everyone dies in the end.

11

Xander should've known something was wrong the minute she walked away. He should've noticed as her footsteps abruptly stopped and her scent weakened. Why did he have to chalk it up as normal? As her just walking further and further away from him?

He hated how the main reason he's looking for her so urgently is because of his selfish hope that she hadn't run away, and not because of the fact that she could get hurt.

Yes. Getting hurt wouldn't be good either, but he would rather she get hurt than her running away from him.

Even though he had only known her for two days, he was already beginning to feel the mate bond. It wasn't just like two magnets coming together. It was so much more than that.

When Xander first met Kaya, that's how he felt though. But that pull was branching out and blossoming into something more. Every second he spent with her, he felt his heart bloom and shrivel up at the same time. All he wanted to do 24/7 was hold her and tell her everything would be okay. That she was safe with him and that he would never do anything to harm her.

But that would've been a lie.

Look at what happened. She was taken and he didn't even know. How could he tell his mate that she was safe when he wasn't even able to protect her?

It had been almost a day since he sent out the trackers, and they found nothing except for her footsteps as she was walking away.

For fuck's sake, he could've found that out himself.

Xander was done with these incompetent wolves: he would find Kaya himself. Besides, he had the advantage of the mate bond.

His nails got longer as his fingers and toes shrunk into paws and his jaw began to protrude out. Fur grew over his skin as his back twisted and shrunk into that of an ebony brown wolf.

He already knew what he was going to say to Kaya. He was going to tell her how much he loved her and how he'd never let this happen to her again and he'd hug her and be around her as much as he could. He wasn't around her as much. What if she thought he had been neglecting her?

As these endless, rambling thoughts flowed through his brain like the fast stream of a river, Xander began to look everywhere for his mate.

***

Kaya woke up to the hushed arguing of her parents and Belle.

"She shouldn't trust those idiots! Why are you even thinking about asking her to do that?" Her mother was whisper-shouting at Belle.

"Trusting them is what is best if she wants to avenge you! She doesn't have to completely trust them, but if you wanna speed up the process..."

"Guys. Don't worry. I don't trust them, but I need to work with them if you want me to kill Xander."

Both Belle and her mother were silent. Neither of them could deny how right she was.

"Kaya, I'm just worried that this whole revenge idea is a bit extreme. Is it really worth all this trouble for some dumb vengence. Why don't you just move on with your life? It'll be healthier than focusing on the past so much. Don't make the past your future."

Kaya shook her head.

"No. I'll move on once he's dead." She placed her hand around Belle's arm. "I promise."

Her heart hoped that subtle darkness in her eyes was a silent understanding--for the both of them-- but her mind knew better: Belle silently accepted her empty promise, perhaps more than Kaya herself.

Kaya's hand jerked away when she heard the door open.

"Oh. You're up," Viola looked a bit shocked.