Chapter 277: Princess Arrives
"Babe, where are you? I have been calling non-stop. You got me worried..." Princess’s voice came from the phone.
"Sorry for the worry, Pancake... I wasn’t in the position to pick your call," Faye said. She shifted the phone to her other ear as she walked away from the groaning couple on the floor.
The thought of her girlfriend being worried because she wasn’t picking up her calls must have been hectic for her due to the previous incident. Faye knew how fragile things were right now, and leaving Princess hanging after everything they had been through was the last thing she wanted to do.
"I know you said you were going to visit MG’s, but are you planning on sleeping over? Because it’s almost like midnight, and the pups, especially Leonny, need their mother. He has been crying non-stop... Wait, what do you mean you were not in the position to pick my call?"
Finally, Princess picked up on Faye’s choice of words. The silence on the other end stretched out, growing heavier as the alpha’s sharp intuition began to piece together that something was terribly wrong.
Faye, on the other hand, was silent. First, she didn’t know where to start. How was she supposed to tell her girlfriend that someone had hit her on the head with a metal rod, or that her best friend’s parents had given their son to some butcher and were refusing to talk?
The words felt stuck in her throat, heavy and completely impossible to explain over a simple phone call.
Princess was hearing noises from the background. Not just any noises... someone was being beaten up.
"Where are you, Faye?" Her voice turned serious. The softness was entirely gone now, replaced by a cold, commanding authority that made Faye’s inner wolf sit up instantly.
"I’m at Malo’s house, and he is not here..." Faye couldn’t say more. She bit her lower lip, listening to the sudden rustle of clothing on the other side of the line.
"I’m on my way right now."
"What about the pups? Who is going to watch them if you leave?"
Faye didn’t finish talking before the phone was hung up. The line went completely dead, leaving nothing but a dull beep in her ear.
Faye already knew Princess was on her way. Princess wasn’t going to listen until she was standing in the same place as her girlfriend. When it came to safety, the alpha never hesitated, and she was probably already sprinting out the front door of the clubhouse.
"Why are they not talking?!"
Faye was already feeling frustrated. She shoved her phone back into her pocket, turning her glare toward the two adults kneeling on the floor. They were getting bashed, but it felt like they would rather take the pain than reveal where their son was. The pure stubbornness in their eyes was driving her crazy.
Mrs. Griffin tried her lie once more, saying that Malo was with her sister out of town. She claimed that her sister had just lost her husband, so she sent Malo to assist her family. Her voice shook as she spoke, her fingers wiping at the fresh blood on her lip, but her eyes remained desperate.
At the dining table, Malo’s siblings sat eating the donuts and chips Faye had brought earlier.
"She is lying. They gave our big brother to a man called The Butcher," Phillip said.
Their third son voiced out, he was nine years old. He wiped his sticky fingers on his shirt, looking straight at Faye with wide, honest eyes.
"They are just little kids. They don’t know what they are talking about..." the mother said.
"Right...?" She stared at them with intense eyes, sending shivers through the children and making them go quiet. Her glare cut across the room like a blade, forcing Phillip to drop his gaze instantly and shrink back into his chair.
Faye noticed this. She stood up and gave the woman a hard punch. Her knuckles slammed right into Mrs. Griffin’s cheekbone, sending the woman sprawling sideways onto the floor with a sharp cry.
The kids flinched. They all jumped in their seats, their eyes widening as they watched their mother hit the ground.
"Come on, don’t let her scare you. I won’t let anything happen to any of you. Just as Malo has been taking care of you all, I will do the same. If you know where he is, tell me. They won’t do anything to you," Faye assured them. She walked over to the table, softening her expression as she looked at the terrified siblings.
Trying to act as their big sister. She needed them to know they were safe with her, no matter what their parents tried to do.
"We don’t know where he is, but Jesse told us that Father took him to The Butcher," Phillip said. He leaned forward, his voice a tiny whisper as he checked to make sure his mother wasn’t rising yet.
"Alright then, Jesse. Do you have any clue where your big brother is?" Faye asked.
The kids remained silent, looking at each other before lowering their heads. They twiddled their thumbs, the sudden silence stretching thin across the dining space.
"I told you not to be scared of them. Which one of you is Jesse?"
"Jesse is not here. Father locked him in the basement..."
Faye was disappointed by the way the Griffins treated their own children. They made one child become the breadwinner at a very young age, and now they were locking the second-born in the basement. The sheer cruelty of it made her blood boil, her fists clenching tightly at her sides.
Peamah went down to the basement to look for the boy.
Then Sasha entered with Haley and Beam. They had met at the convenience store, and the girls had been talking about the situation when Beam overheard them and decided to follow.
Haley brought boxes of pizza and placed them on the dining table for the kids. She quickly opened the cardboard lids, letting the warm scent of cheese fill the air to distract the crying toddlers.
Faye prepared baby food for Charlie in the kitchen. She stood by the counter, rapidly stirring the warm food in a small plastic bowl while her ears tracked the movements in the front room.
Then she froze as Princess walked into the house. The heavy, suffocating aura of a pure alpha flooded the entire building instantly, making the hairs on Faye’s arms stand straight up.
Princess looked around at the chaotic scene, the bruised Griffins, the frightened children, Haley and Sasha feeding the kids, Beam standing nearby, and Faye holding a bowl of baby food. Her eyes swept over the broken door, the blood on the floor...
"What is happening here?"
