Chapter 17 The Emerald Pack's Plea

Chapter 17 The Emerald Pack's Plea
Elara's POV

The SUV's headlights cut through the darkness as Damian drove me across the boundary markers of Emerald Pack territory. The air that filtered through the vents carried a distinct scent of pine and mint that marked this land as clearly as any physical border could.

When we pulled up to the main house, Allen and Vera stood on the front steps, their postures rigid with barely controlled anxiety. The porch lights cast harsh shadows across their faces, making Allen's usual commanding presence seem diminished and Vera's elegant features appear drawn and pale.

Damian came around to open my door before I could reach for the handle. His hand found the small of my back as we walked toward the steps, a gesture of support that I was grateful for.

Allen descended the steps first, his movements quick and urgent. Up close, I could see the fear etched into every line of his face, the way his wolf's presence flickered erratically beneath his control. This was not the composed former Alpha I'd met before. This was a father terrified for his daughter.

"Miss Sterling," he said, and his voice cracked on my name. "Thank you for coming. I know we don't deserve your time after how we treated you, but please, we need your help."

Vera moved to stand beside her husband, and I watched her hands reach out toward me before she seemed to catch herself and pull them back. Her wolf's eyes flashed gold in the porch light. "I need to apologize first. What I did earlier, how I spoke to you, the way I tried to intimidate you into leaving our home, it was unforgivable. You came to help us, to warn us about the danger to our daughter, and I treated you like an enemy."

She grasped both of my hands in hers, her grip desperate and trembling. "Your warning, we didn't take it seriously enough. We thought we could protect her with just increased security and vigilance, but it wasn't enough. The person who did this, they got to her anyway, and now she won't wake up."

My blood went cold at those words. I felt Damian's hand tighten against my back, his wolf surging forward with protective instinct. "What happened?" I asked, though part of me already knew the answer.

Allen's face contorted with anguish. "This afternoon, Sunny went out for a walk with her bodyguards. She was only gone for about twenty minutes, but when they were passing through the West District, she disappeared. Just vanished for maybe ten minutes while the guards were checking the perimeter. When they found her, she was lying beside a flower bed, completely unconscious."

Vera's hands were shaking so badly she had to clasp them together. "Our family doctor examined her. He said her vital signs are stable, her breathing is normal, her heartbeat is steady, but she won't wake up. He can't explain why she's unconscious. There's no physical injury, no sign of trauma, nothing that makes medical sense."

"But she smells like death and decay, like something rotting from the inside out."

Allen reached into his pocket and pulled out something wrapped in a handkerchief. He unfolded it carefully to reveal a piece of candy, the wrapper still intact and gleaming under the porch lights. The moment I saw it, I felt the dark magic radiating from it like heat from a furnace. "We found this in her pocket when we were preparing to take her to the hospital. I don't know why, but something told me it was important."

I took the candy from him, and the instant my fingers touched it, pain lanced through my hand. The dark magic aura pulsed against my skin, oily and wrong. This wasn't just cursed. This was a carefully constructed trap.

Behind Allen and Vera, I saw Colin emerge from the house. "The doctor said if she doesn't wake up by morning, she might never wake up at all."

My chest tightened with fury and determination. "Take me to her. I need to see her right now."

We moved through the house in a tense procession. When we reached Sunny's bedroom, the scent of sulfur and rotting meat hung in the air like a physical presence. This was the unmistakable signature of dark magic.

Sunny lay on the bed, her face paper white, her lips tinged with blue, and her breathing was so shallow I had to watch carefully to see her chest rise and fall.

I moved to the bedside and placed my hand over hers. Her skin was ice cold. Behind me, I heard Vera let out a choked sob.

I closed my eyes and activated my Aether Sight, letting my Guardian senses expand outward. What I saw made my breath catch in my throat.

Sunny's life core was almost completely hollowed out. Only tiny flickers of gold remained, struggling desperately to keep burning. And there, extending from her heart like a grotesque umbilical cord, was a black cord that pulsed with sickening energy. The cord was already half transparent. Along its length, writhing runes continued their slow extraction of her remaining life force.

I opened my eyes and felt my wolf surge forward, my irises shifting to vertical slits. "The caster has already completed most of the siphoning. Sunny's life force is less than thirty percent of what it should be. If we don't act immediately to sever the connection, she'll be dead before dawn."

Vera's wolf exploded to the surface, her body beginning to shift as her control shattered. She let out a desperate whimper that made every wolf in the room flinch. Allen grabbed his wife and held her against his chest, his own wolf's eyes flashing gold.

Damian moved forward instinctively, positioning himself in front of me, his Alpha presence flaring protectively.

I held up the candy. "This was the trigger. It's an enchanted bait, designed to activate the moment Sunny touched it. During those ten minutes when she disappeared, someone convinced her to take this candy. The moment she made contact with it, the soul anchor that was planted in her body eight years ago activated and began the second phase of the life draining ritual."

Colin's face had gone white, his fists clenched so tightly I could hear his knuckles cracking. "Eight years ago. When she was seven years old. Someone did this to a seven-year-old child."

I nodded grimly. "The soul anchor is a forbidden blood curse. It requires three things to implant: the victim's blood, prolonged physical contact, and complete trust. Whoever did this to Sunny had to be someone she saw regularly when she was seven, someone she had no reason to fear, someone who had unrestricted access to her when she was completely vulnerable."

Allen's wolf presence exploded through the room, his Alpha dominance making every wolf present submit instinctively. "It was someone inside our pack. Someone we trusted with our daughter's safety. Someone who has been living among us for eight years, waiting for the right moment to finish what they started."

Vera had managed to pull her wolf back under control, but her face was streaked with tears. "Can you track them? Can you find whoever did this?"

I reached into my leather pouch and pulled out my silver compass and a small vial of moonlight water. "I need a drop of Sunny's blood to use as a tracking catalyst. The life force that was stolen from her still carries her essence. The compass can follow that signature and lead us directly to where those stolen pieces of her soul are being held right now."

Vera didn't hesitate. She moved to her daughter's bedside and pulled a small needle from the medical supplies. Her hands were steady as she pricked Sunny's finger, though I saw fresh tears fall when a single drop of blood welled up. She caught the drop on a clean cloth and handed it to me.

I added the blood to the moonlight water and poured the mixture into the central depression of my compass. Using my moonstone wand, I carefully carved tracking runes around the edge, each symbol glowing silver as I completed it. The moment the final rune was in place, the compass needle began to spin wildly, faster and faster until it became a blur.

Then it stopped. The needle pointed straight and true toward one specific direction, and at its tip, a blue flame ignited. The flame burned with an intensity I had never seen before. Whoever held Sunny's stolen life force was close. Very close.

Colin immediately reached out through the pack's mind link. Within minutes, I heard the sound of engines starting outside. Through the window, I watched as seven black SUVs pulled up in formation, elite warriors taking their positions.

I climbed into the lead vehicle, holding the compass carefully. Damian slid into the seat beside me without a word.

The convoy pulled out, seven vehicles moving in perfect synchronization through the streets of Emerald Pack territory. I kept my eyes locked on the needle, watching as the blue flame grew brighter with every turn.

Vera sat in the back seat, her eyes fixed on the compass. "We're close," I said quietly. "Very close."

The convoy turned into the West District. The houses here were well maintained, their windows glowing with warm light. This was where the pack's most trusted members lived.

The vehicles slowed and then stopped in front of a two-story house that looked exactly like all the others on the street. Neat flower beds, trimmed hedges, a porch light that cast welcoming shadows.

But the compass needle pointed straight at a second-floor window, and the blue flame had become so intense it was almost solid.

I stepped out of the vehicle, my eyes locked on that window. Behind me, warriors took up defensive positions. Damian stood at my shoulder.

Vera emerged from the back seat, and I watched her face as she looked up at the house. Her expression shifted from determination to confusion to absolute horror. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she made a sound that was half sob, half denial.

"How could it be here?"