Control (Dark Romance)

Chapter 44

Hagen's P.O.V

I have one priority.
One sole, unshakable priority to find my mate, and the moment it becomes fixed in my mind, I chase after it like a madman.

My body aches, and my stomach growls, but I ignore them both as I move quickly behind Josey while Levi and Damon do their part of distracting our parents. If they didn't try to stop me from leaving, they'd want to come with me, and I didn't need them hovering.

I needed to find Nikola. I'd already wasted too much time as it was.

The afternoon sun is high and bright, making us sweat as we race through the packlands. I move as fast as I can, forcing Josey to jog at my side. She watches me like a hawk, making sure I make it without fainting, but my body aches for Nikola more than it does rest.

We keep moving, weaving through familiar paths, ignoring any attention paid our way with only one destination in mind.

The Stone House.

I had to start my search with Jacob because odds were, even if Nikola hadn't told him where he was, the powerful warlock might've figured it out for himself, and while Jacob and I didn't really have a relationship beyond being 'kind of' cousins, he loved helping others.

"Fuck you, Hagen!"

Wide-eyed, I gape as Jacob flips me off before he slams his front door in my face. It makes me jolt and blink for the first time as I watch the heavy door rattle before tendrils of dark magic race up its sides.

...I didn't think Jacob even knew how to do that — Zyair whispers as if speaking might bring Jacob back out.

Stunned and a little embarrassed, I stand dumbly in my spot for a while before I feel Josey fill the space at my side.

"Well," she breathes, "Jacob's definitely not going to help us."

"No," I agree before I step back from the house by her guidance.

As we walk away from the home on the edge of pack lands, I try not to get disheartened by only the first setback. This wasn't going to be easy, I knew that. But still, seeing Jacob's blatant anger left me trekking in a slight daze.

"Hey, it's okay," Josey says, giving my shoulder a slight nudge. "He's angry, it won't last forever."

"It might," I reply as I try not to cower to the fear that tries to sprout inside of me. "That was Jacob. Jacob, who only hates rainy days more than he hates cursing," and he'd just told me to 'fuck off' in more than one way.

If that was Jacob's reaction to seeing me, then finding Nikola wasn't just going to be 'not easy'. It was going to be hell.

I'd survive it though. For months— years, Nikola had burned through his own hells for me, and if I wanted him, I could do the same.

I shake off the dread and steady my steps as I head towards the home of Nikola's second closest friend.

Willow's family home is an easy one to find, given the fact that both she and her father are humans, and those scents in a pack full of wolves are naturally distinct.

I only have to knock once before there's an answering shout and shuffling follows inside. When the door opens, it's Willow on the other side, but I'm almost mournful of that fact when rage explodes behind her eyes a moment before she shuts them and takes a deep, measured breath.

"I know you're not here right now," the human cackles manically as she lifts her shaking palms. "I know you're not standing at my front door."

I retreat, making any trace of me in her vicinity non-existent before she can open her eyes and unleash that rage onto me.

"Well, fuck," Josey breathes again as she joins my side.