Chapter 5 #2
Ariel tied their wrists together loosely and picked up a ceremonial knife.
When she cut his wrist, it stung, and then she cut hers.
The wrists were put together so their blood could mix and then pulled apart.
She wiped off both of their wrists, removing the blood.
Blake licked her wrist, and it immediately healed.
Harry waved her hand over his wrist, and it healed.
She showed him where his room was, and then they both went out to the dining room where they ate.
“I know you don't think you're hungry, but you need to try to eat a little bit of food to feed the change,” Harry explained. “A wolf eats a lot more than a human, and when you are going through a change, you eat even more.”
The food was good, and he forced himself to eat as much as he could stand.
He left Harry and headed back towards his room, where he would sleep for the night.
The reason he was staying here was that if he ran into any trouble, Ariel and Harry would be there to try to help.
When he woke in the morning, he felt different.
There was a voice in his head, and he thought he might be going crazy.
At least the voice wasn't telling him to do anything stupid or crazy.
He went to the dining room, where he loaded his plate with more food than he had ever had before.
On a normal day, it would be at least a day's worth of food.
Somehow, he managed to eat every bit of it.
His mother and Carlos ate a lot, but until now, he hadn't really understood the saying 'hungry like a wolf'.
That's what he was now, and he needed to explore all his new senses and strengths so he could use them to protect what was his.
The voice inside his head said that Lottie was one of those things.
Darren was beginning to understand why he was so drawn to her.
It wasn't good, especially so soon after his divorce and with her in a position where she was working for him.
He couldn't understand how his wolf could be so sure when his human could never decide that quickly what was right.
That didn't matter because he had to get her back, regardless of the reason.
As soon as they finish this meal, it will be time to head out and try to find his nanny.
Harry finished first, and he suspected that she had already eaten at his mom's house. While it hadn't filled her up completely, it had slowed her down.
“Are you ready yet? I don't want to rush you, but they may be waiting on us.” Harry observed.
Darren swallowed his last bite of breakfast and began cleaning his area. Harry had already cleaned hers.
“Grab my hand, and we will be there in a second.”
He shuddered at the thought of another flash but gave her his hand anyway.
It didn't seem as bad this time, but it was still not an enjoyable trip.
Maybe it was more tolerable because he was now a wolf, and that greatly affected many things about him.
Just like that, they were in his mother's kitchen.
“Fix you a to-go cup of coffee,” Harry advised.
He did it quickly and saw that everyone else had one too.
They made a circle, and Harry had an item that Lottie owned, which she placed in a cast-iron frying pan, and suddenly it caught fire.
He hoped it wasn't an item that she was attached to because now it was gone.
An address appeared above the frying pan, and then it disappeared.
Darren could feel the flash descend upon them, and he closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he found himself at a huge stone house.
Harry was the one who walked to the door and knocked. It was opened by what appeared to be a maid.
“We are here to visit the man of the house,” Harry explained.
“He's not taking visitors.” She replied.
“He's going to see us.” Cage flashed his badge.
It was obvious that the maid didn't know how to handle it, and she finally stepped aside and let them in.
Darren could smell paranormals. With his newly enhanced senses, it would take a while for him to figure things out, but he thought they were all wolves.
She led them back to an office, and he was sure that she intended to give him a warning before she let them in, but Cage pushed past her.
“Who are you?” Zeon asked.
“My name is Cage, and I’m a warden. Who are you?”
“You come into my house and don’t know who I am?”
“Who are you?” It was the battle of the alphas as Cage and Zeon, who had stood up, were face-to-face in a stare-off.
Zeon blinked first because he wasn’t used to being challenged. “My name is Zeon, and I want you out of my home, right now.”
“Too bad. We have reason to believe you have abducted Carlotta Diaz. We are searching your property for her or signs that she’s been here.” Cage said.
“Do as you wish.” Zeon slammed his hands on the table, and he could hear it cracking.
The desk didn't fall apart, but he'd clearly hurt it. Zeon then sat down and pretended to ignore them. Carlos stayed behind to keep an eye on the angry wolf while the rest of them left the office, preparing to search for Lottie.
“Why don't you lead the way?” Cage suggested.
“Why do you think I would have an easier time finding her than Harry, who can use magic?” Darren asked.
“Sometimes a wolf can find someone close to them.
We'll try that first, and if you have no luck, then we will have Harry search for the area where magic is blocked. Just think about her and see where your wolf wants to go. Everyone, be careful because he may have other people here guarding certain areas.” Cage declared.
Darren decided to take Cage’s advice and try to find his female.
He felt drawn into the building, and he found a door.
This door didn't stand out because it was plain and sunk into the wall, so that it wouldn’t.
Cage found a way to open the door, and it went down into what he would say was a basement.
They went down the stairs carefully, concerned about who and what they might find along the way.
When they got to the bottom, they discovered cells lined up as far as they could see. Everyone moved forward to start checking cells. He hoped so much that they would find her and free her. This was a terrible place to be kept. A human would grow ill if they were kept in a place like this.
“I think we found something,” Harry yelled.
“Is she here?” Darren asked.
“She was, but she's not anymore. This blanket has her scent all over it.” Cage explained.
“What do we do now?” Darren wondered.
“We use the blanket to find out where she is, but we must call in someone else. Harry can't search her more than once a day.” Flo explained.
There was a loud noise, a flash of light, and a guy appeared. He was tall, blond, and gorgeous. Power emanated from him, and Darren suspected this was who Harry had sent for.
“Thank you for coming, Zorth.” Harry declared.
Zorth? Harry had mentioned him on one of her visits.
He was her mentor and was married to one of Darren’s cousins.
She was a cousin he didn’t really know. It was hard to imagine the female who would mate with someone like Zorth.
The most important thing was that he could find Lottie. Nothing else mattered.
“What did you use to find her location?” Zorth asked Harry.
“I've burned an item of hers, and the address appeared,” Harry replied.
“I'll need to try something different, and hopefully it will work. Do you have an item of hers?” Zorth asked.
“Only her fated mate, but they haven't mated yet,” Harry answered.
“That'll work. Where is he?” Zorth questioned, and Harry pointed to Darren.
“Hey, what are you going to do?” Darren asked.
Zorth turned to him and gave him a hard look, making Darren squirm. “You won't be injured.”
The male witch wrote down Carlotta’s name.
He lit the paper on fire and put his hand on Darren's shoulder.
A little creature made of fire appeared, jumped onto his shoulder, and whispered in his ear.
Zorth pulled out a coin and gave it to the creature, who took it and immediately disappeared.
This was more magic than Darren wanted to see, but it was necessary.
“Harry, get Carlos from upstairs and either come with us or take him home. I'll take the rest with me because this needs to be done at once.” Zorth concluded.
The male witch didn't require touching anyone; he just took them as a group, and away they went.
It seemed even faster than the flash that Harry did to get there.
They all arrived at another prison, only this time they were right next to the cell that was full of people.
Flo opened the cell, and people immediately began hurrying out, as if they were afraid it would close and they would be locked in there again forever.
“Where is Lottie?” Darren asked.
“That's not the only cell. We need to empty them all, even after we find her.” Cage answered.
They split into pairs and began opening cells.
Harry and Zorth began to flash people to different places, and Darren really didn't know where they were taking them, but any place was better than here.
He worked with Cage, who seemed to know entirely too much about what to do with cages full of captured people.
Someone yelled, and he saw it was his mother.
She'd found Lottie in one of the cages toward the end of the row.
His nanny looked better than most of the people that they were freeing.
Until everyone was freed and dealt with in some manner, they would not be leaving, so he went back to helping Cage open the cells.
His eyes kept getting drawn back to Lottie, and he saw that she had gotten some water and was handing it out to those who needed it.