Page 45 of Pack Giroux

"They took her, Grady," I grind out, trying to maintain my composure.

"WHO FUCKING TOOK HER?" He yells.

"Those people she ran from," I tell him calmly. "I need you to go talk to the officer and tell him that you are her pack and need to talk to someone higher up.

Kinkaid is up wearing a hole in the floor with his pacing. It's so much like her that it makes my chest hurt. She'd told me once before that if they ever found her, we'd never be able to get her back. Their compound is as secret as the military.

The twins are arguing back and forth before Jameson shoves away from the table to jog to their room. Emerson pulls up his contact list and clicks on someone named Missy.

"Who is that?" I ask.

He holds up a finger for me as the person answers at the other end and Jameson comes back out fully clothed looking ready to go to war. Hell, we all are for our girl. He runs out the door, no doubt to get on his bike and back Grady up at campus.

"I'm trying to think if there's anything that she's ever told me that could help us find her, but she never told me anything about the location," Kinkaid says, beating himself up. It's hitting him hard, probably because of the bond. He'll lose his mind if the worst happens.

"Hey, Miss," Emerson says, "I have a favor, and if youhelp me this could be the biggest story you've ever gotten."

The three of us go down and get into Kinkaid's SUV while Emerson keeps talking. I wish I could drive for my friend who is tore up, but my PTSD from the accident overseas just won't let me. We'd end up in a ditch somewhere, not a single help to anybody.

Grady calls me back just as we're pulling out. "Hey, man. They know literally nothing here. Only what her roommates told them. They gave them the contact information they used to reach out, but it goes straight to a burner phone. They're trying to locate it as we speak. Shit, here's Jameson. Let me fill him in."

Emerson leans between the seats with his phone on speaker as they fill this random woman named Missy in on all of our girl's secrets. I don't like it, but I'll do whatever it takes to get her back, so I add what I know too.

Turns out Missy is one of the largest news anchors in America. She blasts the story with the inside scoop all over, taking control of the media and telling anyone and everyone to reach out to her or the police here with any information they might have.

We've done what we can, so now we've got to wait and hope for the best while we search for nonexistent clues for a place that's not supposed to exist.

MARNIE

My head lolls back against my shoulders as the men drag me through the compound through the throngs of people gawking and whispering. Whatever Mark gave me has only worn off enough to realize what's happening. Not enough to fight back.

The men stop on the top steps of the omega house while The Reverend makes an example out of me with his punishment. "This is what happens when you sin! When you cast yourself out into the world and become a fornicator and liar! We all need to pray for her soul because she is on the path to hell! God has called on me to punish her so that you may see that through the sacrifice of blood pay to Christ, we can all be saved!"

I try to fight off the men as they strip me down, but it's useless. I can't even stand on my own. I'm naked in front of the entire compound. Mark looks at Kinkaid’s mark with disgust as he spits on me. He grabs one arm as someone else takes the other, they tie ropes around my wrists and pull until I drop to my knees with my arms spread wide.

The Reverend preaches at my back just as the first lash hits home and I cry out, trying to pull at the ropes around my wrists. The more he preaches the angrier he gets and the harder the hits come. I'm to receive one of every day that I was gone. I lose count after fifteen. I lose consciousness after thirty-two.

The next thing I know, they're throwing me into one of the old omega rooms I grew up in. Naked, bleeding, and my wrists tied in front of me.

"No one is to enter this room," The Reverend barks. "She stays here until her heat is done and she has prayed enough to be forgiven. No food. Only water once a day."

I don't ask them to help me. Every single one of them stare at me like I'm the anti-Christ reborn.

Minutes and hours turn into days. My back burns like thefires of hell have already been sent upon me. The rest of my body hurts in places I don't remember ever hurting before. My eyes are swollen shut from the hits from Mark and his friend. The rope burns my wrists where it was rubbed raw from me pulling during my whipping. There's no bed in here. No blanket to cover my freezing battered body. The only thing I can do is curl into a ball and wish for death. Even if that means my eternal soul will rest forever in hell.

I shiver, hurt, and hunger from one sunrise to the next until my eyes will barely hold themselves open. The one and only time I cry real tears is when I think of my pack. I hope they'll be able to move on without me.

Loud bangs and pops come from outside the house and whirs of helicopter blades sound above it. I actually know what those sound like now. It sounds like a war going on outside, and I truly hope that every single one of them suffers. Doors are splintering all through the house as shouts sound out, mixing in with screams and crying.

I can only hope they'll make it quick when they get in here. I'm so very tired.

The door splinters and I'm too weak to even turn over and look.

"Holy shit!" someone exclaims. "We found her."

He has a kind voice and proves it by coming over to cover me with his jacket and telling someone else to do the same.

"Don't worry, Marnie. You're safe now," he promises. "We're going to take you to your pack."

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