you ever see her?” Madeline frowned, “It’s fuzzy but I think I did. I need to think about it though.” I caved, “That’s fine.” Her mental state of mind mattered here, and I wasn’t going to push her.

My Aunt Katie motioned to me to step outside into a different room. I asked, “What they are talking about is magic, right?” Katie nodded, “Yes, but I don’t think it was the sniper’s Witch. This is dark magic. I’ll have to look into this with my brothers. I’m also worried because we don’t know what type of trauma is hiding in this dark magic other than possibly a face of someone we want to know.”

I groaned, “What do you mean?” My Aunt explained, “I think this sniper is FAR too smart to let these girls see her face when she knew she could be using us to save them. That had to be a plan in her mind for quite some time. If there was ever someone she needed extracted immediately, calling you is the obvious way. You’ve made it known you want to be friends. She knew this was always an option for her and she knew that we would come.” I nodded knowing she was right.

She continued, “But our sniper wouldn’t hurt them. Lately, she’s clearly wanted Red Run to know who she is. She didn’t do this because the Witch she’s worked with in the past doesn’t do dark magic. This was done by the people in the undergrounds, and we don’t know what else they are hiding in their minds.” I pulled her into a hug, “Thanks for the insight, Aunt Katie.” She squeezed me and then let me go.

We questioned the rest of the prisoners we’d rescued. None of them could remember seeing our sniper, who apparently just had another name now. The Swiffer. Every single fighter here all agreed The Swiffer made promises to get them out. She was taking fights for these people so they could save up their strength when they were hurt. That begged the question, how badly hurt was she then? Was anyone worried about her besides us?

Brutus commented, “With the way she fights, it sounds like she is fighting way too much.” I agreed, “We have to get to her.” There was no other option. Every single piece of evidence we found was only about this underground cell. They even made sure not to refer to it as the damn underground. FUCK! We had nothing. No proof that my dad could move on.

Elise wrapped her arms around me. She whispered, “We are one step closer now. We got here in time. Theo is with Jane now. Madeline is ok and we learned more than we knew before.” I acknowledged, “Yes, we did. We are several steps closer to our sniper. Or the Swiffer, I guess.” I had a suspicion that Elise wouldn’t like about her identity now that I had time to think about it.

I needed more proof before I said it out loud, but something told me Ashley was key. She was a source of some kind for Micah. She would be the best fighter the undergrounds had. My dad had made that point. The ‘above board’ underground wasn’t approaching her because she was already in the REAL undergrounds.

This was going to be their big mistake that worked in our favor. They should’ve made an effort to act like they were attempting to recruit her. This made it a connection. Ashley didn’t think she deserved a good life, and the way the sniper talked was a lot like how Ashley’s emails read.

Brutus snorted, “When she deviates from the script written out for her.” That was key. As pissed as I was for Jason going off on her, it did make her reveal more. A thought swirled in my mind. I asked Brutus, “Is Ashley the sniper?” He grunted, “That would upset mate.” I knew that.

I hugged Elise as these thoughts ran around in my mind. I needed to dig, but I finally had a direction. Something finally clicked and it made sense. The only thing that held me back on my new theory was Red Run. Everything we had said Ashley had never been there. Why would she care about Red Run? It was the one flaw in my new theory.

One thing was certain. I was going to look into this carefully. I knew there was something I was missing when it came to Ashley. Something I was now determined to figure out. If the sniper was Ashley, then Elise’s face to face meeting with her would be happening soon. That much I knew.

Similarities

Elise is Twenty-Four Years Old

---