ARES'S POV
"You need to stop turning the whole house upside down, Ares," Czar warned immediately after he stepped into my office.
The wooden desk was divided into two and part of the glass windows was broken.
Even after destroying my study area, the rage I was feeling still wasn't quenched.
My Lycan was thirsty for blood and it was taking everything in me not to give in to his demands.
Akira fucking ran away. She left ME. How dare she? She promised to stay by my side, so what changed her mind?
We both couldn't believe she left us. It was almost laughable. A human escaped the clutches of a Lycan. It was impossible.
But knowing Akira, everything was possible when it came to her. She fled in the middle of the night with no trace, not even her scent. Even the most trained wolves have been sent to search for where but it was as if she vanished into thin fucking air.
I had tried to reach out to her through our mind link but she seemed to cut every part of her life from me. How that was possible was a fucking mystery to me.
Was this a punishment from the Moon goddess? Was it her plan to give me a mate and then take her away from me?
The rumours were already speculating. I was running mad trying to find my human slave. Of course, I had been advised to lay low by Czar to prevent the Elders from finding out but I didn't give a fuck anymore.
Ever since the Elders paid me a visit she had begun acting strange, distant. It had me wondering if she had heard our conversation but Akira was never one to come down to my office, especially when she knew the Elders were present. She wanted their attention off her at any cost.
It's been three days since she disappeared. Three whole fucking days and I was more than restless. My Lycan was restless for its mate.
"Now is not the time, Czar." I murdered dryly.
"She's smart, remarkably so. It almost feels like she was never here at all." Czar stated and I couldn't help but agree with him in the first sentence.
A knock resounded on the door and Cyrus slowly entered my office. There was still a purple bruise on his face from where I punched him after finding out that Akira was nowhere to be found.
Werewolves tended to heal faster but it was no small punch so it still wasn't healed.
"Speak, Cyrus," Czar demanded.
I was grateful for him, ever since her disappearance, he has been the one running the pack and taking care of its affairs. I wasn't in the right state of mind to run a damn pack when my mate was out there in the wild, unprotected.
Cyrus hesitantly looked at me, almost as if he wanted to talk to me but he changed his mind after seeing the murderous look on my face and quickly walked to Czar.
I couldn't blame him. Everyone in the mansion knew better than to speak to me, I was a few seconds away from snapping bones into two with my bare hands.
I watched as he murmured harshly to Czar and how Czar's facial expressions changed from surprise to horror.
"What is it?" I barked out immediately after Cyrus left us.
Czar stared hard at me. "Alpha Pierson needs your attention."
I frowned. "Alpha Pierson, why?"
He cleared his throat. "Akira was found in his pack, she lied that she was kidnapped and taken to the bastard Stephan's pack as a slave and she just escaped. She told him that she wants to go back to her town."
My heart froze and all the blood rushed to my head. She wants to leave me. The tumbler in my hand shattered into tiny pieces.
"That's not the worst part, Ares," Czar continued. "She escaped again, right after they all went to sleep."
"Fuck!" I roared and threw my fist into the wall beside me, making a huge dent. She fucking escaped again. What went wrong? What did I ever do to deserve this punishment from her?
"How did he let her out of his pack?!" I demanded, my breaths were coming out in harsh pants.
Czar gave me a look.
I had no right to blame Alpha Pierson. Even I, her mate, couldn't even keep her in my clutches.
Akira was a fucking force not to be reckoned with.
"He needs you there, his guards found some rogues lying unconscious right outside the borders of his pack. He thinks they have something to do with her disappearance." Czar said.
"But if they had something to do with her disappearance then why were they found unconscious?" I asked.
There was no way they wouldn't have found out she was my mate, the need to hurt her would heighten, so why were they found unconscious but she wasn't there with them?
Czar shrugged, his face was also scrunched up in thought. "It's either she fought them back and ran away, which is impossible, or she must've been helped by someone else who attacked the rogues and took Akira with them."
I blew out a shaky breath. It has been almost a decade since I've felt this way, ever since her death.
Lenora's death.
I was indeed panicking but it was different this time, Akira was my mate and I had to fight with everything in me to find her.
She was mine and mine alone. And when I finally got her back, I was going to make sure her ass turned to a deeper shade of red.
I looked at Czar. I was determined this time around.
"Let's go."
~
The drive to Pierson's pack was fast. I opted for a drive because the moment I might decide to change into my Lycan, all hell will let loose.
I quickly jumped out of the Jeep immediately Czar cut the engine and we walked inside the mansion.
Pierson and his mate were already standing in the middle of their spacious living room.
While Pierson looked calm and collected, his mate turned ashen immediately she sighted my face.
"Where are they?" I quietly asked.
There was no time for any pleasantries and Pierson got the message loud and clear because he immediately began to lead my men and I to an underground dungeon.
When we stepped into the room that was stenched with blood and piss, I found three nearly unconscious men, each chained to a bar hooked into the wall.
The whole room equally stenched foul. Just the way rogues smelled like.
They slowly lifted their heads when they realised they were not alone and the look of terror that shone in their eyes when they knew it was me, did nothing but fuel my already heightened need for blood.
"Stats?" I asked out loud, taking in their pathetic and dishevelled forms.
"The one in the middle is the leader of the group, he confessed to almost raping your mate and the other two are just accomplices. Apparently, they are four but she let the other one go. They were messed up pretty bad."
The leader immediately sensing that his miserable life was about to be ended began to cry. His expression was completely gray and he was already looking battered.
I didn't think.
All I saw was Akira.
All I could hear were her screams as she tried to fight them off.
All I could imagine was how scared and alone she felt and that moment and how she was protected by anyone that wasn't me.
All I saw were all the things I shouldn't be seeing in my state.
The red mist of fury couldn't be held back.
I lost my train of thoughts and flew across the room, charging at him, swiping him off the ground and smashing him into the rough wall. I was all out of control and I knew his death wouldn't be quick and clean. "You tried to assault my mate, you fucking son of a bitch."
He could only hope the goddess would accept his soul when I was done with him.
His mouth dribbled with blood and spit and he moaned out in pain as I dropped my hold on his thin neck and back away.
"Alpha, please, you have to listen to me." He panted, eyes darting around the room in search of help when he began to hear the sounds of my claws extending.
"Shut the fuck up."
"Your little mate is a witch."
That enraged me the more and I pulled out a switchblade and lunged forward, plunging the knife into his eyes socket. He dropped to the floor, his squeals of pain were blood-curling. I got behind, roughly tilting his head back. I wrestled his tongue out of his mouth until I finally pulled the muscle out, I shoved it into his before using one of my claws to slice his throat off.
The next few minutes were filled with cries of horror mixed with pleas and it was irritating as fuck as I killed every single one of them in the most gruesome ways.
Then there was silence.
And blood everywhere.
I hoped every man watching took this as a clear warning. Akira was never to be messed with.
I stepped back, shaking. I had never seen red so vividly. Never shook so much when I killed someone. I cast my eyes across the blood-soaked grounds as Pierson came to stand beside me.
He took in my blood-stained shirt while he casually pointed at the bodies for his guards to clean up the mess.
"You mentioned earlier that she let the other one go," I spoke first.
I needed to know what he meant by that.
"He said your mate is a witch," Pierson said, an unspoken answer to my unspoken question.
Realisation dawned on me. Akira was a witch.
The amount of pride coursing through me was immense.
"How do you find here then?"
"If she wasn't there when you found them and if it was her first time dealing with her powers then she must've been really weak."
Pierson nodded, finally realising what I was saying. "She must've been taken by another witch." He shook his head. "So you're going to find her."
I nodded. "If it's going to take me the whole damn year to find every witch on this earth to get Akira, then so fucking be it."
I smiled. With my shirt stained with blood and my claws dripping with blood, I was certain I looked maniac but not to Akira.
Never to Akira.
I was going to find her and kill every person who tried to stand in my way.
~
SERENA'S POV
"You didn't fucking tell us she has powers!" The little rogue tramp shouted at me, panting like he just saw a ghost.
I frowned. "Who are you talking about? Akira?"
The rogue nodded erratically. "Yes! She fucking murdered Lion and the others," He shook his head as if the memory still haunted him. "It all happened so fast, next thing the vines and shit were squeezing the life out of Sam and she was casting out spells like I was in a damn Harry Potter story."
Huh? Spells?
The little human was getting a lot more tougher to handle.
Before I could voice my response, the rogue ran off, looking back as if he was scared we were going to call him back.
I looked at the man beside me. "Spells?" I mumbled, confused as hell.
He shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me. "I thought you said she was human."
"She is!" I snapped furiously. "She's fucking human. I don't know what he's talking about."
"Don't be fucking stupid, Serena, the only people who can control plants and cast spells are obviously witches." He drly stated.
"A witch?" I whispered to myself. "She can't be. How?"
There was no way Akira had turned into a witch.
He shrugged, it was supposed to appear as nonchalant but knowing him, his stiff shoulders meant he was fucking enraged.
"I don't fucking care. I want her dead and you said you were going to bring her to me, don't make me lose my damn patience, Serena."
"I'm fucking trying. You're not the only one who wants her gone, so give me a break."
"You have no idea how much I want Ares to suffer. This is the only way I can hurt him as much as he did to me thousands of years ago."
His smile was wicked, showcasing his sharp fangs and I smiled right back at him. "You will be doing me a favour by getting her out of the picture," I sighed happily. "Soon, it'll just be Ares and I, just like Lenora wanted."
The mention of her name wiped the smile off his face. "I'm doing this only because of her. His dear mate deserves to die just like she did."
I not only wanted Akira to die, but I was also suddenly hungry for her powers.
I signed dreamily, looking up at the sky. "I wonder what it'll feel like to be a witch and a werewolf."
Akira has always been a
He smirked. "I can help you with that once you bring her to me."
"And how do I bring her to you if she's a witch? We all know firsthand how dangerous witches can get."
"Finding out where she is should be your priority at the moment. If we can't get her to come to us then we have to step our game up and get to her."
It was settled then. I couldn't wait, once we find Akira, I was going to take away both her mate and her powers while he was going to finish her off.
A deal was always a deal.