Chp 1 Pt. 1 Sorrow

                                                                      Derek

It has been five months since Malayah was kidnapped and the video of her being forced to kill Michael was sent. Davina has not been the same. She sits by the window in Malayah’s room and refuses to leave not even to see the twins or Maliyah. I think she is waiting and hoping for Malayah to come running through the trees back to her bedroom window.

I have Dr. Ase comes about once a week to check on her. He hasn’t been able to get her to respond either. Dr. Ase said what she is going through is mental and as long as she continues to eat and drink physically she’s fine. We don’t have a pack psychologist at the moment. Poor Sally died when the hospital was attacked. I don’t have a wolf to replace her. Psychologists are typically needed in our world. Dr. Ase thinks if I can get through to Maliyah I might be able to get through to Davina. Both her children are hurting and she feels it.

The girls’ eighth birthday passed and though Maliyah did not want to celebrate, we still had a small family get together. Everyone even got Malayah gifts. They remain unopened in her bedroom. I have had all the alphas send out warriors to try and find Malayah and Dimitri has his coven working on tracking spells, though nothing works.

Even King Bjarki sent out his best trackers to try and find her. There is nothing more I can do. Now if I could only help my wife and my daughter. Maliyah stopped riding Beauty so I hired someone to care for her. Maliyah has been hostile towards my mother since Malayah disappeared. She blames her for not allowing her to go after Malayah.

School has started back up and so far she has not attended one day. Her protection details brings her home as soon as she leaves school property. I will not make the same mistake allowing Maliyah to go running off. If she wants space it’ll have to be in her room. I hear a knock on my office door.

“Come in.” It’s Jenny King, one of Maliyah’s guards.

“Sorry to interrupt Mr. Brooks.”

“It’s fine Jenny. She ran again?”

“Yes sir. She’s in her room trying to break the window open.” I sigh. Gabriel placed a seal on her window that is permanent. It would take another spell to remove it.

“Thank you Jenny, I’ll be up shortly.”

Jenny closes the door. I run my hand through my hair and down my face. I need to get Mark to train her since Enzo killed Michael. I have corrected everyone when I hear others say Malayah killed because she did not. Enzo made her. I leave my office and head upstairs. The further up the stairs I get the more I can hear Maliyah. I’ll have to be careful, if she starts losing control of her powers again I’ll end up with more than a hole in my leg this time. I knock on the door to get her attention.

“Maliyah, it’s dad. I’m coming in.” I open the door and Maliyah’s eyes have turned yellow. She has been striking lightning at the window. I have to give her credit for creativity. Last time she was using vines and ice spears to try and break the windows. One of the ice spears went straight through my right leg.

“What!?”

“Maliyah please calm down before I end up with another hole in my leg. Please talk to me.” Her eyes return to her hazel color and she begins crying.

“I’m so sorry dad I really didn’t mean to hurt last time,” she says through tears. I walk over and hug her trying to comfort her.

“Maliyah it kills me to see you so upset and depressed, but you still need to go to school. You still need an education.”

“What about Malayah? Are we just going to forget about her and continue on with our lives! What are you doing to find her!?”

Davina wanted to keep Maliyah out of all the discussions regarding Malayah but I am going to override her on that decision. She needs to know before she hurts someone or worse, herself.

“Maliyah, I have all the alphas sending out search parties around the world and realms looking for her. Dimitri has members of his coven working on tracking spells to locate her and even the elf king sent out his best trackers to find her. We haven’t forgotten her I promise. We are doing everything we can to find her.”

“Really? Why are you just now telling me this?”

“Your mother has been trying to protect you but I don’t think that has been working out very well. Neither of us want to lose another child. I promise to keep you in the loop regarding your sister from now on, but I need you to promise me to go to school and be nice to grandma. You know it truly is not her fault Malayah is gone. If she let you go we may have both of you missing right now and I am not sure your mother would’ve been able to handle that.” I watch her as she contemplate what I’ve just told her. There is such sorrow in her eyes.

“You pinky promise,” she asks holding out her right pinky. I smile at her. She knows I won’t break a pinky promise and uses this to ensure she gets what she wants. I curl my pinky around hers.

“I pinky promise.”

“Okay, I promise to stay in school and I’ll be nicer to grandma.” I kiss her on her forehead and give her a hug.

“Mark would like to take over your training. I know you have your powers but it’s also important you know how to fight should it become necessary.”

“I would love to kick uncle Mark’s butt,” she laughs and I chuckle with her. I would love to see that too.

“Jenny, Darren” I call out to her guards standing outside the door.

“Yes sir?”

“Please take Maliyah to school. I will call them and let them know she is returning.”

Maliyah grabs her backpack and hugs me again before following Jenny and Darren. I should’ve never agreed to keep Maliyah in the dark. We don’t need another kid running away on us. Hopefully Davina won’t kill me for agreeing to this before talking to her about it but she has been non responsive, forcing me to make all parental decisions lately.

I walk down the hall towards Malayah’s room. I can smell Davina inside. She hasn’t left Malayah’s room since her disappearance. She moves to eat when food is brought up and use the restroom but she doesn’t leave. I tried forcing her to leave once and that got me electrocuted so now I leave her be. I knock on the door and walk inside.

“Davina?”

She doesn’t move or look away from the window. She is holding onto Malayah’s soccer uniform. I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She still doesn’t move.

“I can feel her Derek. I can feel her pain, her sadness.”

Dimitri informed me dragons can feel their children’s emotions like the way us mates can feel our mate’s emotions and track each other. The only difference is dragons can’t track their just children just feel what their feeling. It’s eating away at her.

“Davina, I had to tell Maliyah everything.” She turns to look at. This is the first time I’ve gotten a reaction out of her since Malayah went missing.

“What?”

“I’m sorry love, but she has been so angry and skipping school. She was using her lightning powers to try and break the window open. I pinky promised her I would keep her informed on the search for her sister and in turn she agreed to stay in school and be nicer to my mother. That is the first time I’ve been able to get through to her.”

“Just lie to her then.”

“Davina I will not lose another daughter. I will not lie to her. If telling her all the search efforts and how they are going is going to stop her from taking off from school I will tell her.”

“You should’ve talked to me first then. You can’t just make parental decisions on your own.”

“Davina that’s all I have been doing for the past five months. Taking the calls from the school. Organizing guards for Maliyah. Getting Gabriel to seal Maliyah’s window, and taking the twins to their doctor appointments. I know you are in pain over losing Malayah but I am in pain too. She is my daughter too, I love her too!”

I didn’t mean to raise my voice but I have been holding it together for the family and letting her heal but I need my mate back. We need to heal together. Tears are threatening to spill. She raises her hand to my cheek as a tear falls.