Chapter two

Leaning back against the counter, I check the back door for Adara for the second—or third—time in the last ten minutes. Frank chuckles under his breath, and I glare at him. She's been gone for two hours, and I wish I hadn't let him make me feel overbearing earlier. I should've at least asked where she was going. How long she'd be. What the hell she was thinking to leave by herself gods damn self. The only solace I've found in it all is that I watched the raven follow her. At least she allowed him to join her.

My wolf laughs. Jealousy doesn't look good on you.

"She'll be fine, boss," Frank says, moving to stand beside me.

Dragging my hand through my hair, I shake my head. "I should've gone with her." Why did I think letting her go alone would be okay? Monique could be out there, using the kidnapping as a way to lure Adara out of the house. She knows more than anyone that Adara would do anything for her sister. Flexing my hands, I try to remember what she asked of me last night after seeing the oracle's vision—space and trust. Not much, but enough to not feel smothered so she isn't tempted to run from me, and trust to know she'll be included in plans, valued as a member of the pack and as my mate, so she doesn't feel inferior and run off on her own.

"You did the right thing, giving her room to breathe." He shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest. "She'll appreciate you more for it." Glancing at me from the corner of his eye, he adds, "And she'll be fine."

I scoff, scowling as I refill my glass. "You don't know that. Anyone could be sitting out there waiting to take her. Using this whole situation as a way to lure her outside." I down the whiskey, the warmth coating my throat working to clear my mind slightly.

Raising a brow, Frank nods slowly. "Sure, that could happen."

My head snaps up, my eyes boring into his as a smirk tips his mouth up at one corner.

"I didn't say it would happen, or even that it's likely. But I can't deny that it could happen." He claps a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. "Anything could happen, Gideon, but you can't control all that. What you can control is how much you trust her and making sure she knows that." Taking my glass, he tops it off for me. "You can also control what happens moving forward, which would be the next best thing to focus on right now when Adara needs some time."

My brows furrow. "What does that mean?"

"The feral lands need to be claimed. It's only natural to assume it'd be ours since it's between the old Bloodwind Pack territory we claimed and ours, so why let it exist in the middle of our lands?"

"Hm." I set my glass on the counter. "Makes sense. Once this is all over, we can send a team to clear out the ferals, have them decide if they want to join the pack or wander elsewhere."

"There's also the wolf council."

"They're dead," I say flatly, the mangled bodies of each councilman flashing in my mind. Rathmann's smug face, and Grant's arrogance oozing from every pore on his body are quick to follow. "And the two who aren't dead will be once I find them."

Frank chuckles humorlessly. "I thought as much. When the entire council no longer exists, who will look over the packs? Keep order amongst them all?" He taps the counter before him with one finger. "That needs to be dealt with… and it needs to be figured out before word spreads that there's no council. No rules."

"I understand, Frank, but these topics can wait." I let my gaze wander over the group gathered around the table, making my point. "We have more pressing issues to deal with right now before my mate goes running off on her own to handle it herself. Again."

"Of course, boss." He raises both hands up, shrugging.

Sighing as he walks away, I rest against the counter, staring into my whiskey. I study the way the overhead lights reflect in the amber liquid and try to let the voices of everyone in the room glide over me as I down the last few sips.

Parker jabs a finger at the map on the table between him and another hunter, Victor. "Why would the castle be there? That makes shit for sense when it's a major tourist spot."

Victor growls, low and rumbling through his chest. "It makes sense because it's the last place anyone would look, you idiot. She's a witch. Who's to say she can't put a shield over the castle or something to keep it hidden?"

Parker throws his hands in the air. "You think one witch can hide a whole castle?"

"The same witch who disguised herself as the alpha and captured him while working with our own council?" Victor bites back. "Yeah, I think she could manage a castle."

"We could try the sister's scent," Brent suggests to Darrold, leaning back in the chair beside Parker as he and Victor continue to argue.

"Frank tried that the first night she went missing," Darrold says, rubbing a hand over his chin. "He couldn't find her scent or the other witch's that was taken. What if we organized an aerial scope of the mountains? Adara's raven could fly over it and be relatively hidden."

Brent sighs. "It would take him weeks to cover the whole mountain range, if not months. The area is too large for one raven to fly, even with breaks to rest and eat. Plus, that doesn't account for any spells to hide the castle, if there is one protecting it."

At the other end of the table, Frank sits with Mila in his lap, whispering something in her ear while Chloe and Ruya debate which tracking spell they could research next, despite the last fifteen not being strong enough.

None of it is strong enough. None of it has worked. Not a single gods damn thing, and now I have the entire wolf world teetering on the edge of feral abandon with no council to guide us.

I pick up my glass to take a sip, but it's empty. I slam it back onto the counter, glass shattering and shards piercing into my palm. Silence smothers all noise in the room, and it's deafening. Suffocating.

"Shut up," I growl, glaring down at the blood dripping from my hand and onto the counter. "None of you have any fucking idea where she is. None of you know what will work!" Glaring into the wide-eyed faces of everyone gathered before me, I pick the few shards from my hand and toss them into the sink. Frank moves toward me, but I storm from the room. The back door flies on its hinges, cracking against the side of the house, and a small yelp sounds from the kitchen. But I can't bring myself to care about who I've scared.

I don't care that I just yelled at every person who's only here to help us. I don't care that I just threw a toddler sized tantrum. I don't care about anything except finding that witch and killing her with my bare hands, watching the life fade from her eyes as she dies before me so I can smile back at her and know she'll never hurt my mate again.

Because if I don't kill her, then Adara will, and she shouldn't have to live with that blood on her hands. Even if Monique deserves every ounce of pain the world could offer, she's still Adara's mother. And Adara deserves better than to carry the burden of taking her life.

Tearing my shirt over my head, I launch into the trees and shift. Tracking Adara is a mix of finding her scent and following the mate bond as it tugs at my chest—something that was infuriating weeks ago but has become my favorite feeling. No spell can hide her from me ever again, and my wolf preens at the thought of always being able to find her and feel through the bond that she's safe, unharmed.

A brown blur barrels toward me from the side, and I skid to a stop before trampling it. Hackles raised, it isn't until the young wolf's head pops up that I relax.

"Jazelle, what are you doing?"I snarl, straightening to my full height to stare down at the pup before me.

She raises her head, attempting to stare down her nose at me. "I'm here to help, duh."

Narrowing my gaze at her, I huff. "Help with what? You should be in bed right now like all the other young pups who have school tomorrow."

A snarl tears from her lips, and I have to concentrate to keep myself from laughing. It's far from threatening—high-pitched and adorable.

"I am not a pup,"she snaps. "I know you have something going on, Gideon. Let me help. Maybe—"

"No."I sidestep around her and move deeper into the forest, leaving her behind as she stomps her paw.

"I know where Adara went." She chases after me. "I can show you."

I whirl around to face her, staring down at her as she crashes into my chest. "I know how to find my mate, Jazelle. I am your alpha."

Her jaw clenches when the next command from my mouth has alpha influence laced heavily within it.

"Go home, little star."

The further into the forest I get, the more dense the woods seem to become. Dense and familiar. Adara must've gone to visit with her aunt at the well, but why? The only thing that witch wants is for Adara to take over her ‘duty' as the well's guard. Who's to say that Monique even wants the well's power at this point? Eri said she's been guarding it to keep Monique from misusing the strength and power of the magical well, but it isn't as if she's ever come close to this area in at least a decade or more. And now that she has access to Adara—a lycan witch with a mate bond—I don't see her seeking power from anywhere other than her.

You should know better than to assume Monique doesn't want anything that could promise more power,my wolf scoffs. Centuries old and still making a pup's mistake.

Growling softly, I shove his voice from my mind. Correct or not, he's still insufferable, and regardless, whether it's the well's power or Adara's blood she's after, I'll die before she succeeds.

Finally reaching the edge of Lockwood Forest, I slowly make my way through the black pit of shadows that seem to swallow even the slightest suggestion of light. Voices drift over to me, and my heartbeat slows, the mate bond relaxing along with the rest of my body knowing Adara is nearby, until suddenly it strains, my breath catching in my throat before I push myself to run faster toward the source—toward wherever she lies hurt.