Riven's eyes flickered and turned red with rage. One hand shot out and gripped Caleb's throat, claws emerging and biting into the shifter's skin.
"Alpha...please...",Caleb choked.
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH OVER HER!",Riven roared furiously. All the shifters immediately winced and fell to their knees, holding their heads in pain as Riven's Alpha voice slammed through their minds.
Riven couldn't think straight. The fact that he couldn't feel even a tiny part of Layla's presence made him raging mad and in the mood to kill. His beast started fighting to emerge and a slow shifting began. His ears grew out and his golden fur broke out of his skin. Bones popped painfully, his canines emerged and his eyes flickered from gold to red.
Cade knew what was happening and he quickly shifted into his lycan.
"Riven you have to stop!",Henrietta's panicked voice reached the enraged Alpha's ears and still, Riven didn't release Caleb. His shifting slowly completed and a blood curdling roar emitted from his mouth. Another clawed hand lifted and was about to strike Caleb when Cade slammed into him.
Riven's grip loosened and Caleb fell away, almost unconscious from lack of air and the wound on his neck.
The two lycans became locked in hot combat. Riven's golden lycan form and Cade's silver lycan. They crashed around the large hallway, slamming into the walls. Framed pictures shattered and tables were upturned as the two beast battled. In the midst of it all, Cade's mind link struggled to reach Riven.
[Alpha! Please control your beast! I'm sure Luna is fine!]
Riven however didn't respond because the only thing he could see was red. Until he found his mate, he would be trapped in his cage of fury and no mind link would reach him. Right now, he saw Cade and the entire shifters as a threat and his rage intensified.
"If he doesn't stop, he will go feral",Henrietta said urgently to Caleb. "We need to find Layla right now! What happened exactly?"
Caleb was leaning against the wall. The wound on his neck was slowly healing and there was a wild fearful look in his eyes.
"We were just in the library",he began in a hoarse voice. "Luna was wounded...the book cut her..."
"What book?",Henrietta asked impatiently. This wasn't the time for Caleb to stall.
"The book of shadows. Luna...she recited an incantation and disappeared instantly",Caleb finished lamely.
Henrietta gasped.
The book of shadows belonged to the last Great Sorceress, Annabelle Hale. It contained powerful dark magic and had been sealed close by Annabelle before the annihilation of the Sorcerers. Only a powerful Sorcerer or Sorceress could open the book of shadows and yet, Layla did. This only proved Layla was indeed a Sorceress, and a powerful one at that.
"Come with me! I need to know what incantation it was",she said quickly. A scream escaped her when the two lycans suddenly crashed through the wall and landed outside.
"We have to hurry",Henrietta screamed and dragged Caleb with her, making her way towards the library. On getting there, Caleb grabbed the book and showed her the exact page Layla had opened.
Henrietta's eyes widened when she discovered the incantation. "Oh no",she whispered. "Layla sent herself to the past"
Outside the mansion, the silver lycan was sprawled on the ground, looking battered and weak. Slowly he shifted back to his human form while Riven marched towards him, claws extended and ready to kill, canines gleaming wickedly.
...
Layla looked around her in confusion. One second she was sitting close to Caleb and looking over that book of shadows and the next thing, she felt the wind knocked out of her and felt herself sliding down a dark abyss. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the library. She was in a field, filled with strange coloured flowers.
She got to her feet quickly and looked around her. The environment looked strange and old-fashioned. There was a hut at the end of the road, built with straw and sticks. The strange flowers surrounded the hut and even grew out of it in some places. The sky looked bright, too bright. And the hot sun beat down on the earth mercilessly.
Layla began to walk towards it, taking note of the fact that there were no other houses around. It was just the straw hut.
"How did I get here?",she asked herself. "That book of shadows...did that incantation bring me here?". She gasped and her eyes widened. "Am I a...witch?"
The last word came out in a whisper and the possibility of she being a witch turned over in her mind. She was utterly confused with all the strange events occuring. She got to the front of the hut and slowed down.
First things first, she thought. She would figure out where she was before wondering about the book of shadows and the possibility of being a witch.
The door of the hut suddenly opened and Layla froze. A man emerged from within, holding a skinned rabbit in his left hand and a knife in the right. He looked young, with sharp aristocratic features. Dark hair that curled around his neck and the sharpest gray eyes she had ever seen. He was dressed strangely;a brown coloured robe that covered his entire body. He had no shoes on.
The man paused and whipped around suddenly, throwing the knife he held at the figure behind him.
Layla gasped and shut her eyes as the knife sailed through the air towards her.
The man, suddenly realizing it was a young girl, moved swiftly towards her. His form blurred and in the blink of an eye, he was back in front of the hut, holding the knife.
Layla waited for the pain of the knife but it never came. She cracked one eyelid open and stared at the man that was now holding the knife.
Huh?
"Who are you? And how did you get here?",he asked quietly. One hand remained on the knife as he watched the girl like a hawk.
Layla gulped and stuttered.
"I... I don't know how I got here, I... I was just... I appeared here...suddenly"
The man tilted his head to the left and stared in silence at the girl. She was strange, that was sure. Her dressing was even weird.
"You just appeared here",he finally said.
"Yes. Yes I... I don't know how...",Layla closed her mouth and cleared her throat. "Where is this place, if I may ask?"
The man finally walked away from the door and went towards the corner of the house. He stuck the rabbit in a sharpened stick and placed it over a low fire. Layla watched him and strangely, she didn't feel scared or terrified.
"You're in a place called the hidden island",the man answered after what seemed like ages.
Layla's eyes widened with happiness. She was still in the island. She heaved a relieved sigh. Whatever that incantation was, it only took her out of Riven's home.
"Please, if you could just take me to Riven's mansion..."
The man whirled around suddenly and Layla took a step back in fear. He still held the knife and she wasn't comfortable with it.
"Riven? As in, Riven Qinn? You know him?",he asked.
Layla began to feel scared. Why was he staring at her that way? Would it be a good thing to say she knew Riven? The man seemed angry at the name.
"I... I'm.. I just need to get to the mansion..."
The man turned away and continued his little chore.
"I'd stay away from that mansion if I were you",he said over his shoulder. "If Supreme Alpha Qinn discovers you're asking for his son, you'll be dead".
Layla frowned. Son? Wasn't Riven the Supreme Alpha? Did he have a son?
"Isn't... isn't.. Riven the Supreme Alpha?",she asked quietly.
"You speak as if you know him so much",the man said. "He's the son of Supreme Alpha Janus and Luna Merribel. He will only become the Supreme Alpha at the death of his parents".
Layla felt her head reeling with what she just heard. Could it be true? Could it be she travelled... to the past?
The man's next words confirmed her fears.
"The young Supreme Alpha Riven is to be wed today. I can take you with me if you want".
And Layla felt the colours drain from her face.