Belle's Beast | ?

Nathaniel had put the girl back in the cells for the night, and she was pleasantly surprised to see that Eric was okay. Bruised but alive, and Arabella would take that.

It was dark but the sight of his hunched over body in her cell was undeniable, he was bruised around his face, back and stomach. There were parts of his shirt that had been ripped open to reveal bloodied patches of skin of where he was still healing over. They still had him on the wolfsbane to keep him weak, Eric had suspected that they were slipping it in during the evening when he had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Arabella cuddled the boy's form, crying for his pain. Her anger only intensified when she found out that Brice had been the one to do this to him. She was itching to draw blood from the bitch, she had done too much to get away without some retaliation from Arabella.

They stayed like that for most of the night, Arabella comforting the boy and herself that they were going to be okay whispering sweet nothings of how everything would be over soon.

She didn't know how right she was.

#

It would take them an entire day to reach the rogue camp.

They set out at 5am as planned, they would rest along the way. It would take them a week to get there, but with the right preparation and pacing they would be able to launch an attack as soon as they reached their planned positions.

Once they had gotten halfway Phoenix had started to get agitated, he just wanted to get there, slaughter everyone and return home with his mate. He paced the grounds showing how unsettled he felt. By the information that the scouts had brought back, they were still days away; he could hardly wait that long.

It was strange. Phoenix had always been in control, he was calculated and usually a lot better at masking what he really felt. Maybe it was because he had to travel so far away from the pack, or because he was getting his mate back after her being gone for an entire month.

"Phoenix you need to calm down, you'll make the men uneasy." Jin clapped him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture, though he deliberately kept his voice low.

"I can't, she's so close yet so far." Phoenix grunted.

"I know you want her back, and her carrying your child probably doesn't help any... You'll have her back before the week is out, but you need to have a clear head before we go in there." Jin gave him a meaningful stare.

"Thanks for that." Phoenix inclined his head slightly in a sign of respect to his Gamma. Jin too showed his respect, glad that he could help before nodding to Phoenix as he took his leave.

Eventually Phoenix managed to calm down his beast with a run and memories of his mate. He had eaten a quick meal of bread and cold cut meat before taking a few moments rest before the pack kept moving. They had only stopped for an hour in order to keep pace.

They set out again, stopping only a handful of times for the men to rest, and the scouts to make sure they were headed in the right direction. It was a few days later that the scouts reported they would be on the settlement in the next few hours. Phoenix and Finn estimated their arrival would fall in the darkened early hours of the morning, which was perfect since it gave them a possible sneak attack.

Just as they predicted by just after midnight they had reached close enough to the rogue camp to stay undetected. The groups had split up, Jin going east, Finn taking the north and Phoenix remaining to lead the south with his father.

They settled a short distance away, waiting for the other groups to get into position. Phoenix's beast at the back of his mind prowled with a deadly precision, the animal in him waiting for the moment to strike, knowing that very soon he would have his mate back.