Chapter 76 Die by my hand

Chapter 76 Die by my hand
Three days painfully crawled by since Tyra went missing, and there were still no positive results from the search parties that had been sent out to find her.

Three days of no sleep, no peace, no rest, and barely any appetite for food had taken a serious toll on Evander. The man who had once been so composed was slowly losing his grip on himself, and his health was beginning to deteriorate all over again.

His eyes were constantly strained from exhaustion, his clothes hung loosely on him, and there was barely a moment when his mind wasn't consumed by thoughts of Tyra.

The only thing keeping him sane was a thin thread of hope, and even that was growing thinner with every passing second.

He paced about the large space on the ground floor, unable to remain seated for more than a few minutes at a time.

Desmond and the council members were there with him, all of them waiting impatiently for the last report from the final group of search parties that had been sent out. Nobody spoke much anymore.

After three days of searching, everyone was beginning to understand how serious the situation had become.

The moment the search party finally arrived, Evander stopped pacing and turned toward them.

"Alpha," they greeted.

"Did you find her?" He approached them, his eyes demanding the answer just as much as his voice.

"Unfortunately, no. But we found this in the woods around the eastern border." The leader stretched out a phone toward him.

The moment Evander saw it, his heart dropped.

"This is her phone," he commented, taking the device from the man and staring at it for several seconds. "This is the phone I gave to her yesterday. What else did you find? Any clue that could lead us to her location?"

"The only conclusion that came to mind was that she ran away, so we thoroughly drilled and questioned the patrol unit at the eastern border, but they swore nobody passed through there," the chief guard responded.

His voice carried the exhaustion of someone who had spent three days searching without sleep and coming back with nothing useful to show for it. The entire group had been pushed to their limits, yet they still had no idea where Tyra was or what had happened to her.

"The eastern border leads to the ocean," Havilah chimed in, his face thoughtful. "It's impossible for anyone to escape using that route without being spotted by the patrol unit. No one can swim that far. They would need a boat, and the waves are terrifying."

"You're right. Unless she literally turned into a fish, which is impossible," Councilor Samuel added.

Nobody laughed. The joke was too close to the terrifying reality they were facing.

"So in essence, someone actually abducted her, then kept the phone in the eastern border to throw us off their trail," Evander echoed, piecing his thoughts together.

His fingers tightened around the phone as he stared down at it. The more he thought about everything that had happened, the more convinced he became that someone had deliberately taken Tyra. And in his mind, there was one person who stood above everyone else on the list of possibilities.

Shonda.

Every strange incident seemed to lead back to her. Every warning she had given about Tyra. Every threat she had made. Every time she had spoken about the danger Tyra supposedly posed to the pack.

Right on cue, Shonda marched into the building, fully kitted in her sacred clothes, her bag hanging at her side and her staff firmly in her hand.

"No need to jump into unverified conclusions, Alpha Evander. Nobody abducted her. Tyra left Blazing Moon of her own accord," Shonda announced, a prominent displeased frown plastered across her face.

"Liar!" Evander's voice thundered through the room. "You better bring her out, Shonda."

Shonda didn't move. Her frown only deepened, irritation becoming more obvious on her face.

"Alpha Evander, pull yourself together. As the alpha of Blazing moon, you are being extremely unreasonable right no..."

That was all she managed to say before whatever remained of Evander's restraint finally snapped.

The thin thread holding his sanity together broke completely, and before anyone could stop him, his body transformed into his black beast.

The next second, he lunged straight at Shonda.

Everyone in the room froze in shock.

"Oh shit!" Desmond's eyes widened, and he instantly shifted as well. Shonda would be dead in seconds if he didn't stop Evander.

Shonda, who looked only slightly surprised by the sudden attack, reacted immediately. She stamped her staff against the floor right in front of her, and a magic shield instantly formed between her and Evander.

The black beast rammed into it with enough force to make the barrier tremble, but he did not stop. He continued throwing his massive body against the shield, claws scraping violently across its surface as he tried to break through and reach the person hiding behind it.

The shield began to weaken under the repeated attacks. Cracks of light appeared across its surface, growing more visible with every impact, and Shonda's grip on her staff tightened as she struggled to maintain it.

Seeing that the barrier was quickly losing strength, Desmond's brown beast charged toward the black beast and slammed into him from the side, forcing him away from Shonda.

But that was not enough to stop the black beast.

He recovered almost immediately, turned on Desmond, and threw the brown beast against the wall with enough force to make him crash into it. Before Desmond could regain his footing, Evander turned back toward Shonda and charged again, his attention completely fixed on her.

Seeing the severity of the situation, Havilah swiftly shifted into a white beast and charged toward Evander. He managed to reach him moments before Shonda's shield completely broke down and pushed the black beast away from her.

The two beasts immediately became locked in a struggle, their bodies colliding as Havilah fought desperately to keep Evander away from Shonda. Evander fought with the strength of someone who had completely lost control, his only goal appearing to be getting past Havilah and reaching Shonda.

While they were still struggling, Shonda reached into her bag and pulled out a tranquilizing gun.

Nobody noticed what she was doing until she raised it.

She fired ten shots straight into the black beast's chest, catching everyone completely by surprise.

The black beast froze for a moment before his legs gave way beneath him. His massive body collapsed onto the floor, and within seconds, his form changed back into that of a man.

"What the hell? What was that?" Havilah directed the question at Shonda after shifting back into his human form, his eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the unconscious Evander.

"Something that can slow him down," Shonda responded with no iota of remorse.

Havilah immediately smelled the air around them, and his expression changed the moment he recognized what was in the darts.

"This is poison, Shonda. Ten shots of poison? Are you crazy? Do you want to kill him?" He fired the questions at her, completely stunned by what she had done.

"He has descended into madness. Anything less than that will not stop him. And I can extract it from his body. Don't teach me my job." Shonda shot back at Havilah without showing the slightest sign of regret. She then turned toward the guards standing around them. "Take him to his room."

Before the guards could move toward Evander, Desmond, who was still in his beast form, released a threatening snarl that immediately made them halt.

His brown eyes remained fixed on Shonda, and there was a level of fury in them that made it obvious he was barely controlling himself.

"Desmond, stop," Havilah called out, trying to prevent the situation from becoming even worse.

Shonda, however, did not seem intimidated. She raised the tranquilizing gun and pointed it directly at Desmond.

"I prepared more than ten. Don't mess with me," she said to him, her warning only infuriating Desmond further.

"Shut your mouth, Shonda. Raising a weapon against your alpha is treason," Havilah quickly reprimanded her, his eyes remaining on the brown beast. He knew another confrontation could spiral out of control, and the last thing they needed was for Desmond to attack her as well.

"I only raised it with the intention of helping him. Different thing." Shonda defended herself, lowering her weapon slightly but refusing to back down.

Desmond finally shifted back into his human form. He walked closer to her, a daring look settling across his face as he stared her down.

"I should have let him tear you apart. Then I'll know how you will be able to get one shot through, you infuriating old witch. If anything happens to him, you'll have me to contend with. You better prepare more poison."

After dropping those words, he turned away from Shonda and headed toward Evander, immediately dropping to his knees beside him.

"Evander," he called, placing a hand on him.

Evander's eyes snapped open.

He struggled to sit up before finally staggering to his feet.

His breathing was uneven, and his body looked like it was fighting against the effects of everything that had just been forced into his system. He reached for his chest and began pulling the sharp darts out one after another, coughing violently as blood escaped his mouth.

At that point, he felt extremely weak and couldn't get himself to shift anymore. Strength was leaving his body at a rate he couldn't keep up with, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep standing for long. Even remaining upright was becoming difficult, but the thought of resting was nowhere near his mind.

Once all the darts were out, he lifted his head and fixed his blood red gaze on Shonda.

A crazy, deranged smile slowly stretched across his face.

"You better pray this kills me, because, if it doesn't, then I promise you are going to die by my hand. Never show your face to me again."

His voice was weak from the poison, but the threat in it was unmistakable. Shonda stared back at him without responding, while Havilah watched the exchange with growing concern.

Evander shifted his gaze away from her and looked at the guards still standing around the room.

"Keep searching, all of you. Don't return here until you find Tyra. Even if this witch has succeeded in killing her, find her corpse and bring it to me."

Once the instruction dropped, the guards immediately bowed and hurried out of the space, knowing better than to question him.

Evander remained standing for another few seconds, his blood red eyes returning to Shonda one final time. He glared at her with an expression that made it clear his warning had not been an empty threat.

Then, with his strength rapidly failing him, he turned toward the elevator and began staggering in that direction.

Desmond immediately moved after him, ready to catch him if his legs gave out, while Shonda's face finally looked like the severity of the situation was slowly dawning on her.