Avoiding the Storm

Okay, I'm a screw up for taking so long but schedule has been a pain! The beginning of this year, I had to help granny recover from her knee surgery, I had to study for exams, and I had to prepare to leave my hometown. I've obtained my AA and now I'm living in freaking OHIO! I miss FL, espically with the weather getting cooler. Now I'm trying to balance writing and school so just please bare with me with this transition. Thanks to

Rexbrookdale

for helping with editing this story! He's an amazing editor and he gives the story a little more edge....Keep in mind, I know there are credits but FYI I'm not freaking perfect and my writing will not live up to perfect expectations.

This section is for MimiRose whose writing is freaking AWESOME! It's something new, unexpected, and her lead characters have a backbone. I hope she finish 'Skin to Skin' (hint hint) lol. Also, I want to thank everyone for the encouraging words after someone tried to bash my writing.

This section is for people who probably forgot about Avoiding the Storm. Zaira is an ex detective who imprisoned Conrad (part of the German Pack). Adrian (alpha of German pack) is Conrad's older brother, and decided to save Conrad from a life in prison. Stepping off the plane, Adrian, Zaira, and Eli (Zaira's son) run into each other. Adrian did not know Zaira is the reason why he's brother is in prison. Zaira and Eli are on the plane to Scotland when Adrian realizes who she is. She escapes successfully from the German pack, however Scotland alpha Colin shows interest in Zaira(she does not believe in the supernatural). Both Colin and Adrian believe Zaira are their mate and Conrad seeks revenge.

Now this chapter is short because I separated the chapters. I plan to start another story, it will help me to balance writing and school (therefore quicker to update my stories).

So hope you enjoy and sorry for the long wait! -- B_Beauty904

*Adrian*

After a long flight, the plane had finally touched down in Scotland. As it taxied across the tarmac to the hangar, Adrian prepared himself mentally for his mission: to take back what belonged to him. No matter who or what it involved, he would not be leaving without Zaira and Eli in his possession. Thanks to Boris's friend in Scotland, they'd remain below Colin MacLeod's radar. One thing Adrian did not need, during this particularly stressful time in his life, was to be at war with any other packs. If MacLeod even suspected Adrian's presence on Scottish territory, it would do just that: incite another gruesome war.

Simply stated, the plan was to kidnap his family and get them all safely on the plane before noon the next day. A plan with the words 'family' and 'kidnap' used to describe its goal, requires some explanation. 'Kidnap' seemed a harsh word to use to describe the strategy, but he knew his future mate would not come with him willingly. His job was to protect, provide for, and cherish his family! Soon he would be able to do that...and more.

Stepping off the plane, Adrian spotted the four black Audi Q7s waiting alongside the curb for him and his men. As he walked toward the cars he retrieved the information about Zaira's situation and location. According to his report, she had settled in an apartment while working for a meager wage at a 9 to 5 job. The ideas of her struggling just too barely make it in life, made his stomach and heart ache. He stopped when he reached the Audi and touched the car door handle. Turning, he glanced up at the dark sky, admiring the billions of bright stars in the dark blanket overhead, and inhaled the country air. Oxygen flowed through his lungs, and his big body relaxed: yet he felt alert and prepared for whatever lay ahead. Snapping back into reality, he leaned down and stepped into the backseat, then closed the door. He leaned his head on the window and closed his eyes as images of Zaira and a laughing Eli invaded his thoughts. He felt at peace, somehow; and he would not trade that feeling for anything.

What are your plans for bringing them home?

his wolf wanted to know,

Zaira has no plans to return with us willingly.

If I must then I will throw her over one shoulder and walk out of the apartment with Eli in tow!

Declared Adrian.

All I know is that I am not leaving Scotland without my family.

His wolf responded with silence. Normally, the wolf was the one with the aggressive tendencies and tactics; perhaps this was the reason for his wolf's overt communication just now. Adrian relaxed into the backseat, musing over this. He agreed, of course. She would not come willingly. But then again, she had no choice.

The ride was long, but the ride was smooth. His body was a mix of contrasts: spikes of adrenaline ran through his system while he continued to try to relax and meditate on his plan. Pulling up to Zaira's apartment, he was relieved to spot her parked BMW. His Audi stopped, and his entourage following suit. Swiftly, they parked and disembarked as Adrian opened his car door. After finding the correct apartment number, he sprinted upstairs and knocked on the door, politely but firmly at first; but the longer he waited, the harder he banged on the door. His men filed silently behind, waiting for his command.

"Zaira open up, now!" he shouted.

"Something is wrong,"

reported Adrian's wolf.

Taking heed, Adrian sniffed the air for anything unusual and began to panic as his human side now confirmed that something was indeed wrong. "Get this damn door open now!" Adrian demanded. After a well-placed kick, the door lay on the ground. Stomping into the dark apartment, he looked around, using all of his keen senses. A whiff of something strange caught his attention. He inhales deeply, a sweet smell. It was the scent of his mate, and...Something else. Following the scent, he walked toward the living room and stumbled over something as he approached the couch. Looking to see what had entangled his foot, he spied Zaira's purse and cell phone lying on the floor.

"Fuck, she's been taken!" he hissed, his worst fear confirmed. He looked around the room.

"Search the house for any clues. And for fuck's sake turn on some goddamned lights!" he commanded as he strode toward the curtained window.

"Yes, sir!" the men immediately began their sweep.

Adrian stood and gazed out onto the dark street below, staring sightlessly while deep in thought, resting his arm on the windowsill. Where could Zaira be? His thoughts traveled to Conrad. Yes...They had their problems; but would Conrad go this far?

No reason to pussyfoot around. They are our family. Find them before anything bad happens!

Heeding his wolf, he decided to give his brother a call. He pulled out his cell phone and prepared himself for the worst.

"Awww, dear brother...what a lovely surprise," Conrad spoke laughingly, as he lay on his bed.

"Where are they?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Don't fucking play with me, Conrad because I am not in the mood! Now, what have you done with my mate?!" he shouted, his fist punctuating his words as he banged on the wall. After a long moment's pause, Adrian realizing his brother would not respond, and angrily hung up the phone.

Immersed in the turmoil of his current thoughts, he at first failed to comprehend that Boris was calling his name. "Boss! Someone is ranging Zaira's phone."

Boris' words finally cut through. He took it from Boris' outstretched hand and inhaled deeply.

"Mommy, I was calling you to wish you a goodnight," said a familiar voice.

"Hey, Eli!" Adrian exclaimed, expelling a huge sigh in a rush relief.

"Who's this? Why do you have my mommy's phone?"

"It's me, Adrian." It was unreasonable to expect Eli to recognize him right away. Still, his irrational inner voice insisted it had only been a month, and Eli seemed already to have forgotten about him.

"Ohhh! Hey, Mr. Hitzag! How are you? Are you there with my mommy? Can you tell her I called?" Questions spilled out of Eli in rapid succession.

"Sure, I'll tell her you called. Are you okay? Who are you with?" Adrian tried to hide his concern.

"I'm fine. I'm with one of my classmates. We're having a sleepover, so I just wanted to tell mommy goodnight before I went to bed. She's probably worried about me," said an increasingly concerned-sounding Eli.

"Oh, your mommy is fine; and I hope you enjoy your night, okay? We have a lot to catch up on when we talk again." Adrian put a smile on his voice. Gradually, he relaxed a little.

"Okay, and thank you for spending time with her because she probably got lonely," stated Eli as he yawned a little.

"No problem. Get some sleep, and we'll talk more tomorrow, son." They said their goodnights, and Adrian waited for Eli to hang up first. Relief swept through him, and he sank onto a nearby sofa. He sat for a while, resting his head on his palm. The Lord only knew how much he missed Eli and Zaira. He had to find her, not only for his sake but also for Eli's. At least my boy is safe, he thought.

People claim that you can know a woman by the contents of her purse, yet he believed the contents of her phone revealed the woman. With this in mind, he began to search through her cell phone pictures. Gazing down into the small picture of Eli and Zaira smiling together, his emotions looped around like a roller coaster. The image made him simultaneously happy, and frustrated. The absence of her presence in his life left a huge hole; he realized how much he was missing and how much life with Zaira meant to him.

*Conrad*

Conrad's long legs stretched out comfortably, his tousled head resting on his black silk pillows. His calculating brain had not been surprised when Adrian called him, yet something felt wrong....His men worked quickly, but not that quickly. It was time for an update.

"Mathias, did you handle that situation for me?" he asked, still lying on his bed.

"I was just going to call you. Well, someone got her before we could." Mathias' voice sounded puzzled. He spoke from his observation post where he had been monitoring the recent flurry of activiteies at Zaira's apartment from afar. One of his men had just handed him a piece of paper, which he'd been reading when he'd gotten Conrad's call.

"What the hell do you mean, someone got her?" He suddenly sat up in bed as he yelled at Mathias through the phone.

"Me and Rob was about to walk upstairs and handle the situation; but a group of guys came down a few minutes ago with a black body bag. Before we could realize what was going on, they got in their van and took off," Mathias stated still holding the note handed to him not five minutes ago.

"Why didn't you stop them? That is my brother's fucking mate!"

"It was too many. They had us out numbered." Mathias paused for a split second, then continued. "Wait, wait, wait...she is Adrian's mate? Do you know what that means for us if Adrian even suspects we have her? He's your fucking brother and you had us to kidnap his mate? Are you fucking crazy?" His voice, which had ascended into a shout, lowered to a hissing whisper as he spoke the last sentences.

"I know, I know. Calm down! But it's not our fault now anyway, because we don't even have the damn broad."

"That's not the point, Conrad. Why would you want to harm your brother's mate? You would kill someone if anyone touched your mate, let alone looked at her" Mathias tried to calm himself. Failing that, all of his frustrations and anger caught up with him again, as he continued. "What kind of brother are you? Your petty games will get someone killed one day. And when it does, it'll be entirely your fault, because I won't be here to help you out." Abruptly, he hung up the phone.

Conrad sat on the bed and thought hard: Mathias was a hard man to make angry, and clearly, he was at his wits' end. He mused over everything, and slowly began to realize the seriousness of his mistakes. Yes, as Mathias had said he, Conrad, would certainly kill for his own mate. He tried to imagine what his brother was prepared to do. What would Adrian's next steps be—what would his own be if he were in Adrian's shoes? At any rate, no matter the situation, he came to a decision. It was time to start making amends.

*Colin*

Colin woke up, ready for the day. It was 7 o'clock in the morning and he was beyond excited about his date for breakfast. All he could think about was Zaira pressed against his body, or watching her glow as she smiled all his problems away. He remembered her soaked body and wet hair when they had met yesterday. Hoping she would wear something similar to the tight capris, she had been wearing the day before had him ready for dessert.

He decided to wear fitted grey cargo shorts, a navy blue Hollister shirt, and navy blue shoes with grey accents. The shirt showed off his Polynesian sleeve tattoos, it covered his bicep and traveled down his arm, stopping just above his wrist. There was a possibility of rain, so he decided to wear his jet-black hair in a ponytail. Stepping in front of the mirror, Colin admired the reflection of his large frame, and knew he looked good enough to eat. Flexing his muscles in the mirror, it dawned on him to call Zaira to make sure she was getting ready. Walking over to his bed, he picked up his cell phone and called her. One ring, two rings, three rings...Finally someone picked up the phone.

"Good morning beautiful, I hope you're ready for our day together," stated Colin, and then waited for a response.

"Who the fuck is this?" questioned an unfamiliar, pissed-off male voice.

"My name is Colin," Colin said slowly. "The better question is who are you and what are you doing with Zaira's phone?"

"Listen kid, I am not in the mood to play phone tag with you. So how about you tell me who you are and how do you know my Zaira," he heard the guy holding Zaira's phone shout.

"Your Zaira! Listen, you cheeky bastard! I swear if you have hurt a hair on Zaira's head, I promise I'll—"

"You'll do what?" the stranger interrupted. "Before you make threats to a complete stranger you should know that this stranger can rip your fucking guts out and serve it to rats for dinner."

Colin realized that someone had Zaira's phone, and whoever he was claimed her. With the conversation at its end, Colin decided to pay Zaira's apartment a little visit.

*Adrian*

Adrian sat on Zaira's bed shocked at what just happened. He had been resting on her bed, when some punk had called her cell phone. Was this Colin person fucking his woman? Adrian grew red with hatred and anger burning within as he saw visuals of Colin buried deep within Zaira, marking her as his own. Nevertheless, he had no time to think about what would never happen again. There was no time to imagine imprudent thoughts, but it was time to prepare....Prepare for war.

*Zaira*

A stiff, sore, and confused Zaira slowly began to open her heavy eyelids. She tried to rub the tiredness from her eyes but she was unable to move her arms. After failing to move them, she tried moving her legs, and that was unsuccessful. Opening her eyes to see what kept her bond, she was shocked of her surroundings. Her arms strung high above her head with metal chains connected to the ceiling, and her feet tied together with another chain. The position made her into a human "Y".

Trying to free herself from the metal bracelets, Zaira ignored the pain in her wrist, focusing instead on her son who needed her. After a couple of minutes of mindless pulling, Zaira felt liquid trickling down her arms and realized it was her own blood. "Shit," she cursed aloud.

"You might as well stop, darling, you're no use to me scratched and bruised," said a feminine voice.

Zaira tried to focus her vision of the woman who lurked in the shadows. No matter how hard she tried, she could not see the features of the woman nor could she free herself. At that moment, Zaira felt useless.

"Who are you?" questioned Zaira to the shadow.

"Elena Rosemead."

"Okay Elena Rosemead, why the hell am I chained up?" asked Zaira.

"Ah, temper, temper, Zaira Danielle Jacobs."

Zaira sighed deeply. She yanked the chain once again, suddenly inspired by the thought that her blood might make it easier to slip through her bondage.

"I said enough with the damn chains already!"

"How about you let me go and I might consider sparing your life."

"Oh please, how about you spare me the bull. Last time I checked I was the one who holds the keys to your future. Not only yours but the future of that bastard of yours."

At that moment, Zaira's whole world shattered. She did not care about what the witch could do to her, but she was scared for her baby. "Look, I don't know what you want or why I'm here. But my son has nothing to do with this. Do you understand? Because if you harm my son in any way then I swear on everything I love that I will find you and I will slit your throat from ear to ear"

Finally emerging from the shadow, Zaira watched a tall, skinny, and gorgeous woman step forward. She did not understand how a woman with such beauty could be a cold-hearted bitch. The woman was at least five foot ten, with hazel eyes, and beautiful red hair. As the woman came closer, the scowl on the woman's face made her beauty fade. Without warning, a swift hit made Zaira's left cheek burn from the hand-to-face contact.

Not certain what just happened, Zaira asked, "Heffa did you just slap me?"

"We can react the moment and then you can tell me"

At that moment, all Zaira could see was red. In one intake, Zaira spat a quarter amount of mucus unto the witches face. The look of shock and hatred on the red haired woman caused Zaira bleeding lip to turn upward in a grin.

*Elena*

No one had ever disrespected her...Elena was ready to hand Zaira her head on a platter. Before she could control her sudden anger, her hand had rolled into a fist about to strike, that is until she felt a hand grip her around her wrist, hard.

"I suggest you let me go before I rip you a new one," a surprised Elena growled at the intruder.

"This is not part of the deal. I do not like my packages damaged, "stated a booming voice as he released her.

She snatched her aching wrist from him and began to rub it; there was no need to turn around. His presence caused her spine to tingle. Not only did he make her feel uncomfortable but anyone who dared to look at him felt fear from his cold penetrating gaze. Elena gathered her wrist and finally turned around to face the notorious Igor West. Igor is known for his brutality to people who crossed him, and for his love of dark-skinned, beautiful women. Zaira would not last with him; she was a mother, strong-willed, and had a tongue that spit venom. Elena had decided to sell Zaira instead of killing her outright, because she knew things would lead back to her. When Adrian and Conrad finally realized Elena's plan, she would be miles away, with a suitcase full of money. Just in case they did find her, her life would depend on Zaira's life. With the suitcase of money, Elena would no longer need Adrian influences or his bed. Although she would miss the view of that man, she figured that money could buy men just like him. "My apologies Mr. West, this is the woman I was talking about," stated Elena. She bowed her head and slowly backed away.

Igor just waved his hand and walked toward Zaira, observing her with pleasure and satisfaction. His eyes never leaving her form, as he motioned for his men to step forward with two suitcases. Silently Elena took the suitcases, and turned to walk toward the door, parting with a few encouraging words for Zaira.

"Try not to have too much fun, Zaira," laughed Elena as she grabbed her coat and disappeared outside the cell.