Chapter23
Ziana’s POV
Once they leave I turn to see Killian and Zane eyeing me. Killian’s nose is bruised, but he is healing quickly. Zane looks fine, he changed his shirt so I can’t see how the wound is healing.
“Do we have to be worried about your mom killing us? She’s hella scary.” Zane asks, causing me to bark out a laugh.
“No, she is fine now.” I answer and I see he
“What about your friend?” Killian grumbles and I glare at him.
“Her name is Adria and no, you don’t have to worry about her.” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. He grumbles and walks out of the door, not acknowledging anything else.
“We moved your room. Your stuff arrived today and we set it in the new room.” Zane explains, ignoring my irritation pointed at Killian.
My heart beats a bit faster when I look at him. His golden eyes shine with determination and care. My guilt rakes hard at my chest. I don’t say anything as he leads me out of the office and up the stairs. We walk up three stories and turn left. At the end of the hallway, he opens the door to the right and motions for me to go inside. I walk in to see a room twice as large as my last. This has a small living room area, kitchen and bed in the corner. It is like a studio apartment. There are boxes piled in the living room area.
“Thank you.” I say, turning to Zane and he smiles.
“You’re welcome. If you want I can give you a tour of the packhouse or we can get dinner. Whatever you want just let me know.” He says, then awkwardly shuffles from foot to foot, waiting for my answer.
Looking around I spot the clock hanging and see that it is 7:30 p.m.
“Maybe grab a quick bite then a tour?” I ask and he nods, smiling widely. I follow him out and as we pass
different rooms down the stairs he points out which one is which.
We make our way to the large kitchen, where the cooks are cleaning up from dinner. As we enter they bow to
- us.
“Beta.” One of the cooks says, looking at Zane. He smiles kindly at the older woman. My darkness stirs and I
furrow my brows at this feeling I have. Jealousy bubbles in me.
I don’t understand why. I have never been jealous and she is obviously no threat. He is looking at her like a child looks at their mother. At that thought,
jealousy turns to guilt.
“Mable. This is Ziana. She is my and Killian’s mate.” Zane says to the older woman. Her eyes widen and she
grasps my hands.
“Oh! You are such a beautiful girl. Welcome to the pack! You let me know if those two cause any trouble.” She
says winking at me then heading towards the large fridge.
Zane leads me to a small table in the corner of the room. It holds three chairs and overlooks a small neighborhood, towards the back of the packhouse. I am admiring the view and architecture when a plate is set in front of me. I glance down and see salmon and broccoli. When I look up, I see Mable smiling down at
- me.
Chapter 23
“Thank you Mable. I say and she smiles even wider,
“You’re welcome Luna.” She says and walks away. I eat the food in silence as Zane just watches me with
smile.
“Would you like more or are you ready for the rest of the tour?” He asks as I take my last bite. I swallow and
take a sip of the tea that was brought to me.
“Tour will be fine.” I answer and he smiles and stands up, extending his hand out to me. I feel a pang in my
chest as I ignore his hand and he frowns.
He quickly covers it and leads me out of the kitchen to the dining room, where people are cleaning. He introduces me to them and leads me to the next room, which is a sitting room. As we tour he shows me where the game room is, the theater, the kids room, bowling alley, arcade, two living rooms, the Alpha, Luna,
and Beta’s office. He also informs me the gamma’s office is in the training building.
Those are all of the rooms between the basement, first, and second floor. He tells me about the third floor is guest rooms for pack members and visitor’s, the fourth is the Beta and Gamma’s floor, and the fifth floor is the Alpha’s floor. There is also an elevator. We are on the second floor walking back from yet another sitting
room when Zane’s ramblings are interrupted.
“I DON’T CARE. FIND THEM!” I heard screamed and we stopped. I see warriors run from Killian’s office and
pinch my face in displeasure.
Without thinking I march towards his office and slam the door open. Killian is gripping his desk and
breathing deep.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t need to scream at them.” I say sternly and his dark pink eyes shoot to mine. They are flickering and he growls.
“How I speak to my warrior’s is none of your concern.” He growls and my anger flares.
“YOU made it MY concern. They are now MY pack members and you will not speak to them that way.” I say and his mouth clamps shut. His eyes are still flickering and his breathing deep. I feel a hand on my shoulder
and turn towards Zane.
heart
“Another girl was taken this morning.” He explains and Killian growls. My heart drops at the new information.
“What happened?” I ask looking between Zane and Killian. Killian huffs and runs a hand through his hair.
“One of the omega’s was gathering fruit from the orchard and she was taken.” Killian explains.
“Can you show me?” I ask and I see him grind his teeth.
“Come.” Zane says, grabbing my forearm and leading me out of the office. Killian follows behind and we make our way to the side of the packhouse. About 5 minutes into the walk, I finally spotted the orchard. It is downhill and very long, stopping at the forest line.
“What was the time and location that all of the women were taken? What features and how old are they?” I
ask as we walk.
“The first woman is Lydia. She has blonde hair, brown eyes, and is 19. She was swimming at the pond on the other end of the pack and was taken at 2:00 pm. The second woman is Carmen. She has brown hair, brown eyes and is 17. She was out for a run and taken at 7:00 am. The third is Gabbie. She has red hair, blue eyes, and is 10. She was taken on her way to school at 8:00 am.” Zane tells me as we reach the end of the orchard
uptas 23
and Killian points to a tree across from us.
“Sabrina was last seen picking peaches there. She has dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and is 18. She wet started her job in the packhouse kitchens. She was taken around 10:00 this morning” Killian says and I walk over to the tree. I look around and notice the basket with the peaches strewn over the ground. I take a deep breath focusing on the scents around me. When I catch a slightly rotten smell, I follow it. Through the forest
and to a river. The scent stops at the river.
I steady my breathing, preparing to pull my magic. I don’t do this often because it threatens to take over and can physically hurt me.
Focusing on the black void that lives in the pit of my stomach and reaching for it. I pull it to the surface, focusing on the scent and opening my eyes. I see three people with masks on their heads, one is carrying the motionless body of the girl. I watch as they cover themselves with mud and follow the river upstream. ! follow the images playing in front of me and cross the river seeing them get out into a pile of leaves to hide what would have been their muddy tracks. The darkness bubbles inside me, causing the vision of the people to flicker. My breathing turns heavy and saliva fills my mouth.
quickly push the magic down before I throw up. My magic has different reactions when I use it. Sometimes! get physically ill, other times I am fine. On the rare occasion when I don’t have control it takes over and paralyzes me, causing violent pain to wrack through my body. That has only happened a couple of times.
Being that Eris gave me the gift of sight, I can focus on certain things and see what happened in the past. I can’t do the same in the future. The fates gave me that to try to balance the darkness, but it only made the
reactions worse.
“Are you okay?” I hear from behind me and I jump. I was so focused I forgot that Zane and Killian were with me. I swallow the building saliva and turn towards them.
“Yea, I’m fine.” I say and look around, acting like I wasn’t just watching the past play before me. I carefully follow the direction I saw in the memory. Eventually we make our way to a clearing and I spot tire tracks.
“This is the pack border.” Killian says roughly.
“How did you know to go this way?” Zane asks, making me stiffen. I shrug my shoulders and turn to look at
them.
“They are looking for women in their late teens, with no gifts. The reason they took gabbie is because it throws you off. She is young enough that she doesn’t have the full capacity of her power yet.” I explain and they eye me skeptically. We are interrupted by a group of 5 wolves coming into the clearing. Two, I recognize as royal pack members. They all bow to us and stand tall.
“Follow the tracks and report back.” Killian orders and they nod, taking off with only a nod of
acknowledgement.
“Let’s head back.” Zane says, turning around and leading the way back. I’didn’t realize how far we had walked, it’s about a 5 minute walk from the end of the orchard.
