«Oh yes, I'm positive it was the Teacher. There's no mistaking that man. He's been in my life for nearly twenty years. I could spot him in a crowd just by the way he walks. Besides, I've been expecting him.»
«You've been expecting him?» Chase asked in surprise.
«He's been looking for me ever since I escaped two years ago. I knew that if I stayed in one place for too long he'd find me. Joe convinced me to stick around this time.»
«But how did he find you?»
«There are others like me. The Teacher has a whole group of us. Some have used their abilities to keep him away from me. Some have not. I assume that is how he found me. But mostly I think it's because I stayed in one place for more than a few days.»
Chase sat forward in his chair, his hands knotting together. «There are more of you? Where are they and why haven't we heard about this before now?»
«The Teacher moves us around a lot, so I'm not real sure where they are right now. And I suppose the reasons you haven't heard about us is the same reasons not many people know about you. Sometimes, it's better to keep things hidden.»
Chase nodded in understanding. «I can understand that. But I'm curious, what about these others like you? Is the Teacher holding them hostage as well?»
«Most of them, yes. But there are a few of them that like the life that the Teacher provides for them. We call them the Teacher's pets. They like the money and power that they get from doing exactly what he says. The rest though, their lives are pretty much hell.»
Donovan watched tears form in Nate's eyes right before he bent his head. Joe's arms immediately went around him, comforting him. He wondered if it could be that way between him and Jim. If they were mated, would he be able to hold Jim whenever he wanted? Would Jim allow it?
«I had always hoped to go back for them, the ones that don't want to be there. I just don't know how. I don't know where they are and I'm certainly not strong enough to get them away from the Teacher and his army of guards,» Nate said a moment later, raising his head back up.
«Is there any way to get them a message?» Donovan asked curiously.
«No-well-maybe. But I couldn't guarantee it would get to them or that the others wouldn't get the message or even intercept it,» Nate replied.
«How? How can you get a message to them?»
«Okay, this is going to sound funny but I'd have to-meditate. Some of the students have telepathy. If they were receiving at the same time I was sending, they might get the message, especially if they were close by.»
«How close?» Donovan asked.
Nate shrugged. «I'm not sure exactly. Justin has been known to read someone as far away as five hundred miles. So, within a few hundred miles at least. The closer the better.»
«Justin?»
«Justin Reid. He's my best friend. He's a telepath. Justin can read someone's thoughts. The Teacher uses him mostly for business meeting and mergers. He also takes Justin with him when he's discussing a deal with someone to make sure that they're being truthful with him and not hiding anything. Justin has been keeping me safe for awhile now.»
«Safe? How?»
Nate smiled. «He sends me messages every once in awhile telling me when to leave a certain area or to avoid certain people.»
«If he can do this, why didn't he warn you about the Teacher this time?» Joe asked.
«He may not have known. The Teacher doesn't exactly share all of his plans with us. Justin also might be away on another job or too far away to reach me. Worse case scenario, the Teacher found that he was helping me and has stopped him.»
«Would he-hurt Justin?» Joe asked hesitantly.
«I don't know. I don't think so. He never physically hurt us, but he did isolate us. That may not seem too terrible to you, but when the only contact you have is with the other students, you come to appreciate them, a lot.»
«Okay, say you could contact your friend, could you get him to tell you where he and the others are?» Chase asked, looking very serious.
«Yeah, why?»
«What the Teacher is doing is wrong, Nate. I don't care what abilities you and your friends have. It's wrong to hold people against their will and make them do things they don't want to do.»
«You know, don't you?» Nate murmured quietly a moment later.
«Know what?» Chase said hesitantly, looking quickly over at Donovan.
«You know what it's like to be held against your will.»
Silence filled the room. Donovan leaned forward, patting Chase on the back before looking over at Nate. He briefly felt Jim's hand squeeze him on the shoulder, giving him encouragement.
«We don't know personally what it feels like, but we nearly lost our little brother that way. Someone found out that he was a shifter and kidnapped him. They wanted to study him and learn how the shifting worked. By the time we found him, he had been so abused and tortured that he was never the same again.»
«Is he-is he alive?» Nate whispered.
Donovan nodded. «I'm not sure you can call it living, but he's breathing, if that's what you mean. He won't have anything to do with people he doesn't know and he rarely leaves his room. It's like he can't connect with anyone outside of the immediate family.»
«Oh my God, that's terrible. How could someone do that? Don't they understand that you are human just like they are? Everyone has differences. It doesn't make it okay to treat someone like a science experiment,» Nate said, his voice filled with disgust and horror.
«Not everyone believes the way you do, baby. Some people believe that they have a right to treat people how they want for their own self-interests. Others believe that people who are different don't have the same rights as they do. Either way, they're both wrong.»
«I couldn't agree more, Joe,» Chase said. «I think it's important that we save not only Nate from the Teacher, but the others as well. The ones that want to stay with him have that right, but the others…» Chase just shook his head.
Joe nodded. «Okay, so what do you have in mind?»
«The first thing we need to do is have Nate contact his friend. We need to know where the Teacher is holding all of them. In the meantime, I'll contact a few of my friends and assemble a strike force to go in and get them out.»
«You can do that?» Nate asked, astonished.
«I can, yes. I know several people, some pack and some not, that would be very willing to help us. All I have to do is call them. It may take a few hours for them all to get here, but if I call them, they'll come,» Chase replied.
«You can get people together that fast?»
«It's just a matter of knowing who to call. One of my friends has his own plane. He'll fly around and pick everyone up and deliver them here. He doesn't do any of the fighting, mind you, but he'll transport them.»
«What do you need me to do?» Nate asked quickly.
«Get a hold of your friend and find out where the Teacher is keeping him and the others. We'll take care of the rest,» Chase said as he stood to his feet and looked at Joe. «Is there someplace quiet around here? I need to make some phone calls.»
Joe nodded and pointed to his office. «You can use my office. It's right over there.» He watched as Chase nodded and walked into the office, shutting the door behind him before turning to look back down at Nate.
«What do you need to meditate, baby?» Joe asked.
«A quiet spot with no interruptions,» Nate replied.
«Will our bedroom work for you?»
Nate nodded. «Yeah, it should work okay.»
«Then why don't you go upstairs and do whatever it is you do to get in contact with your friend. The rest of us will start preparing things down here. If we have a lot of people coming, we're gonna need food.»
«I think your mother might be able to help with that, Joseph. I'll head over to the house and pick her up, grab some groceries and meet you all back here. Jim? You want to stay here or go with me?» Daniel asked as he stood to his feet.