Chapter 32

Rhys

The scent of blood and smoke still hung heavy in the air, a bitter tang that seemed to cling onto every surface. The aftermath of the battle was a destruction, devastation and demolition greater than anything I had seen in a very long time. And in the center of all this wreckage was me, Kai, and Rowan.

The moment I had found out about Elara's disappearance, the beast within that I had fought so hard to bury for over a decade was unleashed. My rage was a destructive force that tore through the remains of the battle.

The adrenaline from the last two hours after I had gotten the news was now finally wearing off, my entire body screamed with pain. Even worse, my heart was filled with a deep ache. Rowan had gathered his best men and had set out on a hunt, while Kai and I had gone berserk and had moved through the pack, determined to find her.

Now Kai and I were both sitting in the home office, after hours of trying to find her, waiting for Rowan to join us and hopefully bring good news about Elara. We were poring over the plans when the door was pushed open to reveal a disheveled Rowan.

"Did you find anything?" Kai asked, beating me to asking the question.

"No. We were able to track the scents to a point, but it faded off completely. It's like they vanished into thin air from that spot. Earlier, while I led the pups to safety, I saw Scarlett. I had her arrested and locked in the dungeon and then I set out to search the vicinity where Scarlett was found, as well as the path of her scent, but I found no trace of Elara. I know that Scarlett has a hand in this, so our only chance will be to interrogate her and see if we can find out about Elara's whereabouts," he suggested and I scoffed.

"You can't be serious. If that traitor found a way back into this pack to cause another round of chaos, what makes you think she'd be willing to tell the truth and confess to all their plans? For all we know, she could send us on a wild goose chase, or lead us into a trap," I countered, but Rowan sighed,

"It's the best chance we've got."

Without another word, we all moved toward the dungeons. There were no guards at the door when we got there, and that set off warning bells in my head. The heavy, iron-bound door groaned when it was pushed, and it opened to reveal an empty chamber. A cold dread seeped into my bones.

Scarlett had escaped.

Rowan, his face etched with fury, recounted the events of his encounter with Scarlett months earlier. A surge of fresh anger ignited within me as I recalled her taunts from the last time I had seen her, years ago.

"Find her! There's no way she could have managed to escape this pack alone. Search every nook and cranny until she's found," I instructed the guard who had come with us.

A frantic search ensued, and every corner of the pack was scoured with desperate intensity. But there was no trace of her. The realization that she had inside help was a bitter pill to swallow. Someone we trusted had betrayed us once again. The thought was a poison that spread through my veins, turning my blood ice.

"Silas has her, that much we can gather. I called for the earlier search because I was hoping to get to her before they got very far, but it's obvious that they were ahead of us. Our only other option is to track him down and take her away from him," Kai began when we settled in the office once more.

"It's not going to be that easy," I said.

"Obviously. That's why we need a plan."

"A plan is not going to reveal his stronghold to you, Kai. Did you ever stop to think why Silas' location is untraceable? It's almost as if he doesn't exist, and that's because, to the rest of the world, he doesn't. That stronghold is shrouded in magic, and the only way to have access to it is to be bonded to Silas in some way or form. The moment the bond is broken, all memories or knowledge of that place is immediately forgotten. You will never be able to trace your way back again. It'll be impossible to find Elara on our own. The only way to find her is to find a person who still has a direct bond with Silas, which is out of the question …" the rest of the words faded away as the office door was pushed open to reveal a disheveled Naya.

Her body was trembling, and her eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and pain. She fell to her knees, clasping her fingers together in a plea.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do it. I swear, I would never purposely hurt her. He has me bound to him, and he burns me whenever I go against his instructions. There was nothing I could do, no one to go to, because he had spies following me around. I swear I didn't mean to hurt her." She broke down into tears and Rowan approached her, pulling her off her knees.

"What are you talking about, Naya?" He asked.

Naya pushed her shirt up to reveal a symbol that looked like it had been burned onto her skin. The area around the symbol looked red and the skin also looked painfully burned.

"I-I was the one who aided in Elara's capture. B-but I didn't want to, I swear! He made me do it," she confessed, and almost immediately, Kai sprang in her direction. I moved out of my seat quickly, backing him off before he could reach out to grab Naya.

"I'm going to kill her with my bare hands," he roared, moving to break out of my restraint and lunge at Naya, but I pulled him back.

"And how does that bloody help us? It's obvious she has valuable information. Why would you want to take her life before she can give it to us?" I whisper-yelled at him and that seemed to take the fight out of him because he went lax in our arms.

"Silas doesn't have her. She has been taken by someone else. I had thought I could trust him and that he was trying to help me. He's going to bond Elara and her children to him. I have to go to him, because he demanded that I'm there to watch the process, but you have to come with me."

***

A tempest raged within me, a whirlpool of emotions I had thought long subdued. Anger, a beast I'd chained and starved, clawed at the confines of my mind. It was a different kind of anger, not the hot, impulsive rage I'd known in the past, but a cold, consuming fury that seeped into my bones and chilled my blood. A darkness, once buried deep, was stirring, threatening to consume me whole. We had put together a plan and gathered the best of our men before we set out. The plan was simple, yet fraught with danger. Naya would infiltrate the house where Elara was being held, while we waited in the shadows, ready to strike.

I looked at Kai and Rowan, who moved beside me, their faces etched with a grim determination that mirrored my own. We were united by a common purpose: to rescue Elara.

Naya was now our only lead. For all we knew, she could be leading us straight to another trap, but I knew that there was no time to wait and try to decipher what was genuine or not. The mark on her body was starting to burn, and she revealed that she was late to their scheduled meeting. We had to hurry, or it would continue to burn till she arrived.

As we infiltrated enemy territory, the weight of the mission pressed down on me. Every crunch of gravel, every rustle of leaves, amplified my senses, heightening the tension. The house that we were being led toward was a sinister silhouette against the moonlit sky. We moved with silent efficiency, carefully taking out the guards we found along the line.

"I need to go in alone, to get him away from Elara, so you can get to him in time. If he feels triggered, he could try to harm her before you've had the chance to get to him. I'll let out a whistle as a sign for you to come in," she whispered to us.

Naya slipped into the house, disappearing into the darkness, and we waited, our breath held, time stretching into an eternity.

It felt like a long time afterward when the expected signal failed to arrive, and a cold dread slithered through me.

Something was wrong.

"Naya's signal is overdue. We need to move." I whispered to Kai and Rowan.

"We can't take that risk, Rhys. You're as anxious as we both are, but we need to be careful. If we go barging into the house and it's the wrong time, he could kill her even before we have the chance to get to her. A little more patience, Rhys," Rowan tried to convince me.

But, at that moment, I felt a huge surge of dark energy pulsing through the entire premises. It took the words out of my mouth and without pausing for another moment to think, I moved.