Layla felt her consciousness slowly return to her. She tried to open her eyes but the lids felt so heavy that she gave up. Her body felt weak, boneless and weak. Behind her closed eyelids, she could feel the brightness of the sun on her face. She could hear the sound of the sea as the waves crashed against the shore. She heard the cheerful cries of birds and she finally felt her body lowered to the ground.
Where was she? And where was Riven?
Pieces of memories came back to her and she gasped in realization.
Her mother did this to her. Her mother betrayed her.
"Mother...",she whispered.
Annabelle looked down at her daughter and a painful look flashed across her eyes. She caressed Layla's cheek gently, hating what she was doing but doing it all the same.
"I'm sorry honey. But I have to do this",she said softly. "I'm doing this to protect you"
"Please don't...",Layla whispered and a tear drop slid down the corner of her eyes. "Don't take me away from Riven..."
Annabelle turned away from Layla and moved her hand in a circular motion. A boat materialised a few distance away in the ocean and slowly moved towards the shore. It stopped at the wet sand and Annabelle pulled it closer to her.
"I know you think I don't care about you Layla",she spoke to her daughter and bent down to gather Layla's body into her arms. "But I care about you so much. You're my daughter. My flesh and blood. If your real identity is discovered, your life will be in danger. And I can't allow that"
"What identity?",Layla whispered and she cracked her eyes open a bit, feeling her strength returning to her. What was her mother talking about?
Instead of answering her, Annabelle slowly placed Layla inside the boat and covered her with a blanket. The atmosphere of the ocean would be freezing once they began sailing and she had to make sure Layla was safe and warm.
"One day you'll understand",she said finally.
And she froze with Layla's next whispered words.
"Riven will find me...and he won't stop until he takes me back"
"I'll make sure he doesn't",Annabelle replied heartlessly. Tears brimmed in her eyes at her cruelty but she quickly wiped them off. This wasn't a time for her to let her motherly side take over. Layla had to be taken away from the island that day because it would be the only chance she would get. If she failed, Riven wouldn't let her go close to her daughter.
Ever.
She survived the pain she felt when Riftan left her for his mate. Layla would survive it too. She would make sure of that.
Without taking off the spell she casted on the island to disrupt the mind link, she got into the boat and it began to move, taking both of them far away from the shores. Annabelle conjured up a cloud of invisibility and it cloaked them, shielding them from the eyes of all creatures.
...
Riven felt the mate bond straining the more and it made him go mad with worry and rage. If the bond stretched further, it would snap. And Layla would be lost to him forever.
He increased his pace, racing towards the mansion. His huge form crashed through the forest, uprooting trees from the earth. The only thing he could see was red. The colour of his rage. The colour of blood.
He arrived at the mansion and smoothly shifted back. Caleb and Alex rushed outside to meet him, grave expressions evident on their faces. They knew something was amiss when they couldn't communicate with the mind link. And when there was no sign of Layla and Annabelle, they came to the conclusion that the Sorceress must have something to do with it.
"Alpha...",Caleb began and was shoved aside as Riven pushed passed him without a word. He walked into the mansion and made his way to the north wing, where Annabelle had been staying.
Cade stopped beside his twin and placed a hand on Caleb's shoulder when he tried to go after Riven.
"Don't",he said and shook his head.
"What's..."
"Layla is missing. And with the little information I got from Ren's howl, it has something to do with the Sorceress"
"I never trusted that Sorceress. Even when I knew she was Layla's mother",Caleb growled out and his usual smiling face was marred with an angry scowl.
"No one suspected she would have plans to take Layla away",Cade said while keeping an eye on the mansion, watching for Riven's return.
"What do we do? Annabelle is not someone we can fight against",Caleb said, watching as other shifters moved out of the mansion, terrified of Riven's choking aura and wondering how the Luna was taken away without their knowledge.
"Assemble the warriors",Cade ordered. "We don't know how long she has been gone. The ancient shifters are already on the move. Search every part of the island. And stay away from the Alpha's path. He's in a murderous mood"
Caleb didn't need to be told twice to steer clear of Riven's way. He left Cade's side and began to organise the shifters into groups, to search the island.
Cade looked up at the mansion, waiting for Riven to emerge.
...
Riven arrived at the room Annabelle occupied and brought down the door with a vicious blow. The door flew off its hinges and landed at the other end of the room.
Just like he feared, the room was empty. The faint scent of apples and roses, mixed with the smell of lilac wafted in the air and added to Riven's rage. It would take the intervention of the moon goddess to prevent him from killing Annabelle.
He stooped and picked up a half eaten apple from the foot of the bed. Bringing it close to his nose, he sniffed it. And his rage seemed to intensify as he perceived a strange smell emanating from it.
Poison.
Only one thing kept his sanity in check. That Annabelle would never harm her own daughter. So for now, Layla was safe.
But not for long. He could barely feel the bond within them. It seemed she was being taken far away from him.
Placing his hand on the ground, he traced the surface of the hard board with his finger tips and closed his eyes.
Behind his closed eyelids, he could clearly see Annabelle with Layla in her arms. She cloaked both her form and her daughter's form with the invisibility spell and left the mansion undetected. Before the image faded from his eyes, he saw the horizon of the ocean with the waves crashing against the shore.
His eyes snapped open and they were furious than ever. Shifting swiftly into his beast, he bust out of the window, shattering the glass and landing smoothly on the ground. Without a second thought, he took off towards the ocean with one thought on his mind.
He had to get to his mate before it was too late.
Cade watched the golden lycan racing towards the direction of the ocean and he quickly shifted into his silver lycan form, taking off after the Alpha.
A part of him knew there would be bloodshed if Annabelle succeeded in taking Layla to the human world.
Riven would follow his mate to the ends of the world, wrecking havoc and won't stop until he found her.