006 | EARTH, AIR, WATER, FIRE

Enzo’s POV

I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I stared down at the book. Simply Elemental, it was called: a battered old paperback that looked as though it had been passed around a lot, the spine bent out of shape, the corners dog-eared. I picked up the scrap of paper that had fallen from it and went to tuck it back inside the cover.

I paused, the paper curling in my palm. I could look at it. Just quickly. Nobody would ever know…

With a sigh, I tucked it away. I would know, and that was enough. Scarlett needed to trust me – I couldn’t break it so soon. My heart swelled at the thought of her, panging at the memory of the fear and pain in her eyes before she’d all but sprinted from the room. Something bad had happened to her, I could guess that much. And, as much as I wanted to rush things with her, sometimes wanting to bend her over the bed and others wanting to ask for her hand in God-damned marriage, I knew we’d have to take this slow. Like, snail’s pace slow.

I’d only known her a matter of hours. Fuck, the mate bond was wild. 

She’d been hurt. I swore never to hurt her, or let anyone else hurt her, ever again.

I stacked her books away neatly while I waited for her, making Scarlett her own pile next to one of mine. They were an odd selection, no two of the same genre or style, spanning mythology and prophecy to classic literature in the canon and even one book on star signs, which had been clearly leafed through and written in.

I pottered around and tidied up, sliding her case on top of the wardrobe, dusting off my desk, making the bed. Time passed slowly; I ached for her to return, to see her, to hold her. I thought I was being over-dramatic, going mad from the urges of the mate bond, but when half an hour had passed and Scarlett still hadn’t returned, I knew, deep in the core of my bones, that something was wrong.

I stood on trembling legs. I glared down at them. I had to be the Alpha the rest of the Wolven Realms thought I was, the man who wore a cold mask of indifference and arrogant smirks. I’d just vowed not to let anyone else hurt her, and already I’d let her wander off – right after my pack might’ve heard that my new mate was unable to shift into a wolf… unable to defend herself.

Fuck.

I headed straight for the kitchen. Nothing. No sign of her; no half-drunk glass of water on the side, no residual scent of pine and berries.

I dug my nails into my palms, marking them with angry red crescents. Had she run away? Had she gone back to Ryker? 

No. Just as surely as I knew that something was wrong, I knew Scar wouldn’t have gone back to him. She’d been happier, lighter, the second she’d stepped through the portal. His wounds cut deep, but not so deep that he could call her back from me. 

But she could’ve run off. Confused, overwhelmed, emotional, she might’ve left the pack house.

I tried mindlinking my Beta. ‘Marla? Can you hear me?’

No reply. She was probably still at the Mating Ball. I tried Davin, my Gamma, and got no response from him, either. I clenched my hands into fists and stormed out of the pack house, my rage swelling like a tsunami wave. 

My heart beat hard in my chest, pounding out a rhythm that reverberated down into my soul. I had to find her. I had to save her. But from what?

There was a tug in my chest. I ignored it, certain that she would’ve gone into the woods to get away from it all. The tug tried to pull me away from the woods, back down towards the portal. Fear clawed at my throat. What if I was wrong?

Unable to resist, I let the strange tug pull me towards the portal. There were scuffles in the grass and marks in the fresh snow and, sure enough, when I sniffed, I could just catch a whiff of wild berries and pine in the air. She’d been here – and, from the look of the scores in the snow, not by choice. 

A muscle stood out in my jaw.

Someone had taken her.

But who?

Letting the tug guide me, like a rope tied around my heart, I marched past the portal. I became an elemental being, my anger swirling like water, burning like fire, blowing like the wind, and as solid as the earth beneath the soles of my boots. I thought of nothing but Scarlett, of her doe-like eyes, of her full mouth, of the smile that broke like the dawn and limned her beautiful face.

I shifted into my wolf form. I was about to snap. I had to find her.

I ran. I ran for an hour. Two hours. I reached the edge of my territory, and I crossed it. Every few miles I found more evidence that she’d been taken: long lines carved into the dirt, like her heels scraping into the earth; a scrap of torn denim from her jeans; a lock of wavy auburn hair that looked like it had been yanked out of her scalp. My stomach churned at every one.

I was forced to slow and shift back into my human body as I neared the edge of the human lands. I jogged onwards, my jaw set. 

It was beyond the borders of our world that I found her, limp in the arms of four of my Warrior Wolves. Bloodied. Bruised. Beaten.

One of them saw me. He nudged the others, his gaze low. “Alpha Enzo,” he muttered. 

They turned as one. I glared at them, smiling viciously. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice eerily calm.

The biggest one – Warrior Wolf Raden – curled his lip at me. “Throwing the human back to where she belongs.”

“She’s not a human,” I said, just managing to keep my voice level. I stepped towards them, radiating menace and barely contained fury. “She’s my mate.”

He scoffed. “She can’t be. Alpha Ryker told us all about her at the ball. She’s an imposter, tricking you – and then she confirmed it, right to your face, and you still didn’t listen. We’re doing this for you, Alpha.” He held his large hands up. All I saw were swollen knuckles. Swollen from hitting my mate. “I swear. She’s not really your mate.”

I held his gaze, a growl rumbling in my throat. “She is.”

My eyes dipped to Scarlett. Her hair was stuck to her head with blood, red curls plastered to skin that was pallid beneath its tan. One hand lay upon the snow, dangling down from where two of them held her body. 

“Take your hands off her,” I growled.

They dropped her. Just dropped her in the snow like she was nothing.

Rage consumed me.