38 Missing mate - Part 1

By the time I arrived back home, it was already the time of dawn. I shifted back to my human form, immediately dashing towards Violet's room. I yanked the door open, finding nothing but an empty room. She is gone.

"Alpha," a voice sounded from behind my back. I turned around and grabbed the owner of the voice by the collar, cornering him against the wall.

"Where the fuck is she?" I growled, showing my canines threateningly to my Gamma, who was assigned to look over my mate, but instead did the opposite of what I told him to do. If only he was not my Gamma, then I would have torn his head off for losing my mate, in my own fucking house.

He lowered his head as a sign of submissiveness, not wanting to anger me further. "We are still searching for her," but these exact words were what angered me the most. By the next second, my knuckles had collided with his cheekbone harshly, leaving both my hand and his cheek stained with blood.

I let out an earth-shattering growl, not caring about the pain that would inflict on the other werewolves, as I was furious, so furious that I might tear the whole building down. Jack fell on his knees due to the pain that struck him, and I raised my hand to send him another punch he deserved, but instead of punching him, I decided to just punch the wall behind him to diffuse my anger.

"What happened?" I gritted my teeth, trying to calm myself. I knew Jack was not someone who dared to go against my words and there must be something that caused him to fail in doing my order.

"I was.. guarding in front of Luna's room when I heard a scream," he replied while still trying to endure the pain, "The scream came from the parlor, so I went there to check on it and found a maid, along with one dead body. It was the butler.

"It was then when I felt something was not right and rushed back to Luna's room, but..." he wavered, not daring to continue what he was about to say.

I let out a heavy sigh, raking my fingers through my hair while also aggressively ruffling it in frustration. So the abductor deliberately killed my butler to divert Jack's attention. Therefore, Violet was left alone in her room. They killed so many lives just to take my Violet away from me. Either they wanted something that Violet had, or they were just using her to get me.

Nonetheless, they will be dead meat when I find where they are hiding. They better count their time before I send them to hell.

"Call Maggie over," I ordered. I need to ask her what happened to the magic barrier that she cast on my territory. It was strange that an intruder was able to step inside when there was a barrier surrounding the place. Only those who were permitted to enter my territory, so anyone who dared to set foot on my land without permission must be prepared for the consequences to come. Moreover, taking what belongs to me. Death alone wouldn't be enough to atone for their sins.

But on second thought, them being able to step into my territory in spite of the magic barrier must also be the work of the witch they were working along with.

Jack stumbled to the door, marching to the witch's house. In turn of Jack's disappearance, Andrew came into the room. He gasped for air, seemingly tired after continuously running to catch up with me, who had ran at my full speed and had long disappeared from his sight.

"He... what... happened...?" He asked breathlessly. Realizing that I was not in the mood to answer any question, he cleared his throat and looked around the room. "Well, I will ask someone to clean up all this mess," he glanced at the door that lay on the floor and the cracked walls.

"I know you are mad and all, but... at least wear some clothes," he said, turning his head around while closing his eyes with his palms. "I'm not fond of looking at naked men."

I looked down and realized he was right, I was naked. I was such in a hurry that I even forgot to clothe myself. I sighed and walked to my room, quickly grabbing some clothes from my closet to cover myself. Feeling impatient waiting for the witch's arrival, I went straight to her house before she came to me, followed by Andrew just behind.

As I brought myself to the witch's house, she had just stepped out of her house with Jack in front of her.

"Still as handsome as ever, Alpha Luke... and very impatient," the black witch stepped forward, closing the distance between us as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

Not even a second after she managed to rest her hand on me, I shoved her hand away, "Don't touch me," I scowled, glaring down at the witch who was two heads shorter than me.

She faked a smile and laughed, "We have known each other for years and yet you are still as hostile as you were when we first met. How you sadden me."

"Quit the gibberish," I folded my arms, not wanting to spend any time chatting, "Tell me, can you locate my mate?"

"Of course, but what will you give me in return for my help?" She raised one of her brows, trying to gain something out of her service.

"I will spare you your life," I offered, though it was more of a threat. She twitched her lips, annoyed by my answer. If not for me allowing her to live on my land, she would long be dead, hunted by the countless witch-hunters out there.

"Come in," she grumbled.

The house which belonged to the black witch stood alone in the middle of the forest, hidden from the people's scrutiny. It was old and murky, the walls were covered with vines that grew upon them and the paint had faded due to the change of seasons over the years. If one happened to see this house, they would've thought it was an abandoned house. A house where mischievous children would dare each other to go in an attempt to fulfill their quest to search for ghosts. No one would want to live in such a house, but it was the perfect place for the witch to hide.

The witch opened the door, allowing me to set my feet on the other side of the house. Stepping inside, I could see that it was as much of a mess as what was seen outside. All of her belongings were left unkempt and scattered all over the place, making it hard to walk without stepping on at least one or two things on the floor.

"You call this a house?" asked Andrew. His face was filled with horror as he kicked a few things on the floor aside to make way for his feet. "Was that a rat?!" He slapped a hand over his mouth when he noticed a few little creatures running among the mess, scurrying away to hide from people.

"Oh shut up you clean-freak," she hissed and Jack mumbled after her, "More like a literal freak..." but Andrew was too focused on scrutinizing the mess in front of him to listen to them.

"They are delicious when eaten half-cooked," she referred to the rats while licking her lips, then ran her eyes to Andrew, looking at him up and down before saying, "I wonder how a wolf will taste li—"

"Can we please focus on the ritual?" I interrupted, irritated by the idle talk.

"Of course," she walked to a round table and cleared the items atop of it, knocking them all to the ground. "Sit here," she said, pointing to a chair in front of her.

Both of us faced each other as I took a seat at the table where the witch proceeded to place an item on the table, pulling the cloth covering it, which then exposed a crystal ball beneath. She picked up an unlit candle from one of her shelves, ignited it, and let it stand just beside the sphere.

"Right, I forgot to tell you that I would need something of hers," she chimed, and I unknowingly put too much strength into my hand which rested on the table. "Careful wolf, you are going to break the table."

Why didn't she say so earlier? We could have brought them by now if she had said the things she needed after I asked her to locate Violet. She was wasting a lot of my time when I needed to know where Violet was as soon as possible.

"I will bring some from her room," Jack offered before I raged.

Maggie smiled, looking at my clenched jaw. She was obviously doing it on purpose. I tried to breathe in and out to calm my anger, but then ended up smelling an unpleasant smell that hovered throughout the house. Instead of regaining my composure, it made me feel even more exasperated.

Not long after Jack left for the items, he returned with something unexpected in his hand. "This..." he stretched out his hand, giving me what he was carrying, "I found this lying outside of the manor."

My hands trembled when I held the object. It was a bottle full of blood, and a piece of paper.

"Alpha! Calm down!" Andrew shouted, stopping me from going on a full-on rampage as my fur had started to crawl from under my skin. It was hard to keep my wolf in control when I was holding on to my mate's blood. Imagine what kind of terrible things they did to her that they had this much blood on them.

"CALM DOWN?! HOW CAN I—" I growled ferociously, almost breaking the bottle in my hand when Maggie snatched it away from me.

"Perfect! We can use this for the ritual," she enunciated, "Now, calm your pet and we can start right away."

I bit back my anger and sat back down, clenching my fist to diffuse the fire in me. I need to control my rage so that I will be able to find her location faster. She soon started the ritual by placing both of her hands on top of the crystal ball, muttering incoherent words under her breath. The calm smoke inside the sphere soon swirled, the color of it turning from grey to black. Everything was silent, no sound or movement was made if not by the witch. A cool breeze appeared despite the house having its windows tightly closed, flickering the lit candle every now and then.

The black witch who previously possessed brown eyes was now seen with the eyes of a serpent, her pupils turning from round to slits. She picked up the bottle, turning it slightly so the blood fell onto the crystal ball on its own and causing it to glow. She used a few drops of Violet's blood before placing it back on the table, then continued to mutter words that still sound gibberish to my ears.

"I can see her... weak... bloodied..." Her eyes wide opened as she breathed out the words, "It's dark and quiet... she is surrounded by the souls of the dead." I could feel my heart shuddering at the thought of how scared she was. It pained me so much that I had allowed this to happen to her.

"She is detained deep in a cave, inside of a prison where gruesome things often happen to either the evildoer or the innocent..." She was quiet for a few seconds before announcing her exact location, "A cave in the mountain right next to Gordom. You better go now or else she won't hold—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I burst out of the house, breaking the door and leaving it to fall off its hinges. Glancing at the piece of paper in my hand, it read,

"Kill yourself... and I will spare her life."