[Austin]When I regained consciousness, I felt disoriented. I put my hand to my head and groaned. Whatever they used on me was powerful, and I was still feeling the effects of it.“Oh, Goddess, Austin! You’re awake!”“Shh… my head hurts, Carmen,” I groaned.She practically pounced on me and held me tight. I could feel her fear in her embrace. It made me nervous. Fear from a ranked or ranked blood wolf meant bad things.“Everything’s going to be okay. Someone will get Trent. He’s going to come save us,” Carmen murmured as she nuzzled me and stroked my hair.Carmen was trying to comfort me. I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back. It seemed like she needed comfort, too.For months, she told me about how ranked and ranked blood wolves were supposed to take care of their pack, and especially omega wolves. I’d seen it while living in Hallowed Moon. The entire pack took care of each other, including omega wolves.“I believe you, Carmen. Everything will be fine. Where are we?”“In a cave in the woods somewhere. The members of that cult Trent is investigating kidnapped us. They knocked you out and knocked out Wylder. I hope he’s okay….”“He’s a grown troll. I’m sure he’s fine. Probably pissed if I learned anything from living with Rock,” I chuckled. It made her laugh, but she was still holding me. “If you let me up, I can look around.”“Stay near me. The men who dropped us in here said there are revenants around the edge of the room and it smells like the things that attacked us in here.”I sniffed. The smell wasn’t as pungent as I remembered, but it was there. A small wave of nausea hit me when I remembered the smell of the things. Carmen let me up and I got myself into a sitting position. That helped.When I was more collected, I surveyed the cave. It was a large space with a high ceiling. The walls seemed to be made of rough stone, and there were no visible exits or windows. A fire had been lit in the center of the area, providing some light and warmth.As Carmen had said, there were creatures lurking in the shadows. Some large beetles skittered on the ground, while man-sized beings with hunched backs shambled around. They were like zombies. I never thought they were real, but I guess anything can be in a world where magic exists.The creatures stayed away from the areas the light touched. There were about a dozen of the zombie ones and I couldn’t keep track of the beetles because of how fast they were. I shivered and moved closer to Carmen.“I think we’ll be safer if we move toward the fire in the center,” I told her.“Do you think you can walk? They dropped you pretty hard.”“Don’t worry about me, Carmen. I’m a lot stronger than I used to be. Come on. I bet it’ll be warmer there, too.”Carefully, I stood up and helped her stand. Some of the shambling creatures stopped and turned toward us, but they didn’t move. I guided Carmen to the fire.When I reached it, I realized on the other side of it was a werewolf in their wolf form. It was lying down near the fire and seemed to be sleeping. There was something around its neck, like a collar.As we got closer, the werewolf woke up and lifted its head. It stared at us for a few seconds before lowering its head back down. Despite the collar around its neck, it didn’t seem aggressive toward us. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for it.“There’s a werewolf on the other side of the fire,” I told Carmen as I helped her sit down.“In their wolf form with a collar on?” she asked.The wolf’s ears perked up at the sound of her voice. It gave a low whine. Carmen closed her eyes and gave a little half sigh.“Yeah, how did you know?”“When I first met Dolly, I was there to get a vision from her. To find out about her. That’s when I saw him. Will you go get him and bring him to me? You should be able to lift him. He’s only a little bigger than a common wolf,” Carmen said.I looked over at him. He was definitely listening to what she said. He whined again and hid his face.“I don’t think he wants that,” I replied.“He does. He’s just ashamed. I can hear that in his reactions. Please.”“You know him?”She smiled sadly and nodded. With a sigh, I went around the fire and knelt down by the wolf. He sniffed a little, then turned toward me. I recognized that habit. It was something Carmen would do when she wasn’t using her magic to see. He was blind, too.“I’m going to pick you up. Don’t bite me. I’m taking you to see my friend, Carmen. She says she knows you. Everything is going to be okay,” I told him.He smelled like a rogue. Like an ex-pack rogue. Was he someone who left Hallowed Moon? Was that how Carmen knew him?The wolf didn’t move as I picked him up and carried him over to where Carmen was sitting by the fire. I set him down close to her and he whined before sinking back down onto his belly. She reached out and gently touched his head, running her hand over his fur. He leaned into her touch, and she smiled sadly.“Hello, Dad,” she said softly. “It’s been a long time.”It was her dad? I looked at him differently now. Before, I’d felt a little bad, but Gemma told me what Carmen’s dad had done. He kept trying to break her and Rock up. He hurt her and tried to marry her off to a stranger who wasn’t her mate. When no one would help him and his mate turned to Carmen’s side, he left the pack.A small growl started in my chest. How could she be treating him gently after what he did and tried to do to her? My past flashed in my mind and I felt even more angry for her.“Stop, Austin. I know you heard what he did, but even Gemma doesn’t know everything. No matter what else he is, he’s my dad. Even when I hated him, I loved him,” Carmen told me.The wolf raised his head and let out a quiet bark. Carmen sighed and bent down to kiss him on his head. How could she still love him after all that? If my parents tried to keep me away from Gemma, I would never have forgiven them. If they had fought as hard against us as I knew Carmen’s dad fought against her and Rock, I would never want to see them again.“It looks like you’ve learned a little more about the world since you left the pack. Oberon told me you can’t see. It’s not as easy as I made it look, is it?” she chuckled.He whined again. Carmen kept her hand on his head and closed her eyes. I didn’t know what she was doing, but the creatures on the edges of the room started acting agitated. After a while, Carmen sighed again.“Rhett played a mean trick on you, didn’t he?”Another whine and he put his paws up on his snout. I hoped the warlock had caused him as much pain and distress as he caused Carmen. He deserved it.“Sit down, Austin. Your hovering feels like we’re about to be attacked. There’s nothing we can do right now. There are too many people and monsters. Austin, I’m sorry, I can’t save you. I tried to get them to release you.... Trent will come for us. I know he will. He’s a good Alpha,” Carmen assured me.“Will he get here before Rock does?” I chuckled as I sat close to Carmen, but where I could still stop her dad if he attacked.“I pray Rock isn’t coming. I know it’s selfish to hope someone else puts their lives in danger for me, but he’s my mate and I love him. Would you want Gemma to come?”The idea of my Gemma in this place made my whole body go even colder than it was before. A twisting pain in my chest almost made me whimper. My Gemma was strong, but looking at the creatures shuffling and the giant bugs scuttling, I didn’t want her anywhere near this. She wasn’t strong enough. This needed warriors. Big ones.Faced with this new possibility, I also prayed to the goddess that my mate wouldn’t try to come save me. Then I realized what I was asking the goddess. Carmen was right. It felt selfish to pray for someone else to potentially die saving me and for my mate to be safe at home.“It’s not so easy, is it? I know Rock well enough that I know he’s coming for me. I wish he wouldn’t or that Alpha Trent would get here first and make it safer, but that’s not possible. Even though I know he’s a troll and harder to kill than a werewolf.... Losing him would kill me. If I lost him, I could love no one else. I know Gemma feels the same way about you, Austin. That is why I tried to get them to let you go,” Carmen said as she started stroking her father’s wolf’s head.“If something happens to me, Carmen, tell Gemma I want her to love again. Her happiness is the most important thing in the world to me. Don’t let her mourn me forever,” I whispered, feeling my heart in my throat.“Do the same for Rock if I don’t make it. I want to be optimistic, but we don’t know anything, and doing anything could be dangerous. An omega and two blind wolves can’t possibly take on a huge cult of mixed species.”Carmen sounded defeated, but I had hope for being saved. I just wanted to make sure someone would take care of my mate if anything happened. Giving up wasn’t an option. I had to get back to my mate.She turned her attention back to her dad. Carmen scooted closer to him and pulled his head into her lap. He really looked regretful. Carmen seemed at peace.“It was the fae magic that was cast on him before he was born that made him the way he was. Fae magic doesn’t fully understand how ranked werewolves work. It’s not just about power. There are instincts and urges that go along with it. Fae magic and werewolf magic don’t always mesh well. While both are wild and natural, they come from very different things.“Even fae who are shapeshifters aren’t like werewolves or any of the other shifter species. They don’t have a separate personality inside them. The fae magic was having to deal with two separate entities in a singular body, and it corrupted. I saw it all in my vision just now. You’ve suffered a lot since Rhett’s darkness took the fae blessing away from you,” Carmen said to her dad.As Carmen spoke, I could see the pain in her father’s wolf’s eyes. He was struggling with the corruption inflicted upon him. It wasn’t natural, and he suffered, but I still didn’t think he deserved forgiveness.But as I watched Carmen stroke his head and comfort him, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. She was a strong woman, not just physically, but emotionally. To be able to take care of her father and hold on to hope in the face of danger was something I admired.“Carmen, is there anything we can do?” I asked.“No. They have a fae-cursed collar on him. Oberon convinced him it would return his sight. Instead, it stuck him in his wolf form and he was still blind. Queen Maeve can help us get it removed after we’re saved. Then all he has to do is apologize to everyone and beg Alpha Trent to let him come back,” she answered, misunderstanding my question.He whimpered, and Carmen hugged him. “Of course, everyone will eventually forgive you, but you will have a lot of work to do to get to that point, and it could take years. It might take a while for Mom to forgive you, but she never stopped loving you.”She stopped talking and just kept on hugging and petting her dad’s wolf. It was hard to keep a positive perspective. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but I was praying for someone to come save us soon. I didn’t want Carmen to get hurt.