13 Saving my mate

***POV – Zagon

I’ve lost it again.

GROWL!

Thrown into a blue funk, sniffing desperately to relocate any trace of the faint scent, my nose inches from the ground. These fucking wolves peeing all over the place is seriously messing with my search for Enigma. Time and again her scent gets overwhelmed by the pungent odor of urine, slowing me down.

I look up at the sky, trying to find the strength not to break down and destroy this whole damn kingdom. Just thinking of what the fucker might do to her is driving me berserkers. I swear this time he’s going to hell, and I’m gonna be the one taking him there – personally.

“Hey, get your nose back on that ground and start sniffing!” Puck shouts from my back, ripping my fur while doing so. I shake my body vigorously, hoping to get rid of the obnoxious sprite, but he clings like a louse.

“Hey, no need to get abusive!”

My lips pull up slightly to show some teeth, a sign that I’m in no mood for any of this bull, but the little fucker just pulls some more hair from their sockets.

“Is the scent lost again?” Harron asks, kneeling next to me to look at the leaf-filled ground. I nod my big head and he slowly wipes his hand over his face. He’s worried. So am I. I look at where Marrok’s dark wolf is running in circles, an indication that he also lost the trail, and there’s no sight of my brother and Blade.

A few hours ago, we split up into two teams, Stephan heads a small batch of guards to pursue the beta’s mate, while my group tries to follow Enigma’s scent. Another group of guards started a door-to-door search through the kingdom. But it’s going slow. Way too slow.

“Fuck!” Harron shouts, shooting a blue ray of magic against a tree in frustration.

“Hey, watch it,” Luan appears from behind the same tree, his hands in the air. Harron closes his eyes and sighs deeply.

“Dudes, this piss smell is getting really frustrated. I mean, marking your territory is one thing … but this is rather ridiculous,” Luan pulls his nose up.

“What piss smell?” Blade asks, and I look up to find the vampire squatting on a tree branch above us.

“Deem yourself lucky if you can’t smell it, this whole fucking place stinks of urine,” Luan leans back against the tree that’s still slightly smoldering from being hit by magic.

Harron starts walking in small circles … talking to himself again. The index finger on his right hand is tapping against his lips. Then he stops and his face lights up with an aha-moment. He turns his hands as if rolling an invisible ball, blue lights spark between them and he produces… eh … a plant. My ears pull back; I’m confused. Elves are truly difficult to understand …

“Boxwood!” he shouts out as if it explains everything. But it doesn’t. He grabs my ear and pulls roughly; forcing my head to move until my nose gets slammed into the leaves in his hand. I grind my teeth not to bite his hand. But then I smell it – pee. The plant has the same piss odor that’s obscuring Eni’s smell.

Marrok’s wolf, now standing next to me, also sniffs the plant, so does Luan. We all stare at each other and then at Harron as if communicating in silence. I think we’re all on the same page.

“Holy cow, it’s no time to enter a freaking staring contest,” the nut on my back exclaims, “what the fuck is going on?”

“He masked her smell with boxwood,” Harron inattentively puts his hand on my head. I let it slide again, but this guy seriously needs to learn about personal boundaries.

“So we need to follow the wee-wee smell,” Luan comments, but my nose is already on the ground. This is gonna make things so much easier. Found it!

I look up at Luan, shaking my head to the side. Since my brother has no wolf, he learned to somehow communicate with our dog sides.

“They’re gonna go fast, we’ll follow behind,” he translates to Harron who nods approvingly and I speed away, closely followed by Marrok and Blade.

I try not to think about what Eni must be going through … and what if we’re too late … what if he already raped her … marked her … killed her … NO! She’s gonna be fine.

“Stop!” Blade shouts from above and I oblige immediately. He swings from a branch to land on the ground next to us.

“There’s a small cabin up ahead. Must be where he’s hiding. We need to be silent or else he’ll hear us.”

Both Marrok and I nod since we can’t talk. I turn my head back to look at the sprite, still clutching my hair with his little hands. He wrinkles his little face into a pout.

“What?” I raise my one ear slightly. “I can be quiet,” he grunts. That remains unproven, but what the hell. We walk on in silence, checking each step forward until we’re close enough to the cabin.

The distinct smell of smoke from the chimney indicates that there’s definitely someone inside. I change back, and Marrok follows suit.

In unison, we quickly look down and then at each other. It freaking worked. Who would have guessed? I almost burst out laughing. Unbelievable. I look back at the small, tight, clingy covering of black cloth that barely conceals my package.

Shortly after my visit to the Firm, a parcel landed at home … from dad. And not what … a few pairs of underwear; strange-looking black thongs. The instructions mentioned that they’re made to withstand shifting and if you wear them beneath your clothes you won’t end up completely naked afterward. We were skeptical, but started wearing them anyway … and wonder above wonder – it actually works.

“You should patent those,” Blade says, “you’ll make a fortune.”

“We already have a fortune,” Marrok scuffs back.

“Well, I’ll pay a lot of money to never see your naked asses again,” Luan mumbles. Time to stop this bickering and focus on what’s surely important.

“Hey, shrimp, can you fly through the window and have a look inside? Without being spotted, that is?” I whisper softly, looking at the little man on my shoulder with a huge smile. He snorts and propels himself into the air without a word and disappears through a gap in the window.

Seconds feel like minutes, minutes like hours while three pairs of eyes stay fixed on that opening; scarcely breathing; not moving; barely blinking; silent.

At last, Puck reappears.

“He’s in there alright, so is Eni,” he says sitting down on his new favorite spot – my shoulder. But his eyes are looking down, avoiding mine.

“Is she alright?” I ask the question I’m afraid to ask. Puck turns his head away from us and the anxiety inside me grows into full-blown fear. My throat closes up, my mouth dries out and my tongue sticks to my palate.

“Puck?!” Blade says sternly and the sprite looks up but avoids my eyes. Is he hiding something? Or is he just scared that I’ll lose control? I must admit – I’m close to the edge – but I’m keeping it together. I can’t risk going on a rampage that could get her injured.

“She’s not too bad under the circumstances.” His answer is evasive, but at least it sounds as if she’s alive. That’s good enough for now.

And then I get some confirmation that she’s not dead. “Stop it! It won’t work!” We are close enough to hear and my heart almost leaps from my chest.

“Maybe I must try it during sex … that will work,” the fucker’s voice causes something inside me to snap.

Without thinking I break through the front door.

I freeze in the doorway and stare at Chris … Chris freezes on the spot and stares at me. The image of him standing over her bloodied, nearly naked body with extended canines, busy pulling down his pants, gets molded into my mind. My blood curdles, making my flesh crawl.

Chris slowly pulls up his zipper; his lips curl into a sly smile.

“You’re too late, demon. It’s done,” he says with schmuck confidence.

I’m dumped into a hole full of unanswered questions and uncertainty. What’s real and what’s not? I’m someone that needs to be in control – control of my life, control of my body, control of my mind, control of every situation. And at this stage, I’m in control of nothing and I fucking hate it.

“You stupid nut-rat, you let that fucking excuse for a wolf mark your mate!” Puck yells slapping my earlobe with his hand. It stings more than it should.

My eyes slowly scroll over Enigma, her bloodstained clothes; ripped to expose her dainty lace undergarment that barely covers her perky breasts. Around her mouth is some serious burns, as if she drank acid. Her multicolored eyes look into mine; dull and painfilled.

That’s it; hell breaks through and my veins burn with fire and fury. There isn’t a word in the world to describe exactly how furious I am right now.

That’s when I lose it completely. He deserves to die. I fly onto him so fast he doesn’t even have time to react; a rage of fury, seeing red, my hand colliding with his face – again and again, and again and …

Marrok grabs my shoulders tight, but I’ve lost all my humanity. I’m ready to rip his beating heart out!

I’m forcefully being pulled away from his mangled bloodied body. Looking down on his almost corpse, I spit on him. Bastard!

I’m quick as I head to Enigma; squishing her tiny body against my chest; breathing in her pee-laced smell until all the fear inside dissipates. She groans; I realize that I’m pulling her still cuffed hands into an awkward painful position. I let her go quickly.

“Did you check her body? Chris said you were too late,” Puck blurps some magic onto the cuffs to release her hands.

I grab her arm and unceremoniously pull her from the ground.

She lets out a growl. Did she just growl at me? Do elves growl? But I don’t have the clarity to think about that.

“Where did the fucker mark you?” I shout, moving her hair to the side so I can inspect her neck. Not finding any mark I open up her shirt to inspect her tummy. Fuck, I’ll undress her at this stage if needed. I’ve tolerated enough shit for one day.

“Zagon, are you crazy?” She slaps my hands away, trying to close the leftover pieces of her shirt. I move forward to pull her clothes off, I need to find that fucking mark, but Marrok pulls me back.

“Zagon, STOP!” I can’t, it feels as if I’m going berserk right now. A darkness spreads over me and I can’t seem to push it back. My hound is fighting to get out, to finish Chris, and claim my mate back. I jump forward again, grabbing both her arms, shaking her.

“Where did he mark you?” I look into those still sleepy, bedazzling eyes, feeling tears welling up in mine. Shit, I’ve never been this emotional, this broken, this close to self-destruction. But just thinking about his filthy hands touching any part of her makes me feel sick. I think I’m gonna barf.

“Eni, where did he mark you?” She shakes herself loose from my grip, seemingly angry. Small fires ignite in her eyes and her palm hits my cheek. It snaps me out of the dark and sends the upcoming vomit back down; a burning sensation left in my throat. Did she just slap me? Fucking hell!

“Okay, now you can listen,” those eyes scrutinize me, “Chris did bite me … a few times,” my heart shatters into a million pieces, causing a pain so intense that dying right now would be merciful.

I drop my arms next to my sides, waiting for the bomb to drop and destroy me.

“But it didn’t seem to work.” Wait, what?

“So you’re not marked?” I have to ask, just to be sure and the tightness in my chest starts to seize a little.

“No, Zagon, I’m not marked!” She hisses and I can see she’s seething. Why is she mad at me? But I don’t care.

I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but the next moment Eni is in my arms, crushed against my chest, my nose in her hair. I hold her there, taking a few deep breaths to let her sent calm my raw nerves – urine smell or not.

“Zagon, I swear I’m going to castrate you with my bare hands!” Ok, I’m back to my old self again, in control. Well, at least more than a minute ago.

“Sounds kinky,” I say, my mouth still in her hair.

Pain stings my gut and I let out a soft ‘puff’ sound as my breath forcefully gets knocked from my lungs. Damn this girl can hit. She’s much stronger than her petite size will let on, and a flush of proudness fills my heart. I let her go and act hurt, wrapping my arms protectively over the injured area, but I can’t hide the smile on my face.

“I suppose this means you’re a bit angry,” I ask stupidly, not knowing what else to do. And the desire to mark her myself right now is clouding my common sense. She’s so freaking beautiful and I am attracted to her like nothing before.

“You think!” She’s still raging, “How would you feel if I jump on you and try to take off your shirt?” I smile at the image that sentence put into my mind.

“I would fucking love it.” The guys snort out a shared giggle and fist bump each other. Eni throws her hands in the air.

“Ug, I’m going to lose my freaking sanity! I swear Selene put you on earth to ruin my fucking life! Fucking morons!”

“Hey, a lady should not swear so much!” Harron just entered the cabin. He quickly looks at Chris’s body before pulling Enigma into his arms.

A brush of relief flows through my body and I take a much-needed deep breath. The prick was lying. I’m sure I was dying there for a moment or so – I swear I walked through hell and back.

“Phew,” Puck lets out a sigh of consolation and lands to sit on my shoulder, “that was intense.”

“What just happened?” Luan asks looking around.

“Eh … for the first time, our demon got brutalized,” Marrok giggles.

“Damn, and I missed it,” Luan shakes his hand in a quick motion through the air.

Ug-ug-ug-ug!

Enigma starts coughing severely and all jokes are on the side. She clasps her throat, her eyes roll back in their sockets. I grab her around her waist. What the fuck is going on? Panicking, I look at Harron for answers, but he seems just as baffled as the rest of us.

“Www … wolfsbane …,” she barely gets out the word before she falls into my arms. I look at Harron, his bewildered look freaking me out now.