Hunter’s POV
“We are here,” Alpha Logan said as he walked in followed by Emma, Anna, Beta Andrew, and my father.
My father approached me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed.
“How are you, bud?” he asked me quietly.
“Better now that Emma is here and we can get this over with,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes on the demon holding my Angel captive.
“Hi, Mom,” the demon said, grinning widely. “Hi, Dad. It’s nice to see you again.”
Alpha Logan clenched his fists. Emma remained calm.
“Are you ready, Mom?” Alex asked, making Emma look at him and nod.
“Ready for what?” the demon asked, glancing between Alex and Emma.
I could hear a hint of nervousness in its voice and it made me happy.
Alex looked at the demon and smirked.
“To get rid of you,” Alex asked. “Did you really think that we wouldn’t find a way?”
The demon’s eyes widened. It looked at Alpha Logan.
“You can’t let them do this, Dad!” the demon exclaimed, rushing toward the window that separated us. “They are going to kill me.
“That’s the plan,” Alpha Logan spoke coldly. “Kill you and get our Sophia back.”
The demon’s eyes widened. It looked at all of us.
“There is no other Sophia!” it screamed. “I am Sophia! I am your Sophia! You are making a mistake!”
The demon looked at me and my heart skipped a beat.
“Are you really going to let them hurt me?!” it exclaimed. “I am your mate!”
I gulped and gritted my teeth.
A small spark of doubt ignited in my heart. What if it was telling the truth? What if it was really Sophia and the Sophia we all knew and loved was really gone? What if they killed my mate?
I promised to love her even if she was the darkest creature on this planet. Was I breaking that promise by trying to force the darkness out of her? Shouldn’t I love her just the way she was?
I was staring into its black eyes, trying to find proof that that was really my Sophia and not some demon created by the curse.
I broke eye contact with it when Alex pulled me to the side.
“Don’t listen to it!” Alex growled at me. “It is trying to confuse you. It is not Sophia!”
I blinked and focused on Alex. He was right. It wasn’t my mate. My mate was trapped inside and I had to do everything that I could to get her out of there.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“You are right,” I mumbled. “I am sorry. I just…”
“I know,” Alex said, squeezing my shoulder tightly. “You don’t have to apologize.”
I gulped and opened my eyes. Mason and my father were staring at me worriedly. Emma, Alpha Logan, and Beta Andrew were looking at the demon.
“Did our people leave?” Alex asked as he let me go and approached his parents.
“Most of them did,” Alpha Logan said. “Those living further away decided to stay.”
Alex nodded and smirked.
“Are you ready to say goodbye?” Alex asked, making the demon narrow its eyes.
The lights flickered and the glass between us shook.
“Is that the best you can do?” Alex laughed darkly, making the demon scream.
What the fuck was Alex doing?!
The cabin shook and we all lost our footing. Its magic brought us all down to our knees. I looked up, terrified that the window broke and that it would escape, but all I saw was the demon pulling on its hair and screaming.
The ground never stopped shaking. I tried to get up, but it was impossible. I couldn’t steady myself no matter how hard I tried. I was completely covered in dust that was falling from the ceiling and the walls.
I looked at Alex. He was down on his knees, but he was smirking. What the fuck?! Why the fuck was he smirking? The demon could get out if it continued blasting its magic like that!
But then suddenly everything stopped. The ground stopped shaking. The demon stopped screaming.
What the…
I looked up and saw Emma rushing toward the window. She placed her palms on the glass and took a deep breath. I jumped to my feet and ran toward her.
My mate was lying on the ground, unconscious.
My heart almost jumped out of my chest.
“Sophia!” I screamed as I slammed my fist against the window.
She didn’t respond. Why didn’t she respond?!
I could feel my heart in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. What happened to her?
“Did it work?” Alex asked, making me snap my head toward him.
“She is unconscious!” I screamed at him. “It didn’t work! It killed her! It…”
Emma interrupted me by placing a hand on my upper arm.
“This was supposed to happen,” Emma said softly. “I told Alex to provoke her so she would react. Being confined in that room made it really hard for her to use her magic and it drained her. It allowed me to get better access to Stella.”
I looked around the room and saw that everyone was staring at me. All of them had a mixture of sadness and guilt written all over their faces. They all knew what would happen. My father was with Emma when she talked about the spell. They told Mason through the mind-link. I was the only one left out of it.
Fuck!
“You should have told me what to expect,” I mumbled, my voice raspy. “I thought that…”
My voice broke and I couldn’t say it out loud.
“I am sorry, man,” Alex sighed. “We wanted to do it as fast as possible. It would take us time to explain and…”
Alex was interrupted by a groan coming from the room.
My head snapped toward my mate and I stopped breathing. Was it the demon or Stella? Did the spell work?
My mate opened her eyes and lifted her head a little. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on us.
The color of her eyes was the same as Sophia’s, but we couldn’t be sure if it was really Stella. The demon tried to trick us before.
“Alex?” my mate mumbled. “Hunter?”
My heart skipped a beat. Was it Stella?
“It’s her,” Alex mumbled, keeping his eyes on her. “Open the door, Mom. It’s her.”
His voice was trembling. My knees buckled.
“Are you sure?” Emma asked quietly.
I could tell that she was crying.
“It’s me,” my mate cried out. “I’m Stella.”
I had to hold back a sob. It was my mate. It was her wolf. Oh, thank you, Goddess!
Alex moved before any one of us could.
“Open the door, Mom!” Alex screamed, making us all move at the same time.
Emma mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Her voice was trembling. The door glistened for a second and Alex reached for the key immediately.
I thought that my heart would explode when he finally turned the key and opened the door.
I was one step closer to having my mate back.
