Chapter 13: The Father's Search

Marco's POV

The gunshot echoed through the snowy mountains like thunder. Marco Castellano hit the ground behind a fallen log as bullets flew over his head.

"Boss! Three more hunters coming from the east!" shouted Tony, his most trusted man.

Marco cursed under his breath. These weren't ordinary hunters. They moved too fast, shot too well, and their bullets glowed with magic that could kill even supernatural beings like him.

"Who sent them?" Marco called out to his team of six men.

"Don't know, boss. But they knew we were coming," replied Sofia, reloading her silver gun. "Someone told them about our search."

Marco's heart pounded with anger and fear. For three years, he had searched every mountain, every cave, every abandoned town for his missing daughter. Three years of sleepless nights and empty leads. Three years of blaming himself for letting Aria disappear.

Now, when he was finally close to finding her, someone was trying to stop him.

Another bullet whistled past his ear. These hunters weren't trying to capture him - they wanted him dead.

"We need to move," Marco said, checking his weapon. "Aria's scent trail leads up that mountain path. We can't let them stop us now."

"Boss, maybe we should go back," suggested Tony nervously. "Get more men."

"No!" Marco's voice was sharp with desperation. "I'm not leaving without my daughter. Not again."

The truth was, Marco had been a terrible father. He had trained Aria to be a weapon instead of loving her like a normal dad should. He had pushed her into darkness when he should have protected her innocence.

But losing her had changed him. Three years of searching had taught him what really mattered. He didn't want his deadly princess back. He just wanted his little girl.

"Cover me," Marco ordered, then ran toward the mountain path.

Bullets chased him up the snowy trail, but his supernatural speed kept him ahead of danger. Behind him, his men fought bravely to give him time to escape.

As he climbed higher, Marco's enhanced senses picked up something that made his blood freeze. Aria's scent was mixed with something else. Something wild and dangerous.

Wolf.

"No," he whispered, running faster. "Please, not wolves."

The path led to a small cabin hidden in the trees. Marco's heart nearly stopped when he saw it. The building was burned and damaged, with bullet holes in the walls. Signs of a terrible fight were everywhere.

But it was the scent that told the real story. Aria had been here. She had lived here. And she hadn't been alone.

Marco knelt in the snow and touched a dark stain near the cabin door. Blood. Both human and wolf blood mixed together.

"She was hurt," he said to himself, his voice breaking. "My baby was hurt."

Then he found something that made his hands shake with rage. Wolf tracks leading away from the cabin. Fresh tracks, maybe a day old. And mixed with them, the faint scent of his daughter.

The wolf had taken her again.

Marco stood up slowly, his face twisted with cold fury. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number he knew by heart.

"Vincent," he said when the call connected. "I found where she was. The wolf has her."

"Which wolf?" came the cold voice on the other end.

"I don't know yet. But I'm going to find out. And when I do, I'm going to make him pay for touching my daughter."

"Be careful, old friend. These mountain wolves are different. Stronger. More dangerous."

"I don't care," Marco said, following the tracks into the forest. "Nobody takes my family and gets away with it."

As he walked deeper into the woods, Marco thought about Aria as a little girl. How she used to climb into his lap during thunderstorms. How she would beg him to read her bedtime stories. How she called him "papa" in her sweet, innocent voice.

He had destroyed all of that with his training and his violence. But maybe, if he could save her now, there might be a chance to be a real father.

The tracks led to an old mining town that looked abandoned. But Marco's sharp eyes caught movement in the shadows. Someone was watching him.

"I know you're there," he called out. "Show yourself."

A woman stepped out from behind a broken-down building. She was young, maybe thirty, with silver hair and strange purple eyes. A witch.

"You're Marco Castellano," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Where is my daughter?" Marco demanded, his hand moving to his gun.

The witch smiled sadly. "Safe. For now. But not for much longer."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your daughter is changing, Marco. The wolf's magic is mixing with her own power. Soon, she won't be human anymore. She'll be something new. Something dangerous."

Marco felt like someone had punched him in the chest. "You're lying."

"Am I? Haven't you noticed how the other supernatural families have been acting lately? They're all preparing for something. Something big is coming."

"I don't care what's coming. I just want Aria back."

The witch shook her head. "The girl you remember is already gone, Marco. Your training created a killer. The wolf's love awakened something else. And the magic binding them together? It's creating a monster."

"Stop talking!" Marco shouted, pointing his gun at her. "Tell me where she is!"

"Even if you found her, you couldn't save her now," the witch said calmly. "The transformation has already begun. By tomorrow night, during the blood moon, she'll either become the most powerful being in the supernatural world... or she'll destroy everything she touches."

Marco's gun hand was shaking. "What kind of transformation?"

"The ancient kind. The kind that turns princesses into queens and lovers into legends. But also the kind that burns down entire worlds."

Before Marco could respond, howling filled the air. Not just one wolf, but many. A whole pack calling to each other across the mountains.

The witch smiled. "They know you're here, Marco. The question is: are you here to save your daughter, or to destroy the only happiness she's ever known?"

"I'm here to bring her home," Marco said firmly.

"And what if home is what she's running from?"

The howling grew louder, closer. Marco realized he was surrounded. Wolves were moving through the trees, getting ready to attack.

But then, cutting through the wolf calls like a silver blade, came another sound. A woman's voice, screaming in terror and pain.

Aria's voice.

"Papa!" she cried out from somewhere in the darkness. "Help me! Please, somebody help me!"

Marco's heart exploded with fear and love. His little girl was in trouble, and nothing else mattered.

He ran toward the sound of her voice, leaving the witch behind. Branches tore at his clothes and snow slowed his steps, but he didn't stop.

"I'm coming, baby!" he shouted. "Papa's coming!"

But as he ran deeper into the forest, following Aria's screams, Marco didn't notice the witch's final words, whispered too quietly for human ears to hear:

"Some fathers save their children. Others destroy them trying."

And in the distance, something much worse than wolves was moving through the darkness, hunting the same prey.