Chapter 4

The dot stopped around fifteen miles outside their territory in a place Asher has never been before. Making sure that they had their weapons ready, they took off in  that direction using their werewolf speed. They only knew this woman was supernatural. She could be a vampire, demon, or anything else. Either way, they were prepared to deal with her.

He marked the location on the map and exited the car quickly. They were faster on foot than with a car in this terrain. Asher was worried the stalker would lead them to the middle of nowhere, as he urged Logan to follow him.

Running in their wolf forms would have been faster, but they couldn’t carry the device in that form. Logan carried a transportable device in his hand instead, which tracked the movement of the perp. They trekked through the forest, confirming the location occasionally and moved stealthily with the grace of a predator.

“I have sent the coordinates to Neil. Our backup will be here soon,” Logan informed.

The dot grew closer with each step they took forward. Their eyes scanned their surroundings with their senses on high alert all the time. The trail soon led them to the cave and Asher could smell the roses from its entrance. He could also smell roses, which were several days older.

Asher motioned Logan to stay on guard while he went ahead. The inside of the cave was dark and ran deep with so many twists and turns, but the scent of flowers saved him from getting lost between them. The fragrance of the roses continued to grow stronger as he proceeded cautiously. 

He soon reached a faintly lit area of the cave. The scent of the roses was stronger here. Taking a deep breath, he stalked closer to the entrance of what looked like a small enclosure, his weapon ready in his hand.

A faint glow of an oil lamp lit up the enclosure, illuminating the whole set of roses that were neatly arranged. The fresh bouquet of roses he bought today sat near a makeshift bed made of dry leaves and old rags.

So this was where the flowers went every day, Asher thought, unable to believe his eyes. She must be collecting these roses for years. It looked like a shrine minus the altar.

“Found the roses, but there is no one here,” Asher informed Logan, who stood guard outside the cave.

“The backup team arrived just now. We are coming in,” Logan replied, and Asher looked around, sniffing the enclosure for any foreign scent.

The scent of roses messed with his sense of smell. Asher knelt, taking a whiff of the old rags.

If she was sleeping down here, it would surely have her scent.

It didn’t take long before he caught the distinct scent of a vampire mixed with what smelled like lilacs.

So this was what he smelled the other day in the graveyard—the thought disturbed him.

He didn’t like that a vampire had the unique scent that once belonged to Sienna. He heard faint footsteps, and soon enough, Logan came in with his team.

“Whoa, this shit is crazy.” Logan whistled slowly, looking at the roses.

One of the team members bent down to pick up a bouquet, and that was when everything broke loose.

Asher was thrown across the cave wall and fell with a thud. Everything happened within a blink of an eye and the only sound Asher heard was a hiss like a snake.

A hooded figure stood over him with her back against him. The other team members who tried to attack her met with the same fate. She was too fast for them and struck like a bolt of lightning.

Fortunately, his men were still breathing. Logan stood frozen, with the  expression ofa mixture of shock and admiration as Asher stood from the ground. This vampire was faster than a werewolf, but the wolves were stronger.

Her posture was ready to attack Logan, and Asher needed to distract her. So he thought of a better plan instead of attacking her blindly.

He bent down and picked up the fresh set of roses he got earlier today. This had her immediate attention as she hissed slightly. Before she could turn, however, more of his men poured in, and this started a fight between the vampire and his team.

Asher had fought vampires before, but she was faster than anyone he had ever seen. A wave of rage filled him when one of his men fell. Blood seeped through his wounds.

The woman attacked anyone who dared to touch the roses.

Asher intervened when she tried to attack Logan and found himself pinned against the cave wall. All he could see was a pair of piercing blue eyes and a thick scent of lilacs mixed with that of a vampire teased his nostrils. She wore a mask, which covered half of her face while the hood covered the rest.

Her eyes softened when she glanced at the roses. Asher’s claws extended, ready to strike when the scent of lilacs teased him again, distracting him momentarily. She dropped him down slowly but did not move away. One of her hands still clenched his collar while the other closed around the bouquet, taking it away from him.

She inhaled the roses and closed her eyes for a moment. Asher couldn’t bring himself to hurt her. He gestured for Logan to stop when he tried to shoot her from behind.

Now with his hands freed  Asher slowly reached for her facemask; her eyes shot open as she glared at his hands, making him stop in mid-air.

Uncertain of his action, he stopped reaching for her and to his surprise she leaned closer, nuzzling to his palm. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth his hand provided.

An unknown emotion-filled Asher as he reached with his other hand and removed her hood without a second thought.

He gasped when he saw her eyes under the light—he knows only one woman who had those sets of eyebrows. With a racing heart, he reached for her mask with a shaking hand, revealing a heart-shaped face and blood-red lips, which he believed he would never see again.

Asher’s heart stopped for a moment before it began to beat as he stared at the face of that one woman who captured his entire being. The one woman who had his heart racing every time he looked at her, and  left him craving for more. That one woman who held his heart in the palm of her hand. That one woman who owned his body, mind, and soul stood in front of him.

“Sienna,” Asher whispered. Her eyes shot open, and he stared into the blue depths, unable to believe what he was seeing. She looked at him with a confused expression and sighed with a forlorn look.

She stepped back and away from him, taking the roses with her. She went to sit down on the makeshift bed, holding it close to his chest. Logan watched with wide eyes and his expression mirrored Asher.

Sienna, his true love whom he had lost on one cold night, sat there holding the roses Asher bought every day.

***

Asher didn’t move. He couldn’t even if he tried to. He couldn’t believe Sienna sat before him, but there was no recognition in her eyes. She moved away when he called her name. He didn’t know how to react, and his wolf was a wreck inside him.

It wanted to shift and howl his agony. It urged him to go to her and take her in his arms, but his body refused to cooperate.

Logan dragged him out of the cave while Sienna was taken into custody by Neil, who had followed his men to the cave. No one spoke a word as they loaded Sienna into the back seat of their car. Logan supported Asher toward their car.

Sienna didn’t look up from where she sat. Her undivided attention was on the roses and no one dared to touch or take it from her again.

***

Logan drove Asher to his apartment in uncomfortable silence. The atmosphere was so thick in the car that he felt suffocated. He was shell-shocked to see Sienna in flesh and couldn’t believe his eyes. He was there when Asher buried her.

She even had the diamond ring that sparkled on her left-hand ring finger. It was so similar to the one Asher put on her finger before her burial.

The second-in-command squeezed Asher’s shoulders to comfort him. His phone kept buzzing, and he exhaled. He was needed at the agency. Usually, Asher was the one who interrogated the prisoners, but he didn’t think he’d be able to handle it now.

“I’ll come by later,” he whispered to Asher, who sat staring at the wall. “Will you be alright on your own?”

Asher didn’t respond though. He could feel his turmoil through their shared pack bond. Logan could only imagine how hard this must be for his best friend, who had been mourning for his mate all these years.

Never in his dream had he expected Sienna to be the Warlington Swamp Murderer.

Shit.

“Asher, listen, I have to go now and make sure she’s alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”

Asher once again didn’t move. He dialed Neil’s number once he was outside, locking the door behind him. The demon answered on the first ring.

“Neil, she was once Asher’s fiancée. Make sure no one hurts her, and no one interrogates her until myself or Asher is there,” Logan breathed. His voice was thick with emotion. Sienna was like a sister to him. His only family after Asher by extension.

They met only when he went to pick up Asher for something related to work, but he knew Sienna had a good heart and how much she changed Asher for good. After the vampire attack that robbed them of their parents, their small pack was left with no protection, and they had come a long way of struggles.

“I know. She’s safe. No one will touch her.”

“We need to dig Sienna’s grave. I want to know if she's really Sienna or if she’s just a look alike. I mean, you were there too when we buried her.” Logan hurried to his car.

Nothing made sense. Sienna was a human when she was killed. He had no answer for how she had turned into a vampire. He was with Asher all this time when he cried over Sienna. Asher took a year before he even stepped out of his apartment for work.

He could only imagine how much this would affect his wolf. Logan ended the call and raced in his car toward the cemetery.