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.

"Yeah, um, do you know what happened to me?"

"You don't remember?"

"Sometimes I, um, get these blackouts, and I don't really remember what I do..."

"Oh. Um, well you kind of just fainted."

"Oh."

The awkwardness was real.

Viola was unsure how to talk to Kaya given how she had just witnessed her spontaneous fall to the ground, and Kaya hoped Viola wouldn't pry more on her illnesses.

"Anyways, I'll bring the doctor. Just to make sure you're fine."

Immediately after speaking, Viola was out the door, the only evidence of her presence--the distinct smell of her Chanel No. 5.

"She's too nice to trust." She heard her mother voice her opinion behind her.

"I know, Mom."

The stiffness of the thin infirmary bed was getting uncomfortable, so Kaya chose to leave.

She walked barefoot, in only a thin sheet that passed for a white a-line dress. Her dark hair was sticking together at its roots and was tangled into little knots at the tips.

Kaya walked through the dark, cement walls that held yellow lights from a thin string of rope. Every turn she took felt like she was approaching the dead of a maze. Where was everyone? She thought that she had explored all of this underground warehouse.

Apparently she was wrong.

"Oh. You're up." The younger man from the office before spoke up as he passed her in one of the faintly lit corridors.

"Yeah. I just woke up, but I blacked out and I...don't really remember what happened. Do you know what happened to me?"

The man was a bit stoic, but a slight hint of something flashed through his eyes. It was so fast, it would easily be missed if you weren't looking for it, like lightning.

"Um. You just collapsed in the meeting room, Kaya."

"Uh huh." She was half-listening, as blurry memories replayed themselves behind her eyes. She remembered her stupid attempt to the doubt in her mind. To attempt to understand what was real and what was not.

How could she find out what happened if she couldn't even trust her own mind?

"Thank you so much for your time, but I need to use the restroom. Do you have any idea of where it is?"

"Second door to the left." The man pointed down the hall with his olive hand.

"Thank you, so much," she spoke softly as she walked away.

In the bathroom, she inspected her body for any new marks or bruises.

There were none.

But how did she know if her eyes were deceiving her?

"They're telling the truth, Baby."

"But I thought that you didn't trust them."

"I don't, but I know when people are lying. And that man definitely thought he was telling the truth."

She saw her mother behind her in the mirror, hands reaching out to finger comb her disheveled hair.

"I trust only you, Mom."

"I know, Baby, I know."

They sat there for a while. A mother and a daughter, separated by the folds between life and death--the girl giving the ghost life again.

The ghost returned to the underworld again when Viola entered the restroom, Belle following close behind.

"Oh there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere! We need to tell you the plan, if we're really going to kill Xander," Viola's bubbly voice filled the room.

"It's okay to trust people, Kaya. Trust her."

"Okay." She wasn't really sure if she was agreeing to Belle or saying yes to Viola.

"Great! Follow me back to the meeting room."

The whole, short time walking there, Viola incessantly spoke about all the ways Kaya would be useful for the cause.

When they finally got into the meeting room, both of the men from earlier were there, still discussing war strategies.

"Now that she's all better, it's time for us to plan out everything that's going to happen!" Viola had to be high on energy drinks. Her enthusiasm was practically contagious.

"But before that, introductions!" The older man spoke. "I am Martin and this young man is my protege, Jonah."

They both mutually decided to ignore whatever happened before...if it had even happened.

Kaya waved at them and politely said, "It's very nice to officially meet you."

Viola clapped her hands. "Now that that's out of the way, we can finally move on to ideas! I'm thinking weekly meetings and check-ins so that you can slowly get close to him, and then, when he least expects it, BAM!! You stab him in the back and we take over and restore peace to our pack!"

That came out so fast she could barely register it.

"Slow down, slow down," Martin said. "I'm old. I barely understood what you were saying, you were going too fast.

Viola caught her breath and then spoke again, this time slower and more detailed. "With Kaya, we can play the long game, so that we can take our time to come up with the best plan possible! Also, it is literally impossible for him to ever suspect her. The only thing is that we need someone to hide all the files on her and her parents."

"The surveillance team can easily do that," Jonah imputed.

"Okay. Then it's settled then, we will place Kaya back with him and we can slowly update her with what to do," Martin said.

"So I'm basically a sleeper agent. Oh my God that's so cool!" No it was not. They were basically telling her to sit and wait. It seems like she either had to go back to working on her own or taking over this whole operation.

"I'm glad you think that." Martin spoke with narrow eyes.

He was a bit annoying.

"The best option would be to slowly earn their trust so that eventually, you'll be one of their leaders," Her father whispered into her ear.

Just like him, Kaya always thought ahead, gears constantly spinning and clashing against each other, anticipating and anticipating.

"So...Are you just gonna send me back? That's not suspicious at all."

"No, probably not. We'll figure something out." Viola said. "Any ideas?"

"Um. Maybe. If you bruise me up a bit, I could say that I was kidnapped for ransom money because of my uncle. But I managed to escape."

"Since that seems to be the only idea, I guess we're going with that," Viola spoke. "Who wants to punch her?"

No one spoke.

"No takers?" She seemed a bit sad, but she perked up immediately, "I guess I get to do it!"

She punched Kaya in the eye. And then proceeded to strangle her. Viola really enjoyed the revenge of what happened in the hospital.

To Kaya, it wasn't painful. It was actually quite nice.

She was a bit masochistic.