Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law
Chapter 85: The Werewolf Hierarchy

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The Werewolf Hierarchy

Gareth strode forward, staring down the leader of the army of rogues, projecting his Alpha aura. He wasn’t afraid of these wolves. He and his Gamma warriors had taken down larger and more skilled armies than this one.

Their leader hesitated when his eyes landed on Gareth. Even though rogues didn’t believe in the werewolf hierarchy or recognize his face, their wolves would still instinctively respect the authority wielded by the Lycan king. Gareth caught sight of their twisted expressions, and he knew that they were actively trying to stop their knees from slamming to the ground. It would be difficult to fight their wolves’ instincts to kneel before their king.

He turned to Beta Kevin.

“Capture them,” he ordered.

The Gamma warriors transformed into their wolves, all of them bigger and more powerful than the rogues. As Gareth’s army ran at them, most tried to flee but were easily taken down by his soldiers. Some of them were lucky enough to escape by transforming, but Gareth had full faith in his men to capture them.

Soon, the clearing became filled with the sounds of growls and whimpers. The smell of the putrid swamp and metallic blood mixed together to form a pungent scent. Gareth wrinkled his nose in disgust, while Elliot was trying not to gag.

Now that the rogues were handled, it was time for him to question his future son-in-law. The suspicion that his daughter’s fiancé had something to do with her kidnapping increased tenfold. If he discovered Elliot had anything to do with Isabella being drugged, chained, and held against her will, he was going to rip his throat out of his body.

“Why didn’t you go after the wolf that fled?” Gareth questioned, crossing his arms tightly. “If he had a hand in kidnapping Isabella, wouldn’t you want him dead? Seems a little suspicious if you ask me.”

A crease formed between Elliot’s eyebrows, but he didn’t have any reaction other than that.

“I would have,” Elliot answered. “I wanted to torture and slowly kill those bastards one by one, but getting Isabella to safety was my main priority. After seeing her unconscious and drugged, I couldn’t leave her side to chase after a rogue. I figured that you would be here soon to help me track him down anyway.”

Gareth’s eyes narrowed as he considered the younger man’s answer. It did make sense. If he had been in that situation, he would have stayed with Isabella and taken her to safety.

But that wasn’t the only question Gareth had for him.

“How did you get here before us?” he questioned, suspicion dripping from his tone. “With all my resources as the king, that doesn’t add up.” Gareth raised one eyebrow, impatiently waiting for an explanation.

“While I was driving around looking for Isabella, I ran into Beta Kevin,” Elliot replied, adjusting his grip on Isabella. “He showed me the image of the kidnappers’ license plate.”

Gareth nodded. His Beta had informed him of this. He gestured for Elliot to continue.

“I recognized it,” Elliot said.

Gareth drew in a surprised breath. Was Elliot admitting to helping organize the kidnapping right to his face? Was he that stupid?

“How?” Gareth demanded through gritted teeth.

“It was the same license plate of the rogues that attacked Ashborne years ago. You remember that string of attacks, right?” Elliot asked.

“Of course I do,” Gareth snapped. He had helped organize running them out of his territory.

“I helped fight them,” Elliot explained. “I still had the address of their old hideout saved. I had written it down in case there was more trouble in our territory. I knew that they would likely be behind it.”

Gareth shifted his weight from side to side. Elliot’s story seemed like a pretty big coincidence—something he couldn’t possibly have managed without insider information. His explanation still didn’t answer the question of how Elliot got to the shack first. And why the hell didn’t Elliot call him on his way here for backup?

The sensible thing in this situation would have been to tell Gareth the location so he could bring his Gamma warriors to help fight the rogues. Did Elliot just want to go at it alone so that he could seem like the hero of the day, or was his daughter’s fiancé working with the rogues? Gareth couldn’t be certain.

He opened his mouth to continue questioning the young man, but someone cleared their throat behind him. His Beta was by his side again. Most of the wolves had been captured by his army.

“Alpha, maybe we should get Isabella to a doctor first. You can continue your line of questioning later,” he gently suggested.

Hot guilt made his stomach stiffen, and Gareth sighed at his behavior. He had let his suspicion and anger toward Elliot get the best of him. How could he stand here and question Elliot when his daughter was lying drugged and unconscious in his arms? Isabella’s safety should have been his first priority.

“Bring her to my car and cover her up,” Gareth ordered Elliot, then turned to his Beta. “Get her to the nearest hospital and keep me updated. I’ll be there soon. Stay with her at all times,” he told Beta Kevin, still suspicious of Elliot.

He had to find Jasmine and bring her to safety, and then he would check in on his daughter.

“Yes, sir.” Beta Kevin nodded.

Elliot walked by, and as he moved away from the door, an intoxicating scent that was slightly familiar to Gareth hit him like a punch to the gut.

“Wait,” Gareth growled at Elliot. “Is there anyone else inside?”

Elliot paused for just a fraction of a second, but it was enough that Gareth noticed.

“Yes,” he answered. “Jasmine is in the basement. I only had enough time to save one of them, and I had to get Isabella to safety.”

Gareth’s tongue became thick with anger, and he wanted to strangle that stupid boy in front of him. Gareth wanted to deck him in the face, but Elliot had his daughter in his arms.

“We’ve been standing here for ten minutes, and you didn’t think to mention that?” he snarled.

“I—”

But Gareth was already spinning around and running into the shack. He didn’t even think about his movements. He was acting on his base instincts alone, which were screaming at him to get to Jasmine.

‘Have Delta Ben take Isabella to the hospital with Elliot. I need your help here. Don’t let anyone else come inside the shack until I give them the order. I don’t know what state I’ll find her in,’ Gareth informed Beta Kevin through their mindlink.

Then, he cut off their connection. He needed all his focus to be on Jasmine.

With his heart pounding against his rib cage like a battering ram, he leaped down the stairs, not bothering with the steps. He tracked Jasmine’s powerful scent into a room with a cage. He didn’t even need to see her to be able to tell that she was in heat. He could tell just by her potent scent.

“No,” he breathed out when he saw her.

She was on the dirty ground, writhing in excruciating pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her face was flushed, and she was completely naked. Jasmine let out a loud moan and pressed her legs together, craving any sort of relief.

Immediately, Gareth knew that her kidnappers had drugged her with some sort of stimulant that put her in a state of intensified heat. She would never act like this in these horrible circumstances by choice.

Of course, in his deepest, darkest fantasies, Gareth had imagined what Jasmine looked like when she was in lust. But this was horribly wrong. Gareth hated seeing her in pain and on the ground of a prison cell. The worst part was that she was experiencing this painful lust against her will.

Jasmine’s moans of pain paused when she sensed another person’s presence in the room. She didn’t open her eyes, but she slightly opened her legs for him.

“Please, just please touch me! I can’t take it anymore,” she begged, her voice breaking on the last word. “Whoever you are... I-I just need a man to fuck me!”