Witch in wolf's clothing - Namaari

Chapter 55: Intense Red

Something inside me snaps at those words. "Injured? She's not okay!" I shout, my voice rising with frustration and fury. "She’s probably been captured, and who knows by who! And you three — my friends — let her slip away!"

The room goes silent as I glare at them, my rage boiling over. I run a hand through my hair, pacing furiously. "Do you have any idea what I have to do now? I have to inform my family, tell them that Namaari has been taken. You should already be out there, searching for her! Every second wasted here is a second she’s in danger, and you’re sitting here, telling me you don’t know where she is? How could you let this happen?! How could you lose her, your mate?!"

My voice cracks with emotion at the last word, and I see them flinch. The weight of my words hangs in the air, heavy and suffocating.

Zyméo looks at me, his eyes full of pain. "Nikolaj, we’re torn apart by this too. We will keep searching for her until she’s back. I promise you that."

I stare at them one by one, anger still simmering beneath my skin. "I get why you hesitated to tell me she’s your mate. But you should’ve told me. You’re my friends. And unlike in your pack, we take the mate bond seriously in ours. Despite all the s**t you pulled in the past with Namaari, I saw that you were trying. She was happy with you. I would’ve accepted it, eventually." I take a breath, letting the weight of my words sink in. "But now it’s different. You lost her. I’m not sure you deserve to be her mates anymore."

Tazzym shoots up from his seat, glaring at me. "What are you saying, Nikolaj?"

I sigh, frustration mixing with exhaustion. "I’m saying that when we find my sister — if we find her —I’m going to talk to her. If she decides to reject you as her mates, I’ll stand by her. And if she does, you better respect her decision."

"Absolutely not. Hell no," Tazzym snaps, his voice filled with defiance.

I growl low in my throat, stepping closer to him. "You’re in no position to make demands right now. You lost my sister. You lost your mate. End of discussion."

Tazzym’s fists tighten, but he doesn’t respond. I take another step back and exhale. "I’m calling my parents. I know how you feel about witches in your territory, but you’re going to allow my mother in here, without complaint. With any luck, she can track Namaari’s location with a spell. And we won’t mention the mate bond for now, or my father will probably kill you on sight. Honestly, I can’t say I’d stop him. But for now, we need you alive to help find her."

The triplets stand in silence, their jaws clenched, their bodies tense with emotion. It’s clear they’re biting back their pride, but eventually, they nod, accepting my conditions.

"Good," I say firmly. "Organize your pack. We need to keep searching. I’ll contact my family."

I turn and head toward the door, but just before I leave, I glance back at them. "And one more thing — you might want to sleep with one eye open. Zephyr isn’t going to take the news of Namaari going missing very well. He might be the one to kill you in your sleep."

Without waiting for a response, I storm out of the room, my heart pounding with a mix of rage and fear for my sister.

As I head down the hallway, my mind is a mess of half-formed plans and fragmented thoughts. The triplets' words still ring in my ears, but I push them aside for now. My family needs to be told, but I’m still struggling to find the right words. How do I even begin to explain that Namaari is missing? That I left her here, thinking she was safe, only for her to vanish under their watch?

I’m so caught up in my thoughts that I almost don’t hear the voice. “Prince Nikolaj.”

The sound pulls me back to the present, and I turn to see Beta River approaching cautiously. I nod at him, gripping the door handle of the guest bedroom, ready to escape into my thoughts and make that difficult call. But then he starts talking.

“I want to apologize for what happened... with your sister.” His voice is heavy with guilt. “We failed to protect her. I’m truly sorry.”

I stare at him, my grip tightening on the door handle. His apology barely scratches the surface of what I need to hear, but I keep quiet. River steps closer, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. “But... I’m sure wherever she is, she’ll hold her own. She’s strong, mentally and physically.” He hesitates, then adds, almost in a whisper, “And with her witch powers…”

The second that word leaves his mouth, my body reacts on instinct. Before I realize it, I’ve slammed him against the wall, my hand pressing hard against his shoulder. My face is inches from his, a low growl building in my throat. “Who else knows Namaari is a witch?” I demand, my voice filled with barely contained rage.

River holds my gaze, somehow managing to stay calm despite the fact that I’m one breath away from losing it. “Just me. She... she healed me. I would’ve died without her.”

My heart pounds in my chest, anger mixing with something else—fear, maybe. I lean in closer, my voice sharp and dangerous. “Don’t. Tell. Anyone. Do you hear me? The last thing we need is anyone knowing she’s a witch. Especially not here, with your pack’s hatred of them.”

River’s face remains impassive, though his voice stays soft. “I would never do anything to put Princess Namaari in danger. I owe her my life. I will do everything I can to help find her.”

Slowly, I let him go, stepping back but still feeling the adrenaline coursing through me. I rake my hand through my hair, trying to make sense of this mess. River straightens up, exhaling as he continues. “For what it’s worth, if the triplets find out she’s a witch, they might be angry. But it’ll be more about the lie than about her being a witch.”

I shoot him a hard look, my pulse still racing. River presses on, his voice more assured now. “I’ve seen how they look at her, Prince Nikolaj. I’ve never seen them care for anyone the way they care for your sister. They will fight for her, no matter what.”

I scoff, half in disbelief. "I hope you're right." I turn toward my door, gripping the handle again, and pause. "I need to call my family. Do me a favor, Beta River—keep an eye on things while I handle this. Make sure the triplets don’t do anything stupid. Because lately that seems to be all they do."

"I will," he promises.

With a curt nod, I push the door open and step inside my guest bedroom. As the door clicks shut behind me, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

I sink onto the edge of the bed, pulling my phone from my pocket and staring at the screen for a moment. The weight of everything crashes down on me at once. Namaari’s missing, and there’s no telling where she is, what’s happened to her.

She’s alive, I tell myself firmly. I can feel it. But even with that thought, the knot in my chest tightens. I scroll through my contacts, hovering over my mother’s name, my thumb trembling just slightly.

How do I tell her that I might’ve failed to protect the one person I swore I’d always keep safe?

Namaari’s POV

I wake up to a shock of cold water hitting my face. I gasp, my whole body jolting as the chill seeps into my bones. “Wake up, sunshine,” a voice says mockingly. My eyes snap open, and I immediately feel the cold, hard floor beneath me. And it looks like I'm chained by my ankles. Panic claws at my chest as I glance around frantically, taking in my surroundings. The room—or rather, the cell—is dark, with only the faint glow of a small candle on a table next to me. Its flickering light barely touches the thick shadows surrounding me.

I look up and see a man standing above me, a warrior by the looks of him, with a smug grin plastered on his face. He’s not the one who truly terrifies me, though. My eyes are drawn to a deeper darkness at the far side of the cell, where two glowing ice-blue eyes pierce through the blackness. The flicker of the candlelight dances within them, giving them an eerie, almost supernatural glow. The warrior turns toward the darkness and speaks, “She’s awake, my Luna.”

A soft yet icy voice responds, sending a shiver down my spine. “Good. Leave.”

Without hesitation, the warrior leaves the room, his boots echoing faintly against the stone as the door slams shut behind him. Now, it’s just me and those eyes. They remain fixated on me, unblinking, unmoving.

I can’t take it anymore. My heart is hammering in my chest, and I feel like I’m suffocating under the weight of the silence and those eyes. “What am I doing here?” I demand, my voice shaking with a mix of fear and anger. “Let me go! Fight me if you want, but don’t hide! Come out and face me! Who are you?”

The eyes remain still, but something shifts. A pulse of energy, something dark and terrifying, fills the air. Suddenly, the blue of the eyes shifts to a burning, intense red, and an overwhelming wave of dread crashes over me. My head pounds as if it’s being squeezed by some invisible force. I groan and clutch my temples, trying to fend off the pain that’s spreading like wildfire through my skull. I shut my eyes tight, desperate to block it out.

It’s like I’m being invaded, but I don’t even know by what. My powers—my wolf, my magic—they're useless. The damn bracelet on my wrist blocks everything, leaving me vulnerable, defenseless. I struggle to resist whatever is attacking me, but the pressure only grows, pressing me down to the floor. The pain is unbearable, and I scream internally, trying to fight, to claw my way back to myself.

Before I pass out, I hear that voice again, soft and chilling, like a whisper on ice. “You’re a fighter, Princess Namaari... I admire that.”

Namaari. How does she know my name? The thought barely registers before everything goes black.

This becomes my reality, day after day.

Every day, I’m given nothing but bread and water. No one speaks to me, not even the warriors who bring my meager meals. And every night, the same pair of eyes returns. Blue at first, always watching, always waiting. Then they turn red, and the torture begins anew. Each night, the pain in my head intensifies until I pass out, unable to withstand it. No matter how much I beg or shout, no one answers my questions. The silence is maddening.

Where am I? What do they want from me? And who is she—this Luna? That’s the only name I know, the only scrap of information I’ve been given.

And each night, I grow weaker, but I don’t stop wondering. How do I fight something I don’t even understand?