Chapter 29
"I'll find her by scent."
Remy finally decided and Marielle scoffed, that was a bad idea.
"That's a lot of ground to cover."
She remarked.
He was aware of that, of the fact that they had a lot of ground to cover, but this was the only their way he could think of and despite the fact that it was pretty time consuming, he couldn't think of anything else that would be fast enough.
"Do you need anything to jumpstart it for you, I think I can find a dress or something of hers in the car."
"No, I'm good. Start driving, I'l concentrate on finding her scent."
He murmured as they got into the car. He had never had to do this frequently, because he only used this method on prey, prey or people that he considered his enemies.
Marielle drove around town, they went to the popular spots first, the cafes, the theatre, the bank and the mall, there was nothing and slowly as they moved towards the residential areas, Remy caught a whiff of her scent on the breeze. It was faint and distant, but unmistakably hers.
"I'll continue on foot."
He murmured as he jumped out of the car, eager to find Valentina as fast as he could.
Marielle nodded.
"I'll drive around, see if I can ask the locals some questions."
As Remy walked through the empty streets, he caught whiffs of Valentina's scent - a hint of her perfume here, a trace of her shampoo there. It was enough to keep him going, to keep him searching.
But the town was small, and the scent trail led him in circles, Valentina had walked quite a lot. Remy's frustration grew with each passing moment, and he could feel his wolf clawing at his insides.
Just when he was about to give up hope, he caught a stronger whiff of Valentina's scent. It was coming from a small house at the end of the street, where a large white van was parked in the driveway, and Remy raced towards it, his heart pounding with hope and fear. There, the scent grew stronger, and Remy knew he was getting closer.
As he made his way through the street, his heightened senses allowed him to pick out her scent from everything else, he willed his mind to focus only on her scent as he tried to gauge what had happened by her scent alone. When he finally got close enough to the van, he could smell her fear, a strong and potent thing as this only made him even more angrier.
The sun was setting, just from across the street where he was he standing and watching the house with quiet contemplation he could make out four heartbeats in the house. One was the familiar rhythm of Valentina's heart and the three other he could not decipher.
He sent out a text to Marielle, alerting her and letting her know where she could pick them up.
He went up to the front porch and knocked the door, ready to take on whoever and whatever that he saw.
.............
He finally stopped hitting her. Valentina had stopped registering the pain after the third blow to her stomach. She had stopped answering the questions, it wasn't like she had answers to them anyways. Whatever it was they wanted from her, she didn't have it.
But something else was happening to her. As she closed her eyes she could see a face, pictures, people she knew.
Her memory was coming back.
At the worst fucking time too.
She remembered the night she died.
No she wasn't found in the woods by some hiker. She was in the car, driving home from the club with her friends after her birthday party. They were all drunk.
She had seen the truck, she had remembered screaming and then everything had gone blank.
That, that was what happened.
But her name, who she was, she wasn't Valentina Combe.
She was Goldie Parson.
As the realisation dawned on her, she started shaking her head.
If she was Goldie, that would mean she was dead and she was somehow in someone else's body.
"I'm dead?"
She muttered as she shook her head, refusing to believe the fact that confronted her.
"No. No."
She murmured to herself.
How did this happen?
How was she some strange woman?
The girl in her dreams was her.
It has always been her, nobody else but her. Her own self had been trying to make her remember who she was.
What had happened to her.
How did that happen?!
She thought in horror as tears started dropping from her face.
Not long after, she heard voices outside, then a loud thud.
"Valentina?!"
A familiar voice called out, she almost cried out in tears.
It was Remy. He had come to save her.
..............
He had simply knocked the door, and a gruff voice had answered.
"Who the fuck is that?"
"Open the door. I just wanna talk."
Remy answered, as calmly as he could muster, even with the anger burning inside of him.
The air was thick with tension as a burly man opened the door, his muscles bulging and his eyes fierce with determination.
"Who the fuck are you?"
The man asked.
Remy didn't waste anytime as he landed a punch squarely on his face. The large man staggered back and fell. Two other men appeared from the end of the hallway.
Remy knew he was outnumbered, but he refused to back down, not when he knew that Valentina was inside the house with them.
He walked into the house, the man that he had knocked down struggled to get up, whispering curses as he did. The two men in front of him were no pushovers either, their faces contorted into sneers as they advanced, circling him like vultures. But Remy stood his ground, fists clenched and ready to strike.
The first attacker lunged at him, but he was too quick, dodging the blow and retaliating with a powerful punch that sent the man staggering backwards. The second and third men came at him together, but he was unfazed, his muscles rippling as he effortlessly took them both down with a swift kick and a crushing blow.
The first man was no less formidable, a towering figure with a menacing glare. But Remy remained unfaltering, his eyes locked on his opponent as they circled each other warily. The man swung his fist, but he was too fast, ducking under the blow and delivering a brutal uppercut that sent the man crashing to the ground. They kept standing up, even after he had beaten them, which gave Remy the impression that they were no ordinary men.
They were wolves, he could smell their wolf on them, but he couldn't make out which pack they were from. Which pack or its alpha would risk war with him by kidnapping his Luna? He couldn't fathom who or what would be out to get him or Valentina in such a way.
Without warning, one of the men lunged at him, fists flying. He quickly sidestepped the attack, grabbed his opponent by the arm, and used his momentum to fling him into a nearby wall. The man landed with a thud and didn't get up.
The remaining two men rushed at him again, their faces twisted in anger. Remy stood his ground, his fists clenched and flying. He moved with an agility that belied his size, dodging their blows and countering with powerful strikes of his own.
The fight was fierce and brutal, but he never lost his focus, this was all just a warm up for him, he had not had a fight so good in weeks. He punched and kicked with precision, taking down his opponents one by one. The sound of fists hitting flesh echoed through the house, and the men grunted and groaned as they fell to the ground.
Bruised, bloodied and exhausted, they stayed on the ground longer this time.
Remy looked around the house.
"Valentina?!"
He called out. He heard no reply, but he decided to search the rooms anyways. The first door he opened, he saw her and his arms grew weak.
He could barely recognise her. Not with all the bruises on her face. She looked up at him weakly, he could see the relief on his face and he wondered how long she had been there, how long she had endured their abuse.
"I'm coming."
He murmured as he went out of the room and closed the door.
He wasn't planning on doing any killing before, but there was no way in hell he was going to let it slide. Valentina was his mate and those men had hit her, they had bruised her, they had tried to kill her, he would never let that slide.
He grabbed the closest man to him by the collar and smashed his head against the wall. There was a sickening thud, the sound of bone hitting the concrete, the wall caved in. Remy did it again. And one more time for good measure. Then he let go of the body.
The other man was already begging for his life.
"No! No! Please!!!"
He cried as he tried to crawl to the door.
"Who's your alpha?"
He simply asked and the man shook his head.
Remy repeated the question as he grabbed one of his leg, he casually put his foot on the other knee. He would crush it so hard he would be nothing but a mangled dog when he was done with him.
"I-I Please..."
"Wrong answer."
He murmured as he stepped on his knee. The sound of bone crushing underneath his boots. The kind of scream that came out of his mouth was unnatural, it was raw. Remy was grateful when he stopped.
The last man did not beg, he did not tremble and with the look on his face, he would not reveal anything even under the worst of tortures.
"I'll leave you a message for whoever the fuck your alpha is."
He said as he pulled out a small hunting knife that he always carried in his back pocket, with his bare hand, he ripped the man's shirt away, leaving his bare skin.
"Hold still."
Remy whispered to him like a lover would as he started carving out the words on his chest. The man bit his lips in pain, he tried to fight Remy off, but his feeble attempts were met with heavy opposition.
When Remy was finally done, he stood up and went to the room Valentina was in.
Gently, very gently, he took off her gag and removed her ropes, then he carried her in his arms, Valentina clung to him with her ebbing strength.
"You came for me."
She muttered.
Remy nodded.
"I will always come for you."