Fated to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 58: Rescued 1

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Chapter 58

~Xavier’s POV~

My chest tightened, but I followed the scent a few steps off the roadside and froze.

Dark patches stained the gravel. "No," I breathed as I crouched and touched it. It was still wet and sticky against my fingers.

Ace’s anger exploded.

"I can smell them in the air. They were seven," Ace snarled. "Seven men. Their scent is everywhere. They surrounded her."

My heart skipped when the trail pulled me further right. The metallic smell thickened in the air, but now it was mixed with another scent. I rose quickly and moved toward it, my boots crunching over loose stones.

"She had probably fought," Ace added, fury vibrating through me. "But she was overpowered."

I clenched my jaw and stepped closer to the bushes lining the road. The scent grew heavier.

Then Ace went still. "Xavier... there’s someone here."

I whipped my head to the side and spotted a body lying a few feet away, half-hidden in the grass. An injured man. Blood soaked through his shirt, and his breathing was shallow.

I rushed over and grabbed his collar, hauling him upright and shaking him. "Wake up."

"Easy," Ace warned sharply. "He may be the only one who knows what happened. Do not break him."

"I cannot help it," I growled back. "Not only is she our mate, but she is also the King’s daughter. Getting hurt was never part of the question."

The man’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, then wide with fear when he saw me looming over him.

He shrieked and threw his hands up to shield his face. "Don’t hurt me!"

"I will not," I said coldly, tightening my grip just enough to keep him steady. "Not if you answer me truthfully. Where the fuck is my mate?"

Before he could respond, headlights flooded the area. Two cars screeched to a halt behind mine, engines still running.

Doors slammed open as Xade and Xander rushed toward me, their expressions dark and lethal.

"Where’s Jade?"

The man looked at us as though he had seen a ghost of some sort. His eyes moved from me to Xander, then to Xade, and whatever colour was left in his face drained completely.

I tightened my hold on his shirt and forced his attention back to me. "Did you see a young girl here? Five foot seven inches tall, black hair with blue highlights, blue eyes. She is a student."

My voice came out steady, but inside, everything was burning.

Before he could form a response, Xade stepped forward and thrust his phone into the man’s line of sight. Jade’s picture filled the screen.

"Did you see her here?" Xade asked, trying to keep his voice under control. "What happened?" he pressed on.

The man nodded quickly, wincing from the movement. "Yes. Yes, that’s her. She booked a ride, and we were heading in the direction, but then there was a roadblock. Before we knew it, they came out of nowhere."

"How many?" Xander demanded.

"Seven," he answered, his voice trembling. "Seven men. They attacked us before we could react. They were strong. Too strong."

"They masked their scent," Ace muttered in my head, piecing it together with what we had already picked up.

"Did you see which direction they went?" I pressed.

He lifted a shaking hand and pointed down the road. "That way. They forced her into a truck. A black jeep followed behind."

"A truck and a black jeep," Xade repeated.

"Yes," the man confirmed weakly.

I released him immediately. "Thank you."

We did not waste another second. We rushed back to our cars and sped off, engines roaring as tyres bit into asphalt.

"Follow her scent," Xander ordered through the link.

"I already have it," I replied, pressing harder on the accelerator.

Ace inhaled deeply through my nose, sorting through the air even from this distance. "They are ahead and thankfully not far. She is alive."

The bond pulsed faintly, then stronger.

"She’s close," Xade mentioned through the mindlink. "I can feel it."

Not long after, headlights appeared in the distance. A black jeep. In front of it, a truck.

"Guess I found her," I muttered.

We sped up instantly. I manoeuvred around slower vehicles and drove beside the jeep. The moment I aligned with it, the mate bond flared sharply in my chest. That and the unmistakable scent of her blood filling the air.

"She’s inside," Ace growled.

I accelerated, overtook the truck, and swerved hard at the intersection, forcing it to stop. The jeep screeched as it tried to reverse, but Xade and Xander blocked it from behind.

All three of us stepped out at the same time.

Gunfire rang out.

I moved before the sound fully registered. The first bullet tore through the space where my head had been seconds earlier. I lunged forward, grabbed the shooter’s wrist, and twisted until the bone snapped. He screamed, but I drove my elbow into his jaw and sent him crashing against the Jeep.

To my right, Xander charged two men at once, slamming one into the hood so hard that the metal dented beneath him. He caught the second by the throat and hurled him against the truck’s side.

Xade moved with lethal precision, disarming another attacker before the man could fire again. He pivoted smoothly, drove his knee into the man’s ribs, and knocked him unconscious.

More shots fired.

I closed the distance in a heartbeat, using my lycan speed. I ducked, drove my fist into a man’s stomach, and then followed with a brutal strike to his temple. He dropped instantly.

They shifted partially, claws extending, eyes glowing. The sight sickened me.

"Mere werewolves," I scoffed.

It did not matter. We were Lycans.

Within minutes, bodies littered the road. Broken, beeding and some unmoving. The man was wrong, as was Ace. They weren’t seven but ten and...

Then the truck door was yanked open.

A man stepped out, dragging Jade with him. His arm wrapped tightly around her neck, a gun pressed to her head.

My brows creased. I thought she was in the jeep... I tossed that thought for later and focused.

"Stand down!" he shouted. "Or she dies!"