Thirty five

DEARIL POV.

I found my mate.

The feel of her blood flowing down my throat was still a euphoric memory that made me feel as if I was floating on air, and I could still taste it, even as I stood amid the pack members, with her far gone away.

It felt as if the taste of her blood was the only thing that made my wolf stay still even though I felt as if my head was splitting into two from not having her close to me, or knowing where she was. I'd marked her, I should have been able to know exactly where she was especially if she had successfully transformed into a wolf.

The feeling of my fangs tearing into her artery was a memory etched deep into my brain and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake it off.

The buzzing in my ears blocked out whatever it was they were saying, the constant tearing pain in my chest as my wolf howled for its mate tearing me apart.

It shouldn't have been possible for me to sense my mate at the moon festival last night, let alone mark her but I knew something had happened last night to trigger it and despite the foggy pain buzzing around my head, I knew it was something in the drink that Detinos had given me. I could also tell from the faces of father and his cohorts in the room that this was not the outcome they had expected. They'd probably thought I would go feral and kill everyone so they finally had a reason to take me out.

The rage in my head was a ticking time bomb, and I knew if I didn't do anything about it, I was going to explode.

"You killed the human" Vaughn spoke, his voice heavy with severity. "You breached the truce".

"She. Is. Not. Dead" I growled, gritting out the words, the thought of anything happening to my mate almost making my wolf run mad.

"She is not? Then where is she, Dearil. Do you think you can kill a human and get rid of her body without our knowledge".

"She is not dead" I maintained, making eye contact with each of them until I was staring straight at Detinos who quickly looked away. "I know this because I marked her. She is my Mate".

Once the word was out, the collective gasp of shock made me realize that they didn't know that I had found my mate.

Black stood up with fire in his gaze. "Liar! Is this a new trick. We all know about the witch's curse. You can never find your mate,".

"But I did, and it's all thanks to the little drink you gave me last night," I said, merely speculating but getting my confirmation when his eyes widened and he glanced at my father quickly. They were both in on it together.

It should have hurt, but I had already expected it and nothing they did to me held any more meaning.

The gazes of the other pack's members were on Black and he cleared his throat. "I didn't give you any drink last night. You are just being delusional, just as it is with the whole mate nonsense! A human cannot survive the bite of an Alpha, especially a fucking feral one like you!"

The rage took over, and I was on him in a flash. My claws dug underneath the skin of his neck and he stood in my hold like a ragged doll.

My eyes burned into his cranium, and when I spoke, it was all my wolf. "Speak the truth Black. You put something in my drink".

He tried to resist, but I was too strong for him. "Yes," he hissed, his wolf still battling In the background, "I put something in your drink to make you run fucking wild".

My hand left his neck and he gasped, falling to the floor and whimpering as he started to heal.

"Enough of that!" Vaughn yelled, his Alpha voice carrying through the whole room and making everyone fall to their knee except me.

His Alpha pheromones thickened in the air, trying to make me submit, but I refused to, pouring out mine in toxic doses until he started getting uncomfortable.

"I told you to stop" he warned as I approached him.

"Why should I? You made a show of accepting me for who I was, all the while making plans to destroy me, so why should I obey your order? Where is my mate? Where is Jade Alvarez" I asked, standing face to face with him while the others could do nothing but watch us?

I'd blacked out due to whatever it was_the drug _I had been given and when I woke up, Jade was gone. Initially, I had thought she was dead, because I knew a human could not survive the wolf's bite, especially that of an Alpha, and I'd never met anyone who did. My heart had almost ripped at the thought, but then I'd felt a faint assurance at the back of my mind that she was still breathing.

I had scooped the whole freaking forest, losing my mind the farther I went before I realized that maybe father was hiding her. He could very well do that and I planned to get into his head if I had to to get the answer I needed. No one was going to stop me this time.

Vaughn frowned. "What do you mean by that question. Are you accusing your Alpha right now".

"My Alpha has given me no reason to trust him after all the lies, so yes, I am doing exactly what it is you just said. Tell me, Alpha Vaughn Lyall, or I'll do something we both might regret".

"How dare you threaten the head Alpha" Black voice thundered, his gait poised for attack. "You are a fucking misfit, and just because you found your mate, it doesn't mean that status quo has changed."

"I found my Mate, the witches curse has been broken..."

"Then why is your wolf still so chaotic? Why do your pheromones still scream murder? You want us all dead, don't you? Try to deny it" he challenged and I turned to face him.

"You are right Black, I want you all dead," I said, and the others exchanged glances while Black gloated. "But you also want me dead right, so what is the difference between my rage and your rage, at least I have my reasons".

Black watched me unable to form a coherent sentence. He glanced at Detinos, who quickly looked away, a bright blush spreading over his cheeks. I looked closely, feeling a thread connecting the both of them. It was absurd, Black and Detinos already had their mate, so what did the bright thread symbolize? And why was I suddenly seeing it when I'd been blinded to it before?

Detinos had drunk from the drink I had been given, but he didn't run wild, and he didn't kill anyone. What exactly had he done while he had been intoxicated?

It wasn't important. All I needed to know was where Jade was. My gaze cut back to my father.

"Where is Jade Alvarez? Where are you keeping her, or do I have to spill all our dirty laundry in public" I said, not caring that the others were listening and would probably interpret the threat as whatever they could come up with?

Vaughn's eyes darkened, his hands clenched by his side. "You should know since you're an Alpha and you already marked her... But since you're asking, it means you don't which only means that she did not transform into a wolf and is probably somewhere dying a slow gruesome death"

His words felt like knives flying at me, they cut in-depth and some stabbed so deep, I couldn't even pull them out. He was right. The mark took, and even tho she'd survived for so long, not being able to pinpoint her exact location meant there was a possibility that she was dying off somewhere, that she wasn't really a wolf. Maybe she transformed halfway, and that image alone of her mangled up and twisted grotesquely, made my wolf howl in my head, its pain mingling with mine and making me physically ill.

"Once she dies, you're not going to survive for long. The pain of separation especially after a marking feels worse than death..." Vaughn continued, enjoying the turmoil he created in my head. My teeth were set on edge as I stared at him, my gaze becoming hazy with a red hue.

"The witches curse is not broken after all. She said if you did find your mate, you were going to kill her, and here is the fulfillment of those words. You killed your own mate".

A rumbling sound came out of my throat, the red thickening around my vision as I charged at him.

Wolves were soon on each side of me, their claws ripping at my flesh, as they tried to hold me down. For the first time in a long time, I let go, allowing my wolf to take over and as I lashed out, claws tearing off the flesh of those I'd once called family, I noticed that I was in sync with my wolf. For the first time, we were one entity, totally in sync with one another.

He growled in my head, flinging the wolf off with no effort and at the same time assuring me that our mate was still alive, and that we were going to find her.

The council members howled around me, all in pain and that was when I realized the damage I had done, and also the fact that I was covered from head to toe in blood. They were going to heal very slowly and painfully.

Vaughn stood defenseless and as I walked towards him, I knew exactly what it was I wanted, what my wolf wanted and what Vaughn was afraid would happen if he let me live. We were past that now and I was going to bring his fears to pass.

He stared at me, steeling himself for the face-off. Pouring enough power into my gaze, I met his eyes and held them, my pheromones thickening in the air around us.

"Submit to your new head Alpha" I ordered, my voice hard as granite.

He fought to the point of crippling pain but couldn't resist the sheer power of my will. His knees connected with the tiles, a gasp of utter defeat tearing out of his throat, and as I turned to face the other members, they quickly went on their knees, the fear in their gaze feeding my wolf's crazy.

I took his seat, the seat that should have been mine at the start.

Jade Alvarez. I was going to find her, even if I had to search to the ends of the earth.