14

Xavier

I could hear a bird chirping in a tree a few meters away, but it sounded like it was resting on my shoulder. My ears twitched as another bird answered the first one's call, and I tried my best to tune them out. I focused on the wind in the trees instead as I continued to walk along the path in the forest. I was heading to the cliff where Ruby and I had sat and talked so long ago.

No, it wasn't so long ago, I thought as I shook my head. Only a week has passed with her being missing. While it was only a week, it was far too long for comfort. It felt like an eternity.

Natalie has been missing for just as long, and I'm not sure how much longer I can survive not knowing what has happened to either of them. My hands clenched at my sides as my rage began to consume me yet again.

Being without Ruby and not knowing if she was hurt or not was taking its toll. My wolf has been clawing under my skin to the point that I've woken up with my sheets and clothes ripped by my claws and fangs out without my conscious command.

There have been no leads on finding Ruby, and no one has called for ransom or to make any demands. She is just gone, vanished into thin air.

Gone.

I turned off the path and headed into the thicker forest, but I didn't get far. I closed my eyes as the haunting sound of Ruby's scream entered my mind. She had screamed when that wolf had attacked her, and that was the moment when I had realized my mistake. They were after her and her alone. The attack on me was just a diversion carefully designed to separate us, and I had played right into their evil hands.

Now Ruby was God-Knows-Where experiencing God-Knows-What while I waited for some sign, any sign, of where I might find her. I growled low as I unclenched my right hand, and I winced a little as my hand began to shift. My bones broke and shifted, and my fingers elongated while my claws extended. I gritted my teeth as I swung around and swiped my claws at a nearby tree.

The mangled tree tilted to the side as if to fall, but stopped, the trunk in shreds. I closed my eyes as I started to lose control of my shift. My fangs began to elongate and graze against my bottom lip, and I clenched my left fist that hadn't shifted and hunched forward. I exposed my right arm and it began to return to normal, my fingers bending in odd directions as my bones broke and reset.

I opened my eyes as I stood upright once more, and I looked down at my hand before clenching and unclenching my fist. My nails were itching to tear through the flesh of whoever had taken Ruby.

"Send her back to me," I said to the forest, but I was hoping the goddess was listening.

I paused for a moment, a familiar scent licking at my nostrils, and as the scent registered, I spun on my heels to find Natalie standing behind me. I blinked rapidly and took a step towards her before stopping.

Something was different about her.

Her eyes were still ice blue, but her hair was white–snow white. She was just standing there staring at me, but there was rigidness about her as if she was frozen to the spot. There was a distant look in her eyes as if she was seeing through me, and I became on edge. I looked her up and down, trying to see if this was somehow a trick. My stance widened to prepare myself for an attack. Her mouth curved with a smile, and I got a glimpse of the Natalie I had known.

What happened to her?

"Natalie?"

"Your wolf–with Ruby being gone you're losing control," she responded as she pointed a finger at me.

I nodded. "Yes, where have you…"

"I can help," she interjected as she began moving towards me. She had her hands raised to show she posed no threat, no doubt having noticed my defensive stance.

I allowed her to get close to me, but my eyes watched her every move. It felt odd for me to be so cautious with her. Her scent was the same, so I knew it was her, but she looked so different. Something was definitely wrong. Why had she vanished? To get her hair done? That's unlikely because Adolfa was found dead.

She raised her hand and pressed her thumb to my forehead. Instantly, warmth rose within me, and days of feeling on edge vanished as my wolf calmed. I sighed as she pulled away. I looked down at my hand, my claws no longer feeling as if they'd appear at any moment.

"How did you do that?" I asked her, but she merely shrugged and stepped back. "What happened to you, Natalie? What happened with Adolfa?"

At the mention of Adolfa's name, she grimaced. "She transferred all of her power to me."

She turned away, and my eyes widened. "How? I didn't know Enchanteds could do that."

Despite the fact that her back was turned to me, I could see her nod. "I didn't know either. There was a lot I didn't know." She turned to face me. "She showed me where Ruby is as well."

That had my wolf stirring yet again and hope blossomed inside me. "A-Are you serious?" She nodded. I laughed and turned away, my legs pumping as I began to run through the forest to head back to the house. "Where is she? We need to get back to the house."

I felt alive for the first time in days. I've been wandering around either on edge or dragging myself like a zombie, but just that quickly, my energy returned to me full force.

"Xavier, wait!"

I skid to a halt as Natalie's voice echoed through the forest. "What?

If you know where she is, I need to tell dad. We have to go get her."

"No, we don't. We can't," she said as she walked towards me, and I frowned in confusion. "She's safe where she is for now. We have more immediate issues to take care of."

I stared at her as if I was looking at someone deranged. How could she expect me to not go searching for Ruby? What else could possibly be more important? I've been losing my mind for days wondering where Ruby is and if she's okay. Not to mention how worried I had been about Nathalie herself.

"Where is she?" I asked her, my face now twisted with anger. "There is nothing more important than finding her, Natalie, and you know that."

She stepped forward, her eyes narrowing, and I blinked in surprise at the dominance that was radiating off her. All wolves radiate some level of dominance, but it gets stronger depending on your bloodline and your rank in the pack. Enchanteds can't transform into actual wolves, so they don't radiate as much dominance as the rest of us do.

The stronger the Enchanted, the stronger their dominance level, but Natalie hadn't been this strong before. What else did Adolfa change?

"She is only safe for now, Xavier. The Council knows about her, so they are coming for you. You broke the law by sparing a human."

"She's my mate, I couldn't kill her!"

"They won't give a fuck! She's human. They won't care that she's your mate. You broke the law, and that is all the reason they need to step in. Then they will focus on how a human can be mated to a wolf. They might even try to bury the entire Bloodmoon Pack to hide this. You know they can! Ruby is safe for the time being, but that is all."

I knew she was right, but I needed to find Ruby. We were just getting close to each other, and having her ripped away from me so suddenly left a large hole in my chest. I felt weak without her, and I wondered if she felt the same. Being human, the mate bond didn't affect her the same way. Was she missing me?

"Who has her? Why did Adolfa even transfer her powers to you?"

Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose as she stepped past me, her white hair blowing in the wind. "Why she did it isn't important right now. What's important is getting back to the house and warning your dad. We have an hour before they arrive. Xavier, we don't have time to waste."

I pulled up at her side, and we walked briskly back to the house. There was a lot she wasn't saying, that was clear, but she was right. If the Council was on their way, then we did have a more pressing issue. However, I couldn't help asking one question. I wanted to know who had the balls to take my mate? Who even knew about her? How could she be safe when she had been attacked and taken?

"Who took her?" I asked her and her shoulders moved up and down as she sighed. "I need to know, Natalie. How do you know she's safe?"

"She's safe because she's with Axel. He's the one that took her from you, and he's the one that reported you to the Council."

I should have known that scumbag had something to do with her abduction! Axel's her mate, too. What he doesn't know is that by reporting her and our mate bond to the Council, he just got her killed, and maybe even himself, too.