Moon's Assassin

{13} "Dark Sorcerer"

Any respect I had started to gain for Ryker flew out the window. I gripped the collar of his shirt and yanked back hard, his grunt ended with a groan as he flew across the office and into his desk. It groaned from the force of his body hitting it. I stalked towards him, as I did so he lifted his head, arms braced on the desk and he hoisted himself up. But what made me see red was the sick smirk on his lips. I roared and charged forward, and he met me.

We collided hard, i with my fist snapping his face to the side and he with his leg kicking out to the side catching my ribs. We stumbled back before flying back towards each other in a flurry of limbs, blood, and curses. I vaguely hear Leah struggling against Zane, with that her screaming for me to stop. That I don't understand. I don't understand what?

I refocus on the alpha before me and jump brac my hands on his shoulders I push myself up and around his torso, landing I kick the back of his legs forcing him to kneel. Then placing my own knee to the middle of his back I slid arms around his neck in a choke hold. Facing Leah and Zane now I could also see the door, see Jace and Gabe as well as my other pack members holding back Seghar pack from trying to defend their alpha. Seeing I was about to start an all out brawl I reigned myself in, simply holding Ryker in place. My hearing snapped back into focus and I finally heard Leah.

"Stop it Diana! He isn't himself! I swear he has no control over himself right now." Leah huffed against Zane's hold. Eyes begging my own to understand. I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"The bitch has no idea what she's talking about. Of course I have control over myself. And since I can't have you..." Ryker's voice trailed off as he gave a sickly laugh, lacking any humor whatsoever. He struggled against my hold but I held on tight, meeting Leah's eyes as she continued ignoring Ryker.

"Take a deep breath. You can smell them." Her words confused me further.

"Them?" I questioned, pausing to take that deep breath. My eyes snapped open wider with realization. "Charm Witch." I hissed with annoyance looking at Rykers struggling form. Sighing i toward the door where the fighting had ceased when Ryker and I had stopped fighting. "Allow Beta Bennet through." I told Gave and Jace. They obeyed and the large male busted into the office sailing right towards me with righteous power.

"What gives you the right to touch our alpha in this way?" He hissed in anger. "To have him appear weak to his pack members as he fell to you in this fight? Now anyone c—" I cut him off.

"Silence." My inner beast comes forth immediately almost putting a choke hold on him. "The right I have is the right to protect my people. Ryker was a threat. I went to eliminate him for what he was attempting to do." Ryker cackled again, causing me to grit my teeth. "You are lucky I didn't snap his neck like I want to. You're also lucky it was a Charm Witch making him do this. Or I promise you he would be dead." I searched the betas eyes until finally he submitted, baring his neck to me. "Now take him where he can be secure and cannot escape. I'll find the witch and when I return I'll need a place ready to hold it."

//\\//\\//\\

Tyler cradled his mate in the love seat of Ryker's office. He was radiating anger and a lust for revenge against Ryker. Didn't matter that Ryker was an alpha that would dominate Tyler, or that Ryker wasn't the real culprit. It just mattered that someone be punished for what had almost happened to his mate. Which I didn't blame him for; not in the slightest. I look away from the pair and at the map of the territory. Zander, Jace, Clair, and another member from Seghar pack would be taking different directions to try locate where a camp would be so that possibly we could plan an offensive attack, while I was going to be tracking the damn charmer.

"Everyone understand their assignments?" I asked looking away from the map to each of their eyes. All I got back were silent, sure nods, no sign of hesitation anywhere. "Good. Let's get going." They dispersed save for Zane who came up to me to place a gentle kiss to my forehead.

"Be safe, will ya?" His accent grew thicker with the concern.

"Of course. And the same goes for you." I stood on my tippy toes and placed a firm kiss to his lips, only pulling back far enough to catch my breath. "I will see you tonight." I lifted my hand and caressed his cheek, fingers feeling the stubble. We pulled away from each other and he moved towards the door while I moved towards the window which is where Leah said the Charmer left.

Charmers we're typically good people, they worked with healing tinctures and other remedies that alighted on the light side of things. Charmers could "charm" people into telling the truth, into stopping something, and in this case make them do something. They worked with herbs and other natural remedies to do good, so why this Charmer was going against its nature was beyond me.

I jumped through the open window and landed into a roll. Taking a deep breath I catch the coppery lilac scent of the charmer leading away from the pack house. I took note of how she got us in our blond spot and deftly sent word to Gabe to fix this before I got back. I took a moment to strip out of my attire before shifting. I shook out my muscles stretching for a moment, then taking off into the woods I follow the trail.

//\\//\\//\\

What I had hoped would only be a few minutes turned into an hour. This little Charmer had gone far, but noticeably did nothing to hide her scent — which was completely in line with her capabilities — or hide her tracks, which could be as simple dragging a large branch behind her as she ran.

Her scent was getting stronger though, so I knew I was catching up. Launching over a fallen log I dodged a tree before correcting my trajectory t follow the trail better. My nose pressed to the dirt I continued on, until I reach a rather flat spot of stamped down foliage. What caught me off guard was the new scent. A faint smell of rotting flesh tickled my nostrils causing the realization to hit me hard.

The Charmer was working with a Dark Sorcerer.