Velor and Niva ran through the pitch black.
Niva almost stumbled beside him, her breath ragged as she tried to catch up when Velor suddenly stopped,right outside the last corridor."Velor???"
"Ssshhh!Quiet,"he snapped, his voice barely above a growl.The scent of burnt magic clung to the air...thick, cloying.It imdiately felt wrong... so wrong.
They rounded the final corner... Velor took Niva’s hand, guiding her through the darkness. But then they both froze.
The scene before them was chaos. Niva blinked as she too finally understood what she was seeing.
The healer was sprawled across the far wall, his robe scorched and tattered at one end.A thin trail of blood trickled from the side of his head. Glass shards glittered beneath his limp hand where he had possibly crashed or been flung...into a supply cabinet.
Serra and Mara lay crumpled in the corner, hurdled together...unmoving. One of them had a long scratch down her arm...actively bleeding...but it seed like they were both still breathing.
But Autumn...she was nowhere in sight.
She was gone.No Seer...Nothing.No trail!
Velor’s entire body went still. His eyes scanned the empty cot where she might have laid temporarily.
"...No," Niva whispered, staggering forward. She collapsed to her knees beside Mara, her fingers trembling as she checked her pulse.
"Still alive," she breathed, confirming. "Velor, she is breathing. They are both breathing...but they are out cold!"
Velor’s fists curled at his sides. For a mont, he was stone.And then...
"FUCK!"
He roared so loud it seed to shake the mortar from the walls.
"Autumn’s been taken...fuck!!!"Velor breathed harder, the word ripping from him like an insult.
"Serra! Serra,wake up!" Niva shook her roughly, then pressed two fingers to her neck.
Velor didn’t wait any longer. The pack mind link flared open.His voice clapped like a thunder through the ntal space of every single one in the line of duty in the Bloodfang pack.
"SEAL THE BORDERS. NOW. NO ONE LEAVES. NO ONE COS IN. I want every patrol out, combing the periter for a cloaked woman. Strong magical energy. Possibly a Seer. FIND HER. DO NOT let her cross the line!TEAR THE TERRITORY APART IF YOU HAVE TO!"
The response was imdiate...shouts echoed through the halls above, hundreds of boots pounded against stone as the pack mobilized.
" Send a dical team down to the basent... send so reinforcents too! The Lunas are down! " He added, linking to the ergency team.
Velor turned on his heel, already striding back towards the stairs.
"Velor, wait!" Niva called after him. "We need to..."
"You stay with them,"he snarled, not looking back. "Wake them up. Find out what the hell happened.When you do let know imdiately..." After a pause he added. " I am going to find Autumn myself! "
He didn’t wait for her reply.
The stairs blurred beneath him as he took several of them at a ti almost striding in all fours,his wolf about to take over...his fury was bubbling in his chest.
He had been forced to go through a myriad of emotions in the small span of a ti... the ones he really hated... A waste. A failure. Not being in control. Outsmarted... and so on.
He burst into the courtyard. Guards were already sprinting in every direction as they fanned out across the territory.
Then...
"Alpha!"
Velor could see the periter stones glowing...activated to detect strong magic signatures...and one such signal had just flared near the tree lines.
A guard skidded to a halt before him, his face flushed with exertion. "We have caught soone lurking near the eastern border. Hooded. Powerful magic signature...similar to what was felt in the basent...but she is alone...no sign of anybody else..."
Velor’s eyes narrowed. "Take there."
They sprinted down together into a clearing just beyond the main gates,outside the garden area. A small cluster of soldiers stood in a tight circle. In the middle, a hooded figure thrashed, bound with magical restraints that sparked every ti she struggled.
Velor slowed, breath ragged, shoulders tight.
He stepped forward.
"I want all hands off her when I say go."
The guards fell back without question.
He approached the hooded figure and without hesitation walked forward with his hands in his pocket, trying to analyse the situation.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO WITH AUTUMN?! WHERE IS SHE?!"
The woman beneath froze. She imdiately gave up struggling.
Velor didn’t hesitate.
He crossed the distance in three strides, his hand suddenly lashing out to yank the hood back...
It was his turn to freeze this ti...shock and disbelieve.
The face that stared back at him was familiar.
Too familiar.
"Mango?" The na left him in a disbelieving exhale.
The Blackmoon healer glared up at him, her dark eyes blazing with defiance...and worry as well. A trickle of blood ran from her nose, her lip split, but her chin stayed high.
Velor’s grip tightened on the fabric of her cloak. "You," he breathed, the pieces clicking together in his mind. "You were the one pretending to be the Seer? This was Kieran’s doing, wasn’t it? He sent you to take her back???That bastard stooped so low???Cursed his own mate,huh? Now kidnapped her???Fucking fool...does he even know she is carrying his heirs???!!"
Mango’s eyes widened, then narrowed. "You are even dumber than I thought,"she spat.
" You ugly old witch!!! Stop being so cocky or else...pretending to be a Seer ,huh? And now..." Velor almost lifted her off her foot, shaking her violently, his gaze red, his words shooting at her with bullet speed.
"What Seer?I ca to get Autumn,yes...but I didn’t even make it past your borders. Your n caught .And Kieran???" She yanked herself free from Velor’s grip. " Kieran does know Autumn is pregnant... but I highly doubt he has any idea you have been hiding her... besides... I haven’t heard back from him ever since your party... I ca here for Autumn... but now you are saying... what??? She has been kidnapped??? "
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