Chapter 47

Asher's Point Of View

It was almost dusk. My warriors and I had just returned from scouring through every nook and cranny in Beaverton trying to find Cirilla. But we had no luck, I just hope Theo and the others were having better luck than us. At midnight, we moved into other towns in Oregon, just in case she was still in the city, but I highly doubted it.

I sauntered into the small living room of Jasmine's apartment, watching the warriors from the Council ransack the entire place, trying to find even the slightest clue where Cirilla could be, or where the witch, Emily, could be hiding or anything that could give us a lead to where Mason took her.

I shut my eyes, taking in deep breaths, but unfortunately, I can't seem to get enough air into my lungs. The image of Cirilla filled up my entire thoughts, and I couldn't stop the anger, guilt, and pain that killed me for losing her, and for not recognizing who she was.

Everyone kept saying that wasn't on me and I couldn't have possibly known she was Cameron's daughter. But that was a lie. I should have known. It was fucking obvious. Just staring at her one could see the unmistakable resemblance to Davina.

But still, I fucking couldn't put the pieces together, and we lost her once again. It hurt so bad to know that we had her right here amongst us, but we lost her. I lost her. I couldn't even protect my mate.

I stopped at the door of Cirilla's room. The door was ajar and inside, stood Alpha Cameron. He was with the head witch of the French Quarter witches, Rhona, with one of the elder witches from the Council, Zeriyah. The witches from the Council and the Crescent Moon Pack had also raided the cabin but couldn't find any lead.

They had performed a spell in an attempt to look through Hilda's memories, the French quarter witch who had found Jasmine at the cabin. She and the dead witches belonged to the French Quarter coven of witches and they were following a lead to find Jasmine. It led them to the cabin at the Greengrove but unfortunately, they were attacked and outnumbered by rogues, and witches bearing the pyramid symbol.

The same symbol that was imprinted on the ranking officials of the Council right before they died. I just found out all of these were connected, especially to the prophecy and Cirilla was the center of it all.

Whatever or whosoever this darkness in the prophecy was, they were after Cirilla, and I knew this Mason bastard was a part of it, I was fucking sure. But it didn't make sense, if they were after Cirilla, why go to lengths to kill Jasmine? There has to be a damned reason why.

Frustration was not strong enough to describe how I felt, even more, that the witches' spell on Hilda led to nothing. The only new information they managed to retrieve was where Cirilla was likely going to go if she somehow escaped Mason and didn't come back. New Orleans. Hilda had told her to go there, to find the Crescent Moon Pack. To find the Alpha King.

Theo and his warriors had headed back to New Orleans to sweep the city clean, searching for her since she hadn't shown up yet. Now that we all know who we are looking for, I hope we find her soon.

I nodded briefly at Rhona as she and Zeriyah left the room, leaving behind Alpha Cameron.

I breathed out, calming my thoughts and masking my emotions. I haven't told anyone yet that Cirilla was my mate. Not even Theo. I want to, but frankly, I don't know how they'll take it, especially when she was still missing.

Uncle Cam had spent the last eighteen years searching the earth for his daughter, they all had, this was a sensitive topic, and I wanted to help find her first. That was the least I could do, considering everything he was going through.

Theo had told me something had happened to Davina during the Council's meeting, and she was still unconscious at the Wiscon palace. The witches were with her, doing everything for her. Everyone was going through something tough, and somehow, finding Cirilla was the only thing that could make it better.

I stood next to him, but his gaze remained fixed on the photo that filled his phone screen. It was a photo of Cirilla, Lyra forwarded it to everyone searching for her.

"She looks just like her mother," He voiced calmly without even a string of emotion in his voice. "And happy," He added, pulling those stone-cold amber eyes to me. But they weren't the usual cold, they were warm and filled with much sadness and pain that pierced right through my heart, causing a bitter sting to my eyes. "How is she, Asher?"

I was the wrong person to ask that. I couldn't go one sentence without breaking down the walls imprisoning every emotion of mine. I couldn't let him see through me, I couldn't let him read through my thoughts.

His gaze probed mine, and I had to look away to hide my sadness. "She's sweet…" I chuckled, as a tear rolled from the corner of my eye. "...in her way. She's strong, and so much like Aunt Davi," I added, my voice calm and almost void of emotion. Almost.

Cameron's gaze studied me for a second, before returning his gaze on the paper in his other hand. It was from one of Cirilla's sketches. A picture of Davina she had drawn. I had never seen it. I still couldn't believe she drew this. She knew her, and even though she might not know who she was, she still knew her.

"We will find her. We have a better chance now, we will find her, I swear to you. I won't stop until I do," I told him, and he let out a bitter smile, nodding.

"She will be so happy to see a picture of her daughter," He turned to me, patting my shoulder. "Keep me informed of everything,"

I nodded. "I will," And in a blink of an eye, he teleported from the room.

I sighed, looking around Ciri's room. I picked up one of her clothes on the bed, breathing in her scent. I clasped my hand firmer around it. "I swear to all things sacred, I will find you Cirilla. Just please, be safe,"

*****

Cameron's Point Of View

"I am truly sorry, King Cameron, I swear I am, but that was all we heard about Emily. I promised you the last time that if I heard anything about Emily, I would send word to you at once, and I did. We tried to lure her out and capture her, but somehow she got wind of it and she vanished once more. We are doing everything we can to locate her, and we will. Please give us more time," The dark witch, Yasira, stammered in the doorway. She was a trembling mess, but nothing compared to the others. Their fear could be smelled from a milestone away.

I used my powers to read her mind, and fortunately for her and her clan, every word she uttered was nothing but the truth. She was once a close acquaintance of Emily. I met her and her clan many years ago when I began my hunt for Emily, and they were smart enough to offer their loyalty and assistance in searching for Emily, that was exactly what saved them from ending up dead like the other dark witches I had visited.

I grunted at her, not even able to form a coherent sentence through the rage and frustration eating me away. I kicked the muddy ground outside the witch's compound.

"Spread the word, Yesira, find out who has been in contact with Emily if, after all these years of hiding, she reached out to her kind now, it means she's desperate and in need of help," I told her and she nodded before I walked away.

Last night, Emily had reached out to a few witches who unfortunately are dead. She killed them. She needed some rare witch supplies to find someone, my guess is my daughter, seeing how desperate she was. I should be relieved Emily still hasn't found her, but somehow I'm not. It only meant she was still in the hands of that guy. And that was dangerous. Asher and Theo found absolutely nothing on him.

Benjamin had taken Jasmine's corpse back to the pack and after a few spells he and the witches conducted, we learned that Jasmine had been spelled with powerful magic. Even Emily didn't possess such magic. Benjamin believes it was Cirilla's. That was why we were unable to track her all these years. They were channeling my daughter's magic to cloak her.

The spell that has been cloaking her and binding her powers has been broken. And that was the frightening part of all this because we still couldn't locate her magically, so it's either she was still cloaking herself or someone else was doing it.

I met with Blake and Xavier in the car. "A bloody waste of my time," I growled. "Head back to New Orleans. I need more of our army spread across countries, joining Theo and the warriors in the search for my daughter and that god-damned witch,"

We needed more forces searching for them both. The Council was also searching for Cirilla. They were smart to realize it was better we find her soon, especially now many more people were after her.

"Alright Alpha," They said in unison, returning to the SUV.

Xavier swerved to me. "What about you?"

"I'll be at the palace," I bellowed to them, sauntering into the woods. I needed to cool off before I went back to the palace to see my Davina.

I growled, shifting into my large wolf, Vittorio. I went for a run through the woods, hoping it would do justice to my emotions. They were more heightened than ever since the second I got a glimpse at the stunning image of my daughter.

I knew instantly that it was her. She was my little girl. Her long blonde hair, her beauty beyond anything that could compare, and her brilliant blue eyes. She was in every way like her mother.

I shifted abruptly to my human form, fully clothed as usual. My quivering hand went into my brown leather jacket, pulling out my phone.

Shaky breaths broke out from my lungs as my fingers worked their way to the photos of my daughter Lyra had sent me. Tears pricked at my eyes.

My legs momentarily gave away and I crumbled against the trunk of a tree, clutching the phone close to my chest as harrowing sobs escaped my lips and tears started streaming down my face.

I had been so fixated on finding her all these years that I hadn't considered how it would feel when I finally saw her. And I was thankful to the goddess I never gave up all hope of finding her.

I looked back at the picture with my eyes blurry from unshed tears. I couldn't stop my smile. She was perfect. My little miracle.

So many emotions overwhelmed me all at once. I was happy that she was alive and we had a chance to find her. I was worried that she was out there alone, unaware of who she was and just what she was capable of. I felt guilty and sad that we had lost so much precious time with her.

She was no more a child. She was a young woman.

Asher was right, those blue eyes of hers showed how fierce and brave she was, but she also looked lost. It made my heart ache and Vittorio growled out in pain.

I scrambled to my feet and teleported to Davina's room in the palace. The witches there lowered their heads immediately, giving me the room with my mate.

I sat beside her on the bed, brushing my large thumb on her cheek. She was still burning hot and Cyrene's crystal stone was still next to her like a bloody magnet.

Rhona had said that her mind was now somehow connected to that thing and they couldn't do anything, except wait for her to wake up on her own.

This was damn torture.

I had no idea why Cyrene would do something like this to Davina of all people. What on earth was it she wanted to show her in that crystal stone that was worth risking my mate's life for?

I growled, resting my head on her forehead. I wanted to tell her so many things. To show her the picture of our little miracle. To tell her our daughter had always known her.

To tell her, our daughter had been right under our noses all this time. To promise her, we would find her, and this time I could feel it, it would be much sooner than we'd imagined.