HUNTED Chapter 123 – Bubble Slowly Bursting

Damon’s lids snapped open, his silver orbs glowed as his temper boiled to the surface. Gamma Chiara’s voice whipped through his mind, reminding him about an issue that was becoming urgent. But, of course, all cases at the moment were urgent; he inhaled deeply to relax the tension tightening in his shoulders, but what made him relax was Aila’s floral scent.

Chiara had been left in control of the pack while Damon and Aila were preoccupied. Usually, Beta Kane would be second in charge, but he and Nairi needed to recover properly. That was no easy feat Kane done, and it would take him days to recuperate.

His mind flashed back to the miraculous moment of Kane transferring his health over to his mate and healing Nairi. Damon knew that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t think twice before doing exactly the same; whether it killed him or not, he couldn’t go on living without his angel. He glanced down after feeling her head snuggling closer to his chest, soothing her slightly troubled mind.

Aila was such a rare beauty, and she was all his. Darius growled across his mind in agreement. The sight of her bare skin and her pale hair messy made his wolf growl again in delight. Damon stroked her hair gently before leaning over her and wrapping the blanket over her delectable skin. The fire had gone out by now, and he didn’t want her getting cold.

“Damon,” Chiara’s voice rang through his mind again. Although she was waiting on his reply, he snarled back in response, quietening the Gamma immediately. Along with the rest of the pack, Chiara knew he was busy with Aila; none dared to interrupt them, except Chiara, who was only allowed to due to emergencies or urgent business.

He sighed and snapped through the mind-link to his Gamma, “Five minutes.” Darius snarled at the end of his voice through the link, and for a brief moment, Damon felt bad for Chiara; his wolf always incited fear in others when they heard him. But when he glanced back down at his mate, the feeling dissipated.

Now that Aila was wrapped up, he slid out from her arms and tenderly picked her up, careful not to wake his mate as he carried her to the bed and laying her down gently. Damon couldn’t help but chuckle at how sweetly demolished she looked and how sound asleep she was. He climbed into bed beside her, not wanting to leave her but still unable to sleep alongside her.

In his absence to the pack, he still sent out orders before he was lost in a world of mind consuming pleasure all caused by the little spitfire, Aila. He did not plan to mark or mate with Aila; he had no intention to, even with the pull of the mate bond and his lust for her. So instead, Damon sent out orders so he could be there for her in the short time that she would have to grieve for Hollie.

He knew even though the hunters attacked two days prior, they would be back soon, and the pack had to be ready. With his orders sent out, Chiara was left to make sure they were completed. The matter she raised the day before was alarming at the time, but it wasn’t something he was immediately needed for. He told Chiara what to do and let his attention go back to his mate and the marking process.

But now, as he lay down staring at the canopy, one arm wrapped around his mate and the other behind his head, he realised things must have taken a turn for the worst, and things were not as simple as he presumed. Three children were missing.

They had been missing since the battle of the pack, rogues, beasts, and hunters, and because they were attacked so viciously, he sadly believed them to be dead. He gritted his teeth by the thought of it, his eyes hardening to stone. Initially, he ordered the Gamma to send out a search party. But the bodies of the pack members fallen had been brought back to the training facilities. The streets, roads and estate were now clear of the rubble, bullet shells along with the hunters and beast’s bodies.

There were no bodies of the children found, meaning it was now urgent. Chiara had seen to it that every crevice and corner had been searched, using the pack’s best trackers- Tommy and Zeke. Their noses were the strongest at smelling scents; it was like a superpower even for werewolves. So Tommy and Zeke smelt their belongings and were let loose to follow the trail to find the missing children.

“What’s the update?” Damon mind-linked Chiara, getting straight to the point. There was no bullshit small talk; if it was urgent, then they needed to get to the point. Plus, there was no bullshit between him and Chiara, they told each other the ugly truth, the facts, and they preferred it that way.

“The trail ran cold after the mountains,” Chiara replied instantly. Damon clenched his eyes shut and rubbed at them with his free hand while the other hand subconsciously began stroking Aila’s back. Not noticing the goosebumps starting to develop on her creamy skin, nor the slight change in her breathing. His focus was now on the matter at hand.

“Do you think the rogues took them like last time?” He asked the Gamma, but he was doubtful; even his question lacked conviction behind it.

“The rogues’ fled. They didn’t want this war; it was all Lydia’s doing. I think she was the one years ago when the first children went missing, and when.. well, when we were attacked, and Xander was killed,” Chiara’s voice wavered then once again strengthened as she mentioned her mate’s death.

Damon admired the Gamma a lot; when she lost him, he saw how much it broke her, yet, she carried on; some of the pack members who wanted her role attacked her in her vulnerable state. But, she proved them all wrong. Unluckily for the men who challenged her when she was down, her wolf and Chiara had turned extremely feral, nearly to the point that the Gamma could have been classified as a type 1 rogue. The men’s deaths were the most chilling scenes Damon had watched, but he never reprimanded her, even when pack members asked for her punishment.

He held his own and waited for them to challenge his order. But, of course, no one dared. Although, that death would have been swifter than what Chiara dealt those men. But if it helped her heal just a bit, then he wasn’t going to take that from her. He didn’t like killing pack members or torturing them in this case, but to have his own try and take his Gamma’s place when she had been down making him want to get rid of them himself.