Page 72 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

“Is Summer back?” I demanded.

“No, I told you she went for a—“

“Someone broke into the compound,” I said, cutting her off.

Her face paled, and her eyes widened with terror.

“Stay with Grayson and don’t leave the house for any reason,” I continued. “I’m going to find Summer.”

Before I could take a step, my phone vibrated in my hand.

It was a video message from Axel.

Chapter Twenty-three: Plan S

Gabriel POV

We were almost there.

I looked out the window as our bus drove by a large yellowing field. A tree that had already lost its leaves was in the middle of the dying grass. The sky was overcast and full of dark, menacing clouds. The hairs on my arms stood up—a sure sign that it was going to rain.

Along with that horrible video, Axel texted me the address of where he was keeping Summer held hostage. In his message, he demanded that I come alone within two hours or he would kill Summer.

When I first saw Axel’s message, my stomach dropped and there was a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I sprinted out of the kitchen with only one thought in my head: save her.

Summer’s mom caught up to me at my front door and demanded to know what was going on. I wanted to run past her, jump into my car, and drive until my Mate was safely in my arms and Axel was dead.

But I realized Summer’s mom deserved to know that her daughter had been kidnapped. Summer wouldn’t want her mother to be kept in the dark about something like this. When I told her, the petrified look on Summer’s mom’s face mirrored my feelings. When I told her my plan to go alone, Summer’s mom pointed out that Axel would have other Rogue wolves with him and I wouldn’t be able to fight all of them by myself.

I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell Summer’s mom that I’d kill a million Rogues to save her daughter. But when I looked past my fear and anger, I knew she was right. Axel would have Rogues stationed at all entrances and I wouldn’t be able to fight them off by myself.

I needed an army.

Filled with manic energy, I contacted the other Alphas and Alpha inheritorswho had traveled with the warriors to help coordinate them.I stationed fifty warriors at WaterLock to help my dad protect our pack.

Then, I stationed fifty warriors at my compound to protect it. I told my guards at the compound to move everyone to the hospital or my home. That way, the guards would have a smaller area to protect. My dad said that he was going to employ this same strategy at WaterLock. These precautions were in case Axel was using Summer's kidnapping to distract me because he planned to attack WaterLock or my compound while I was gone.

Summer's mom and aunt promised me that they would protect Grayson with their lives.

Once the army arrived at my compound, I rushed onto one of the four buses holding the shifter army.

I knew that we were going to cut it close to the two-hour time limit Axel had given me and he had demanded that I come alone, but I couldn’t defeat a group full of Rogues by myself.

While we were driving, I texted the other Alphas that we were going to execute Plan S—which was named after Summer since it had been her idea in the first place. I also described to them what Summer and Axel looked like in their human and wolf forms.

“Stop here,” I called to the bus driver when I looked down at my phone and saw that we were two minutes away from the address Axel had texted me.

We needed to sneak up on the Rogues so Axel wouldn’t know until the last possible second that I had brought reinforcements.

I got up from my seat, and terror filled me as I strode to the front of the bus.

It was not fear for myself, but fear for Summer. What kind of hell had Axel put her through in the time it had taken me to get here? This bus ride had been the longest hour of my life. I was caught between white-hot anger toward Axel and cold fear for Summer.

What if he had already killed her?

No.

She was still alive. She had to be. I couldn't live in a world where she didn't exist.

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