~~

Ella

~~

These last two weeks have been the hardest days of my life. My baby brother Sammy had been kidnapped and no one knew where he was. Several people thought he had been taken by a rogue that had skipped town after finding out that pack life wasn't for him. But that rogue had been found and there was no evidence that he had taken my brother.

Mom and I couldn't afford to stop working. We had to keep our heads up and keep the shop running so that we wouldn't end up losing our only source of income. It was hard though, there was no doubting that. I couldn't believe what had been happening to the pack.

After Sammy went missing there were seven other children that had been kidnapped. Two of the other children were from the pack and the other five were humans from the city. Who was responsible for taking these kids? And what did they want with them? Were they OK? Were they still alive? These were the thoughts that plagued me all day every day. I couldn't even sleep because of what had been happening.

I was doing my best to put on a smile though, and I was picking up a lot of Mom's slack around the shop. I know this was harder on her than it was on me. Quite a few times I had to send Mom home for the day because she was so upset about Sammy. I needed to stay strong though.

Today, though, we had a big surprise. The Alpha and Luna were officially getting married. That was a major pack thing and we couldn't ignore it. Not to mention I was actually able to forget about things  little while I was working. The busier I was or the harder I was working on a dress the easier things were for me.

The Luna needed her wedding dress, which I happily offered to design for her. She would also need bridesmaids dresses, a maid of honor dress, and the mother's dresses. This was going to be a busy month but until Sammy came back I would happily welcome the distraction.

I worked diligently for weeks to get all the dresses done and ready. I saw the Luna several times since she needed to come in for the fittings and adjustments. I was making things a little looser than they needed to be since Trinity, as she had told me to call her, was pregnant.

They had apparently not told too many people yet but I thought it was wonderful. A new pup born to the Alpha family was also a major deal in the pack. I was happy for them, truly I was, but I still couldn't forget about my brother. He had been missing for almost a month and a half now and all I wanted to do was cry when I wasn't working.

More often than not I was happy that I lived on my own. I had bought a small place last year so that I could feel more independent and because I felt that I spent enough time with my mom at work so as a grown woman I needed my own personal space. However, there were more than a few days that I ended up staying at my mom's house and sleeping on the couch in the living room. I hoped that I would be there and Sammy would just come home to us.

He never did though.

Tomorrow was the wedding and tonight I was being invited to the bachelorette party for the Luna. It was fun, and I was glad I went, but it couldn't make me forget about my brother. I missed him more and more every single day. I missed him more than I thought it was physically possible to miss someone.

~~

Devon

~~

I honestly couldn't fathom what had been happening in this city. Just recently in the course of two weeks eight children had been kidnapped. They had just disappeared without a trace. There was no evidence left behind at all.

Some of them disappeared from the playground at school, but no one saw anything or noticed anyone that shouldn't have been in the area. Most of them disappeared from their homes but there was again nothing to lead us toward the culprit. There was no evidence of forced entry, no fingerprints, not even a fucking shoe prints.

Just who the hell had taken these kids?

When the first kid disappeared we had thoroughly investigated the parents while also looking for other clues. That was just standard practice. It doesn't matter who the parents are, you look into them as well because unfortunately a lot of times the parents or other family members are involved.

But then, more and more kids started to disappear and we knew that we were dealing with someone outside of the families. These kids didn't know each other. They didn't go to the same schools. Most of them lived in different parts of the city. Hell, three of them even lived up in that gated community that everyone talked about.

So, who was taking these kids and why? We all thought about it all the time. And more than a few of us discussed it several times.

There was talk about it being a trafficking ring. Bastards like that had started popping up all over the country and as a detective I wanted nothing more than to make them disappear.

"Hey Scott, got a second?" That was me, Detective Devon Scott. I had just made it to detective this year and now this shit happened. I am twenty-eight years old and have been a cop since I turned twenty-one. It was all I ever wanted to do.

"Yeah." I called out to my captain as I rose to my feet. 

I walked quickly to his office and shut the door behind me, chances are this was not going to be an overly quiet conversation. As soon as I was in his office and the door was shut he had already started yelling. I knew it so I wasn't shocked by it at all.

"What the hell are you up to?" his voice boomed and echoed off the glass around us.

"Well, I am here to talk to you, I am guessing that is what you called me over for." I played dumb for a minute.

"Cut the shit, Scott. You know what I mean. I told you that you're not to do any more private patrols. I can't sanction them when you're off duty."

"Then I will work overtime. I am canvassing the city in search of eight missing children. I don't think that any one in IEB will tell you to make me stop. If we don't find these kids then we will be the ones to take the heat for it."

"We're not in this alone anymore. The FBI is sending over two agents to help us investigate all of this." He wasn't yelling anymore but I could tell he wasn't happy.

"Took them long enough." I grumbled the words, knowing he wouldn't be happy with me at that moment.

"You want the feds to come in here and steal our case?" He was glaring at me now.

"I don't fucking care who handles the case as long as the kids are found safe and sound."

"You're such a fucking boyscout, you know that." He was laughing at me. "That's why I am going to assign you to help them, you and Andrew." I never really liked Detective Andrew Masterson, but I needed to work with him now. Great, this was going to be fun.

Even when the FBI showed up things didn't seem to be going very well at all. Not to mention that the rich billionaire playboy that lived in that gated community I mentioned before had sent over some of his staff to help us as well. Apparently they all had private investigator licenses and they had been welcomed with open arms by the FBI.

I didn't mind the FBI stepping in and helping us. I wouldn't have minded the help from the PI's either, that is if they hadn't been wannabe mafia members following around that playboy like he was someone special. Just because he had a shit ton of money and owned more than half of the city he thought he could do whatever he liked.

Fuck him! I hoped I never had to meet him personally. If I ever did, I would probably punch him in his stupid playboy face. And then I would of course be fired, or at the very least I would be put on administrative leave. I couldn't afford that, I needed to find those kids. I refused to be taken off the case altogether. So, that's why I hoped I never came face to face with his stupid, smug, smarmy ass.

Oh, how I wish I would have known how wrong I was about so many things.

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