Page 1 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 2

Lachlan

Chapter 1

“Tilly!” I screamed into the phone. “Tilly!”

I had never felt so helpless in all my life.

Someone was there in my parents' house. Why? How? We'd taken every precaution possible to keep them safe.

For a brief moment my team came to mind. I pushed that thought away entirely. They may have made a poor decision, but they weren't malicious.

Despite everything I still trusted them, at least about this.

My mind was already racing with different scenarios and weak points. Where had I gone wrong?

I crumpled to the floor in shock as sharp pain pierced my heart.

Tilly.

I sat there torturing myself as I listened to them dragging her away until all that remained was utter silence, the sort of silence that drove sane men mad.

There was a knock at the door and Grant poked his head in.

“We're about to order room service. Do you want. . . Lachlan? What's wrong?”

Taylor came running up behind him pushing him further into the room to assess the situation.

Grant knelt next to me and started checking my vitals.

“Lachie, you gotta talk to me, man. I can't fix it if I don't know what happened.”

“What is it?” Chelle asked.

For some reason her voice pierced through my shock. Maybe it was the similarity to Tilly's voice or maybe just her presence, a small piece of my mate to hold on to.

I shook my head trying to brush her off. I was still trying to process what was happening. I didn't want to say the words aloud, as if somehow that would make them all the more real.

“What’s wrong with him?”

A sharp sting against my cheek shook a little sense into me.

“Tilly?” I begged.

My stomach lurched and I fought down the urge to throw up.

How? Why? What the hell was going on? None of it made sense. Why would anyone go after my family? There were added protections in place and they lived in the city surrounded by humans. Why risk that kind of exposure?

A million questions flooded my mind, but when I closed my eyes, I could still hear her breathing on the other end of the phone, could still hear her begging me to help her.

Never in my life had I felt so helpless.

Rocking back and forth to stave off the unsettled feeling in my stomach, I stopped and listened.

There was still the muted but unmistakable sound of men talking in the background.

My training kicked in and I pulled the phone back long enough to hit the record button on my phone that Archie had installed for just such an occasion. I never dreamed in a million years I’d have to actually use it.

“She’s a fighter. Might want to keep this one,” a man’s voice said.

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