Chapter 18: Beginning Of A Love Triangle

Darian's POV

After leaving the cave, I asked Ciara's sons to return to their pack because I couldn't bring them along with me. Finding Elena was my cross to carry, and I can't get Ciara's sons involved in it, and if anything bad happens to her sons, she will surely rip my head apart; even if I'm not afraid of anyone, let alone her alone, I'm afraid of her.

When Ciara's sons left, I continued my search alongside my two men. At least through the scarf that she left in the cave, I was able to track her scent since her scent was still fresh on the scarf.

After walking for over an hour, I started perceiving the scent of rogues nearby, and not only that, I could also perceive the scent of blood. Without hesitating, I asked my men to stay on guard as we were approaching. As we were getting closer, the scent kept on getting stronger, and suddenly we saw a rogue pierced to a tree by an arrow, while on the other side, two were lying lifelessly on the ground, their heads crushed like a tomato. Once I saw the scene, the first thought that came to mind was Elena because her scent was in the area too, even though it was slowly fading away, possibly because it had been long since she left the place.

With many questions running through my head, I immediately ran to where the other rogue was pierced and removed the arrow from his chest, and immediately he fell to the ground like a dead leaf.

Closing my eyes, I brought the arrow near my nose and sniffed it in order to know if it's Elena that used the arrows on the rogue or whether it's someone else, and if it turns out to be someone else, at least I can follow his scent; possibly he kidnapped her or took her with him after killing the rogues.

While sniffing the arrow, I couldn't catch Elena's scent through it, meaning she wasn't the one who made use of the arrow, but the strange thing about the arrow is that I couldn't recognize the scent of the person who shot the arrows, even though it smelled familiar; possibly he wasn't of our kind. I hope he wasn't the one who took Elena, because I hate fighting things that I don't know.

As these thoughts were running through my mind, one of the rogues who was standing at the other end raised his hand. He too was shot, but he managed to pull the arrow out, and he was fighting to stay alive.

Once we approached him, I placed my hand on his chest and absorbed his pains, and immediately his wounded chest healed up.

With that, he jerked up immediately, but I pinned him to the ground firmly.

"What happened here? Where is my mate?" I asked him while pining him to the ground.

"I-I-I," he kept stammering while trembling in fear.

When I noticed that he was trying to lie to me, I signaled my men to pin him to the ground; once they pinned him to the ground, I brought out his claws, and immediately my eyes glowed red.

"Please don't kill me, Alpha; I didn't hurt your mate." He started pleading with me, thinking that I wanted to kill him.

"Hold him properly," I commanded my soldiers, and immediately they pinned him properly to the ground, not giving him the opportunity to move.

With that, I digged my claws, and in just a flash of light, I was inside his head, witnessing everything that had taken place some hours ago, just like a vision.

I could clearly see him and his four friends chasing after Elena, who was speeding off with a baby tied to her back. After some minutes, they caught up with her, and when she stopped, they tried deceiving her by telling her that I'm the one that sent them to bring her, but happily, she was smart enough to know that I couldn't send some rogues after her, and she was even prepared to fight against them, but as they were about to attack her, an arrow came out from nowhere and shot him. I couldn't see what happened next because he blanked out after being shot by the arrow; he woke up when someone was telling my mate that she couldn't feel the mate bond between the both of them because he is a Lycan. Once I heard those statements, I immediately jerked back to reality while panting heavily.

"Was he just trying to claim my mate or something else?" I questioned myself while fuming in anger; deep down, I could feel Shadow grunting angrily because he too witnessed everything. He was trying to take full control of me so that he would go and search for his mate since I wasn't speeding things up, but I had to control myself. I can't allow him to take full control of me when he's angry because he always does drastic things whenever I allow that to happen.

"Are you okay, my lord?" One of my soldiers asked me as I was panting heavily.

Without answering him, I pulled the rogue that was lying on the floor up while panting heavily.

"Who was that person that took my mate?" I asked him while glaring angrily at him.

"I swear I don't know him, Alpha; I have never seen him before," he said to me while trembling in fear.

"Why were you and your friends chasing after my mate? Who sent you? Answer me, who sent you?" I asked him while shaking violently.

"It's... It's Alpha Benson that sent us," he said to me while stammering.

"What!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, it's him; he promised to pay us handsomely if we succeed in catching your mate and bringing it to him," he said to me while fidgeting in fear. "Please don't kill me, Alpha," he pleaded with me while panting heavily.

"I shouldn't kill you; you tried hurting my mate if not for the intervention of the lunatic who is now claiming my mate," I said to him while fuming in anger.

"Alpha, please, it's a mistake, I..." I didn't allow him to finish talking before brushing his face with my claws, his blood splashing through the whole area, including my face. With that, my soldiers started moving backwards because they knew that I was no longer in control; instead, it was my wolf who was in control, and it won't take long before I shift, but knowing that this wasn't the best timing for that, I tried all my best to calm my wolf, and after some seconds, my claws went in back and the colors of my eyes changed back to their normal color.

"Get me water to wash my face; we need to find that lunatic that is trying to claim my mate before he does something stupid, and afterwards we will pay a surprise visit to Alpha Benson; I can't tolerate him anymore," I commanded my soldiers, who ran off to get me water.