I began to worry when Hannalee didn't arrive through the gateway immediately. I told myself to remain calm, that the gateway would remain open for an hour and she was probably just delayed by a realm resident being nearby. We couldn't just recklessly go through the gateway when there were witnesses. But time had passed too quickly, and the gateway was near closing. It wouldn't open again for at least 24 hours, as it recharged, all protectors knew that. We had already had to tap into the emergency power source just to open the gate this time, since Hunter had returned to the home realm several hours earlier.
Under normal circumstances, I would have had her wait until the gate could be opened again without issue, but from her tone, I knew there was something in the situation that she hadn't wanted to tell me over the phone. Even if none of the realm residents understood our language, it was clearly dangerous for her to remain. So I went to the council, begged them to open the gateway with the emergency energy source, and they had agreed. But she wasn't appearing at all, no matter how long I had waited.
Finally, I made the initiative decision to go to her. If she was in danger, I could at least keep her safe until the gateway could be opened again.
She had been staying in a large building for temporary housing, a motel as the other realms called them, and we had planned for the gateway to appear as close to her as possible. It was convenient that the motel had a rather large clearing behind it that would also work for privacy. Granted, the wall behind the building had several, smaller windows that were too clearly in sight of the transportation, but none of the lights were on, giving me comfort in the thought that no one would notice in the darkness of the night.
I quickly moved around the building, freezing when I saw the unmistakable, magically infused dufflebag of our people, sitting on the grass beside the building. I knew, in an instant, that something had happened. As quietly as possible, I moved toward the front of the building, feeling the paranoia of someone watching me. Each of the doors was closed, but one door, the second from the last of the row, had what looked like a dent in the doorknob. Whoever had gotten in the way of Hannalee leaving had broken the doorknob.
I pushed the door open and paled at what I saw. The bed was a mess, the comforter thrown on the floor across the room and the fitted sheet half pulled off, the middle sheet missing. A pair of shoes, socks and jeans were on the floor at the end of the bed. A hoodie and bra had been thrown to the floor to the right off the bed, and the room had an unmistakable smell of sex.
It was quickly becoming clear that whoever had interfered with Hannalee's return home had also had their way with her. I would have preferred to think that they had just pleased themselves in her presence, but the clothes were clearly hers. No one in their right mind could please themselves in the presence of a naked woman and not taken the chance. I had to find her fast.
I remembered Hunter saying that a large male wolf had gotten close to him and Hannalee while they were talking. If it had been a wolf who had taken her, I needed to reach her before he had the chance to bite her. Our healing salve would prevent any transitioning from the wolf bite, if it was applied before the wound healed. Once the wound was healed, the change couldn't be reversed. Not even with the protectors incredible magic or herbs. What I didn't understand was how Hannalee had mentioned wiping someone's memories. It obviously couldn't have been the wolf that Hunter had mentioned, since the memory wipe was effective and permanent, so it must have been that the wolf had seen her do what she had done. If he had taken an interest in her for her power, and changed her without a thought, not only would she go insane from the bite, but her own power would go forward to fuel the berserk mode. She could risk destroying the entire realm.
I honestly hadn't wanted her to go to any other realms. The council had put me in charge of raising her because I was the only female even close to her power, and I still had almost nothing compared to her. Her power was unnatural, earning her much fear and many disgusted looks. It wasn't simply because she looked different from other protectors, she truly was different. Even the council feared that, if she had tried for it, they might not be able to remove her power. They knew they simply weren't powerful enough to remove her power from her if she did not accept it. At least if she had stayed in the home realm, she could have been given a proper partner, been given a family name, and any children she created could be the start of a change in the home realm.
We all knew that the creation of the humans had been a challenge to us, someone of great power had not liked what we had done, even if we had only done it for the good of the races. But, with Hannalee, and any children she had, we could fight back against whoever it had been. Maybe we could have even found a way to create a balance within the realms that had been torn apart. We had caused the unbalance, in our attempt to create peace, but we finally had a chance to fix it. We lost that chance if anything happened to Hannalee.
What no one but myself and the council knew was that Hannalee was different from other protectors in other ways as well. I had taught her of the fertility problems of all the protectors. We would need medical and magical treatments when we sought to conceive. But she would not need such treatments. And if the wolf who had taken her had released within her, it was likely she would conceive with the first time. If she didn't, that would be a miracle. She would need the emergency contraceptive if I could find her in time.
I looked through the room as quickly as I could. I knew that whoever had taken her had done so recently, otherwise the room would have had more time to air out.
I grimaced as I picked up the comforter, seeing the off white fabric, with the brown printed diamond design, stained with the spotting of red. There was no mistaking that the wolf man had taken Hannalee. This was now fueling my rage. My daughter, even if not by birth, had been taken and abducted. The wolf had no idea what danger he was in now.