I stared up at the greenery around me in hopes that I'd see a black wolf appear in my vision. My chest burned with the need for her to be around me on such a special day, but she didn't want me.

She wanted her old mate.

I picked a piece of the wood off the railing with the knife I was holding, clearly remembering when Nava threatened me with the knife. She did not like the idea of getting close to someone again when I first meet her, so I was well acquainted with all her weapons.

Now with Nava at her old pack, I couldn't help but feel a throb of jealousy since she didn't need me anymore. She had Thomas and her parents.

I had my parents and brothers too but... It wasn't the same warm feeling I had when I was with her.

She meant so much to me...

But I had to know if I meant anything to her.

Which is why it is keeping everything inside of me to hold myself back from going back to her.

It was so hard...

I just wanted to be by her side.

Yesterday around this time, she had opened herself to me only to throw her walls yet again. I thought that maybe she was sorry for putting me at arm's length only craving attention when she wanted it... But it wasn't, I felt her pure joy and happiness that just broke me.

Was she truly happy without me...?

Was it better that I stay away from her?

Am I causing her so much grief...?

I felt something buzzing in my pocket making me sigh and lean back to slip my phone out of my pocket. Confusion filled my painful thoughts when I noticed it was Thomas calling me.

"h.e.l.lo?" I ask, surprised that he was actually using the number I gave him when we first met. I never expected him to call me.

Honestly, I was silently hoping that it was somehow Nava.

"Hey! Merry Christmas dude! How are you guys over there?" He asks in a happy tone while I took the knife in my hands and picked off a piece of wood on the railing.

"I'm still alive... How is she?" I hesitated to ask, but I couldn't help myself. If she was happy, then I would be happy. But if she wasn't... then I'd go back and change that.

At this point, I didn't care. Her happiness overrode my pain of being without her.

"What do you mean, dude? She left this time yesterday and was heading to you. Has she not made it back?" Thomas questions when I stood up and stared out to the quiet forest.

"No. She hasn't... Let me call you back in a moment." I quickly hung up on him and closed my eyes, feeling for her but I was only met by darkness.

A darkness that was forced, not placed.

I hurriedly dialed Thomas's number and entered into the coven. He picked up within seconds as I rushed past the joyful families that were opening presents.

"She's not there, is she? She may have got caught up in some snow. Her wolf is ignoring h-"

"No. Something is wrong," I told Thomas, softly patting High Priest Ivan when he glanced over at me. He noticed my expression, pressing a soft kiss on his mate and getting up to follow me. I noticed the little girl that was nestled with Faye see me, quickly standing up to follow us.

"What do you mean? She's a hunter, Levi. She does this sometimes and the trek here took you guys two days. She may still be heading there." Thomas a.s.sures me but I knew better than anything.

Nava was in trouble.

"When Nava was captured by a.s.sa.s.sins, I tried many times to contact her through our mate bond but was blocked by some kind of force. That force is acting upon me again." I told High Priest Ivan and Thomas before opening the back doors. "I am going to find her, stay by your phone and tell her parents," I order Thomas even though he held more authority than I did.

"Her parents aren't here. They left on some trip yesterday morning, but I'll contact them." He agrees before we ended the call.

"Huntress Nava has disappeared again?" High Priest Ivan asks me when I nodded and turned to him.

"Yes. Her disappearance feels too familiar to when the a.s.sa.s.sins captured the ladies." I told him as the little girl tugged on my jacket, her face reddening from the snow. "Go inside, Ari." I waved the deaf girl, Ari, away.

"Mom?!" She yelled loudly, referring to Nava while I nodded and kneeled down to her.

"She is in trouble," I spoke slowly to her when Ari placed her hand on my lips. "Mom is in trouble," I repeat for her as her face fell with fear. "We are going to get her." I motion to High Priest Ivan and I before she pointed to herself.

"Ari wants to go!" She shouts, not understanding how loud she was being since she was deaf.

"Ari can't go," I told her and pressed her small hand to my lips. "Ari must stay and be brave." She frowned but nodded before hugging me and running back inside, closing the door behind her.

"I didn't know I was going." High Priest Ivan comments to himself as I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Just think of this returning the favor to my mate for saving your daughter." I point out when he rubbed his jaw with an amused expression.

"Boy. You are getting good at compelling me to help you out. Alright. Let's start the tracking spell so we can find Huntress Nava." He rose his hand to the ground, starting the spell as I nodded and quickly follow suit.

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Hopefully, it won't be hard to find her...

〰 Nava 〰

I heard a familiar ringtone in the room going off when lifting my head just enough to see them answer the phone. My wrists and ankles were bound by tight ropes and my body ached with the wolf's bane running its course through me.

"Thomas... No, my mate and I are at the motel now. Why?... Is that so? That's horrible... Yes, I'll let you know if I can't contact Nava... Thank you." My mother clicked off her phone, smiling down at me before I felt a cold finger run along my back.

"Looks like they are looking for you now. No problem. They won't find you with my witch's help." Andrew sneers when yanking my hair back and forcing me to look at him. The rag in my mouth suppressed my pained cry as his black eyes stared down into mine.

My heart hurt from the thought of my parents watching this and not even caring. I couldn't even fathom the thought of watching my child going through such a thing.

Yet here they were acting innocent...

"Make sure they don't find us, Khole. If they do you are as good as dead." He snarls at the small girl as she nodded and closed her eyes once again.

"Yes, master." She says pathetically, surrounding herself in a bind of magic when Andrew grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

"How you were able to destroy half the league I will never understand. You seduced Dylan then killed Ian... You are going to face those consequences." Andrew snaps, covering my eyes with the blindfold before showing my head off the chair.

Pain seared through my neck as my head hung in front of my body, the wolf's bane making it hard to move any of my muscles, to begin with.

"Stay in here, all three of you," Andrew ordered my parents and Khole before leaving the room with a fury that shook my entire being. My shoulders were limp as I peered at my mother through my long black hair. The blindfold slowly falling off my eyes and wrapping around my neck.

I tried saying something but the gag prevented me from talking. The task of the rag so foul that it made me nearly throw up with every moment but I refused too.

I needed to know why...

Why my parents were watching this and not helping?

I said something again, trying to push the rag out of my mouth with my tongue but failing miserably. Slowly, I pushed myself against the chair again and called for my mother's name again.

"John could y-"

I felt a hand pulling the rag loose from my mouth as it disappeared. My jaw felt raw from my mouth being forced open when I stared at my mother with misery.

"How could you...? To your own daughter..." I whisper as she leaned against the wall, her glamorous dress looking out of the ordinary in the dark cell we were stuck in.

"Oh come on. You've never been a daughter to us." She scoffs when my throat tightened. "You were born to pay off our debts to the league." She confesses while I stared at her in disbelief.

"W-What...?" I murmur as my father walked over to her.

"We hired the league to kill John's father since he disposed of my race. He said a black woman shouldn't infect his family line so John and I had him killed." My mother says with a small shrug as if it didn't matter at all.

"You kill grandpa just because he didn't like the color of your skin...? Then why did grandma live? Why wasn't she killed with grandpa?" I choked out the questions.

Why would any sane person do that to her own family...?

"Of your grandmother just hated me the worst so what better way to teach her lesson than killing her mate? Of course, that's what we did with you." Mother points out before I felt my whole body freeze.

"Y-You sent those witches to... To kill my family." I said, finally connecting the piece as tears filled my eyes.

I never realized how much my parents hated my happiness when they couldn't even have it...

"We created you to be an a.s.sa.s.sin and trained you to be the killer the league wanted. They wanted a warrior that had no heart and would fight off our debt. But you found a mate, had a family, had a heart." She says sharply, looking unpleased with me. "We had to kill them all." She confesses as my body shook with misery of the truth.

"You... You a.s.sholes! I hate you! You killed my entire family only because I was something for the a.s.sa.s.sins to have! You killed them because of your f.u.c.king debt! I hate you! I hope you die the worst death!" I scream, agony dripping from my voice when my father groaned and walked over to me again. "Don't you dare f.u.c.king touch me! Get away from m-" He stuff the rag into my mouth and tied it off behind my head.

"Don't worry, Nava. Your father and I have decided to have another child after you are disposed of. We won't be reminded of this ungrateful child and you will live the life of an a.s.sa.s.sin. They will make you forget everything, make you go insane, make you want to kill. You'll have a life with them and we will finally live a happy life without the debt of you." My mother a.s.sures me, petting my hair from my face as I tried escaping her touch.

I tried screaming at them again, tears running down my face when the blindfold returned over my eyes again. The lack of sight making everything worse as I felt myself breaking down.

My parents...

No...

They've never been my parents...

They are evil, evil people who only cause misery...

Such evil people...

I'm going to kill them.