Eleven

Natalie

Willow hadn't been able to locate Ruby and it had only enraged Xavier further. However, using the scratch that Xavier gotten on his arm from brawling with one of the strange wolves, she had been able to locate that wolf.

Xavier hadn't waited a second before he was out the door with Randoll and six others.

I was left behind to help Mathieu with creating a mental link with the entire pack to see who had gone against his command and told someone about Ruby. Creating a mind link is allowed only under specific circumstances. Alphas demand total obedience, and once an order is given it's almost impossible to disobey. But some wolves are strong enough to overpower the will of their alpha. In circumstances like this, a mind link through an Enchanted may be done.

It's taxing on an Enchanted, however, having all the thoughts and memories from the pack flowing through their minds to then be sent to the alpha. No one was guilty of talking about Ruby, though, and it left us with more questions than answers.

There was a time when the Enchanted were shunned, beaten, or killed for not being able to transform. Different is rarely accepted in the werewolf community, and a wolf who can't transform but can delve into the minds of others, who can see the past and get glimpses of the future, are too different.

I'm happy to have been born in a time when I don't have to live in hiding from humans and wolves. Would a time come when I wouldn't have to live in hiding from humans as well? Was Ruby's existence the start of a new world?

I've heard that some Enchanteds get so powerful they are almost like witches. If only I had those powers, I'd be able to find Ruby. I'd be able to break through that wall in her mind and see what lies behind it. I'm still young and my powers are still developing, so there's only so much I can do,

but there is someone who could help. So before Xavier had left, he had asked me to find the only Enchanted he knew of who could help.

Raindrops pummeled my body as I walked briskly through the street, people running in all directions to get out of the sudden downpour. I spotted my destination on the other side of the street and dashed across as lightning flashed overhead.

I pushed the door of the shop open and stepped inside, water dripping off my body and onto the wooden floor.

The shop was dark, lit by only a few candles, and the air was thick with the smell of incense. I looked around at the shelves that lined the walls, all stacked with books, jars of liquids and powders, and other mysterious objects.

"You're three minutes late," a woman said as she entered the shop through a curtain of beads at the back of the room. "At least I was right about the rain," she mumbled under her breath as she approached me and handed me a towel.

Her eyes were white, completely white, and so was her hair, which was in messy dreads and piled high on top of her head. She was shorter than me, five foot four maybe, with bracelets covering both her arms and crow's feet under her eerie eyes.

"How did you know I was coming?" I asked.

She dismissed my question with a wave of the hand and turned away. "Child, don't insult me. One day you'll be able to do the same." She pointed a finger at me over her shoulder. "You're a strong one. I can sense it. You'll possess greater powers than I." She stopped at the curtain of beads and looked back at me. "Are you coming, or do you plan on standing at my door the whole day?"

I dried my hair as much as I could as I followed her through the curtain and stepped into a very modern-looking living room. What a contrast from the dark gloomy shop! It was brightly lit and aesthetically furnished in black and white. There was even an electric fireplace.

"Um, you're Adolfa right?"

The woman nodded and took a seat before waving her hand to the sofa. "Sit. Xavier sent you and we need to get this over with quickly." She folded her wrinkled hands together in her lap as I sat down. "Times are quickly changing, and I'll be leaving soon."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She has to be blind. There is no way her eyes are like that and she's not blind. I waved my hand. "I'm sorry, but are you blind?"

"In one sense of the term, but my inner eyes show me everything I need to see. Stop waving your hand."

My hand fell onto my lap. "Sorry. So, where are you going? You said you'll be leaving soon," I asked her, and she laughed and reclined in her chair.

"Do you know how people like us were created?"

I shook my head and then remembered she couldn't see me. "No."

"Many wolves worship our goddess, but they don't believe she really exists. Yet they've all met her through an Enchanted. To meet an Enchanted is to meet the goddess because the first Enchanted was the goddess's half-human child. So, if we're being honest, all Enchanted are royalty. They all have divine blood."

She has to be joking right? Why had no one told me this before?

I looked down at my hands as if I could find confirmation there that what she was saying was true. I'm a descendant of the goddess? Why isn't this widely known? Enchanted are still looked down upon even now in some parts of the world. Some accept us, but others are just polite and skilled at hiding their disgust.

"I didn't know that. Why isn't this widely known? Enchanted are teased and bullied, called witches, when in reality we're demigods."

She raised her hands and shook her head. "Now, now, while we do have the goddess's blood, we only have a little of it. As the decades have gone by we've lost our power. Its potency has been diluted as our bloodline were mixed with those of normal wolves. We aren't demigods, Natalie, and werewolves have forgotten a lot. Maybe too much. And they're going to pay for their negligence. I'm not one to support the Council, but they do their best to preserve our history and our origins."

"And Ruby? You knew I was coming, so you must know about her."

A smile began to grow on her lips, an answer without words. She knew whom I was talking about. I had known it. Deep down I had known Ruby was special from the moment I had seen her. I was, however, also an expert at knowing that in this world there is no one more hated than a supernatural that is different than other supernaturals. I might not be able to

see Ruby's future, but I know she'll be facing a lot of backlash for merely existing. No human I've met has ever had such a pure white aura.

"Mm, yes." Adolfa interlocked her hands under her chin, her nails long and pointed, their tips black, and I watched closely as she closed her eyes. "Young Ruby, she has her father's hair."

Her father?

I sat forward, my heart skipping a beat. Was she seeing her?

With being so caught up with everything that had been happening, I never thought to ask Ruby about her life before she had moved here. It was clear it hadn't been a life filled with rainbows and unicorns, but where had she come from?

Mathieu would have done a background check on her, surely. But as her friend, I should have asked, and for that I felt horrible.

"Why did the goddess allow her to be mated to two wolves, and two future alphas at that? Nothing good can come from this. A human being mated to one wolf would have been bad enough. But two? This is a problem, for everyone."

"Indeed it is my child, indeed it is. But the goddess doesn't make mistakes."

I sighed with exasperation and rubbed at my forehead. "Yes, I keep hearing that, like there is something I'm missing, like there is something I should know. I'm here to find out what that thing is. She was taken, Adolfa. Someone abducted her."

She nodded. "I know." She opened her eyes once more and I frowned as they began to dart frantically from left to right. "Ruby isn't the problem, Natalie." She stood up and walked over to me as she reached out and cupped my cheek.

"Then what is she?"

Her wrinkled face brightened with an almost sinister grin, and before I knew what was happening she shoved one of her fingernails into my forehead. My body went as stiff as a board and then jerked as she pressed her nail deeper.

My body grew cold and I breathed out through my mouth, unable to move as I stared at the fog my breath created. The world around me began to fall away. She began speaking under her breath and my eyes rolled back. My mouth slowly gaped open and a scream was torn from my chest.

◆◆◆

Xavier

As it was daytime, transforming wasn't an option. Our senses would be heightened, but the risk was too great, so we stayed in human form as we surrounded the warehouse.

The warehouse was less than a mile away from where Ruby's blood had been found and her scent didn't go past this warehouse. Even though I was right outside I still could not smell the unknown wolves. A wolf has never been able to block their scent so completely.

With each passing second of not having Ruby in my arms, I grew more and more aggravated. I had only just found her; we were just getting close, and now she's gone.

She's not gone forever!

I clenched my fists before looking to my left and nodding to Randoll, his signal to move forward. He nodded in response and whistled, and the wolves who had surrounded the warehouse charged in.

Yells, growls, and loud crashes could be heard as they stormed inside. While we were unable to smell these wolves, I was certain they could smell us and had been preparing for our attack. But were they as pissed off as we were? They came onto my land, our land, and took one of ours.

"Maim, not kill! Not until I have answers!" I reminded my pack.

I had to hold myself back from joining the fight, for I wouldn't be able to stop myself from killing, and we needed information. My wolf was scratching beneath my skin to be released. He was begging to take over so he could go on a rampage to find his mate.

Doing that would get me nowhere; dead men don't speak.

"We'll find her." I said under my breath, my gums tingling with the need to sink my teeth into something. "Calm down."

I entered the warehouse and inhaled the pungent smell of old iron and waste. My nose crinkled in disgust. The place was run down, but it was clear these wolves had been using it as a home, or maybe just a meeting place.

Two wolves were battling it out with four of my men and would stand no chance. I inhaled deeply, trying to find Ruby's scent through the

onslaught of smells around me, but I couldn't smell anything. She wasn't here.

"Xavier!" Randoll yelled. But I was on guard and ready for a fight. I spun around and landed an uppercut on the man who had been trying to sneak up on me.

He staggered away from me and wiped at the corner of his mouth as blood instantly bubbled to the surface. I narrowed my eyes at a deep cut on his neck and my fangs elongated. "You. You were there last night."

He smiled at me and my wolf howled so loud within my head my vision blurred. My thirst for blood had me ripping my shirt off. "Where is she?" He began removing his shirt as well and I widened my stance as he hunched forward, his nails piercing the tips of his fingers like needles. "I'll only ask once more, where is she?"

"Not here." The man growled.

He charged at me, but a gunshot echoed in the space around us. The man was thrown to the side, blood spraying as he fell to the ground.

Scanning the warehouse, I saw Randoll lower his gun. I turned back to the dying wolf, black lines spreading from the wound.

I stepped over to him. His eyes glared at me with hatred, and I sighed and folded my arms over my chest. "I don't have time to fight with you. Tell me where she is and he won't shoot you again, I'll give you a quick death." The lines were spreading quickly and he began to wheeze. "There is wolfsbane in that bullet. The poison will keep spreading. Speak up and I'll help you. Who hired you to take her? Where is she?"

He started laughing and the neutral, impassive look on my face disappeared. I reached down, my hand shifting as I did so, and my claws wrapped around his throat. I picked him up, lifting the six-foot-two man off the ground as if he weighed less than Ruby before slamming him back down, the floor cracking beneath him.

Blood bubbled to his lips and spilled from the sides of his mouth and his cry pierced the silence around us as the nails on my other hand sank into his thighs, cutting through flesh and bone.

"How are you able to hide your scent?"

Harming another wolf, enemy or not, was something I hated and never took joy in doing, but in this case they fucked with the wrong girl.

"Where is she?" I yelled and the man grew still. He was still breathing shallowly and I bared my teeth as he began to smile.

He stuck his tongue out and my eyes widened at the small pill on the tip. I removed my hand from his thigh and grabbed at his face, but he had already swallowed the pill. The reaction was instant as he began to shake and foam at the mouth.

I released him as the other two wolves my men had secured started foaming at the mouth as well, their hands and legs twisting in odd directions as their eyes rolled back.

"The fuck?" Randoll said under his breath, a look of surprise passing between him and the other wolves.

I saw red.

I punched a pillar to my right, breaking it in half, and the roof of the warehouse groaned almost in pain. I howled so loudly an already cracked window shattered as I stormed outside.

"Burn it down!"

My phone began ringing and every fiber in my being was telling me to throw the thing into a wall. I need her! I need her back!

Natalie was the only hope left now, and I hoped she had gotten some information from the old Enchanted I had asked her to see. If not, we'd be officially lost, with no way of finding her from this point. The first few hours of a person going missing or being taken are the most crucial. We barely have anything to go on as it is.

"Yes, Dad?" I answered.

"Xavier, what did they say?"

I sighed and placed my hand on my forehead, my temples throbbing. "Nothing. The fuckers just took some kind of pill and offed themselves. We got nothing!"

I heard something shatter in the background and I clenched my teeth. "Then we have a serious problem."

"What is it?"

"Get back to the house."

My hold on the phone tightened and I heard a crack as I switched it from one ear to the next. "Damn it, Dad, just say it. What is it?"

There was a long pause. The longer the silence stretched the more my body began to shake with panic. "Natalie is missing and Adolfa is dead."

◆◆◆

Ruby

I jerked awake and looked around. When I realized I was still in the dreary cell, I closed my eyes and turned onto my side. I had hoped that the man in the shadows and the chain around my ankle were just a bad dream.

But as usual, I never get what I want. The universe has been dishing out shit to me since the moment I was born.

Waking up and finding Xavier watching me while I slept was something I'd pick over this any day of the week. I missed him. I missed him so much fresh tears sprang to my eyes. I squeezed my eyes closed to stop them and tried to remember what it felt like to have his warm body close to mine.

Whoever abducted me might be watching me right now, might be listening, and I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing or hearing me cry. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but what would that change? My hair was tangled so badly my fingers could not run through it, and I didn't need heightened senses to know that I was starting to smell funky.

None of that would be changed by my screaming and losing my voice in the process.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed since I'd been here, but I'd seen two days and one night come to an end and now it was nighttime again. I'd been sleeping nonstop, and wouldn't be surprised if at some point I'd slept through an entire day.

Am I going to die here?

I missed Natalie as well, and her perky warmth and ability to make me feel better. I felt alone, utterly alone in this place, and I was starving! I was starting to feel weak, my body in need of sustenance. Only once since I'd been here had I woken up to find bread and water inside my cell, but since then I'd had nothing to eat or drink.

'What are you?'

The shadow man's question was whispered in my mind and I took a deep breath. What I am is cursed, that's what I am. All I had wanted was to get an education, to earn my degree and pray that it would be something to change my life for the better.

Two weeks in and the shit had hit the fan.

My stomach growled and I turned onto my other side, now facing away from the window, and my heart stopped as yet again someone was standing in the shadows. This time I remained still, too weak to get up anyway.

I couldn't see the man's face but I could feel his eyes on me, and so I stared back, my eyes blinking slowly.

"Are you hungry?"

"No, I've been eating all day I'm kind of full, thanks."

Dumbass, of course I'm hungry!

I realized this was a different voice. It wasn't as gravelly and painful to the ear, but still deep and husky, like the voice a man has when he just wakes. I placed my hand under my cheek and narrowed my eyes.

"You're not the man from before. Are you able to tell me why I'm here or will there be someone else coming to watch me in the dark after you?"

"Something really needs to be done about your smart mouth."

Who the hell is this guy?

"Sorry, there is no cure." I sat up but left my leg with the chain on the bed while the other hung over the edge. "So, who are you? It's creepy to watch someone while they sleep."

"It's not creepy if the person I'm watching is my mate."

I tasted blood in my mouth as I bit down on my tongue when Axel stepped out of the shadows. I clenched my fists and got off the bed, dragging myself closer to the iron bars. I eyed him up and down and my stomach turned as a sickening smirk grew on his lips.

"What the hell are you doing Axel? What's going on?"

He buried his hands into his jeans pockets and shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No, it's really fucking not. What's going on? How are you even doing this? I thought mates couldn't hurt each other."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Was the man before me really Axel? It looked like him, dark clothes, dark smirk and all. It was him. I saw his eyes look down at my ankle quickly before they met my angry stare once more.

"Who told you that?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "You'd have to be my mate for that to apply."

"You just said I am your mate!"

"Be quiet, child!"

Child?

I recoiled as his yell stung my eardrums and he walked forward until he was holding onto the bars. His eyes were burning with such hatred I looked away, confused at the tightness within my chest. How can he hate me so much? He doesn't even know me.

My voice was low when I spoke, almost unrecognizable to me. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for any of this."

His hands fell away from the bars and I looked at him, his face now smooth but his eyes still intense. "Neither did I, but this happened anyway, and now it will be handled. I don't want you."

"Reject me then."

His eyes lowered into slits and I held his stare the way I had in the living room days before. Silence reigned around us as we stared at each other and I crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes followed my every move and I arched a brow to show that I was waiting for his response.

"Reject me."

"Well, aren't you brave? I don't know what rejecting you will do to me just yet. You're human. This is unknown territory. Maybe you were created for this, to have me reject you and I get hurt instead. I have a lot of enemies who want to see me fall."

"That's not surprising." He shook his head and I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. "You know one wouldn't peg you for a nut job by looking at you. Do you even hear what you're saying? For the last time, I wasn't created. I'm a real person!"

I stepped forward but the chain dug into my leg, making me wince. I saw the way his face twitched as his eyes looked down to my leg and I felt a flicker of hope. No matter how much he pretended to hate me, he was still affected by our bond.

Maybe I could play on the bond's strength, get through to him by begging. "Please, Axel, don't do this. Let me out of here, please."

His head tilted to the side as he regarded me curiously. I felt like an animal at a zoo. His eyes roamed up and down my body and I grew self- conscious.

"You really think that will work on me, don't you?" I frowned.

"Do you think batting your lashes and flipping your hair will get you out of this?" He held onto the bars once more. "This is real life, Ruby. Charm won't get you out of this. Xavier's weak. It's not surprising he fell for you, but I won't. You're a human, a weakling. You're not fit to be my mate."

His words stung me more than I expected and I bit my tongue again to stop the tears burning behind my eyes from breaking free. "Then what will get me out of this? Tell me! Tell me what I need to do or just reject me. Reject me and be free of me then, instead of telling me over and over again how much I disgust you. You can't stand the sight of me and that is clear. I'm not your biggest fan either. But don't keep me down here. This won't change the fact that I'm your mate. You don't want me, but Xavier does. Let me go back to him."

His jaws visibly clenched at the mention of Xavier's name and his low growl had me stepping back. I wasn't blind, I could see the killer within his eyes. I had seen it from the first time we met.

He and Xavier are like night and day. Xavier brought the sun to my world, but Axel was darkness personified.

"No." He replied his voice low and almost inaudible. He turned his back to me and I stared at him. I didn't need him to like me or love me, I just needed him to let me go. I hadn't asked to be his or Xavier's mate. Why punish me like this? There had to be more to this story.

"Why are you punishing me like this? Did a human do something to

you?"

He spun around. "Are you serious? What are you doing? Do you

think I'm going to open up to you?" He laughed, but it held no humor. "I'll reject you soon enough, so sit tight. Do you want to know why you're here? I've been trying for years to be rid of the Blackmoon Pack. They're weak, they aren't real wolves, and they're the ones sitting on prime land while my pack has to settle for scraps. Now you've presented the perfect chance for me to strike."

I stepped back until the back of my leg hit the bed. "W-what do you mean?"

"Aww, you thought this was about you and this mate bullshit? Sure, I can't stand the thought of you being my mate, but you, little Ruby, you just single-handedly brought down an entire pack." A sick feeling began to settle in my chest as he backed away until he was cloaked in darkness

again. "You see, humans always bring destruction, and this will all be blamed on you. Let's see if Xavier loves you after that."

The door opened and he vanished through it.

I collapsed onto my bed as I hugged myself, my tears finally breaking free. My breathing started coming out in sharp gasps as I slid off the bed and onto the cold floor. No, no, what did he mean by saying I brought down the Blackmoon Pack?

I looked toward the door through the iron bars and started sobbing. Whatever he's planning, Xavier won't fall for it. He won't. I pulled my knees up and rested my forehead on them, and for the first time since being in this cell I cried until I lost all the strength in my body and fell unconscious.