"So what do you say?"

"I have never seen anything like this in my entire life"

"The feelings same but what about it now"

"From what you explained to me I think this thing here was not made to fight but to guard the place...

He didn't moved just threw acids from his mouth and even when dead it couldn't be harmed so whatever he was guarding must be really important"

Ethan and Matt stares at the thing analyzing it to find the source for it's venom so they can discard it and try to figure out how this creature was made.

After going through everything they finally stop their try as it seems they can't even be near it as even dead the thing still is dangerous to them.

So, their only way to figure out about it is to wait for Dante who is the only one who can touch the thing without getting burned.

"We should wait him out" Matt states finally before they both get out of the room and lock it with the thing inside.

*******

Erika finally grins as she sees Matt and Ethan getting out of the room as it her chance to see the ugly thing all has been worked up for whole day.

Even if Enzo has warned her not to do anything stupid but she ignored him saying if she followed all of his command every time he asked she would have still been a virgin!

So, as soon as Matt locks the door she slowly makes her way towards it before breaking the lock with a hammer.

Happily she opens the door anticipating wildly seeing the thing all are buzzing about.

"Oh my, my" she gasps as she slowly moves towards the thing.

Rounding the table where it lays, tapping her chin with her finger as in deep thought before stopping beside it.

"Hmm, a body of a male, head of a serpent, hands and legs of were and a tail. Interesting, no wonder they were hiding you from me"

Biting her lower lip Erika touches its body slowly; nodding her head she gets up on the table and inspects closely to see anything informative she could found.

The thing was already dead so it wasn't harmful was her bright idea as she tries to open the snake's eyes poking at it.

"Darn" she curses jumping of the table before looking around the room and check on Matt's gadgets

Finally when she finds the thing she needs she grins once more.

Once again she gets on the table and kneels before wearing her mask and glove, getting the feel of being a doctor Erika starts to do the thing she is good at, getting in trouble.

*******

"Hey when do you think Dante will be back, we can't touch the thing without getting our hands burn and it seems to throw some gas from it's body when we try" Ethan explains as they meet Enzo

"In few hours the most, but don't worry I asked my team to be here may be if you all worked together some solution may come...

Have you seen Erika?" he asks after thought

"Erika is in the house?" Matt asks worried

"Ya, I had to go out for few hours so I left her here. Thought she would be playing around but can't find her...

I can't feel our bond too" Enzo explains rubbing his neck

"Tiger" Matt groans before he runs inside again as Ethan and Enzo both follows him

"The fuck you doing" Matt shouts as he finds Erika in exact place he thought

"Oh, hey Matt" Erika grins waving her bloodied hands

"What have you done?" Enzo asks shaking his head as he finds her next to the thing they caught

"Look what I found in his neck" she states as she dangles a pouch looking thing she cut out from the snake's neck

"How...what" Matt looks at her dumb

"Piglet, get away from there now" Enzo shouts at her in anger as soon as he sees the body move

Yelping she jumps from the table as the body shakes violently and to their horror it decays before turning into ashes.

"Um, well at least I got this right?" Erika informs as Matt glares at her way

"How come she didn't get burned when she touched that thing? We got burned even when we put the glove" Ethan asks in awe

"Does that mean I'm having super powers?" Erika jumps in happily

"Enzo take your mate away from me please" Matt begs ignoring her happy dance

"No, you can't I helped"

"No you didn't"

"Fine, if I go this goes with me too" she smirks showing him the pouch she took out from the snake's neck

Before Matt could argue more Enzo steps in and smile at her.

"Baby, how did you know about that poison being attached in his neck?"

"I didn't, I was just going to do an autopsy of him to know how he died like in movies but I didn't know where to cut him....

Then I remembered the time I had to cut the frog in my school, but seeing it's body of human I decided nah...

Then I just cut it from its side of neck and bam this thing came out pretty awesome right" she grins proudly

"So you mean to say that thing didn't hurt you?" Matt asks taking in the information

"Nope, he is dead isn't it and now look because of me you don't have to burn it"

"Thank you for your assistance Erika I think we got all the help we needed now you can go and rest" Matt smiles as he moves towards her but she goes and hides behind Enzo shaking her head

"I won't give it till you promise you will let me see what's in this pouch looking thing"

"Okay, I promise I will let you see once I disinfect it, happy?" Matt sighs in defeat and she happily gives in

As Erika washes her hands Matt looks at the men in room.

"Seems like our trouble maker gave us the perfect solution, guess this thing cannot harm humans but only were, hmm...I would like to see if the venom is dangerous for the vampires too...

Can you get in contact with Dante or Rom ask them to bring the next thing alive I would like to test some theories" Matt asks to Enzo before he looks at the poison in his hand

"Why do you guys keep saying thing to it, don't you have any names?" Erika questions as she stands in front of them

"No, we don't know what to call it yet" Matt states

"Can I name it please, that would be so awesome"

"No" all of them shout at once

"But I helped at least give me a reward, please...please"

"Okay your highness what would you name it" Matt sighs in defeat once again as he knows thee is no use to fight her.

"Mandrake"

"Well isn't it an herb or something?" Ethan asks

"Who cares I said mandrake and it will be called mandrake" she finalizes before walking out

"Let's just call it that beats calling it a thing I guess" Matt shrugs before walking out of the room as well.

*******

"What do you think about that thing, any idea how it was created?" Rom asks curiously as he follows behind Dante

"Whoever made that thing have to die is the only thing I know. I'm trying to nail who could it be, did you see that nasty thing?

Imagine the power behind making it even work, the lives of all that was destroyed to even make that thing alive...

I want whoever the fucker was to die, I don't want anything nasty happen to Jean and for that every threat needs to be destroyed whether it is directed as me or not" he states making Rom roll his eyes

"So, this is so Jean can be safe?"

"Everything that will happen in my life will be always related to her"

"Man, who knew you could be romantic, sheesh" Rom teases him

"Love does that to the best of us" he grins before coming to a halt

"What?" Rom asks but Dante puts his finger on his lips to ask him to shut up

"Hear that, something is coming...look the ground is vibrating" he says in a whisper

Rom sighs shaking his head

"It's your bloody cell phone that's vibrating" he informs making Dante narrow his eyes before pulling his phone out

"Change in plans, Mandrake is to be bought back alive" Dante states as he puts his phone back in his pocket

"What, who is mandrake?" Rom asks in confusion

"The thing we are searching for Erika named him Mandrake, pretty cool" he shrugs before moving further

"Okay, but what happened to the one you bought in?"

"He turned into ashes, seems like the mandrake can't affect humans. Erika helped to take out the poison which Matt is inspecting as we speak...

As soon as the poison was out the mandrake turned into ashes"

"The fuck"

"Exactly, so now we need a new one to take its place"

After walking inside the tunnel for along time they finally come to stop as the tunnel is blocked. Inspecting it closely they both touch the stones in the ground that has blocked the path.

"This looks fresh" Rom points out

"Don't I know it" Dante grits out as he hears the familiar hiss just behind them

This time the vibration that follows isn't of Dante's cell phone, they both awaits what happens next as the ground beneath them shakes badly before the whole ground opens right under their feet taking both of them down.

Coughing and dusting off their clothes both of them look around only to curse.

"Mother fucker" Dante hisses at the sight in front of him

A whole bunch of mandrakes are walking in front of them busy with unloading and loading things they have no clue about.

"Where the fuck did they come from?" Rom gasps not believing his eyes

"Well now we know that Tony wasn't the one who made all these tunnels" Dante comments

All this time shit was happening right under their nose and no one had a clue about it. Hiding behind the rocks both of them watch the activity, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Come on slackers move fast, hurry up, we need to bury all of the tunnels before anyone figures it out. I said we need to bury the tunnels not make new ones!

We need to wrap this up before sunrises and get back home, it seems Mars won't be coming back with Scar; we will have to think of something else. We are running out of time" a girl shouts sitting on one of the rocks while she looks at the mandrakes

Rom and Dante nods at each other trying their hardest to hide from them. In all this one thing is sure that this somehow is related to Scar and Ad won't be happy with this!

Dante pulls Rom back as one of the mandrake starts to walk their way, jumping up in the hole they dropped down. Both of them wait on the mandrake to come and bury the whole so they can catch him.

And as they predict one of the mandrake shows up and before he could even figure out anything Dante jumps up on him and transport all of them directly to one of the dungeons.

"That was easy" Rom comments as dodges the venom that flies his way

"Fuck" Dante curses as he finds that the venom burns the metal bars of the prison

"Hold him I know a perfect solution" Rom shouts before getting out of the venom's way

While Dante holds the mandrake back Rom goes and brings some silver chains to tie the things hands and legs.

"That's better"

"Great handiwork there now we need to call Matt so he can do whatever the fuck he does" Dante wipes his hair back

Rom grins nodding before taking a step only for his legs to give up, Dante rush to his side in a blink just as he collapses on the ground.

"Rom...Rom...?" Dante pats his cheeks but Rom just couldn't open his eyes before giving in to the darkness.

*******

Scar nibbles on her food not feeling like eating but still bites on it as Ad stares at her intently.

"Don't pout" he comments when he finds her looking at him and begrudgingly eating her food

"Then stop being mean to me, it's not my fault if you couldn't get through our bond. May be me not being your real mate is the reason our bond isn't so strong" she whines making his growl at her

"Don't say things like that" he warns her but she just pouts more and nibbles on her bread

"Don't be mad at her" Enzo speaks as he enters the dinning room and seats besides Scar giving her a warm smile

"And who the fuck do you thing you are to tell me that?" Ad snarls at Enzo

"That time of the month I see" Erika comments as she too joins them

"Relax Ad, she was just joking" Enzo stops his seeing him all worked up

"Ya dude you need to just chill and I think it's a human thing that you can't feel the bond with her sometimes...

I mean Enzo couldn't sense me too right Enzo" Erika points out as she butters the toast

"Ya, I guess them not being a werewolf may be hampering the bonding or something like that"

"See, that's why I have to be a werewolf, so turn me up already" Erika interrupts

"You just need an excuse to take that topic out" Enzo chuckles before bending near her to peck on her lips

"What do you mean you couldn't sense her?" Ad asks with a frown

"Bonds are so complicated" Scar whines before bowing her head when Ad glares her way

"I mean just a few hours ago I couldn't feel her but then I found her near mandrake" Enzo shrugs

"You mean to say you couldn't sense her at all like before when you hadn't mated her?" Ad asks again

"Yes, I couldn't sense her at all, why?"

"We need to bring that mandrake in here; I think that thing was the cause for the blockage in our bonds" Ad gets up from his chair

"You mean..." but Enzo stops when Warren rushes inside

"Rom, he...he isn't responding" Warren informs them.

*******

"Let him take some rest, may be after a few hours rest he will be all good. No need to worry" Matt states as he makes his way out of the room where room is sleeping

"What happened?" Ad asks as soon as Matt leaves

"He touched the mandrake, I thought he was immune to it but seems unlike Ethan and Matt Rom doesn't get burned but still get affected...

He just collapsed and his healing was really slow so I gave him few drops of my blood to speed his healing powers" Dante informs them as he folds the sleeve of his shirt down

"He is going to be alright, right?" Gio asks as he watches his father

Even if Gio wants he isn't allowed to go near Rom for safety measures.

"Of course he will be fine, don't worry your dad has gone through lot more worse shit than this" Dante grins as he ruffles Gio's head and carries him up before he passes him to Ana who smiles taking the kids out

"Everything okay" Enzo asks after a while seeing a grim look on Dante's face

"We need to talk" he states looking directly towards Ad

******

"No fucking way, no one is taking her away from me" Ad shouts as he once again starts his pacing

Dante had explained everything he saw down in the tunnels and as soon as he knew about them Ad had increased the number of men near border for protection, even if his warrior's aren't immune to the venom he knows they will try hard to stop those mandrakes.

"Calm the fuck down"

"Calm down, you got to be fucking kidding me! My wife's life is in danger and you want me to calm down?"

"And they say I'm the drama king, for fuck's sake Ad my future daughter in law's life is in danger as well if something happened to Scar...

I will kill those fuckers with my bare hands if need arises but you being all worked up isn't something we need now...

So focus man, those things will be leaving soon with or without Scar and we a plan to see who is after this shit and why is Scar so necessary to them!" Dante tries to show him reason

"I know, but just even thinking about she getting hurt...I..."

"Relax buddy, we know what you going through we all have someone to protect, we are on same page...

Don't worry we will figure this shit out" Dante pats Ad's back before looking at Enzo

"What you thinking so hard?" he asks seeing Enzo so quiet

"Where's the boy you found with Scar?" Enzo asks

"In a cell unconscious, why" Ad replies not knowing why Enzo was asking

"Did you question him yet?"

"No, I didn't have time to think about him yet"

"What about Tony?"

"No, not him to"

"Okay, I think we need to call Connor in. Whoever is behind this knows us really closely; he knows each and every moves of ours...

This shit is deeper than it looks, I think we need to question Rob as well the triplets once more. Something is missing in all of this, this looks so simple and easy but it's not"

"What do you mean?" Ad asks looking at Enzo

"I mean don't you think it's so strange for you to find Tony and even in all these years he never follow your commands, that means he doesn't see you as his Alpha which also means his Alpha is still alive and in control on Tony...

Then suddenly Rob asking you to marry Scar and her being kidnapped then so easily us finding her...

Then we find about Ethan and Hans as well Aria showing up. And now this mandrakes, creatures we never saw coming out of no where but wanting Scar...

Don't you guys think it all seems so weird?" Enzo asks looking at both Dante and Ad

"To the point Enzo" Ad grits out through his teeth

"What if we all are being staged, part of something we have no clue about?"

"You mean someone is playing us?" Dante voices out

"Don't even..." Ad warns Enzo but he just ignores him

"Not someone but may be Scar..." Enzo stops as Ad growls at him dangerously

"Don't you dare, Enzo I warn you don't you dare" Ad breathes heavily

"I'm not accusing anything Ad but come on don't tell me you don't feel like we are being mislead by someone..."

"And that someone isn't my wife" he argues

"Hear him out first" Dante snaps at Ad pushing him in a near seat before motioning Enzo to continue

"I didn't mean to upset you Ad, you know I love Scar like my sister. I won't harm her in any way, so relax...

All I'm saying is may be someone is using her or may be it's all related to her. Why would anyone go to such length to get Scar back?

It's just my speculation but I think Rob is hiding us the most important reason for why Scar was sheltered for this long and still needs someone to guard her all the time" Enzo points out

"I will call Rob and then you can question him to your heart's content. But be warned Enzo, Scar stays away from all of this"

"Even if you want it or not Ad, Scar is involved in everything that is happening and the sooner you see it the better...

None of us would want to see you hurt again" Enzo replies before walking out of the door

"He is good, I give him that much credit" Dante grins before taking a deep breathe

"Now, I feel a bit worried for my son and our future grand kids"

"If this shit ends without Scar getting any harm then I will happily walk my daughter down the aisle for your son" Ad vows making Dante smirk proudly

"Fuck yeah bitch that's what I'm talking about!"

Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter, leave your comments and tell me about it :)

Bit nervous!