The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 92: Chapter 92

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Michael roared and paced Hunter’s office.
Brayden stood behind the Neta, just to his right, as was his place as Pride Beta. Uncle Uzzi was looking worried in his seat in front of his desk with Jessica holding his hand. The two of them had been in Jessica’s Closet, waiting for Kylie to finish changing her clothes, so they could come over and help with the final setup for Elissa’s baby shower, that was to take place in just an hour.
They had all been working hard to make the event a special one for the heavily pregnant Nari. The Alpha fem had not been told of the events and he understood, after all, her condition was delicate. And yet, he could not control the way his beast snarled and snapped, feeling as though he were breaking in two.
His mate was missing, and he didn’t have a clue why or where she’d gone. The others looked at him strangely. They did not understand, but Michael knew Kylie. She would not leave him, especially not after last night.
“Look, she’s always been distant. Maybe she just left, bro,” Brayden offered quietly.
“No,” Michael ran a hand over his face.
He knew he’d been high-handed when he’d taken the Ancient Rite of Proclamation to claim his mate, but he thought he’d persuaded her last night that it was the right move. After what they’d shared, and the way she responded to him, Michael had assumed she was every bit as infatuated as he.
Fuck that.
It was more than infatuation. He loved the woman. She was his one true and fated mate. The single most important person to him in the entire universe.
“Pierce and the guys have been over her apartment, they found nothing there. I am sorry, but it looks like she just bailed,” Brayden insisted.
“Brayden,” Jessica hissed a warning to her mate.
It was a good thing too, because Michael’s beast was spoiling for a fight, and the big Bear would do more than suffice. Everyone always assumed that because he was always the nice guy, Michael was, therefore, weak.
But he was not weak. He had a seven hundred pound Tiger inside of him who would take on the challenge of a Bear with relish if it got him his mate back. But it wouldn’t, and that was the only thing that stopped him from attacking him just then.
Shit.
Brayden was his friend, not his foe. Michael knew that, but his beast was itching to break free.
He wanted her back. Wanted to know she was safe.
“I don’t believe she would just leave, Michael,” inserted Uncle Uzzi. “Kylie had been speaking very highly of what transpired yesterday between you two. No details,” he added. “But I know she was looking forward to developing her relationship with you.”
“Thank you,” Michael mumbled, sparing the older Witch a glance.
Shame rose like bile as he wondered in the tiniest crevice of his mind if maybe Brayden wasn’t right after all. Kylie had not exactly chosen him as a mate. He’d forced it on her.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
He was, at best, a bully, and at worst, well, he didn’t even want to consider it. All he knew now, was that he loved her, and wanted her safe. If she wanted to be free of him, he would let her go. Well, he would try. But in all honesty, he would give her anything she wanted, if he only knew she was okay.
If, in the end, she wanted him to go, he would. If that would make her happy, he would do it. Anything for her. Anything it took. He made a vow right then and there to do whatever she needed and wanted, just as soon as he knew she was safe.
A knock at the door had Michael whipping around, a snarl on his lips even as Hunter invited the person to come inside. He silenced his growling and tried to rein in the beast. Wasn’t that difficult since the person standing there shocked the shit out of him. Michael would never have expected to see her waiting in the doorway with big, frightened eyes.
“Excuse me, Neta,” the she-Tiger said and cast her gaze downward.
The scent of her fear had Michael’s Tiger chuffing in response. He did not seem to care she was Pride and female, the beast just wanted his mate. the she-Cat hunched her shoulders and averted her gaze from all the males in the room.
Shit.
They were all on edge because of this, and they were scaring her. Michael nodded at Lance to cut off the sound of his growling, and the younger male did so immediately. He had not even been aware of it, or so his shamed face told Michael.
Pamela Brown had made great strides to make up for all that she had been a part of as a result of her association with Blake. Still, Michael did not believe it was her fault. The former Beta had used his position to cower those weaker than him, and to abuse the females of the Pride unbeknownst to the Neta. It was horrible, but she was not to blame.
“Yes, Ms. Brown?” Hunter asked.
“I, uh, I saw some of the men searching the apartment above Jessica’s shop, and I heard what happened. After they left, I went in, and looked around myself, I figured maybe fresh eyes, anyway, um, I found this between the cracked floorboards on the staircase,” Pamela explained and held up what looked like a plunger from a needle.
“What made you look after it had been searched, Pamela?” Hunter asked, curious.
“Well, your Honor Guard are all fine Tigers, Neta, but if someone did something bad, they wouldn’t be, fine Tigers, or Shifters, or even just men. They would be scum and, well, I’ve been around scum. For whatever it’s worth, Doctor, I hope she is alright,” Pamela said to Michael.
“Thank you.”
Michael took the plunger from her hand, and he sniffed it. Recoiling from the sharp, pungent stench of poison toxins and dark magic, he dropped it into the trash. His Tiger growled and his entire body vibrated with anger.
“That stinks! It’s some kind of poison. Must have been made by a Witch or Shifter scientist. There are enough toxins in here to take down any adult Shifter!”
“What is in it?” asked Uncle Uzzi.
“Aconitum, Yew, Hemlock, Nightshade, and Oleander for starters. My guess is it’s a potent blend of herbs and toxins that can severely incapacitate a Shifter. I also smell several members of the Allium family, along with Methylxanthines. For an exact ingredient list, I’d have to send it to the lab.”
“Let’s do that, but you know what this means?”
Hunter nodded, while Brayden carefully extracted the plunger from the garbage and placed it in an envelope.
“One more thing—” Pamela interrupted. “There was a really distinct odor, but only in the farthest corner of the hallway. Like body odor and rotting garbage,” she said, and her face was pinched in revulsion.
“Mikey,” the Neta said, and Michael turned to face his leader, fur sprouted along his arms, and his fangs descended.
“She didn’t leave,” Michael announced with dead certainty. “Kylie was taken.”
“But I don’t understand. Why would you help Kylie?” Jessica asked Pamela, and Michael had to admit he’d been too far gone to question her motives.
“Look I know what you think of me, and believe me or don’t, that’s on you. I swear, I am telling the truth,” Pamela said, shaking with anger and maybe some sadness. She turned to Michael, her face imploring him to trust her.
“Your mate was nice to my son, to Paulie⁠—”
“You have a son?” Jessica gasped.
“Look, I just want to help,” Pamela replied.
He noted the surprise in Jessica’s eyes at discovering Pamela had a child. Michael knew, of course, having tended her during her pregnancy and Paulie’s birth. Pamela had kept the boy to herself for whatever reason. It was none of Michael’s affair. He simply did his job as the Healer. Hunter had been aware of the cub for the Pride records, but it was not either of their business whether she told anyone else.
“But Kylie doesn’t even like you,” Jessica pressed.
“Well, I’ve never given her a reason to like me. Look, even after what I did to Gretchen, she forgave me. Reg forgave me too. I know I have a lot to answer for, but I swear, I am doing my best. Kylie might not like who I used to be, but I am trying to change, for my sake and my son’s. I just have to,” she whispered the last.
“Thank you, Pamela.” Hunter stood and placed his hand on her shoulder. “You are a valued member of our Pride. I should’ve taken better care of you and others like you. Please, forgive me.”
The entire room seemed to still at the Neta’s words, and even Jessica was moved to step forward. She took the other she-Tiger’s hand and squeezed it.
“I second that,” Jessica said. “Please, let me know what I can do to help the support group you and Gretch have started working on.”
“I will, thanks, but I think we better look for Dr. Mikey’s mate first,” Pamela said, and raised her eyebrows, nodding to where he was standing with his back to the room.
Three-inch long, black claws tipped his fingers, and the fur that had begun to sprout along his chest and arms now covered his face. He felt his fangs elongate, protruding from his mouth as his chest heaved with unshed violence.
His mate was in trouble, and the Tiger inside of him was desperate to get her back.
“Mikey, do you know who took her?” asked Brayden.
“Yes. It was her old Pride,” he growled. “The smell, Kylie hated that fucking smell. She’d described one of the rogue’s stinking of garbage and being more than a little creepy. His name is Waylon Pitt and if he touched a hair on her head, I am going to rip his throat out,” he said in a deeper, more gravelly voice than was typical, but that was his Tiger for you.
“Michael,” Uncle Uzzi said and stepped forward. “Look at me and focus. You have to quiet your Tiger,” he instructed, even as the half-shifted Tiger snarled in barely contained fury.
“Michael,” the Witch insisted. “It is the only way to save her. You must push the animal down and focus on your matebond. Right now.”
Michael blinked when the old man slapped him right on the nose. Foolish, cause the Cat wanted to take a good chunk out of the old Witch’s digits, but he stopped himself and shook his head.
“Close your eyes, Michael. Search your soul. You must find the thread that is your matebond. You will know it when you see it.”
Michael fell to his knees. He grunted, and growled, wrestling with his Tiger for supremacy until Uncle Uzzi’s words sunk in. In order for him to find his mate, he needed his Tiger to be quiet. Once he understood that, the beast went from enraged to compliant.
“Good, now look for it, find the ethereal link between you and the one fated to be yours until the end of your days,” he instructed in a cool and calm voice.
Michael did as he was told. He ferreted around that metaphysical plane where his beast rested when not called. Beneath the fog and mist, he searched until he found the silvery flowing thread that connected him to his one true and fated mate.
“Kylie,” he growled, and opened his eyes. “I feel her, I can sense where they are heading.”
“Enough to drive?”
“Yes, let’s go⁠—”
The door to Hunter’s office slammed open. All heads turned and stared at the entryway. Uh oh. There stood one hugely swollen, huffing, and puffing, angry as fuck Elissa Maverick with Gretchen toting behind, an apologetic expression on her face.
The seriously peeved Nari took in each of the room’s inhabitants in her angry blue glare before she opened her mouth and roared at the lot of them. More than one head turned down, and several pairs of eyes averted out of respect as she made her displeasure known. Once she was done posturing, the Alpha fem of the Maverick Pride stomped her feet and placed her hands on her belly to steady herself.
“Alright you fuckers, this is supposed to be my baby shower. I went outside waiting to be pampered and praised, and my beyotches were supposed to sing Baby Love to me while I entered the tent on the karaoke machine, damn it! But no one I wanted was there!”
“Love, I apologize, oof-”
Hunter sucked in air as his mate’s fist landed squarely in his stomach. His teal eyes glowed, and where a lesser man might have sunk to the floor, he sucked it up, and managed to gaze adoringly at her even as she scowled.
“Shut it, buddy. Thanks to you, I’m the size of a fucking water buffalo, and twice as mean,” she growled, and the lucky bastard smiled at her.
In fact, the fucker must’ve had a death wish because he leaned forward and kissed her brow, beaming at the furious woman like only a man in love would be foolish enough to do.
That was why Hunter was the Neta. The SOB was the biggest, baddest, and best pussy of them all. Save for maybe Elissa herself. After going through the Puspa, she had certainly embraced her wild nature. Everyone was sure their offspring would be total badasses, ruling the Pride by the time they went to school.
“Well? Someone tell me what the fuck is going on here!” she demanded.
“You see, Nari—” Brayden began.
“It’s just—” Jessica interrupted.
“Love, you should be resting⁠—”
“Someone took Kylie,” Michael said, ignoring the shocked looks and angry glare of his Neta and the others.
Elissa walked to Michael, her blue eyes huge and concerned. She touched his forearm, her other hand was on her stomach.
“What are you doing to get her back?”
“I was just about to leave,” he told her, aware of Hunter’s displeasure.
“Well, then,” she said, snapping a glance at her mate, who immediately shut the fuck up. “We better get going.”
“Baby, I don’t think⁠—”
“Good, Hunter. Don’t think, my love, just get the van because I am going with my Pride’s Healer to get his mate and my friend back,” she stated with absolute calm that was even more frightening than when she yelled.
“Elissa,” Hunter began.
“I am going, Hunter. The question is, are you coming or not?”
“You heard her,” Hunter growled, snarling at Brayden, who held up the keys as he took his wife’s hand and placed a fierce kiss to her palm.
“Let’s go!”