Chapter 118 Set up

Nikolai

"Hello?" It was Tessa's phone. She was sobbing hysterically. And I instantly knew something was wrong with Ava.

"A-Avalyn." Tessa's cries cut off and Eliyah heaved, breathless and unable to form words. And then he rattled off an address and a few directions.

My legs jerked into action and I stood up from my seat. "Where is she? What happened?"

"She—she went in this house to help an old lady with the guards a-and we were waiting in the car for her. She never came out. When we went inside, it was empty." He said breathlessly.

My heart dropped.

A thousand thoughts went through my mind in ten seconds. But I focused on one task. Finding Ava. Chances were, she still at the house, probably in the backyard or something and them being mere humans, missed it. But I'm not taking chances, just in case.

I stormed out of my office.

The first person that came in my mind was Mikhail. But he already was planning for a mission. I called the next best person.

'Remi. Meet me at the garage.' I mind-linked him.

'Yes, Alpha.' He replied.

I took long strides as I fast walked to the garage, took the fastest car I spotted— a black Lamborghini. Remi arrived under a minute and the second he got his ass in the car, I was speeding out.

This is all my fault, I never should have let her go in the first place. She was sick just yesterday. Fuck. I could have told her to rest today and recover. She would've been in a much better position of defending herself if she was all recovered. I punched the steering wheel in frustration.

I followed the address given to me and I made the turn on a road where the construction work was still going on, hardly a few houses were done.

"May I ask what happened, Alpha?" Remi broke the silence.

"Ava is missing." I said.

"Fuck." He swore. Yes, fuck indeed.

"There. That one." He pointed towards the house on the left.

I pulled over the car and jumped out, as did Remi.

Eliyah and Tessa were standing outside the door. Eliyah was pacing and Tessa was sobbing.

I walked past them and before I even opened the door, I knew Ava was not in here. But she had definitely been here earlier. I could smell her scent. And blood of the guards.

The house was actually a small one storey, poorly built wooden shack. It's structure was very different from all the houses we had built. In fact, it smelled like it was newly built. Why build such a bad house?...unless... it was built to not to be lived in but to be used for other purposes.

I took a look around, keeping my wolf at the forefront so I could be more aware of every scent, every detail.

The entire house was bare as fuck. It didn't even have any bedroom, bathroom or even a proper kitchen. It was one single room, a television that didn't even have it's wires connected to the plug and a cheap couch. It was all a set up.

The more I stood here, the more anxious I felt. This was obviously a trap. I walked to the backyard and saw tyre marks on the soil. A deep feeling situated in my stomach that I later realised was fear.

Never in my life have I felt scared.

I looked out of the open back window and saw the dead body of the guards. Fuck. I punched the wall in anger and it crumbled against my fist.

I won't be able to live with myself if something happens to Ava. I yanked my hair angrily.

A loud howl ripped from my throat. My head hurt. My heart hurt.

I tried to connect to Ava through our bond but came up blank.

My soul hurt.

With heavy legs, I followed the tyre marks in the backwards that disappeared on the road.

"Remi!" I yelled and ran towards the car.

I yanked open the driver's door and saw Remi ran out from the side of the house. "They took her in a car from the backyard. Get in." And then I looked at Tessa and Eliyah. "Go home."

I pressed on the accelerator and swerved the car on the road. Remi had his head out of the window, taking in the smell of the car they took Ava in and he directed me.

I was speeding. Dangerously so.

We took the road around a couple of mountains till we reached a river bank.

"Stop." Remi said suddenly and I pushed on the breaks, jerking the car to a stop. This doesn't make sense. If they traveled through the water, their car should be here, which it isn't. If they used their car, then why did Remi tell me to stop here?

Why does their scent stop here?

Remi and I got out. I let him do his thing and he found footprints on the soil—footprints of two people only. It was windy so I couldn't pick up any smells but Remi knew what he was doing.

We ended up near the river.

"This is where their scent ends and so do the tyre marks." He pointed at the tyre marks which looked like the car went into the water. "My best guess is they had a big boat and took the car back with them so we have no clues to investigate."

The river was huge. Big enough for a big boat to travel easily. But the current was too strong for a boat to travel upstream. We were still we above the sea level.

Unless... they are from Voda Kingdom and have a water affinity. Fucking Javier. What are his people playing at?

I immediately called him.

"Where is Avalyn?" I growled when he picked up.

He was silent for a beat and then hissed. "What do you mean where is Avalyn?"

I swore under my breath. He has no idea. "She is fucking kidnapped. By your people."

"You had one job, Nikolai." He thundered. "I trusted you with my daughter. If anything happens to her, I will kill you."

I will kill myself too. Without Ava, there is no reason to live.

"I have taken more care of her than you did in the last decade." I bit back. "Keep your fucking people on a leash. Once I find the motherfucker who did this, he won't remain alive."

"This is not the doing of the people of my kingdom. This may he hard for you to digest but not everyone is bad. How do you know it's done by my people?"

"Because she is on a ship right now. Going goddess knows where." I screamed.

"I'm changing the water current." He said patiently.

"Thank you." I took a deep breath.

"Keep me posted." He cut the call.

I let out a breath.

Going downstream was a totally different story. They must be in the open sea by now, well out of reach.

"Now what?" Remi asked.

Exactly. Now what? For the first time in my life, I had no plans.

"We need reinforcements." I replied.

'Avalyn is kidnapped.' I mind-linked Dimitri.

'What?' He asked incredulously.

'Exactly what I said,' my breath got caught in my throat, the reality finally sinking in. 'We are at a river bank. She is a boat being taken Goddess knows where. I don't know what to do.'

I punched a tree out of anger. And then again. And again.

'Where are you?' He asked me.

'At a river bank.' I grunted. I fucking hated this. I feel so helpless.

'Come back home. We will figure this out together.' He told me.

Yes. I needed more people to help me think. Or else I will drive myself crazy and end up with no solution.

Silently, I made my way back to the car and Remi followed me. I drove us back to the palace, feeling sick to my stomach.

Images of Ava with a collar, kneeling by the foot of some faceless asshole flashed across my mind.

I blinked fast, willing the image to go away.

She thinks of me as her saviour. What good am I if I can't even keep her safe?

Upon reaching the palace, I went straight to the living room where I knew Dimitri would be. He was there, talking to Symon, Algebra and Chiara.

"What happened?" Dimitri was on his feet.

Clenching my jaw, I recited the whole story.

"I'll take Remi with me and comb that house for any clues." Chiara said and left.

My entire body was shaking. I didn't know what to do. How to find her. Where to even begin. My heart felt weak.

But I steeled myself. Without Ava, nothing mattered. Certainly not my feelings. I needed to use my head. I need to think.

I paced around the room.

I shook my head, trying to push all the dark thoughts away.

Ava has powers. She is strong, stronger than all the supernaturals. She can defend herself.

But then how the hell did she get kidnapped in the first place?

There has to be something.

There has to be a clue I can work with.

Tessa and Eliyah arrived running in the west wing, breathless.

And then it clicked. "Ava has her phone on her right?"

Tessa shook her head. Ava never had the habit of carrying around her phone. I punched the fucking wall. I was so fucking pissed!

My hope deflated.

This didn't work.

"Was she wearing any sort of jewellery?" I asked Tessa.

"Huh?"

"Jewellery. Was she wearing any?" I repeated.

She nodded. "She was wearing a necklace and a ruby ring."

"Was it a grey coloured heart shaped stone?" Please be it. Please be it. Please be it. She usually wore the necklace with that pendant when she went out. The grey stone was exactly like the colour of my eye. And Ava used to say it made her feel like I was watching over her when she went out. And I was. Literally.

"Yes." She replied.

I took a breath of relief. "It has a a tracker." It was the first piece of jewellery I had gifted her. I was extremely paranoid about her safety then because she was weak. She didn't have a wolf or her powers. It was an assurance of her safety.

I whipped out my cellphone and opened the app. It took the fucking app a couple of minutes to load.

The location was in the middle of the ocean. In the middle of fucking nowhere.

We're fucked.