Dylan's POV - Friday December 9th 2022:
It had been a month since Ivy had been taken. A month of contacting every pack we could find. A month of getting witches and vampires on our side. A month of missing our sweet Ivy. To be quite honest I was at my breaking point. If we didn't storm Vivian's castle soon I was going to completely lose it. Not only was I suffering but Aria and Alex were barely talking anymore. They just laid in bed holding each other most days. Which killed me inside because I couldn't stay with them. I had to help round up as many soldiers as I could. So far we had built up a pretty large army, but it had taken so much time that I wasn't sure if Ivy or our baby would still be alive. Ivy's parents seemed to be handling it better than my mates and I. They would always tell me that I needed to be patient. Which I knew was true, if we didn't make preparations we would all end up dead. I just prayed that Vivian was keeping her alive.
After a week-long trip to recruit some of the Vampire clans I finally arrived back at the cabin. We had convinced them to join us, it had taken a while but they had agreed to help. The whole trip had been so stressful mostly because being away from my mates was painful. Not just metaphorically but literally, it felt like my heart was being ripped apart. My mum and dad had decided to stay with my mates. She knew I was worried about them, but even though she was with them it didn't make me feel any better about leaving. So when I got back to the cabin I was more than excited to see them. When we entered the cabin it was quiet. No one seemed to be around which was odd since it was the middle of the day. I hurried to the elevator to check my bedroom. When the elevator doors opened into my room I was relieved to see my mates sitting on our bed.
"Dylan!" They both yelled as they sprinted towards me.
"My loves, I missed you so much!" They sprung into my arms, nearly knocking me over.
"We missed you too, so much." Alex said, covering my face in kisses. Aria joined her and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You aren't leaving again right?" Aria said quietly.
"Nope but we are going to be leaving soon to get Ivy." I said, squeezing them tighter.
"Really?! When?" Aria said, her eyes lighting up.
"Soon my love. Probably by the end of the week. We just need to wait for all the soldiers to arrive. Once they get here we're heading out." I said as I released them from the hug.
"Are you going to actually let us come with you?" Alex said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Yes sweetheart. I only suggested you two staying here while I was away because of how rough this has been on all of us. I didn't want to put either of you through any more stress."
"I mean you could have stayed here and let our moms deal with it. It's not like they haven't recruited before." Aria said with a pout.
"What kind of Alpha would I be if I let someone else rescue my mate?" I said with an eyebrow raised.
"We are Alphas to you know" Alex grumbled
"Technically you were Alpha's but now I'm THE Alpha. Plus you know I love my omega's." I said with a smug smirk.
"You're about to be THE Dead Alpha if you keep it up" Aria couldn't help the small smile that pulled at her lips as she rolled her eyes at me.
"I'm just happy to see you two smiling again. It was starting to feel like I was losing you two." I said, giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.
"Well while you were away Aria and I talked. We figured we needed to be more positive about the outcome of the situation. Then the other night when we were about to go to bed we felt Ivy. It was only for the briefest of seconds but we felt her. She's still alive Dill!" Alex said a huge smile plastered to her face.
My heart stopped for a second as I processed their words. My sweet little redhead was still alive. I felt like I could breathe for the first time in a month. At least now I knew when we raided the castle there would still be a chance of finding her alive.
"You did?" I whispered I was still in complete shock.
"Yeah we could feel her through the bond again" Aria smiled, it wasn't a completely happy smile there was still some sadness in her eyes. But now a glimmer of hope seemed to be in there as well.
Ever since Ivy had been kidnaped we hadn't been able to feel her through our mate bond. It was like the ties had been severed but not in the same way if she had died. We didn't feel any pain of her death or any emotions associated with her dying. It was more like our ties to her just suddenly vanished like she hadn't been mated to us at all.
"We need to hurry then, clearly Vivian is waiting for us to attack. I doubt we are going to have much of a surprise element. Once the soldiers get here we'll head out immediately. I'm going to need you two to stay by my side the whole time. I don't trust anyone else to protect you. Not after what happened to Ivy." Both of my mates just nodded they knew how much I blamed myself for Ivy's kidnapping.
By the end of the week all the soldiers we had contacted had arrived. The witches were just going to teleport to the castle instead of meeting us at the cabin. It was a little odd having a mixture of werewolves and vampires together. Surprisingly everyone got along with no issues at all. The trucks and SUVs were currently being packed up with supplies, it was going to take a few days to arrive at the castle. As we were taking a detour hoping none of Vivian's lookouts would see us. Once we got close enough we were going to approach the castle on foot. The area around the castle was heavily wooded which we would use to our advantage. We just needed to get close enough before she could call for backup.
"Are you three ready to go?" Harley said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
After everything that had gone down with Raine tension had been high, but after about a week of her helping us everyone started to come around. Harley had taken the longest but in the last couple weeks I had gotten closer with her. Not just with her though I became close with all of my mates parents. Since we had done so much traveling together we had the chance to actually get to know one another.
"I am if they are." I said looking between Aria and Alex.
"Yeah we are ready. We just want to get Ivy back." Alex said as she clutched onto Aria's hand.
"Alright then, you three will ride with Jenny, Charlie and I. We will take position up front followed by the vampire clans. Everyone else will follow behind them. Claire wants to make one stop on our way there. She said there's another coven of witches that may be able to help us." Harley explained gesturing towards the vehicles.
"How long until we get to the castle?" I asked
"Four days. It was supposed to be three but with the extra stop it'll take an extra day. If we went on foot we could make it there in hours but that would also be the obvious way to go. We need to catch her off guard if we want any sort of surprise element." Harley explained as she climbed into the large SUV.
We piled into the vehicles, everyone seemed to be a little on edge. We knew going into this we would lose a lot of soldiers, but the thought of putting my mates in that sort of danger killed me inside. That's why we had a plan to avoid that, a plan that we hadn't told my mates about. If they knew about our plan there's no way they'd let me go through with it. We snuggled closely together in the back of the large SUV. I held onto them like it would be the last time I'd ever have them in my arms. In reality it could be one of the last times I have them in my arms.
"Let's go get our little red" I said, pulling Aria and Alex close.
Ivy's POV:
The dungeon Vivian had been keeping me in was cool and damp. As the days went on I began to feel weaker and weaker. She would barely give me any food or water, she gave me just enough to stay alive. That was until she found out I was pregnant and began to feed me more than she had been. When she had first found out I was pregnant she was oddly excited about it. She still didn't feed me much more than necessary but her attitude towards me was totally different. It was like suddenly I wasn't her enemy, she treated me nicer every time she would come down to the dungeons. It was like the more pregnant I became the softer she became towards me. Her friendly attitude put me on edge. It had made me even more suspicious of her and all I wanted to know was what her plan for me was. Footsteps sounded in the distance, I knew it would be Vivian coming to bring me some food. It was the only time I looked forward to seeing her.
"I'm going to move you up to the main castle" She pulled out a key to unlock the cell door.
"What why?" I asked hesitantly.
"Well from the looks of it you are going to give birth soon. It would be better if you were closer incase that happens."
She was right, I was definitely getting close to the end of my pregnancy. Wolf pregnancies were a lot quicker than human pregnancies. A human wouldn't be even close to the end of their pregnancy right now, I on the other hand looked like I was ready to burst.
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" I couldn't help the sharp edge to my voice.
"I needed you for leverage, I can't have either of you dying on me. Kidnapping you would have been all for nothing if one of you dies." A smirk appeared on her lips that made my stomach turn.
"Now come on girl I'll show you where you will be staying"
She wrapped her long fingers around my forearm. Her skin was a lot warmer than mine was. As much as I hated it, the warm touch felt nice against my skin. There was a tug on my arm as she led me down the long hallway to a set of stairs. My legs felt like jell-o as we climbed the large set of stairs. Vivian's grip tightened on me when my legs started to wobble. When we reached the top of the stairs Vivian threw open a large wooden door. I was surprised to see that it led to a courtyard. Usually dungeons were directly below the castle but this one was in the middle of a large courtyard. The area was completely empty, not one person in sight. I figured the castle grounds would be crawling with guards and soldiers.
"Where is everyone?" I asked as Vivian continued to pull me towards the castle doors.
"Don't you worry about that" Vivian said her voice was more gentle than I had ever heard it.
When the large double doors opened I was shocked at how modern the inside of the castle was. The outside looked like it was from another time period. I couldn't help but look around as she pulled me down various hallways. There were cameras everywhere, recording every little move anyone made. I started to get nervous when I saw all the camera's. Vivian would definitely know the second someone stepped inside here. We arrived in a room that looked to have various holding cells. They were definitely a lot nicer looking than the cells in the dungeon. Each cell had a bed, bathroom and tv. Which I mean I would gladly stay in one of these cells over the ones in the dungeon.
"This is where you will be staying." Vivian said, gesturing towards a cell.
She released my arm waiting for me to take a step into the cell. Once I was inside she closed the door, which locked automatically as it closed.
"Someone will bring you some food shortly. If anything happens there's a panic button on the wall." Vivian said gesturing towards a large red button.
I nodded as she began to lock the cell door. The lock clanged shut and she quickly turned on her heel to walk away. As Vivian walked away I noticed another woman in a cell across from me. Her hair was as black as the night and her skin was as pale as ivory. She looked to have a bunch of IV's coming out of her and there were a bunch of machines surrounding her. As I sat and stared at the woman I wondered if maybe she was sick. Then again why would someone like Vivian try to keep someone ill alive. Maybe that woman was also some sort of leverage against someone else. I looked down at my swollen belly, I could feel tears start to well up in my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was give birth in this place. I wanted to be with my mates, with people who loved me. Not in this cold place surrounded by people who didn't give a shit about me.
"Please hurry Dill" I whispered as tears began to run down my cheeks.