Deliah POV
“ What the hell is going on here?”
I asked as soon as I entered Zanian’s office. Everything is trashed and broken. Glass is scattered on the floor, books everywhere and he looks like he hasn’t slept in days.
Ever since the night of the Bonfire he has lost it and no one knows why, and he won’t tell anyone. He has gone from friendly to unapproachable in days.
“ Where the hell is she? It has been more than a week now and she is still not back.”
“ Where is who, Zanian?” I asked and just as I said it, realization dawned on me. He was talking about Christy. I stood there confused. “ Why would her being gone upset you so much Z?” he looked at me and then something just snapped, her asking about him and him being this messed up because she was gone. I walked over and slammed the door shut.
“Zanian, what the hell is going on?”
He looks at me and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Zanian, you better start talking or I will leave and you will never see me again. We are best friends and lately you are treating me like I’m a stranger.” I looked at him and then he said, “she is my mate D. and I fucked it up. I just wanted to keep her safe because of everything that is happening and now I have gone too far.”
I stood there shell shocked at what he was saying, “so you want to tell me you have been fu*king like a rabbit knowing she is your mate?” I half screamed at him, but looking at the pain in his eyes I instantly felt bad. “yes, and I hit her, but I pushed her away and now she is gone.”
“Zanian, how could you do this? Have you any idea what she might have been going through? Can you even imagine the pain?”
“I know okay, but I don’t want a mate if she is just going to be taken from me again or if I’m going to die anyway.”
“I can’t even tell you how angry I am at you. If someone ever did this to me, I would reject his ass so fast.” As I said that, he looked at me and it was written all over his face, “you want her to reject you?”
He got up and moved to the window. “I fucked up. And I don’t know if I can fix this, and I don’t know if I want to D.”
I stood there staring at him and I know how he must feel, but this is still not right. “Zanian, from what I’ve seen, Christy didn’t have an easy life. When we were dressing for the bonfire, I went up to go and call her, but I saw her door was half open and heard her humming, so I stood still. And I know it was wrong but I peeked inside and I saw scars and a lot of them just before she put the dress on. And I cursed myself, but then a lot of things made sense. She never wears shirts with straps, she never undresses in front of someone and she stiffens when someone touches her. So maybe find out where she comes from before you are so quick to judge.”
Zanian looked at me and something in his mind must have gone off because he just nodded his head.
I helped him clean his office and then saw a picture of a small girl. She was about eleven years old with blond hair and blue eyes.
“I couldn’t get myself to throw this away. I know I cannot change what happened, I just wish it could have happened differently.”
“ You still miss her?”
“Every day of my life I think about her and wish she could still be here.”
I turned the picture around and it read “to my loving brother Zanian, from Alicia.”
I put the picture back and got up from the floor.
“Zanian, I love you so much, but what you are doing is not right or healthy. You need to give her a chance or try to.”
I left his office not waiting for a reply. I headed to my room and crept in beside Jeff. He threw his arms around me and I fell asleep thinking about Christy and what I saw.
Crystal POV
Moving through the house it is huge, almost as big as our pack house. We came to a stop in front of a door looking very old but beautiful. The guy knocked and a deep voice on the other side said “come in.”
When he opened the door, I was staring at my beautiful best friend who looked like he was drowning in paperwork.
He looks up and sees me, but he doesn’t know it is me.
“ Thank you Andy, you can go.” He said and looked at me once again. His hair is a darker brown and he has gotten more tanned and a lot more muscles, but his eyes still look the same. “ Please take a seat and tell me why you are here, UNINVITED.” He emphasized on the uninvited part.
I looked at him and smiled, then said, “ You really don’t remember me Goofy?”
I asked and saw him looking at me, really looking. He got up and walked closer to me, “C, is that you?” he asked, and all I could do was smile and nod my head. I ran into his arms and hugged him for dear life, and he hugged me back. “OMG I can’t believe it’s you. You have changed so much.”
I let go of him and said, “ Yeah, look who’s talking. I mean what happened to you?”
He twirls around and asked, “you like it? It took me to become Alpha to get this shape, you know. And, of course, my mate.” I looked at him shocked. “your mate? When did you find your mate? And tell me, is he cute?”
“ Of course he is. You know me always drooled over the hot ones and now I have one for myself.”
I smiled at him and told him how happy I was that he had found his mate. We spent hours catching up and I met his mate, Chris. He is handsome and very friendly. We hit it off pretty well. I told him what happened to me when he left and that I died and came back looking like a totally different person. I told him about Zanian and what an ass he is.
We were sitting and having coffee over something to eat when I looked over at Tyler and said, “I need your help Ty. You are the best person I know and I cannot ask anyone else.” He looked at me and squeezed my hands. “what do you need honey?”
“I have a sample that I would like you to analyze for me. It comes from a wolf but somehow he has been mechanically enhanced, bigger, stronger, and faster. Whoever is looking for me and Zanian probably sent him and I was hoping you could tell me something that could help me.”
“ Do you have it with you?”
I took out a small vial from my pocket and handed it to him. He looked at it and said, “are you sure this is blood? I mean I wouldn’t question you but this is black.”
I grabbed back the vial and looked at the blood. It was thicker and, yes, it was black.
“what the hell is this?” I asked myself and I felt disappointed. “can you work with this?”
“I don’t know but I will do what I can.”
“I owe you so much Ty, but I have to go.”
“I’ll see you soon C. Please be safe until we know more about whoever is looking for you.”
“I will Goofy, love ya.”
Zanian POV
After Deliah left, I was left alone with my thoughts. Everything she said about Christy is true and she never shows her upper arms or her back. Even her dress had long sleeves. I need to find out what she is hiding when she comes back.
“ If she comes back” a small voice in the back of my mind said.
I have been going through every pack in the area’s data base and in all of the ones who have been attacked, the Alpha and Luna are dead.
There is a random pattern and it doesn’t make sense, because who is the girl?
My pack told them about me and no other pack was harmed, but here a string of packs are missing their Alpha and Luna. “ That must be the girl they are looking for.” I thought and started searching every database for a girl named Crystalia.
After hours of searching, I finally found a match. “it’s a girl with black hair and green eyes with a tattoo of a raven on her right shoulder.” She looks so young and innocent. Why would anyone be looking for her?
I read through the pages and found nothing valuable. Her parents were dead, she had finished school, no friends so to speak of and she had no other living relatives. It’s quite sad if you ask me.
“Zanian, you have to wake up, Zanian, you are dreaming and this is not real. Zanian, you have got to wake up!”
I jolted upright in my bed, sweat dripping off me.
It’s been a while since I have been dreaming about the woman who saved me and every time she wakes me up is just before I kill my whole pack for what they have done. I walked to the bathroom and took a shower and got ready for training. Coming out of my room, I looked over at Christy’s room and wished for her to come back. It has been two weeks now and she is not back.
I made my way downstairs and found Deliah eating ice cream.
“good morning D.” I said and she almost choked. I patted her back.
“ What the hell, Z? You could have killed me…”
“I doubt that, D, but if you say so,”
“ Why are you up so early?”
“ Well, I was hungry and I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would get an early start on training.”
“Zanian, its 4:50 in the morning and training doesn’t start until six, so why are you up so early?”
“I told you I couldn’t sleep.”
Deliah gave me a look and just shrugged her shoulders. She knows me better than anyone in this whole world and I love her like a sister.
I have no idea what I’m going to do about Christy, but something has to be done and there is the girl.
I grabbed something to eat and made my way towards my office feeling drained. Keeping Blaze locked up is taking up most of my energy and I don’t think I will be able to keep him locked up for much longer.
I stepped into my office and found my door open. “I never leave the door open.”
I stepped inside and closed the door.
Taking a deep breath, I sat down and picked up the photo of Crystalia. Looking at it closely I realized something. “I saw her before in one of the pack meetings when I was young “