Chapter 168
Damien’s POV
I was sitting in my office behind my desk in an antique looking office chair. It was large with a dark brown suede covering and dark cherry wood underneath. Alora had immediately loved the chair, when she curled up in it to do business, she looked so adorable.
The desk was large and antique, another item Alora had showed a lot of appreciation for. I felt the need to be surrounded by the things she liked and used on a daily bases, it was the reason I was working in her office, and not mine..
3
I was reading the reports that had come in from the wolves I had sent to the forbidden region’s only nearby town. They did find evidence that Sarah had been there, and we got descriptions and pictures of the other females she had been with, the last time she had been seen in town.
Unfortunately any traces of where they had gone after were gone, the lead became dead end. We tried to have a trace done to the cell phone number the pictures Sarah sent had come in from, but nothing came of it. I was hitting wall after wall when it came to this..
If only our bond wasn’t so closed off, I would be able to follow it to her. At the moment I could only feel it if I went completely still and concentrated extremely hard. Even then all I could do was feel that she was alive where ever they had her, for now….that had to be enough. At this point, that knowledge was all that was keeping me going, it’s all that had allowed me to stave off my despair.
5
I looked at the picture on the desk, it was a framed photo of Alora and I under the willow tree at her adoption ceremony. She had her arms wrapped around my neck, and mine were around her waist, she was smiling so brightly, shining in her joy. I could see my love for her written all over my face as I looked down at her. Darien had taken this shot, he was the one who framed it and put it on this desk for Alora.
Darien had come to me yesterday and asked for Alora’s camera, he wanted to print and develop her photo’s for her. So she’d have a pleasant surprise when we got her back. When I observed his face as he was asking, I could see he was suppressing his own pain.
Alora and my brother had been best friends for years. She was truly like a sister to him, knowing Darien needed to do something to help keep his spirits up while we tried to locate my mate, I had agreed.
Alora’s POV
I was awake and back in my space with Xena and Selena again, we were trying to break through the spells that had us chained as we were. It was a pain staking process, especially as weak as I was. After I had passed out from the very unsettling performance of Sarah and her psychotic boyfriend, who was no longer nameless after Sarah had cried out the name Jack, I had been left alone. It had been almost two days now.
2
If I had been human, I would already be half way dead from dehydration and starvation. It’s been five day’s now since I’ve eaten anything, or drank anything. This meant that I was going to have to do something I really didn’t like.
After the initial scare and the fogginess from the drugs cleared from my mind, I remembered my mother’s spell, the one she taught me before I’d left Castle Bloodmoon. Chastity Bell…it was a spell that would prevent me from getting raped.
I preformed the spell the moment my mind cleared enough for me to remember it. Now that it was active, if any male tried to take advantage of me, they would immediately find themselves impotent and unable to preform. The impotency would last for three years after contact with this spell.
17
Another part of the spell made it impossible for them to remove my clothes now, cutting and ripping wouldn’t work. If they touched my clothes at all with either a tool or by hand, they would find themselves temporarily paralyzed.
5
I put my hands together and bowed my head. “Thank you Goddess for sending us such a wonderful mother.” I said aloud in our space, my tone serious.
Selena looks at me with a confused expression. “Although I definitely believe you are correct, and that Stephanie is a wonderful mother…. but I have to ask, why are you thanking the Goddess for her at the moment?”
“It’s the spell isn’t it? Xena asks, she somehow managed to sound wise and all knowing at the same time.
Selena’s expiersion became one of surprise and understanding. “I see, then I also thank the Goddess for bringing mother to us.” she says nodding, her tone firm.
I laughed, at their conversation and actions. “I think I needed that, but as amusing as you two are, we need to talk seriously about the other spell we were taught, father’s spell. my tone was now grim.
“I don’t but…” Elook at the spheres representing our pups, and I can see their light flickering, like they were struggling to stay light, and if that light were to go out………..1 didn’t want to think about it.
“We don’t have a choice, Selena says; looking at the spheres her expression grim, determination in her eyes. Then she looks first at me then Xena: We don’t have a choice but to use it, if we don’t…”
Xena lifts her head back up off her paws as Selena’s words trailed off. “Our pups will die.” She says in a solemn tone. She looks first at me then at Selena, before saying firmly. “That’s not and option for me.” her voice almost a growl.
We all nodded our heads, just in time for me to hear the door to the building open and voices. “Well ladies, it’s now or never.” I tell them, before leaving our space.
2
Darien’s POV
I was at my desk going through the photo’s on Alora’s camera, printing them out, when I came across one she took of me and Serenity. She had captured our love for each other in this picture. Serenity and I were dressed up and had our equipment with us, but she somehow was able to take the picture at an angle that made it look magical.
I felt a tear start to run down my face, and then two feminine arms wrap around me from behind. My mate pressed her soft breasts against my shoulders and laid her cheek on the top of my head. The next picture was a kind of selfie, with Alora learing back against Damien’s chest, a bright and happy smile on her face, holding.
up two fingers in a peace sign. Damien’s chin was resting on her shoulder and he was grinning with amusement.
The look on his face was drastically different than the expression that had been on his face since Alora was Taken. “He’s in so much pain right now…if we can’t…if we can’t get her back….I don’t know what will happen to him.” I tell her, barely able to get the words out.
“Shhhhhh.” she says and pets me, trying to provide me comfort. “Alora is amazingly strong, she’ll survive this, and your brother will get his mate back.” she says, her voice gentle, soothing me a little.
Flipping to another picture, it’s a group photo at Bloodmoon Castle. “She just found her siblings and her father, she just got a new mom who cares about her, she’s going to be an aunt, and a mother herself. She has to be brought home, I can’t accept anything else.” I tell her, pain in my voice.
“Your brother is working with the local covens and the Councils, we have a lot of beings searching for her, and any sign of the coven with the leads we have, something will come of it soon.” she says reassuringly. I could feel her faith in her words through our bond.
“I keep wondering….what I would do, if this had happened to me, and not him, if someone had taken you from me.” It was a nightmare I was having nightly now, I would wake up sweating and desperately searching for her, not calming down till I touched her. “I don’t think I could be as sane or as strong as Damien is….I would
loose my mind immediately if something were to happen to you.”
She move around and sits down in my lap, her big green eyes blinking up at me. “Nothing will happen to me, I promise.” she says.
1
I look down at her, and the day at the gas station runs through my head. The moment I couldn’t feel her through our bond, and then seeing her on the ground unresponsive. She had been unconscious for a whole twenty four hours after, before she finally came to with a pounding migraine. It had been one of the most frightening times in my life. Every moment of it would be burned into my memory.
I grab her up tightly to my chest, needing to hold her warm body close, to reassure myself that she was alright. Goddess what my brother must be going through, he’s never going let Alora our of his sight ever again once he got her back. My own trauma
sn’t nearly what his was, but it was enough.
“I love you so much Serenity, you’re my whole world.” My voice hoarse with my emotions.
With her arms wrapped around my neck, she held my face to her chest. “I love you too Darien, you’re my everything.” Was her reply, her gentle voice full of her love.
