SWNOVELS : Chapter 6
Tristan
As I walk up the front steps of the Villa du Lac, I can hear Nico and Lucy chatting happily on the patio, and in spite of my concern, I smile to myself. It’s been wonderful to see my inner circle open up to the girl with violet eyes. Well, except for Mark. But then again, he’s always been a stubborn bastard.
The last time I saw the girl, she had passed out from training, and I can’t help the nervousness that’s been gnawing at my insides from the moment I felt her go limp in my arms. I keep replaying the image of her pale face, her body crumpling on top of mine, her gasp shallow in the back of my mind. It had been a relief to see some color return to her cheeks, her breathing steadying as she slept in my bed.
I know I shouldn’t worry too much. Goddess knows I have enough trouble on my plate leading a pack of rogue wolves, but there’s something about this girl that draws me in like a siren song, and her recent symptoms have been a thorn in the back of my thoughts. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more sinister at play, something greater than exhaustion or even overexertion while sparing.
The mysterious crescent-shaped scar over her heart has been haunting me. The way it glowed as if there were moonlight trapped under her skin was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and if that power was draining her… as if it were sucking the strength out of her somehow and causing her pain.
I didn’t know what I could do. This was not a foe I could fight or even face, and the notion of her suffering twisted my insides in a way that made me feel feral and helpless all at once.
It was fucking miserable.
I quicken my pace through the villa, making my way to my bedroom. I left the little flower sleeping on my bed, and I don’t want to wake her if she’s still resting. On the other hand, she’s been sleeping all day, and I need to make sure her condition did not worsen. It was hard enough to leave her alone to speak to the healer, but I had to try. I needed to see if there was anything he might know, or if Sophie had any new visions that might be of help.
But no such luck.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to ease the tension that’s been building up inside me for hours.
It’s strange to think that the girl has such an effect on me. She’s grown on me more than I expected, becoming important to me in a way I could have never foreseen. There are moments when it unsettles me how much I’ve come to care for her in such a short period of time, but then I think of her scars and her smile, and something inside me simply shatters. Her quiet resilience in the face of such suffering is astonishing, and there is something so gentle and optimistic about her like she could see the best in even the worst of situations. It makes me want to be better, to give her something truly good to see when she looks at me.
Mating bond be damned; I want to make her happy. I want to keep her safe and care for her, and perhaps it’s time I stopped acting like that’s such a bad thing.
I take a deep breath and push open the door, my eyes immediately searching for my little flower. But the bed is empty.
The first thing that hits me is fear. The sun has since set, and darkness has enveloped my kingdom. I know she’s not familiar with the territory yet, and if she wasn’t feeling well when she wandered out, she could be hurt.
I make my way methodically through the villa, checking every room and corner, hoping to find some trace of her. But there’s no sign of her, and my worry sharpens into something more dangerous.
Panic.
My mind races with possibilities, each worse than the last.
“Nico! Lucy!” I call out, and they rush to my side, detecting the urgency in my voice.
“What is it, boss?”
“Where is she?”
I don’t have to say who. The two of them exchange a startled look.
“We thought she was still sleeping in your room,” Nico says with a confused frown.
“Well, she’s not,” I growl. “Find her.”
My order lingers in the air as I push past them, and I reach out telepathically to Mark and Amara.
‘Come back. Now. My mate is missing.’
I can feel their concern echoing back to me as they sense my own distress, but I push past it. I need to focus. I need to find her.
From then on, everything happens quickly, almost on autopilot, as a pure and protective instinct takes over.
Lucy reaches out to other members of the pack, organizing a search party with a sort of speed and efficiency that shouldn’t be humanly possible. Nico is searching the woods fast as an arrow flying through the air.
My Beta and his mate are running back to the villa at this very moment, searching the surrounding territories as they circle in around the border.
I catch her scent on the ground floor and follow it to the cobbled path out back.
Shit.
I follow it down to the lake, where her trail vanishes as if she disappeared into thin air. I wade out into the bank, eyes scanning the dark surface, but there’s no sight of her. I trudge in deeper until the water is up to my waist, calling out into the blackness.
No answer.
I don’t know how much time passes, with my pack scattered in the wind in search of my mate while I look for her in the lake. Eventually, Nico skids to a halt by the edge of the water, his reddish fur rising and falling steadily as he pants.
“Where is she?” I ask, walking back to meet him on the shore.
‘We’ve searched everywhere,’ he answers through the mind link. ‘Mark and Amara are patrolling the borders, but there’s no trace of her scent. Lucy is in the village with other pack members, and even Sophie is out looking in the woods. No visions yet, but we’re hoping she’ll be able to sense the girl.’
“I don’t understand. She wasn’t feeling well. This morning she could barely stand, and I left her sleeping in my own bed. Where could she have gone?”
‘That’s just it; she couldn’t have made it far on her own, especially not without leaving a trail. We’re searching across the territory, but there’s no trace of her. If she were still in the kingdom, I’d be able to track her.’
I clench my fists in frustration. Did she leave of her own accord? Did someone help her? Or was she taken by someone? Or something?
‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Nico thinks to me, his ears twitching anxiously. ‘How could she have gotten out of the kingdom without someone noticing?’
“She didn’t go anywhere,” I growl at him, harsher than I intended. “She had no reason to escape. She wasn’t a prisoner here.”
You’re not my enemy, Tristan Lyall. I will never run away from you, my king.
Her voice echoes in the back of my head, solidifying something inside my chest.
“She promised,” I whisper, and my voice cracks under my breath.
‘Okay. So what happened? Do you think someone kidnapped her?’ Nico asks, and my blood boils and the thought.
Any feeling of betrayal or hurt is quickly overridden by a wave of fury.
If she broke her promise to me, I’ll find her. But if someone took her from me, I won’t just find them. I will burn them to the ground. And heaven forbid if someone hurt her… I’ll tear the whole damn world apart.
“Keep searching,” I say, my tone dangerously low.
‘We won’t stop until we find her,’ Nico replies before darting back off into the shadows.
No. I won’t. No matter how long, no matter what it takes, I will not stop until I bring her home or I can be sure that she is safe.
Until then, I will not stop; I will never stop.
That is my promise.