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Connor’s Pov

I reached out to Aria through the mindlink, I was so desperate to talk to her “Aria, where are you? Can you hear me?” I focused harder, trying to break through the distance between us and make her hear me.  

But I got something else, I couldn't explain why I got Tiara's voice instead of Aria. I had to listen anyway. 

“Connor, Connor can you hear me?” Her voice was trembling, I could hear the shivers in her words. “If you haven't found Aria by now, you really need to. If you don’t get to Aria now, she’ll die. Hurry before something happens to her”  

I couldn't deny the fear in my heart, it was tearing me up. If Aria was with Valerian, where the hell were they!? I was so pissed I couldn't even protect my mate and my son. It was like a punishment from the moon goddess. 

The rain didn't stop pouring, the thunder didn't stop cracking and I was still filled with the hope that my Aria was still alive. 

…One thing got me, how did she…? 

“Tiara, how are you able to hear me?” I asked in such curiosity, if it was some kind of voodoo, I could give her credits for her. She probably did something to be the center of my concentration. I was so sure my mind was on Aria when I tried to link with her. Instead, Tiara brushed it off…

“Don’t ask questions,” she replied quickly. “Move fast. You’re running out of time. I can't tell you anything else now.”

Her words turned everything inside me upside down, if I didn't find my family quickly, I would lose my life too. 

I turned to the men standing nearby. “Spread out and search the ruins,” I ordered, more in a commanding tone. 

“Look for anything that seemed like they were here. Look thoroughly and don't pass a place through without making sure of that.”  

The men nodded, and we began combing through the muddy ruins. The rain continued to pour, turning the ground into a treacherous mess.  

“Over here!” one of them called out after a few minutes of shouting just to hear each other. 

I hurried over, and he held up a small bracelet, caked in mud but unmistakable. The bracelet I gave to Valerian. They were here… 

“This way,” I said, following the footprints that looked almost washed out in the mud. The tracks led us to an old, weathered hut that seemed to defy the storm raging around it.  

The hut looked scary, standing isolated in the middle of the storm like a relic of some forgotten time. The door creaked as I pushed it open, and it revealed a room filled with strange items. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, jars of murky liquids lined the shelves, and a faint, otherworldly glow illuminated the space.  

“This can't be it, though it looks like an evil,” I muttered, stepping inside.  

I tried to reach one of the jars that was hung up on one of the doors but it dissolved into the air the minute I touched it, as though it had never existed. I clenched my fists, anger boiling inside of me. 

“Time is running out, Connor,” Tiara’s voice echoed in my mind again. “Aria doesn’t have long.”  

Her words struck a chord of panic, and I spun around to face the men who had followed me. “We have to move…”  

But my rising anger overwhelmed me. My claws extended involuntarily, and before I realized what I was doing, I struck one of them.  

His head fell from his body before I could stop myself.  

I stood there, staring at the lifeless body of the man I just killed. I just killed one of my own. I couldn't see that I was losing control and now I was all alone. 

Liam was nowhere to be found and it almost was that I wasn't in authority anymore. 

I dropped to my knees for a moment, staring at the blood pooling on the ground. “What have I done?” I yelled out in the rain, tears forced to drop from my eyes because I felt like a failure. 

But I had no time to dwell on my mistake. Gritting my teeth, I stood up slowly, wet and frustrated and decided to keep walking either way. 

The hut began to fade, its walls dissolving into nothingness. Within seconds, I was standing in the rain again, surrounded by emptiness.  

Then, faintly, I heard her voice.  

“Connor…”  

It was weak, barely audible, but it was her. I followed the sound, my instincts guiding me through the darkness and rain.  

I got to a collapsed building, its walls scorched and crumbling. The faint scent of fire, I could smell it in the air, and a soft silence filled the area.  

I stepped cautiously inside, my eyes scanning and screaming for any sign of Aria or Valerian. Then I was attacked out of nowhere. 

A group of tattered looking men came onto me, their weapons came sliding with them and they swung it towards me. 

I kept fighting them as much as I could but I got their blade slide through my side, and I stumbled, blood seeping through my shirt.  

With a roar of anger and push off, I ran forward, hitting them so hard and not backing down. Each of them dropped to the ground as I gave them just one hit with my claws. Everywhere eventually became silent. 

At the far end of the room, Noah appeared, stepping out of the shadows with a smug grin.  

“You made the wrong choice, Connor,” he said, his tone dripping with mockery.  

“Where is she?” I demanded, yelling and feeling my inside hurting so bad to tear him into pieces. “Bring out Aria, and I'll let you go in a piece.”  

Noah tilted his head, a twisted smile spreading across his face. “Oh, Aria? She’s not who I brought for you.”  

From behind him, two men dragged out Valerian, his small body bound tightly with ropes. His face was pale, and tears streamed down his cheeks as he looked at me.  

“Daddy!” he cried. 

The sight of him, helpless and terrified, broke something inside me. Rage consumed me, and I lost control.  

“Noah!” I roared, lunging forward.