Chapter 417: Kidnapped By A Witch

The wood in the rafters groaned under their weight.

Guru swung his legs, trying to build enough momentum to reach the knot at his ankles, but the coarse hemp held firm. Blood rushed to his head, pounding behind his eyes in heavy, rhythmic thumps. He pulled again, straining until his biceps shook, but the rope didn’t give an inch.

"So, you don’t have any weaknesses?" Princess grunted, her head hanging near his shoulder. Her dark hair dangled toward the floor, sweeping through the dirt every time she shifted. "The most feared bounty hunter is tied up by a common rope."

Guru stopped swinging, letting out a harsh breath that kicked up small specks of dust from the floor below. "What about you? You’re an Alpha. You should be able to break that common rope."

"I’ve tried," she said, her voice strained as she flexed her shoulders, flexing against the binding. "This doesn’t seem like an ordinary rope."

"That is an enchanted rope. Only I can untie you."

The voice came from the gloom near the far corner.

Both of them twisted their necks upward to look. A young woman sat crossed-legged on the rough floor, kneeling over a damp patch of wood. She held a piece of pale chalk in her fingers, dragging it across the timber with a sharp, scratching sound to form a jagged symbol.

The cabin was dark. The only light came from five small tallow candles resting on the floor, their weak yellow flames flickering every time the draft seeped through the wall cracks. The thick smell of unwashed wool and burning wax hung heavy in the air.

"What is the meaning of this woman?" Guru called out, his jaw tightening as he stared at her. "Why would you attack and kidnap both of us?"

The woman didn’t pause her hand. The chalk scraped against the grain. "You killed my son, and I’m getting my revenge."

She drew the final curve of the Wiccan symbol, brushing away the white powder from her knees. Picking up the tallow candles one by one, she set them carefully at the five points of the circle.

"Look, woman," Guru said, his voice dropping into a low, steady pitch. "If I killed your son, just know that I’m only a weapon. I was paid to do that, just like you paid me to find a deceased witch and collect that golden ring you’re wearing."

The woman stood up slowly. She ignored Guru completely, turning her eyes toward the Alpha.

"I was not talking to you. I’m talking to the Alpha."

Princess blinked, staring back at her in silence.

"Three years ago, my son and his friends went to a nightclub, and they never returned," the witch said. Her knuckles turned pale as her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "I looked everywhere for him. Then, when I used one of his clothes to find out his last location, I discovered he had been attacked by a beast with blue eyes. I couldn’t see the face properly. My magic wasn’t strong enough back then."

She raised her right hand into the candlelight. A gold ring sat on her index finger, its smooth surface catching the flame and reflecting a deep, unnatural amber shine.

"The moment I put on this ring, it showed me your face." The witch stepped closer to where Princess hung, her chest heaving under her dark cloak. "You ripped out my son’s heart, along with his friends’ hearts."

Princess caught her breath, her chest freezing mid-inhale.

"Since you are an Alpha," the witch hissed, glaring straight into Princess’s eyes, "you will spend days here until I figure out how to kill an Alpha."

Princess couldn’t open her mouth. The blood pounding in her ears drowned out the silence of the room. She knew the woman was telling the truth. The memory wasn’t there, it was just a black hole in her mind from three years ago when her control slipped completely. For days, she had roamed the dark woods behind the city boundary, operating on pure animal impulse, tearing apart anything that moved.

Behaving like a hedge-Wolf

"I’m sorry..." Princess muttered, her voice breaking into a dry whisper.

"Sorry?" The witch took a step into the center of the ring, her fingers trembling violently. "Sorry will never bring my boy back. You don’t understand the pain a mother went through after losing her only son. I spent days, months, going to every town and like a crazy hag, asking about him, still holding onto the hope that he was alive."

Her throat tightened, her breath hitching as she stared up at the hanging werewolf.

"But no. Your people covered up the incident like it was a goat or a chicken you had killed."

"No matter what you do, you can’t kill an Alpha," Guru interjected, twisting his body toward the woman. "No amount of witchcraft can do that."

"This ring has the power of an entire coven," the witch said, ignoring his doubt. She raised her ringed hand toward the ceiling, the candle flames flaring sudden inches higher. "This coven has 24 witches. I’m going to use it to summon a demon strong enough to kill an Alpha."

She knelt down, closed her eyes and began to mutter under her breath, a low, rhythmic chant in a language that made the air in the small cabin feel cold and metallic.

"I didn’t know what I was doing..." Princess muttered. Warm tears slid backward across her temples, dipping into her hairline.

"Hey, come on," Guru barked, knocking his arm against Princess’s shoulder to break her focus. "In this world, anyone can be killed. So it’s either kill or be killed. If you hadn’t killed her son, someone else would have done it."

Princess swallowed hard, her vision blurrier now. "I have children. What if it had been one of mine? I wouldn’t have let it slide, and I wouldn’t be okay with it."

"I’ve killed so many people, and I don’t give a fuck about it," Guru snapped back, his voice crisp and hard as iron. "I always tell my girl to save people no matter the outcome, but one has to be strong enough to save themselves."

He turned his head as far as his neck allowed, squinting at Princess through the dim candlelight.

"Someone out there can be stronger than me. You can be stronger than me too. But right now, we need to find a way to kill her."

Princess blinked back her tears, stunned. "What?"

"Come on. It’s kill or be killed, and we aren’t going to wait for her to summon some stupid demon that’s going to eat you," Guru grunted, pulling against his wrists again. "If you’re eaten, your family will fall apart."

A sharp, cruel grin split his face.

"Even though you’re a pussy Alpha, you’re still Faye’s plaything."

"I’m not," Princess growled through her teeth, her fangs scraping her bottom lip. "I am her mate."

"Whatever. You should stop feeling guilty and embrace that dark path. Some people would kill to be a berserker Alpha. You’re lucky."

"I’m not. It’s a curse," Princess muttered, her head hanging lower as the shame pulled her back down. "Even my daughter is cursed too."

Guru stopped tugging at his rope. A dry chuckle rattled in his throat.

"Hmm. That’s interesting information."

His mouth stretched into a wide smile.

"I have a berserk granddaughter. I’m going to teach her how to hunt and kill."

Princess shut her eyes and turned her face toward the dark wall. She stopped listening to him. The faint warmth she felt working with the bounty hunter vanished, replaced by a cold disgust. He wasn’t just cold, he was hollow.

Guru’s low laugh echoed off the wooden beams, completely unbothered by the witch’s chanting, which grew louder and faster by the second.

Then the chanting cut off into a wet, choking gasp.

A sudden burst of bright orange heat washed over the inverted pair. Guru stopped laughing mid-breath as a harsh yellow light blinded him.

The witch was covered in fire.

Sparks flew off her hair as bright red flames burst straight out from her clothes, licking up her throat. She shrieked, a high-pitched, tearing sound that rattled the loose glass in the small cabin window. She thrashed inside her drawn circle, beating at her burning arms, but the fire didn’t spread to the floor; it stayed glued to her skin, eating away at her clothes until the smell of singed hair and meat filled the room.

"What the fuck...?" Guru muttered, squinting through the bright orange glare, his jaw slack as he watched the woman roll frantically on the floor, swallowed whole by the sudden inferno.

Before the screaming stopped, a heavy crash echoed through the small room.

The wooden front door burst open, slamming hard against the exterior wall. Cold night air rushed into the sweltering cabin, scattering the ash in the air.

Two silhouettes stood framed in the moonlight of the doorway.

Kiara stood on the left, her hand still raised, her bloody finger. Beside her, Beam stepped over the shattered wooden doorframe, her eyes scanning the room.