Sam's POV

"She's not answering again," Ezra said through clenched teeth, pacing back and forth in front of the squat building that housed the cells.

Ezra, Zane, Zyron and I gathered here after paying a friendly visit to the rogues we'd caught yesterday. But they were useless.

It all made sense. Whoever took Orla had plotted this so our focus would be elsewhere. As expected, the club was a trap. But not a trap to harm us. It was a ploy to get Ezra and our attention away from Orla.

And we fell for it like thumb-sucking idiots.

The club was empty when we reached it. We found the underground facility as well. It matched what I had seen in the rogues' memories. It was the right place. But it was deserted, not even the faintest hint of a scent.

And then Ezra had felt that something was off with Orla. It still amazed me how they had a bond without a mark.

After the guards posted outside her cabin reported to us, we were back there slower than Ezra would have liked.

He was fuming. After he walked in and didn't find her anywhere, his power exploded and the cabin almost burst from the inside out.

"Calm down, Ezra," Zane said. "Maybe she's blocking you again? She still isn't used to linking like we are."

"No," he growled out, his eyes glowing under the gray sky. "There's something wrong. She's-"

His words died down in his throat. A pained growl replaced them, ripping through his chest and echoing in the woods surrounding us. He bent forward clutching his neck. We surrounded him in a blink.

"Ezra!" Zyron called. "What's wrong? What is it, son?"

Zyron put his hand on Ezra's shoulder but Ezra growled and snapped at it, almost biting it off. He was all wolf. The wide-eyed look held a crazed glint I had only seen a few times before. When supernaturals lost their-

No.

Dread knotted my guts.

"No!" Ezra growled out, shoving his father away. His voice barely his own anymore. "No! It's gone! She's gone!"

Fur pricked out of his arms and neck, his canines and claws lengthening. His skin rippled. The power that ran in every Alpha King's veins exploded outward from Ezra, almost bending our reality. The building shook, animals scurried and birds fluttered away. It pushed against my senses, a pressure that made my ears ring and physically drove me back.

He was losing control.

Zyron was the only one who dared step closer to him. "Ezra!"

"She's gone," Ezra gurgled, his head bent down. He clutched his chest with sharp claws, drawing blood. "It's gone..."

"My God," Zane mumbled, the impact of Ezra's words finally registering. The bond. He was talking about the bond.

"Listen to me!" Zyron said, taking another step towards his son, who was trying to fight against the craze of losing his mate.

"There must be something else," Zyron said. Another step. "You know he didn't kidnap her just to kill her-"

Ezra snarled, a vicious expression on his face. More of his power leaked. Even his father had to steel himself so he didn't step back like the rest of us.

"Listen to me, damn it!" Zyron said, his voice laced with power. "She's not gone. Calm down."

It took a couple of seconds for the Alpha King's command to work on Ezra. Zyron didn't like using it, and he'd had to do it twice in a span of twenty four hours. Once against his own son. When we caught whoever was behind this, Zyron would break every bone in their body.

Ezra's growls dampened. He fell on his hands and knees. His back curved, and the power in his veins crackled so loudly I thought the command didn't work after all and he was going to shift.

But he raised his head, and the insanity in his eyes receded under a surge of hope.

Zyron crouched in front of him. "Listen to me. She's still alive. If they wanted her dead, they wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to kidnap her in the first place."

Zyron's words seemed to reach Ezra. He blinked hard. "The bond... it's broken."

"There's another possibility," Zane said, stepping closer. "But we can't tell you if you're going to lose it again. Orla needs you. She needs a mate with a clear head right now, so get your shit together."

Zane always knew what to say. Ezra looked at the ground for several long moments. We held our breath.

When he finally raised his head, his eyes were more like him, and the power retreated, slowly but surely.

But he was hanging by a thread. A thin thread that could snap at any moment.

A few minutes later, Ezra sat down against a tree, his knees raised. One of his hands gripped his wrist so hard his veins popped out.

There were no guards around the building. Only a few down in the cells. The majority of the warriors were out searching, and the rest were manning the borders.

"What's the explanation?" Ezra asked.

"There are two sides of the mating bond," Zyron said, his eyes intent on Ezra's face. "A physical one and an emotional one."

"To understand, you need to hear this story," Zane said.

Ezra gave him a look that said he wasn't in the mood for stories.

"Listen, you stubborn boy," Zyron growled.

Ezra's lips twitched in a snarl. But he nodded.

"Anyway," Zane said. "Our grandfather once told us about a couple of wolves. They met each other, fell in love and marked each other. They weren't mates. But they lived happily for a couple of years until the man met his true mate.

"Of course, he started developing feelings for her, and his emotional bond with the woman he had marked started fading.

"After spending time with his true mate, they formed an emotional bond. It wasn't as strong as yours and Orla. They couldn't link or feel each other's feelings, but there was still an emotional bond between them.

"His emotional bond with his true mate affected the physical bond he still shared with the woman he'd marked. It broke it, and the mark simply disappeared."

Ezra's expression slowly cleared up. His focus was no longer on his non-existent bond, but on the ramifications of his uncle's words.

"It's similar to your situation, in a way," I said. "You had an emotional bond with Orla. The only reason it would snap, other than the option of her being gone, is if she formed another bond with someone else.

"And since I doubt it's an emotional bond, it means it's a physical one. Someone had forced a physical bond on her. Someone had marked her."

Ezra growled, lowering his head between his knees. He was almost shaking with the effort to keep it all under control.

He was so strong. When he was first born, his great grandfather had predicted that Ezra would be an exceptional wolf. And he was. He had matured much faster than any wolf I had ever seen. And ever since Orla had come, it was like a buried part of his power was unleashed. Even his father noticed it. He'd admitted to me that Ezra would soon surpass him.

"So that asshole marked my mate," Ezra said, his eyes glowing under the shade of the tree.

"Most likely. He wouldn't kill her. He knows she's a fairy. She said so herself, didn't she?"

Ezra gave a tight nod.

"Any news yet?" I asked Zane.

"The trackers haven't got any trails in any of the places you saw in the rogues' memories. They'll join the teams combing the woods," Zane replied.

Hale and several other witches had worked to give us a radius in which the teleportation could've happened. The area was vast and it was mostly wooded, with a few towns sprinkled in between. But we would need days, if not weeks, to comb through the entire area.

"Hale is on his way," Zyron said, rubbing his face tiredly. "Vlad, too."

"Alright," Ezra said, standing up. We all stiffened.

"I'm just taking a walk," Ezra said, walking past us. "You're welcome to tag along."

"I'll go with him," I linked Zyron. "Just in case."

He gave me a grateful nod.

Ezra headed straight to his and Orla's house. It looked almost haunted in the gloomy weather with its unfinished windows and slabs of woods laying around it.

Orla had been so damn happy when they were buying furniture. It was just yesterday, but it felt like a long time ago.

Ezra went to the back porch, taking a seat on its steps. I joined him. The stream was as gray as the sky. Even the greenery around us seemed dull. As if the woods were depressed by the loss of Orla.

"We'll find her." I didn't know whether I was trying to convince him or myself.

"The question is, will we get to her before something happens or not?"

"She'll be fine," I said, more firmly.

A humorless chuckle escaped his lips, layered by a frustrated growl. "Do you think I don't know what he's planning? You don't think he marked her just for the fun of it. He knows she's a fairy, he's probably one of those maniacs who raped and slaughtered them all centuries ago."

He closed his eye slightly, gripping his hair through his fingers. "I should be out there, looking for her-"

"You can't do anything more than what's already being done," I said. "If you go, we'll just have to allocate more resources to your protection when they could be used to look for her. There are people who want to get their hands on you, and they'll take this opportunity. You're not any good to her dead or kidnapped as well."

"Fuck. I know," he grumbled. "I'm just afraid we'll be too late."

I sighed. No matter what I said, nothing could assuage his fears.

I had hoped that she was just kidnapped by some maniac who wanted something from the royal family. But once Orla confirmed they knew she was a fairy, my hopes were shattered.

All those centuries ago, before I was even born, the fairies met with a horrible fate. Their men slaughtered, their women and girls raped, in hope of producing the ultimate supernatural being.

Those sick bastards would mark them them rape them. Because without a mark, a supernatural female couldn't get pregnant.

And that was what awaited Orla. The thought made me sick. I hoped we wouldn't be too late. I hoped she wouldn't live through that.

"How come he knows about her?" Ezra asked, his skin almost rippling. His wolf was still trying to get loose.

"I have no idea." I hesitated. "But I have a feeling Vlad might know something about it."

Vlad knew something. When I linked him this morning after shit hit the fan, he sounded like he'd been expecting something like this to happen. He was angry in a way I hadn't witnessed in decades.

"I hope he talks this time," I added. If Vlad was hiding something...

"Oh, he's going to talk," Ezra growled out. "I knew he knows something, and he's going to talk wether he likes it or not."

I rubbed a hand down my face. I hoped Vlad would have something useful. All those damn rogues knew nothing, even the vampires. It was like that bastard made sure that any rogue who came our way either knew next to nothing about his plans, or was too far gone to remember.

Except maybe... my eyes widened. "I have an idea."

Ezra's head whirled towards me. Hope concealing the pain in his eyes. "What?"

"Noah," I said. "He's recovering better than expected. Noah was too sick when that bastard sent him to us. So maybe he wasn't as careful about keeping Noah in the dark about his plans as he was with the sane rogues."

"You think he'll help us?" Ezra asked, hopping to his feet already and walking away.

"We can try convincing him," I said, hurrying to catch up with him. "He was better last time I saw him. Almost healed. We can try. We won't lose anything."

When we reached the cabin in which we kept Noah, tucked away from the pack village and guarded by two warriors, I pulled Ezra back.

"You stay here."

He snarled. "Like hell I will-"

I gave him a pointed look. He took a deep breath and schooled his features into a calm expression. I knew better than to fall for it. He was a timebomb waiting to detonate.

"I'm fine," he said. "Why don't you want me to come along?"

"Because you will threaten him to within an inch of his life if he seemed the least bit hesitant about helping out," I shot back.

His eyes flashed a paler color, but he turned and leaned against a nearby tree. "Fine. Be quick."

I walked past the frightened guards to the cabin, knocked and got in.

Noah was sitting in the couch of the snug one-room cabin, watching TV. He stood up, his eyes zeroing in on my empty hands. I usually visited him with blood.

"Take a seat," I said. Turning off the TV, I crossed my arms and stood in front of it.

He looked much more lucid than the last time I saw him. But he was still a bit shaky.

"Orla was kidnapped," I said. His eyes widened. He frowned and looked away. I had told him before that Orla was giving away her blood to make him better. I guess he remembered her name.

I hadn't spent much time with him. But I hoped that Orla's generosity would make him want to help her.

"By the tattooed man," I continued. "The one you talked about when she first met you."

He blinked, rubbing his hands down his thighs. "H-how?"

"He sent men using teleportation blood magic to her cabin when Ezra wasn't there," I replied. "We still don't know where she is. She was taken in the morning."

He glanced down at his hands, his forehead lined. "I-I had nothing to do with it."

"I know," I said. "We need your help."

He blinked, clearly surprised. "My help?"

"Yes. Do you know where he might've taken her? We believe she was taken someplace in the woods. But it could be anywhere in the radius of three hundred miles or so around here, that's the extent of the blood spell they used. It's a big territory to comb through."

Noah rubbed his forehead. He closed his eyes tightly. "I-I don't know where he is. But... I think someone I know might. I think."

His words kindled my hope. "Alright then, let's go."

At the door, I turned to him. "Just so you know. Ezra, her mate, almost lost it today. So I wouldn't test him if I were you. If you tried to pull anything, I won't be able to help you."

He gave a fervent nod and stuck slightly behind me as we walked out. Ezra was waiting right outside the door. I guess he would've burst right through the door if we'd been another minute late.

"So?" Ezra asked.

"We might have something."

*** **** ***

Convincing Ezra to stay in the pack wasn't easy. Zyron almost had to use his king's command again, if not for Wren's intervention. When she put her foot down, even Ezra wouldn't dare argue with her.

Jason, Noah and I took the car to a nearby town. The sun had long set when we found the bar; Noah's memories still weren't as sharp as they should be. However, he looked much more sane than earlier. It might just be my imagination. Or maybe having a goal to work towards helped stabilize his mind.

"He should be here," Noah said from the backseat. "It's better if you don't come with me, though. You might spook him."

I pulled over a safe distance from the bar. It buzzed with activity, people coming in and out, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes smoke heavy in the air, the thud of music pulsing through the night.

The street was fairly crowded. Some cars, but mostly motorbikes, were parked in front of the bar. A neon sign in yellow and blue read Jolene's Dive Bar.

I glanced at Noah in the rearview mirror. "Who is he?"

"Someone I knew from the club. He's a vampire, too. But he always kept his blood in check. He worked for the master for a while, did some inside jobs for him, so he may know where we could find some of his hideouts." He frowned. "But it's been a long time. I was less... crazy back then. I don't know if he still comes here."

I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. Turning, I grinned at Noah. "Go ahead. But keep in mind what I said earlier."

He nodded firmly. I unlocked the doors and he walked out, tucking his hands in his jeans and heading for the bar.

"You sure he won't run away?" Jason asked, watching Noah disappear inside the club through narrowed eyes.

"I'm not sure," I replied, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. "But if I was him, I wouldn't run away. He was a rogue, probably homeless, fighting against the craze of the blood and depending on some asshole for it. But now he's better, more sane than he'd been in a long time. And he has access to blood that tastes good and cures his mind."

"But it's still animal blood," Jason said. "The blood that you're feeding him, even if it has a small amount of her highness' blood."

I chuckled. "I'm a vampire, Jason, and let me tell you, Orla's blood, even mixed with animal blood, was the best blood I had ever smelled. Even I was tempted to sneak a taste."

"Hmm."

"Don't worry. People usually run away for better circumstances. There isn't anything better than his current situation, and he knows it." I smiled. "Also, he looked ready to piss his pants when Ezra warned him about not keeping his word."

Ezra had whispered some very bloody promises into Noah's ear before we left, while I tried to calm him. We played good cop/bad cop very well together. Although good cop wasn't really my style.

A couple of hours and a few attempts to stop Jason from walking into that club later, Noah finally walked out, his steps hurried. My heart leapt in my chest. He looked excited.

"What do you have?" I asked as soon as he got in.

Noah closed the door as I started the car. "He said the master's been working on something big in the last few weeks. He gave me a few adresses where I might find him. Looks like he constantly meets with people from outside town there, mostly witches."

"Your friend seems to know a lot," I mumbled.

Noah cleared his throat. "He can be very sneaky."

Huh. The guy probably has some special ability that would allow him to go unnoticed. I should get my hands on him. Not now, though. Our priority was to find Orla.

Noah handed a slip of paper to Jason. On it were several adresses. It was scribbled in a flowery, elegant handwriting. I made my way to the first one.

"He wasn't suspicious of you?" I asked. "Of why you were asking about the master?"

"Nah," Noah replied. "A lot of people come asking for the master. Especially vampires. He did provide human blood almost for free, so he was well sought after."

"Hmm. Let's hope we find something useful," I said, before catching his eyes in the rearview mirror. "I see you didn't run away."

His lips twitched up and he looked outside his window. "Not everyone gets a second chance after being a rogue. I want to try and live properly this time. And well, she doesn't deserve to be in the hands of that monster. She saved my life, I could at least help you find her."

My hands squeezed the steering wheel, every second that passed by, the chances of her going through the worst increased.

If it hadn't already happened.

I swallowed my fears and wove the car through the dark streets. Our first destination was an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. The area was deserted, even the streetlights didn't work. Still, we snuck inside and checked the building and the ones nearby for any trace of a scent. Nothing.

The second adress was a house in a shady neighborhood. Human drug addicts and drug dealers were the only people around.

I kept in contact with Haley, but there were no news on their end, either.

With crushed spirits, we made our way to the third adress. I really hoped we would find something. Anything.

Surprisingly, the adress was in an upscale part of town. A three story condo building.

The first two floors were occupied by humans. The sound of their laughter and voices broke through the thick walls as we climbed up the stairs. Poor people. They had no idea a predator lived right above them.

"The one on the left," Jason whispered, checking the door number. I snuck to the door and took a deep whiff, straining my ears. Nothing.

"It's empty," I told the others and rang the bell. No one answered, as expected.

I eyed the door. "Any ideas on how to open this door without breaking it. We don't want the neighbors calling the police."

"Do you guys have something sharp?" Noah asked, crouching to examine the key hole.

"I saw a supermarket outside," I said. "I'll go fetch-"

"No need," Jason said, taking a hair pin out of his jean pocket.

I bit back a smile. "A hair pin?"

"Try living with three sisters," he said with a scowl. "I swear I find these things everywhere."

"Right," I drawled out. "Don't worry, Jason, your secret for doing elaborate hair updos is safe with me."

Jason rolled his eyes. Noah chuckled, his fingers deftly working on opening the lock. A few minutes later, the door opened with a quiet snick.

"Damn, where did you learn that?" I asked, taking a tentative step inside the apartment.

Noah shrugged. "Skills from when I was human."

I looked around. The place was smaller than I thought. Nothing too fancy. A typical living room with an L-shaped gray couch, a glass coffee table, a flat screen. An open kitchen. Three doors. We got in and closed the door behind us.

The place looked clean but lived in, if the worn-out couch and the full dish rack on the counter were anything to go by.

The large windows were open, so the smells were almost non-existent. I looked at Jason. Werewolves had a better sense of smell. "Anything?"

His nostrils moved, his glowing eyes scanned the dark apartment. "Nothing in particular. A hint of a vampire scent. We should call a tracker. They have a better sense of smell."

"Let's look around first. Split up," I said, heading for the bedroom. It looked like our guy was here at some point. Maybe he kept something here that could give us a hint about where he was or someone who might know.

The bedroom window was open as well. He sure was careful about airing the place out. Way too much in my opinion.

The bedroom was neat. Like the rest of the apartment. A king-sized bed was pushed against the wall in the middle of the room, with an upholstered gray headboard. Two bedside tables on either side of it, with vintage looking lamps. The white covers of the bed were rumpled, as if they'd been carelessly made.

I strolled through the room. Running my fingers on the TV stand, they came back with a thick layer of dust. The windows had been open for far too long, it seemed.

I looked through every single drawer, the closet, checked for false walls and false floor boards, moved the bed and every piece of furniture. Nothing.

I frowned. I'd lived for centuries, and over time, I'd learned to listen to my instincts.

Something was here.

I stood in the doorway and turned to look at the room. What was I missing? I glanced up. The ceiling? There was no vent, though.

Still, I dragged a chair from the living room and checked every inch of the ceiling. No hideouts in it either. Damn it. Time was running out. Jason and Noah came up blank, but they were still looking. Jason had shifted to his wolf and was sniffing every corner of the place.

I dragged the chair back to the living room. Frustrated, I kicked the door on my way out. And froze.

I stopped dead in my tracks, then turned my head slowly towards the door. Abandoning the chair, I tapped the door again, listening closely, then smiled in triumph.

Gotcha.

The sound was almost normal. Almost. My ears picked it up, though. The wood sounded hollow in a spot at the bottom of the door.

Damn, how lucky was I to hit the exact spot?

"Guys, get your asses in here," I said.

We pulled the door out of its hingers. Sure enough, there were screws at the underside of it. Jason used a kitchen knife to undo them.

"What the hell," Jason breathed out, fishing folded papers out of the hidey hole.

Jason laid everything in front of us. There were a bunch of letters. A small journal. And a map.

I unfolded the map. It was of the entire southern part of the country, including our region. Several spots were marked in the woods.

All of them fell within a three hundred mile radius from the university.

I gathered our findings and jumped to my feet. "Let's get out of here."

Jason and Noah returned the door while I took a picture of the map and sent it to Haley.

"So we're going to look into the places that are marked?" Noah asked once we were in the car. I looked at him in the rearview mirror. He had a focused frown on his face, his eyes sharp.

He'd said 'we'. I didn't think he even realized it.

*** **** ***

By the time we were back in the pack. Several search teams had been dispatched to every marked spot in the map. We couldn't even ask other packs to help search because there were none anywhere in the area. That was probably why the vampire had chosen it.

Everyone gathered in the pack house's meeting room. Noah went back to his cabin, with a sheepish request for me to let him know when we found Orla.

Zyron gave the papers we got to Ashley. "Ashely, I want you and Eleanor to go through them now, in case there's an exact location mentioned somewhere."

"Got it," Ashley said, and she left with Eleanor and the documents.

Jacob and Jason stretched out the map on the table, and we surrounded it.

"How long will it take?" Ezra asked. He was more on edge. His eyes were constantly glowing now. I couldn't blame him. His mate had spent almost one day with someone who had dreadful plans for her.

"The teams should reach the farthest spot at dawn, at most," Jacob said.

"Hale?" Wren asked.

"Dad is on his way from the airport." Haley looked better. More pissed off and determined than injured. Although the burns on her shoulders, arms and face were still an angry red. Nothing could heal silver.

Nothing but Little Red, that is.

"Nothing to do but wait," Zane said, his brows heavy.

So we waited. Keeping Ezra from going to join the search teams was the hardest part of the night. But we made it past three in the morning when Hale knocked on the door.

He was a big man, built like Hayden, but looked more like Haley. With his amber eyes, dark skin and black beard, he looked intimidating. But the moment he hugged Wren and looked at her with tender moist eyes, you could tell he was a big softy.

"Glad you finally joined us," Zyron grumbled as Hale hugged his daughter to his side, kissing her hair.

"I'm here, aren't I, dickhead?" Hale replied.

Zyron growled. Wren slapped his arm. "Don't growl at my guests."

Ezra was silently brooding. There would come a point we wouldn't be able to stop him from going out there.

But now, at least, we had a witch who could teleport in our midst. Although Hale never used teleportation magic because it took too much energy. It would leave him useless for hours after. But I was sure he would be more than willing to use it tonight.

A little after Hale joined us, Zyron stiffened. He stared into the distance, his brows furrowed.

"Something's off," he said.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ezra said.

"The spots they looked into? They were all abandoned cabins deep in the woods," Zyron replied. "But a team reached a spot where there was nothing. Just trees."

"Did they get close to it?" Hale asked hurriedly.

"No, they're watching from afar. They feel there's something there, so I told them to stand still for now. Why?" Zyron said.

"They could be using magic to conceal the place," Hale said. His eyes flickered to Ezra. "My guess is that's where he is. He wouldn't waste strong magic like that for nothing. Especially if he isn't a witch himself."

"I'm going," Ezra said.

"I'll teleport you there," Hale said. "I should take a look at the place, too, to confirm my theory."

They both looked at Zyron, who shared a look with Wren and nodded.

"Be careful. I'll send some of the teams your way and leave the others to check the remaining spots."

"Don't worry, Zyron," Hale said. He put his hand on Ezra's shoulder, his amber eyes glowing brightly.

A light flashed in the room, blinding our eyes, then the two disappeared.

A few tense minutes passed before Hale pulled us into a collective link with him and Ezra.

"As I expected," he said. "It's magic. There's something in there."

"Can you override the magic?" Zyron asked

"I can. But not now. I'm still tired from the teleportation," Hale replied.

"Is there any scent around there?" I asked.

"Nothing," Ezra replied tightly.

"Probably the magic," Hale said. "It's restraining all the elements to that concealed space."

"So we can't do anything?" Ezra growled.

"Even if you go there now, you won't find anything but trees. Besides, the moment you put foot in the spelled area, the witch responsible for it would now. And they could teleport her somewhere else."

And we'd have to start all over again.

"So we wait?" I asked.

"We wait. The time for Hale to get some of his energy back and for more back up to reach you guys," Zyron replied.

I could tell Ezra wasn't satisfied with the answer. But there was nothing he or anyone could do, unless they could actually see their targets.

So we waited again, not knowing that what would happen in the next few hours would change everything.

--- ---- ---

A looooong chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.

Don't forget to vote and comment. I appreciate it. 

Keep Gaza in your prayers. 

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.