Damon felt a prick in his chest then a flutter as he walked around the woods. The early morning crispy air blew his shirt lightly as he scanned the trees for any sign of life.
She was not here, his mind kept screaming at him but he was too stubborn to believe that. He knew she was probably too stubborn, that's why she was hiding.
Maybe she didn't want them to find her, especially not after finding out that her grandparents were killed by him and Ciara.
But his mate was killed by her clan, he tried to reason with his senses. There was no reasoning with his wolf though as the beast growled and yearned to surface.
Damon tried his best to keep the wolf down, he didn't want to cause a fiasco here.
"She isn't here," Aaron finally said.
Damon rolled his eyes. Obviously, he wanted to snap but shook his head. The man looked terrible like he just lost the one thing keeping him alive.
Was that how much his daughter meant to him? He wondered and for an instant, he almost felt pity. Almost but not quite.
"Well, maybe she went back home," Damon suggested.
"She was crying for help, Damon. Now I can't reach her," Aaron sighed.
"We've been in the woods since last night and there's been no sign of her," Damon said.
"Also, we weren't attacked. Do you think it might have gotten to her and decided to leave us?" Ryan asked.
Damon glared at him as Aaron shook his head then they headed back to the packhouse.
Damon knew he needed to talk to his parents so he wasn't surprised when he saw them pacing around anxiously waiting for him.
"You didn't find her?" his mother gasped.
Alexia's mother was with them too and she gave her husband a mournful look.
"What can be so powerful to capture our fearless daughter?"
Damon noticed the other clans had all gone home including the hunters. Only Aaron and his wife were left.
"I need to talk to you, mom, and you too, dad," he said.
His father nodded. "Yeah but send out a search party first then we can talk."
Damon gave his father an incredulous look. "Since when did you care about a huntress going missing?"
"You will do what your father wants you to do this instant, Damon Davis Hendrix!" his mother growled, her eyes flashing dark.
Damon gasped, taking two steps back and whispering to his beta.
"Perhaps if we could all calm down."
Damon saw Zedicus coming out from the great hall and he frowned.
"What's a wizard doing here?"
"Maybe it's time we tell this pup what's going on," Draco snickered.
"The fact that you've lived for a thousand decades doesn't mean I can't beat the shit out of you!" Damon growled.
Zedicus waved a hand and Damon found himself in the great hall. He glared at him and everyone present.
"Alright, what the fuck is going on here?!"
Draco sighed as Aaron stared pointedly at Zedicus.
"Will someone speak up already?" Nessa quizzed, staring at the men.
Aaron shrugged. "It's a prophecy. The wizard is supposed to say it."
Zedicus rolled his eyes and with a wave of his hand, a scroll appeared on the wall. It was written in a strange language and a strange glow swirled on the page.
"Well?" Damon prompted.
"In the times when the light goddess was revered and the worship of the devil was a taboo, a prophecy was given to the sisters of the light a thousand years ago," Zedicus began, "A second-chance mate shall be given to the one stained with blood. Together the realms of both worlds shall remain but apart it shall be chaos. True forgiveness and blood can this oath be broken, kept aside consequences be damned then all shall be free."
Damon blinked when the scroll vanished and everyone stared at him.
"I don't understand what he just said!" he growled.
"It's not for you to understand but for you to see that it's happening," his father hissed.
Damon chuckled. "You believe this nonsense, father?"
"A second-chance mate to the one whose hands are stained in blood!" his mother growled.
"You killed her grandparents," Draco pointed out.
"Okay, what does the rest of the prophecy have to do with me?" Damon queried.
Zedicus chuckled. "So young and so naive. Go and rescue your mate, Damon before she's lured away from you."
Damon rolled his eyes. Amid all these people staring at him, he suddenly felt so conscious and wondered what was going through their minds.
"You're the expert. Why don't you tell me where she is?"
"From this moment on you're to carry this task alone, you're not to involve a single soul except the one destined to help you," Zedicus said.
Aaron groaned. "A locator spell would do wonders right now, Zed!"
"I'm sorry I can't help. Her location has been cloned, I can't reach it, I already tried," he replied.
"How exactly am I supposed to find her now?" Damon groaned.
***
Alexia stared at the group of people before her as she wriggled in her chains. They were the ones terrorizing the supernatural world and now they wanted her to join them.
She assessed her situation and wondered how easy it would be for her to leave here unscathed. Unfortunately, she didn't see the possibility of that ever happening if she refused their offer.
"What makes you think I'll help you?" she asked, deciding to play it safe.
"Because you are alone, darling. Whether you like it or not, you're one of a kind. You're the only huntress ever," one of the guys answered.
"What exactly are you guys? I mean, you guys are so powerful so why do you need me?" she probed further.
They smirked. "We make it a habit of picking the odd ones out and turning them into someone new."
"So what are you guys?" she asked again.
"You'll get the answer to your question only when we're satisfied that you are going to join us."
Alexia stifled a groan. She didn't know how she was going to convince these people except by lying and probably giving up some information.
"How do I convince you?" she finally asked.
Alexia didn't like the look on their faces or the smirk that followed but she decided it was worth a try.
"You are to bring the head of a hunter," they said simply.
On a normal occasion, this was a really simple task especially since she wasn't on good terms with those hunters but she knew she could never do it.
"How do you know I won't leave and never come back?" she asked.
"We know you won't come back but you'll always have an opening here and once you finally kill a hunter we'll be there," they replied.
"Can't I get a name or at least what you guys are?" she tried again.
"I'm sure you've got plenty to say. Now run along a little huntress. Always know that you're one of us."
Alexia was still in a daze when they finally got rid of her blindfold and left her in the forest, close to Damon's packhouse.
She still couldn't believe that they left her without hurting her. It felt very suspicious but she couldn't place her fingers on it.
Her father was the first person that found her and took her inside the packhouse.
"What happened, darling?" her mom asked.
"How come we were unable to communicate with you?" her father added.
Alexia looked around and saw all the faces staring at her including Damon and his parents, Draco and Zedicus.
"It's okay if you can speak," her father said softly.
"I don't know dad except they had a crescent moon mark on their forehead," she replied.
Aaron cocked his eyebrow at her. "Crescent moon mark?"
"Yes. The ones that kidnapped me, one of them had red eyes and they were incredibly fast and powerful," she replied.
Alexia was smart. She noticed how the temperature in the room dropped and saw that Damon noticed it too. The rest of the people in the room knew something about these people.
"Spill, what are they?" she enquired.
"I may be wrong because they are supposed to be extinct but what you encountered as a child is one of the rarest types of werewolves," Zedicus said.
"It's not possible," Draco argued.
"Well, I'll be damned if they are the Epsilon, the Ultima, and the Primordials," Zedicus chuckled but Alexia saw through the laughter, his eyes glazed in fear.
Now she wondered, what type of wolves were these people that brought fear to these people?