The Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 49: Rachael's call for help

Adam's Pov

I was jolted awake by the sound of my ringing cell phone. Still half asleep, I fumbled to grab it from the nightstand, Wondering who is calling me, this early! blearily checking the screen. Next to me, Mabel stirred and grumbled in annoyance at also being woken up by the noise.

Squinting against the glare, I didn't recognize the number displaying on my phone. Who could possibly be calling at this early hour?

"Uh, hello?" I mumbled groggily into the phone, my voice still scratchy with sleep.

"Oh thank the goddess you picked up, you have to help me, please!" The panicked female voice on the other end cried out desperately. Her obvious terror instantly jolted me into full alertness. She sounded really young and absolutely petrified.

"Hey, uh, try and take some slow deep breaths," I instructed gently, trying to calm her rising hysteria. "Just talk to me. What's going on?"

"I—I'm Rachael, Damien's sister," she managed to choke out between frightened gasps and sobs.

At the mention of Damien's name, I immediately jumped out of my bed and I hurriedly throwed clothes with one hand while still gripping the phone tightly with the other. "Rachael? What happened, are you okay?" I asked urgently.

"Some men broke into our apartment building...Damien told me to run and c-call you..." she stammered, the words rushing out of her in a trembling, barely coherent jumble.

"Shit," I cursed anxiously under my breath, now fully dressed and racing to get my shoes on. "Are you someplace safe right now? Tell me where you are so I can come to you."

"I'm at a payphone on the corner near that 24-hour cafe on Oak Street," she told me in a frightened rush. "But Adam, I can't stay here...I think they might have followed me here!"

Over the phone, I suddenly heard ominous noises arise in the background, like the sound of multiple heavy footsteps rapidly approaching Rachael's location. She made a soft whimpering sound of pure primal fear. "Oh god, I see them! I think they found me. I have to go-"

The call cut off abruptly mid-sentence before I could respond. "Rachel!? Rachael!" I shouted in vain at the now dead phone line, dread rising up to choke me. Desperately I jammed my finger onto the redial button for the payphone number, but it just rang and rang endlessly with no answer. I had to get to Oak Street immediately.

I was already sprinting out to my car, dialing Elias as I ran. "It's Adam! Get any available men you can to the 24-hour cafe on Oak Street right now, I'm sending you the exact address!" I drove like a madman, tires squealing around corners as I raced across town.

Within minutes I arrived at the location, relief flooding me as I spotted two of my best wolf trackers who had beaten me there. They were already swiftly securing the perimeter of the dark street. But there was still no actual sign of Rachael anywhere.

I quickly approached them, barely contained panic and dread leaching into my voice. "Did any witnesses see what happened here? Did either of you guys pick up Rachael's trail or scent around this area at all?"

They both shook their heads grimly, their expressions tense. "This whole scene is mysteriously clean so far," one responded, clearly also on edge. "It's like the girl just straight up vanished into thin air. There's not a single tangible clue that we can find left behind."

Breathing deeply to focus, I closed my eyes and inhaled the night air slowly, trying desperately to sort through the tangled jumble of scents lingering around me. "Wait...I've got something faint here. It's Rachael's trail, leading off that way down the alley."

Immediately we took off at a sprint, following the rapidly fading scent trail on foot for several blocks before it disappeared completely, as if she had simply vanished . "Damn it! i cursed, she must have gotten into a vehicle here," I realized with growing dread looking at the tyre tracks.

Calling in every possible resource and contact I had, I quickly began coordinating an intensive expanding grid search throughout the entire area and along all main routes heading out of town. But as the hours crawled painfully by without any further concrete sightings of Rachael, icy fingers of fear and despair began creeping through my veins.

Whoever broke into Damien's home obviously had no qualms about pursuing his younger sister either. And they knew how to efficiently erase all traces of their tracks, disappearing like ghosts into the night.

But I absolutely refused to fully accept the possibility that we had completely lost Rachael's trail. I was still convinced in my core that she had to still be out there somewhere, terrified and in dire need of my protection and aid. And I would do whatever it took, would turn over every stone, to find her.

She was counting on me to keep her safe. And I would burn this entire city and its surrounding areas to the ground first before ever giving up and failing her now.

Calling in every last guy I had access to, I redoubled our efforts, absolutely determined to relentlessly scour every single inch of the region if that's what it ultimately took to finally bring Rachael home.

But despite my outward displays of tireless determination, the insidious tendrils of self-doubt still continued gnawing at me from the inside out. What if I was already too late? What if Rachael was gone for good? That utterly horrific thought of what her captors might be doing to her at this very moment, just to get at me by harming my loved ones, suddenly made me physically ill.

But until and unless I had some form of irrefutable proof of her death or disappearance, I knew I had to forcibly pull myself together and keep steadfastly believing that Rachael was still just in deep hiding somewhere out there, waiting and praying for me to find her. That fragile, likely naive shred of hope was all I had left now to cling to.

Because the alternative possibility - that I had already failed so completely and unforgivably in my sworn duty to protect that innocent girl who had turned to me for salvation - was just too agonizingly real for me to fully face or accept.

As the dark night sky gradually began lightening with the approaching dawn, I continued to urge and drive my exhausted search team forward at a grueling, frantic pace, praying that wherever Rachael was, she could somehow manage to hold on just a little bit longer. I wasn't anywhere close to giving up the hunt for her yet. I adamantly refused to stop searching for that poor girl, i swear I will leave no stone unturned until she is finally tracked down and safe.