As Dean entered the bakery from the back, I think he had just changed into the clothes Seth had given them. There was a delicious scent of chocolate mint truffles in the air. Despite being in a bakery, I didn't get distracted until Dean's and my eyes met.
The world stopped right then and there. This is when I knew for certainty there was no doubt in my mind that Dean was my mate. As my mouth hung open for what seemed to be an eternity, I was a little dismayed. In addition, I noticed that his eyes looked pained and even sorry.
Since I was seventeen, I have always hoped that Rector would be my mate. As in so many fairytales, he would come back with Ashina someday, and we would ride into the sunset together. However, my life isn't a fairytale, and I could see from his eyes that Dean did not want me as a mate.
Eventually, Dean calls me over and we leave together with the men hiding in the shadows following me as we make our way to the underground bunker that is hiding so many women and children from the wrath of Malcolm. In all of the time we were walking to the shelter, he did not mention our encounter in the bakery and the fact that he was my mate once during our walk.
In the event that Malcolm had his goons hiding somewhere, I always pretended that I was picking flowers. In spite of the fact that we have been sneaking out pack members for the last twelve years, I still cannot believe that we have not been caught. Sadly, there are thousands of pack members, and we don't know who to trust and who we shouldn't trust out of all of them. It is because of this reason that not all of them have been sent through the escape tunnels so far.
There is a house built over the underground bunker which also has secret doors that lead into the tunnels. Walking up to the house, I knocked with the secret knock. Knock, knock, knock, pound, pound, pound, Knock, knock, pound. The door opened, we hung like old-time friends and walked on in while I introduced Dean to them.
In the center of the house is a closet door with a secret entrance to the basement, which can be accessed only through the closet door. After opening the door, we descended some rickety stairs before we reached the basement. As we carefully make our way down the stairs, we become aware of the wobbles and squeaks on the floor.
There were a lot of old boxes scattered all over the basement that were dusty and strewn with old paper. The place did not even appear as if anyone had ever been down here before. Using a hidden hatch hidden under a carpet, behind the stairs, I guided Dean around behind the stairs and opened the hatch. After climbing down the long ladder, the two of us were plunged into a world of darkness. Having seen this, I could see that Dean was impressed with the set-up; it was very discreet and well hidden. As we made our way down the ladder, we came to a platform surrounded by a circular wall about 30 to 50 feet below us.
The cylinder walls are made of metal squares, I push one in and behind us a hidden door opens up to let us in. The light invaded the darkness, and we walked on through. The place was massive, similar to a packhouse. It had a living room, a game room, a kitchen and massive suites and bedrooms. Everyone had a duty similar to being in a pack, there were cooks and omegas, teachers, and schooling down here as well.
I could see Dean's face crack a smile; he was truly impressed.
Dean –
That was the first time I had seen a city below a city, and I couldn't believe my eyes. It made me feel bad because even though many people have probably been hiding here for years, I was wondering how much longer it could possibly last before Malcolm found them. I am astounded at the fact that they have not yet been discovered. This is a large number of people from the royal pack that have turned up missing over the past few years. In spite of how deeply hidden the bunker may have been.
The couple upstairs did not follow us, they went about their business as if they had no idea that they were hiding hundreds of members of the pack deep within the earth beneath their house.
The makeshift Alpha shows us around their little city down here, and I tell him who we are looking for. He wasn't certain whether or not she had come down here or not. Our search for the maid and her daughter continued, but we were unable to find them there, despite our best efforts. There was something in my gut that told me this was suspicious. I was wondering why the maid, and her daughter were not down here with us.
When I was about to give up looking for the maid, we found a friend of hers. This friend stated that her friend hated Malcolm, but that the maid we are looking for is Malcolm's true mate.