She is missing. She is missing. Ismena is missing.
My woman is missing.
Over and over again, these words rang in Wolfaraine's head. It sounded unreal. It seems like a dream.
His head thrown back, he let out an ear-splitting roar. As he roared, his beasts roared too. Tension corded his whole body, and his eyes were a whirlwind of colors. Amber. Blue. Green. Green and amber. Green, blue, and amber.
"Alpha King, Alpha King, you have to calm down, Alpha King, please." It was Alphose's desperate voice, but Wolfaraine could barely hear him.
The Alpha King took off in a dead run into the tower. Alphose, Adanel, and Degar ran after him, worried about their Alpha King.
He practically flew up the stairs, throwing the doors open one after the other, shouting Ismena's name. Alphose has never seen him this angry, this desperate, this afraid. His mate never answered back, but the Alpha King did not stop shouting her name until he had thrown open all the doors at the east wing of the Tower.
Ismena is not here. Ismena is really missing!
"You have to get him to calm down, Alphose. She is no longer in this place, he needs to pull himself together so we can work together on finding her." Adanel said to him, looking just as worried as the rest of them. His cheeks were swollen, and the bruise had turned purple too.
Alphose knows he owes the Werewolf Alpha an apology, but this is not the time for it. He nodded to the male before he hastened his steps to reach the Alpha King.
When he did, Alphose took his arm to halt him, but Wolfaraine whirled around so fast he caught Alphose off-guard.
"Let go of me." His voice was filled with venom, his face blackened by rage, and his three-colored eyes reflected how close his beasts are to the surface.
Alphose tried again, desperately. "We can't find her this way, Alpha King. Please you have to calm down so that we can look for her level-headedly."
"That monster HAS MY WOMAN!" He roared, his claws unsheathed, "That cold-blooded murderer has my woman, and I don't know what he is doing to her!"
The Alphas took three steps back in the face of such rage from him, including Alphose.
"I do not know if she is still alive. I do not know the condition she is currently in. I cannot smell her." He was no longer roaring, but his voice was still raised, his tone acerbated.
In two steps, he was close to his Alphas, standing toe-to-toe with Alphose, "I will kill him. I will rip him apart limb by limb until there is nothing left of him. I will eat his bones, and I will drink his blood like wine for days to come. He did wrong this time around, touching my woman."
Alphose swallowed hard, looking into Wolfaraine's bloodshot eyes. At that moment, he almost pitied Onaries Vio. Almost.
Wolfaraine turned to walk away, stopped, and threw them a deadly glance, "If he has killed her, I will wipe out his generation until nothing remains...not even a child will remain in the Vio family."
Degar winced, "Alpha King-"
"Go to the Elephant Clan and gather his lineage for me. Every single person who is bloodly related to the Vio family, even a distant cousin. Capture all of them and bring them here. That is an order." He walked away, the sentinels following closely behind him.
When it was just the three Alphas remaining, Degar faced Alphose, "I've never seen such a look in his eyes before. I will go off now to do his command, but let's hope that we find the Rahinna soon. Let's hope we find her alive because he will really wipe out an entire lineage. Take care of him, Cougar Alpha."
Alphose nodded vigorously. "I will do that. Adanel and I will be with him. Once he's calm enough, we will begin the search for her."
"I hope we find her alive." Adanel cut in.
They both turned to him. The male, that barely talks and never projects emotion, has an expression dripping with worry as he looks at the empty space Wolfaraine vacated.
"You are a Werewolf, his clan, and also a strong alpha. What is he feeling at the moment?" Alphose asked.
"The feelings he is projecting..." Adanel's face contorted, "You can only get that combination from a feral changeling. Let's hope we find her alive, Cougar. If not we will lose him completely."
LABORATORY: UNKNOWN LOCATION.
"Just how much of the damn drug did you inject in the woman? She has been unconscious for hours." Cronus grumbled begrudgingly at Onaries.
They stood atop the stairs, staring down at the human female lying down behind the large confiding space which has a floor to ceiling heavy metal bars separating her from the rest of them. The bars were made of heavy irons coated in rhodium, specifically installed to hold a male like the Alpha King captive.
"I could not risk her waking up during the journey. Besides, she was not supposed to be asleep this long." Onaries stated.
Cronus glared at him, "I hope you did not give her a dosage meant for a changeling?"
"Do not be ridiculous. She would already be dead."
"Where are the damn humans anyway?" Cronus asked, looking around for them.
"The doctor is aboveground in one of his lab-rooms getting the things he needs for his experiments ready. The wolf-hunter general left already, but he will be back. They are both excited that the plan is working."
"I still cannot believe that you are the Wild Psychopath, neither can I believe that you are Anaconda." Cronus huffed.
Onaries turned, piercing him with his cold, lifeless gray eyes. "I do not care what you believe, Werewolf. I went by the name Anaconda when I worked in the military. That's the name humans know me for. You all decided to call me the Wild Psychopath. I did not choose that name. I am just Onaries, the Alpha Leader of the Elephant Clan. And when all this is over, I will go back to my people."
"Your people? You slaughtered a whole family from your own clan. A family of six." Cronus reminded him through gritted teeth. It was all he could do to suppress his anger.
Onaries shrugged nonchalantly, "Wolfaraine was on my tail. I had to throw him off my scent. If I killed from my own clan, he would never suspect the killer to be me. That was what I thought." He shrugged again, "It worked too. They were just sacrifices. I actually enjoyed killing them."
The man talked about killing as if he was discussing the weather, Cronus thought with disgust. Cronus knows he is messed up, but compared to the man beside him, he was a saint.
Okay, not a saint but still.
"Let's go to the surveillance room and keep a close watch on her. When she wakes up, we inform the doctor." Onaries said, changing the subject.
Cronus's attention came back to the woman. The Alpha King's mate.
"She is very beautiful." He uttered, still in awe at the beauty of the human. "I've heard about her, but I've never seen her before. After hearing stories of her legendary braveness, her stature wasn't what I expected. How can someone as small as that tame someone as strong-headed as Alpha King?"
Onaries nodded, "It's shocking, I know. But it happened. Do not be deceived. He is still so powerful, so frighteningly fearless and strong, but he has a very soft spot for her. I never believed it before when Rodarh, my Head Sentinel, raves and rants about it until the day we were in court, and I saw it with my own eyes. He was raving mad at the council, but immediately she walked through the doors, his claws retracted, and the angry lines on his face smoothened out faster than a shift. It was almost comical. He loves her, I think." Onaries frowned, "Whatever that word means."
"I want to fuck her." Cronus blurted out, licking his lips in excitement.
Onaries paused. Turned to look at him fully, "Are you out of your mind, werewolf?"
"Think about it. It's the best way to get back to the Alpha King. It will drive him mad knowing we took turns with his mate. I mean, look at the woman... So damn beautiful. I want her badly."
"I know you do, I can scent your disgusting arousal, but I think you should keep it in your pants, werewolf. She is a mate-his mate. Even without a mating ritual yet, she is his in every sense of the word. Hell, she practically stinks of him. The slightest touch from you with the intention of taking carnal pleasures from her body will bring her excruciating pain."
"Since when did you develop a conscience, Elephant? What do you care, you psychopath?" Cronus spat angrily.
"I don't," Onaries responded simply, "I am just saying that it's more of a hassle than it's worth. You aren't the slightest compatible with her, so you can't get her pregnant. That's why touching her is also a waste of our time."
"No, it means we'll put our time to good use instead of wasting it. What about you? Don't you want to have her too? Ain't you curious what the woman of the Alpha King will taste like? Don't you want to feel the rush of power that comes from eating from the same plate he dines with?"
"I am not interested in his woman in a sexual way, but I am curious to know what she will look like when she's lifeless..." A bright glint crossed Onaries's eyes, "Bet she'll look more beautiful than she does now."
Cronus pursed his lips, displeased. "You're a twisted son-of-a-bitch, Elephant."
"Keep it in your pants, Werewolf."
"Isn't it time to start working on the next plan?" Cronus changed the subject by asking.
The next plan was simple; make a call and threaten Wolfaraine that his mate will be killed if he does not come alone to a certain location they will give him and surrender himself without a fight. An easy way for the humans to capture him, really since they will be the ones running the show. That way, he will never know that he and Onaries were involved.
Onaries shook his head, "The doctor said he needs a few days to run some kind of experiments on the girl first. According to him, he'll pump her full of the drugs he developed over the years to make conception possible. I told him that they are mates, he doesn't need to pump her full of drugs for him to get her pregnant, but he is skeptical about that."
He gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "He can have his few days. It works in our favor anyway. You can be happy knowing that the Alpha King will be tormented for at least four days, not knowing what happened to his woman, if she's being tortured if she's still alive. They will be searching all of Naturiah looking for her, not knowing she is already in the human world, in the dreaded lab, being pumped full of torturous drugs that will cause her excruciating pain and drive her to the blink of insanity. It will destroy her mind and her body. Even if she survives-and I know she won't-she will never be the same again."
NATURIAH
They searched for her till nightfall, but they couldn't find her. They were still searching.
After they found out she was missing, an emergency council meeting was called. The council was told what was going on, including the news about Onaries. Head Sentinel Rodarh was devastated at the news. The older male broke down and cried at the council meeting when he found out that their own Alpha leader was Naturiah's serial killer.
Then he'd sworn to help found the Rahinna Queen and to bring Onaries to justice. All the Alphas sent out their sentinels, their warriors. Everyone was searching for her, including the alphas. They searched every nook and cranny of the Heart of Naturiah, the Werewolf clan, and the Elephant Clan but she was nowhere to be seen.
Naturiah is a big world. It will take at least three months to search every single part of it, from clan to clan. That was their fear the information they don't have, the time they don't have. The Rahinna Queen does not have three months.
By midnight Alphose, Degar, and Adanel reassembled with Wolfaraine in one of the caves at the Elephant Clan. They searched with him for over an hour, and in that duration of time, they were worried for their Alpha King.
After his outburst when he found out his mate was missing, Wolfaraine barely said a word since then. Just relentless searching with banked-up rage in his eyes.
For more than a week, he did not sleep well because they were investigating the identity of the Wild Psychopath, and now, his mate is missing. The Alpha King needed rest, but none of them could bring themselves to suggest it to him.
"You need to rest, Alpha King." Adanel finally said it two hours after midnight, "We will take it from here-"
Wolfaraine shook his head firmly, "Do not ever say a word like 'rest' to me again. I will not rest until she is found."
"You are no use to her almost dead, Your Highness," Degar took the courage to add in a soft voice, "You need your full strength. You need to be on full alert if we are to find her. You need to rest to recuperate. Depriving yourself a much-needed rest will not help her."
Wolfaraine bit his lips hard until the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. When he spoke again, his voice was low, dangerously calm. "I am too restless to rest, Degar. I...I am exhausted, but I do not think I can rest. My brain is too active to shut down."
"What is that monster doing to her? Is he torturing her...? Has he killed her...?" The rage in his eyes receded, and the bone-deep pain he was feeling filled his eyes, "It's been hours. Hours. Excruciating hours. I..." he shook his head, at a loss for words.
"We will find her," Alphose vowed. "We will do everything we can to find her."
Flaora, the Alpha King's former mistress, paced restlessly in her bedroom. She was raked with fear and indecision. She has been since she saw what she saw.
She'd seen a male carrying an unconscious female into the Wild Forest, which is a pathway to the human world. She'd been far away to make out who the male was or who the female is, but when she heard the news about the Alpha King's mate, she finally understood what she saw.
The figure she saw was that of Onaries, the Elephant Alpha leader, kidnapping the King's mate, taking her out of Naturiah. Everyone is searching Naturiah, but they don't know that the Rahinna Queen is no longer in Naturiah. The only person that has that information is her.
She is filled with indecision because she does not know if she should tell Wolfaraine what she knows. It will get her in trouble because she was breaking the law when she witnessed it. There is a law that prohibits changelings from going to the Caves of Hemar. That was where she was coming back from when she saw it.
Should she risk herself and tell what she saw? It will help the males focus their searches where they should, and it will save time for the Rahinna Queen. But it will get her in trouble.
Flaora bit her finger nervously as she paced. If she kept quiet, no one would ever know, right? She will not be in trouble, either.
Filled with indecision, the question she had been asking herself for hours surfaced again.
To tell or not to tell...?
Ismena was terrified. She had been since she woke up five minutes ago and realized what had happened to her.
She has been kidnapped. Worse, she is no longer in Naturiah. Instead she is in a cold cage in the lab.
She squeezed her eyes shut, still pretending to be asleep so no one would know she was awake. Although she saw no one around when she opened her eyes before, there is every possibility that they are watching her in a surveillance camera. She cannot risk it.
Her head was still fuzzy from the drugs that Alpha pumped into her veins when he kidnapped her. She was still weak from it. She could barely move her body. Everywhere hurts. Whatever that drug is, it's dangerous for her.
How long has passed? Does Wolfe know she is missing? Is he searching for her? What will happen to her? Will she die here?
Oh God, I'm scared. She cried inwardly, her weak body shaking with terror.
"I know you are awake, small female. You can stop pretending."
The sharp voice startled her eyes open. A man has entered her cell. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she made him out to be in his late forties or early fifties. It wasn't the Alpha that kidnapped her, but the man was terrifying.
Too terrifying to be human.
And his eyes, He was looking at her with stark lust in his eyes.
A whimper filled with terror escaped her lips as she lay there, watching him.
The man turned, reached toward the ceiling, and removed something from the wall. He crushed it in his hand before letting it fall to the ground.
Then he began walking closer to her in a stalking manner, "No cameras now. Don't worry, beautiful woman. It's just you and I here in this lab now. That psycho Onaries and the damn humans are out. They left you in my care. And I plan to take good care of you. We will make good use of the time we have alone together."
He stopped in front of her and crouched down. Claws were unsheathed from his fingers, and he ripped her clothes open in one swift move.