Hunter’s POV
I had never run faster in my entire life.
My paws were hitting the ground with so much force that I could feel everything around me shake. My fur was stuck to my body due to air resistance. My muscles hurt and my lungs burned, but I wasn’t going to stop running. I couldn’t stop running.
I glanced to my left and saw Axel. He looked like he was about to attack something or someone. He looked ready to fight. He was a few steps ahead of me due to his increased strength. His mother’s and his sister’s magic was fueling him.
I was fueled by the pure need for my mate. I just wanted to feel her in my arms again. I wanted to kiss her soft lips. I wanted to wrap her in my arms where she would be safe from any harm.
Mason was to my right and he was a bit slower than me. Jake was behind us. He was a bit slower than the three of us, but he kept up without any issues.
I couldn’t mind-link them so I didn’t know if anything new had happened. We decided that it would be best if all of us shifted. If some of us had to carry a person on our backs, it would slow us down significantly.
The absence of being able to mind-link left me with only one option. I pictured my mate’s beautiful face. I remembered how soft her lips felt against mine. I remembered how her scent made me shiver. I remembered how her voice made me melt.
‘I miss her,’ Holden whined. ‘I miss her so much, Hunter.’
‘I know,’ I mumbled, trying to stop my voice from trembling. ‘I miss her too.’
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.
‘We will find her and we will bring her home,’ I said. ‘I promise, Holden. I will bring her back.’
He whined, making my stomach turn. His pain was my pain and I wished that I could take it all away.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t. Only she could. Only Sophia could take our pain away.
I wasn’t even aware that we crossed the border of Alex’s pack. I realized that we were close only when I saw the packhouse in the distance.
Hunter! I heard my dad’s voice in my head.
We are close, Dad. I answered.
Oh, thank Goddess! He exclaimed. You are okay! We have been trying to mind-link you for the last hour! I was scared that something had happened to you!
They did? I didn’t even realize.
I am fine, Dad. I mumbled. I was just lost I thought.
We were now only a few minutes away. I forced my body to go faster. I couldn’t even feel my paws anymore.
As soon as we reached the packhouse, Alex, Mason, and Jake shifted. I followed their lead. Someone gave me a pair of sweatpants and I pulled them on. I followed Alex to his dad’s office.
“What the fuck are we going to do?!” Alex screamed as he burst through the door.
His parents were sitting at his dad’s desk. Daisy was sitting on the couch next to my parents. Beta Andrew was pacing around nervously.
All of them looked at us when we walked inside.
“Your mom is thinking about ways of protecting us from her magic,” his dad said, getting right to the business. “We can’t let her hurt us. She would never forgive herself for that.”
That was the only reason we left that fucking forest. Jake convinced us that we were protecting Sophia by walking away for now. I was furious that he could have suggested such a thing, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that he was right. If darkness really took over Sophia she could unintentionally hurt someone. She probably didn’t know how to control it and I knew that she would never forgive herself for hurting someone.
As much as I wanted to stay there and find her, I knew it was best to go back and think it through. We needed a plan. We needed to make sure that we got her back safe and unharmed.
“How do you even know that the darkness took over her?” Alex asked, clenching his fists tightly.
I approached my parents and my mom pulled me into a hug. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“I created a spell that allowed me to connect with her,” Luna Emma said, making me turn around abruptly.
“You spoke to her?!” I asked as my heart raced.
Emma shook her head. “I didn’t speak to her. I just managed to feel her. I needed to know if she was okay.”
“Is she hurt?” I asked as I gulped down the lump in my throat.
Luna Emma sighed and glanced at Alex. I couldn’t move my eyes from her. I needed her to tell me that my princess was okay.
“I am not sure,” Luna Emma mumbled, making the pain explode inside me. “She was trying to fight the darkness. She was begging someone not to make her do something. I could feel that she was afraid. I could feel the darkness when it…”
Luna Emma stopped talking and buried her head into Alpha Logan’s neck.
“Fuck!” Alex screamed as he tangled his fingers into his hair and pulled.
I couldn’t move. I was frozen. I wanted to scream and put my fist through the wall, but I couldn’t fucking move.
“Remember what Andrew said, my love,” Alpha Logan said, his voice breaking. “The important thing is that she is alive. We will get her back and we will save her.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. He was right. She was alive and that’s all that mattered.
“Anna suggested that we prepare a room for her,” Alpha Logan said as he looked up at us. “It would have to block out her magic. We would have to make her stay in there until we found a way to take the darkness away.”
I saw fucking red. Holden growled loudly.
“I am not letting you lock my mate up in a fucking cell!” I screamed as my claws elongated involuntarily.
Were they fucking insane?! I would never let them do something like that to her!
Alex and Mason agreed with me. They were growling and baring their teeth.
“We may not have a choice,” Daisy said, her voice breaking. “She might try to hurt us.”
I looked at her and narrowed my eyes. There had to be another fucking way!
I was just about to scream at her when Alex’s loud gasp interrupted me.
“Stella!” he exclaimed, making me look at him.
Stella?
