I winced at the anger in his voice. It hurt having that rage directed at me, I couldn’t deny that, but we weren’t going to agree, and I didn’t want to argue. This was about our daughter, and I was going to help find her.
“So then just listen,” I said stubbornly, resulting in a murderous growl ripping through the phone. I exhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. “I am not far from Oxford. I’ll join you there, but if you even think about sending me home… I won’t listen, Alejandro.” I heard him sigh in irritation, and when he spoke, frustration was clear in his tone.
“Fine,” he replied through gritted teeth.
“I’m heading towards Oxford now. I’ll meet you there,” I replied quietly.
It hurt so much. I realised how angry he was at me, but I couldn’t voice what I was feeling inside. The pain of having her away from me was killing me. I just wished he could understand how hard it was being a mother and unable to do anything for our daughter and not even knowing how she was. Was she fed? Was she safe?
“How far are you?” He asked me, his voice as cold and emotionless as it was when he spoke to others.
“Not too far. I should be there in a few hours.”
“Hmm.”
The silence between us was so tense and painful, it wasn’t like us. But right then, we had different mindsets, and there was nothing that I could say would change his anger or make him realise how I felt.
“I’ll see you soon,” I whispered softly.
I hung up. My heart was aching as I stared down at my shattered phone screen, sighing heavily.I better get up and head out. Alejandro’s waiting for me.Replacing everything in my bag, I shifted and began running once again, not caring about the pain in my body as I ran. Determination fuelled me as I made my way through the forest and towards Oxford.
Kataleya, I’m coming for you, my angel.
An hour hadpassed since I had been travelling, and then suddenly, that instinct that had filled me returned. I tensed. Could something be here? I looked around, scanning the area. On one side, there were hills and bushes, along with many trees, scattered to one side. We were in the countryside. To the right were some fields of farms. My wolf was restless after being silent for so long, telling me to go forward, and I did, my heart thrumming with panic and anticipation. Was Kataleya close?
After a good fifteen minutes, I became confused. There was nothing out of the ordinary. I slowly continuedon my way, my eyes darting around, my senses on alert. I sniffed the air, my ears perking as they tried to pick up on anything that was out of the ordinary. Was there perhaps a cavern or something?
Slowly observing the ground, I tried to pick up any footprints, any track marks that would give me a clue as to what was around here. It was after a good fifteen minutes that I saw the paw prints on the ground. Faint, but they were there. My heart began beating erratically. Was I onto something? I padded along slowly. Taking note of every inch, every millimetre of the ground.
My heart began thumping fast as I realised that they were becoming more and more frequent, clear signs that wolves had definitely been here. The size of the paw prints belonged to no ordinary wolf but werewolves with big paws and claws. From what I knew, there was no pack around here, and it was clear these paw prints had tried to be covered up; if I hadn’t been observing carefully, I would have missed them.
After another twenty minutes, there was still nothing, but my intuition was becoming stronger. I paused, wondering if I should call Alejandro, but what if I wasn’t onto something? What if it was just a false alarm, and I called him away from somewhere closer to Kataleya?I’ll keep searching for a bit longer and take it from there.
I was about to lose hope as I was taken out of the forest and towards open countryside, feeling unsure if I should continue or not, and was about to turn away when I saw it. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just one of several similar places I had just passed, but something about it gave me the chills.
It was a large country home with grey walls, and it was huge. Many trees surrounded the actual building beyond the black iron gates with sharp spears and barbed wire at the top that was clearly made to keep trespassers out. The entire property was surrounded by those metal fences. I couldn’t sense anything or anyone around. However, my wolf kept telling me to go forward, urging me to, and so I listened. Could this actually be where she was being kept?
Just the thought that I may be close made my heart leap in excitement. I looked beyond the gates, and in the distance, past the bushes and trees, I could see the huge house, or should I say manor. There was no life or light in the windows, not an animal or person in the surrounding gardens, but still, I felt like I should go check it out.How do I get in? Do I just see if there’s any broken part in it and just sneak in?Sounded like a plan.Let’s do this!
Something at the back of my mind told me that I should stop, shift, and let Alejandro know where I was first, but the stronger part of me that was telling me to keep on going forward, something that told me that my daughter was there, and I couldn’t ignore that voice. Still… for Kataleya, just in case she was there, I should tell Alejandro. I quickly shifted, took the phone out and sent a quick message, sharing my location.
Kia: I’m at this location. I feel as if there’s something here, I thought I’d let you know before I check it out. I don’t know if I’m even on to something, but I have this feeling that she’s here.
Putting the phone on silent, I slipped it back into my bag and shifted into my wolf once more. I broke into a run, rushing around the premises, keeping alert just in case there was anyone out there because if they were even there, there would be some security. My eyes darted around, searching for a way in, but there wasn’t any. I frowned, and then I knew what I was going to do: jump the wall…
I looked up at the huge iron fences. They were at least twenty feet high. If I got caught on one, it wouldn’t be pretty…
Then, Kia, you just got to make sure you aren’t impaled on it.
I began to back away, putting space between me and the deadly wall that promised to kill me. With my bag in my mouth, I took a deep breath of determination and broke into a run, heading towards the huge metal wall of spears before I leapt into the air, my purple aura blazing around me as I launched myself over the wall.Fuck!
I reigned my aura in, my heart thumping, knowing anyone could have sensed my ability. I felt the spears graze the underside of my belly, making me growl internally. Agonising pain tore through me, and I bit back a whimper. It was more than what a normal cut should have been. The agony was far more than a normal wound. For a second, I couldn’t breathe, and I grunted. There had to be some sort of poison on those spears. I landed on the other side on my feet, hissing slightly as I dropped my bag. Fuck, that hurt.
I glanced around quickly, hoping that nobody saw me, before I quickly shifted back. I took out an oversize hoodie and the second pair of sweatpants that I had, examining my stomach before I pulled them on. The cuts were quite bad, but I couldn’t smell any poison or anything. Fuck. What was that?
I quickly rummaged in my bag and took out one of the antidote vials. I wasn’t sure if the spikes contained silver or wolfsbane, but I was not going to risk it.Goddess. I downed the vial quickly and put the empty bottle back in my bag before picking it up and walking towards the country house silently. I made sure to stick to the sides, keeping hidden by the bushes and trees that lined the property.
There was still no one coming for me… maybe I had been wrong. Otherwise, I should have been attacked by then. My wolf was calm again, too. Too calm… I couldn’t even sense her emotions. How strange.
