Ian’s POV:
I was in Felix’s house, pacing back and forth while they all sat in silence.
After hours of searching the forest, Amelia and I decided to go to Felix’s house and break the news to them.
They all looked surprised that I was back so early in the morning. I was trying to think of a way to tell them gently that Roxanne wasn’t home, so as not to alarm them.
“Ian, can you stop moving around and tell us if there is a problem?” Felix said loudly.
I stood still and glanced at Neo, who was sitting between Toni and Larson.
“Ian, if you’re too nervous to say it out loud, you can tell me first. Is the pack okay?” He asked through our mindlink. I closed my eyes for a second and swallowed hard.
Hearing him talk to me and ask me made tears well up in my eyes. I was slowly starting to worry about my little girl’s safety.
“Roxanne didn’t come home last night, and I’m certain she isn’t here,” Amelia said. I opened my eyes and she moved to stand next to me, linking her hand with mine and giving me a warm smile.
I tightened my grip and smiled back. I knew she was worried, just like I was, but she was trying hard to stay strong.
“Did you call Uncle?” Felix asked, raising his voice.
“Actually, I called him a while ago after searching the forest, and she isn’t there either. Leo, Whitney, and August are on their way here,” I answered sadly, and the room fell silent.
“Maybe she’s at a friend’s place, or visiting Rachel in human territory,” Chase suggested.
Rachel was Blade’s daughter, who was studying medicine. Ever since she was a young pup, she had been interested in helping out at the pack clinic. That’s why she made it her goal to further her career in human territory once she came of age. She would usually visit whenever she had time, but she wasn’t particularly close to Roxanne or any of her cousins.
“That’s impossible. Besides me and Kyle, Roxanne doesn’t have any other friends she could visit,” Larson answered in a husky voice, then leaned in and covered his face with his hands.
“Where’s Kyle?” Amelia asked, looking around.
“When he realized I was staying over, he decided to go to Whitney’s pack, so August came to pick him up,”Larson responded as I felt my head ache.
“This is too much, Roxanne is lost and now Kyle isn’t here!” I exclaimed.
“Roxanne can’t get lost. She’s an adult, and there is no way some lunatic could kidnap an Alpha queen without a fight. You could have seen her blood or inhaled her scent of blood somehow in the forest,” Toni said at the top of her voice as Lee stood up slowly.
“It’s only possible if her guard was down. Who was the last one to see her?” Lee asked.
“I was. I mean, we were,” Blade answered after he had glanced at Kylie.
“What state was she in?” Lee asked further.
“Now that I think about it seriously, I think she was crying. She immediately turned when we drove into the compound, and before we could step out of the car, she ran behind the house,” he answered.
“What, crying?” Larson asked loudly, beating me to it.
“Why would she cry?” I asked seriously.
Amelia looked at Larson, who quickly lowered his gaze to the ground.
“It’s all my fault,” Tamara answered, with tears threatening to fall.
“Honey, no way is this your fault,” Felix whispered next to her.
“If I didn’t act in such a manner, Roxanne couldn’t have disappeared,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Come with me, please,” Felix said softly, then held her hand and stood up with her, going out of the living room.
“We all don’t know why she was crying, so let’s all focus on finding her,” Amelia said loudly.
“I can retrace her actual steps using my magic. We will know exactly what happened to her and where she is,” Lee said seriously, as a sigh of relief escaped me.
“Please do that right now,” I pleaded.
“Okay, everyone, let’s go outside,” he instructed, and in no time, we were all outside, except Kylie, Felix, and Tamara.
“Where was she standing yesterday?” he asked, referring to a spot where she had stood for at least five minutes or more. As he asked, I quickly moved and pointed at the spot in an instant.
“She was standing here,” I answered.
“Good, now step back,” he instructed as he approached me.
I slowly did and watched as he leaned forward when he reached the spot, drawing a small symbol.
After muttering a few words, he put his hand on the symbol and slowly raised it while shifting into an upright position. A powerful, blinding light shone, making me close my eyes for a second before opening them.
I was shocked to see that we were back to yesterday’s scene.
We could see our past selves in a holographic way, talking. The scene was after Tamara had run back inside the house and Felix had followed her.
We all stood amazed, observing the scene.
“Whatever you do, don’t talk or touch this magic illusion because it will break. Take this scene like a movie. All we have to do is watch and follow Roxanne when she moves,” he said.
We all kept on watching as our past selves walked into the house, leaving Roxanne with Kyle.
Kyle asked her to wipe off her tears, and she looked shocked that she was in tears. I watched with a heavy heart as she wiped off her tears and ran behind the house when Blade’s car drove in.
We all quickly followed her as she ran into the forest.
Tears filled my eyes when she cried out, “Why?”
Each step she took wasn’t that of a trained warrior; it was that of a reckless warrior who had a lot of thoughts weighing her down.
When she fell down, I found myself trying to touch her, but stopped when Amelia grabbed my wrist. I looked at her and noticed that she had tears rolling down her cheeks.
“You can’t,” she whispered in a cracked voice.
I was about to respond when I heard Roxanne’s heartbreaking words, which made me look back at the illusion.
“I wish I could disappear,” she screamed.
A tear rolled down my cheek seeing her in so much pain. I still couldn’t understand why or what made her hurt. All I could do was blame myself for not paying much attention to her.
She always looked brave, courageous, and strong. There was never a day she had cried in her teens.
To us, she was a perfect daughter bound to take over our pack. She was also very hardworking and rarely bothered by negative things that went on in our pack.
But now, seeing her illusion, I realized how little I knew about my own daughter. For her to wish to disappear meant she was holding in the pain of whatever she was going through longer than we could have imagined.
When she heard footsteps approaching, she stopped crying and slowly sat upright, then wiped off her tears.
“I don’t want to talk to anyone right now,” she said in a cracked voice as we all looked at a tall man approaching her.
Something about him didn’t seem right. Although we could see his build, height, and clothes, we couldn’t see his face.
My heart beat wildly as he got closer, and Axel had to whisper to me a few times that it was an illusion, so I shouldn’t do anything to disturb it.
When she turned, she came face to face with the man who was leaning in with a small bottle. The man wasted no time in spraying the substance on her face.
I clenched my free hand tightly as I watched helplessly as my little girl blinked a few times, as if trying to clear her vision. She was about to stand up when she weakly fell into the man’s arms. A few seconds went by before she passed out, while the man stood still, looking at her face.
When two other faceless men appeared behind him, he handed Roxanne to them.
I wanted to see and observe where the man was going, but sadly I couldn’t because I wanted to see where the other two men were taking my daughter.
We all followed the men who had Roxanne as they walked in silence for about half an hour until they reached a tar road where their car was parked.
They moved closer to the car, and one man wasted no time opening the door while the other tossed her in roughly.
I angrily growled at the illusion as my heart ached badly.
The two men got in the front seat after closing the back door and started the car as the illusion slowly began to fade.
When it completely disappeared, I looked around, observing the forest behind us, which was just next to the tar.
“We have all seen enough. Can we go back now?” Amelia asked in a cracked voice.
I pulled her into my arms, hugging her tightly as she sobbed.
I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall, then cleared my throat.
“Why did the illusion stop here? I wanted to see where they were taking her,” I asked in a low tone.
“Let’s all go back for now. After we reach home, I’ll explain everything,” Lee answered.
I looked at Larson and noticed that he had red eyes. Next to him stood Neo, patting his back gently.
“Let’s all go back and figure out our next move,” I said softly, knowing very well that that’s exactly what we were supposed to do.