Alpha Nicholas The sight before me is so surreal that for a moment I wonder if im seeing things. "Tony, get down here now. Everyone else stands guard. No one enters here without my permission!" I shout up to the others who are still above ground. The sounds of "Yes, Alpha" echo through the small opening while Tony practically jumps through the doorway missing most of the steps on the ladder on his way down. "What's going on, Al-" He turns around to face me mid-sentence before looking at the sight that I am. "Please, please, tell me that I am seeing things? That this isn't real?" I plead as he takes another step forward until he's standing right next to me. "Loving fuck!" He growls before looking at me. "What the fuck is going on here?" I shake my head unable to find the right words because I feel the same. The underground tunnel that we are in is more of a box room. It's maybe 20 feet wide by 20 feet long and has several lights hanging from the ceiling which allows us to see the horror that is in this makeshift hell hole. The are rows of children ranging from newborn to maybe 14 or 15 years old. The ones that can, are sitting on the concrete floor with their legs crossed and a finger on their lips like you would see in pre-school. It's certainly not a sight you would imagine to see in this kind of situation. This place is supposed to be their home so why does it feel so different? I look around and there must be at least 50 children in here, and every single one of them looks dirty, unkept, and underfed, and I swear I can see a bruise or two on several of them. Yes, they are kids and I understand that they get burses. Goddess knows that Lottie was terrible for them when she was younger, but given the sight of these children, I don't think anyone can blame me for instantly assuming the worst. Fuck, even the babies are dressed in filthy clothes. And on top of that, there are around 20 women in here that are pregnant. Some appear to be very heavily pregnant too. After we were kidnapped we learned as much as we could about these cults and what was going on and while we couldn't learn all of the ins and outs, we gathered enough information to pretty much confirm that they planned to build some kind of new pack but this... what we are looking at right now... Fuck, it gives me vibes that I don't like and while I pray that im just overthinking this, every instinct in my body tells me that this is some kind of baby mill... some kind of kiddy mill and fuck, do I feel sick! And as if all that wasn't already bad enough, the next words that I hear completely blow me away and I swear im close to fucking passing out."Nicky, is that you?" I swear to the goddess herself that my heart falls out of my ass when I hear that voice. It's a voice that I haven't heard since I was 12 years old, but it's a voice that I've never forgotten... never will. "No way!" Tony shouts his voice resembling exactly how I feel. He knows what I know and fuck am I glad that I'm not the only one that heard that voice. "Adrian..." I try to speak but it's more of a whisper as I try to come to terms with what's happening. "Yes, Nick. It's me." He steps out of the corner and the shadow that was covering him and I have to take a step back and hold on to the ladder before my legs give out and Tony quickly follows my movements. As an Alpha, it may be uncool to allow anyone to see any weakness in me but right now I'm staring at one of my best friends. My best friend who I spent years searching for. My best friend who I thought I would never get to see again. "Is this real? I think im seeing things." I grunt. "Yeah, you and me both," Tony whispers his face white as if he's seen a ghost and I imagine my face is the same because, to us, Adrian is a ghost. After years of searching, we had both come to a place where we were pretty convinced that he was dead and we even grieved for him so to see him here now and alive... Fuck, I don't even know what to think or how to feel right now. Adrian walks further into the room and I do not doubt in my mind whatsoever that it is him. "What the... How... What the?" Of all the times over the years that I have silently wished for my ability to speak to be gone now is not one of them and yet, here I am struggling to string even a single sentence together. It's crazy how much time has passed since I last saw him. Of course, he's changed from when we were all 12 years old, but his face hasn't changed that much, aged a little yes, but not changed much. Fuckers incredibly tall though, I'd say maybe 6ft3, not much smaller than me and he's broad and muscular while his once-short hair is now long and goes past his shoulders. He stares at me for a moment his eyes swirling with curiosity while he has a sad smile on his face. All I want to do right now is give him the biggest man hug known to happen but soon enough my Alpha brain gets its ass back in gear and reminds me that just because he still looks like Adrian, it doesn't mean that he is. It's been 16 years since I last saw him, last spoke to him and sadly, we dont know who he is anymore. As much as he was once one of my best friends the sad reality is that now he could be my enemy. If what I think is happening here truly is and he's part of it, if he agrees with it then he will be an enemy. The Adrian that I knew would never agree with it but we dont know who he is anymore. He could have been brainwashed into believing anything over the years so despite my instincts I have to be cautious and play things the right way here. "I know how this looks but things are not as they appear," Adrian says as he takes another step towards us. I raise an eyebrow in disbelief while I try to figure out if he's being truthful or not which is almost impossible to do considering I dont know who he is anymore. "Ok... so you clearly know how this looks and if thats not the case then would you care to tell us what in the hell is going on here?" I can hear the anger in Tony's voice. Adrian runs his hand through his hair as he looks around the room and up towards the door seeming anxious. "I don't have much time so I need to make this as brief as possible. I can answer as many questions as you want later. So long story short. After I was taken and the spell wore off I found myself hours away from home and in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to leave the cult but they wouldn't let me. I tried to escape twice but was found, beaten, and then shipped off to another country. One night I overheard them talking. They said that once I was in line I would be sent back here to help grow another pack. I was the ideal wolf to do it because I knew the area. So I got on board but what they didn't realise was that it was all fake. I faked all the compliance and loyalty to get back over here.It took so much longer that I had thought it would but finally, 3 years ago they sent me back here. The plan was for me to stay here for a month and then move to an area and build my own pack, that was their plan anyway, but mine was to leave here the first night that I arrived but after I saw what was going on here I knew I couldn't just leave. I had to stay and protect them. I had to protect him. I was trying to figure out a way to get in touch with you. I'm so fucking thankful that you are here. We need to get these children and women out of here, Nick and we need to do it now!" He sounds genuine and I want to believe every word he says, I do, but it's a hard thing to do right now. However, I do agree that we need to get these women and children out of here and fast. "If you mean everything you say then tell me, where Daniel and Joseph are?" Tony asks as his eyes scan the children. Adrian looks confused for a moment but the look is quickly masked with a protective stare that I like. "Why do you want to know?" He asks as he takes his hands out of his pockets and takes a protective stand. If hes willing to go against us then maybe he is telling the truth after all. "Because they are my sons," Tony growls getting pissed off. Adrian's jaw drops and he struggles to get his words out. "They are Brothers right? Same mom?" "Yes, thats right. They were both taken from their mother when they were two days old. Daniel is 11 months older than Joseph" Tony says hope evident in his voice. However, I dont miss the look thats on Adrian's face. It's a mix of anger and sorrow and then realization. How can somebody show so many emotions at once? "You know Rosie, don't you? How is she? Is she ok?" His questions throw me but I remain silent letting Tony take care of this. "Never mind that. Where are my boys, Adrian? If you want to prove yourself then tell me where my boys are." "Don't you think if I knew where the boys were that I would have already told you by now? Do you think that I'd need to be pressured into telling you something like that? Well, I don't. The only reason I haven't told you is because I don't know where they are." "What do you mean?" Tony growls. "I saw them. I saw two little boys and... it had to be them." I'm not sure where Rosie got the picture that she has of the boys but either way, she did and Tony has studied every inch of it. "You have to remember that a lot of these children have the same parents so they look alike but I swear to you, those boys aint here." "So where are they?" Tony asks clearly seconds away from exploding. "They're gone, Tony. I'm sorry but they were sent away several weeks ago."