Chapter 4: Far from Home

The second Nyla's heart beat again, the alpha of Fall Ridge Pack felt it in his heart while his Luna was riding him.

Alpha Zain's eyes shimmered golden as Nyla's face impressed strongly upon his heart and mind. He all but shoved away his fated Luna, Alyssa Lenore, off his body and wrapped a robe around himself.

"What's wrong?" Alyssa asked with a conspicuous frown. She had come to accept that her mate was more often than not a block of ice in their relationship but she was tired of the frequent disrespect especially during their private moments.

Zain shook his head. "Nothing. I need some fresh air."

"Do I get Harvey?" She continued, worried.

His gamma? No, Zain thought. He needed to see someone else at the moment.

"Zain!" She yelled when he yanked the bedroom door. "You aren't seriously thinking of abandoning me here all night again, are you? It's a full moon and I am far from satisfied. What exactly am I supposed to do with myself?" She sighed and tucked her disheveled hair away from her face. "What is wrong with you? You asked for this union, remember? Why do you constantly push me away and make me feel unwanted?"

Zain was barely paying attention to her. He was snapped into a trance and found himself in an open field. Nyla's scent was strongly everywhere. She had just been there. He zeroed in a few miles ahead, past a broken water fountain, and saw a few humans heading away from the field and towards a parked jeep by the side of the highway. When he tuned in to listen, he gasped.

"The doctor said a sudden loss of consciousness was to be expected as part of your recovery process. Don't overthink it, Nyla. You'll be fine. We are all here for you." A middle-aged man said. He and his wife had their arms around Nyla who walked with difficulty in a tight dress between them.

"When you get better, you can take all the walks you want out in open fields but honey, not right now. You can't wander off by yourself yet. Right now, you have to stay close to your family and get better."

"I'm sorry. I was supposed to be watching her. I shouldn't have let her wander off by herself." A young guy slightly older than Nyla said.

"It's okay, Matt. Don't blame yourself." The father gave his son's shoulder a pat. Nyla remained quiet, hugging the denim jacket thrown over her body.

"NYLA!" Zain called out to her inside the trance. His heart leaped when she paused and turned in his direction. She didn't seem to see him on the field. Her eyes tracked around, searching for the one who called on her.

"What's wrong, darling?" Her mother asked, smoothening down Nyla's hair. Nyla shook her head and got into the back of the car while her brother held the door for her. Nyla poked her head out and stared at the field, eyes flashing and searching. Just as they drove away, Zain snapped back to reality and found a fuming Alyssa in front of him.

"Am I that boring you literally zoned out on me?"

His heart was racing. Nyla was alive? She was alive and he was certain he recognized that field. It was a long distance from the pack house and within the human city. He didn't care. This was huge. He had to find her.

He cut off his Luna's rant by grabbing her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Alyssa. I've just been uneasy lately. Ark is getting worse. I can't lose him."

Alyssa cupped his face with her hands. "It's not your fault, honey. The witch will find a solution soon and if she doesn't, I'm here to shadow you. Your throne is safe with me."

"I need the witch."

"Isla?" His Luna said with a scowl. "It's 2am."

"She is bound to answer whenever I call."

"But Zain…"

He didn't wait for her protest but sprinted down the winding stairs to the ground floor of the mansion where his pack resided. It was tucked far away in a dense forest thousands of miles away from the human world. While his robe billowed like a cape, he refrained from using the pack link to call Isla so no one else was apprised of yet another restless night on his part.

He found her up, sitting inside a circle of fire next to her bed. Her eyes were shut and her fingers were twisted in weird shapes as she chanted in an unfamiliar tongue. She must have sensed it too. Zain knelt before her and waited anxiously. After a few minutes, she slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes were missing their brown pupils.

"Isla?" He called cautiously.

She blinked and her eyes were normal again.

"Alpha Zain. She greeted with a small bow "Can't sleep? I have just the right potion…"

"Nyla's alive!" Zain voiced with a huge smile. Isla's fingers froze over a small case of mismatched potions and charms. Slowly, she whipped her head.

"What?"

"Yes, Isla, Nyla's alive. I saw her in a trance. I know where she is. Can you believe it? After all these years, we finally found her. I felt her heartbeat right here." He touched his heart. "I still do."

Isla shook her head. "That can't be true. If she was alive, I would have sensed her. You know we're linked."

"I don't know how to explain it but I know for a fact that Nyla is alive. I saw her on a vast field. I even saw the human family that's taking care of her."

"Humans? Nyla is staying with humans?" Isla shrieked.

Zain dropped the bomb. "Yeah. She's in Sandgate city."

Now Isla shot up to her feet. "What?" She clutched her chest. "Sandgate city? That's the worst place for any supernatural being to be, especially werewolves. She'll be preyed upon by the mafia gangs that thrive on hunting our kind for sport."

Zain joined her on his feet. "We have get her back, Isla. I will do whatever it takes to bring her home."

"Yes. We will. Given the dangers posed by Sandgate city, we need time to rally the pack and strategize..."

"No! This is between us. No one else must be informed."

"But alpha Zain, the dangers…"

"I don't care. Between your powers and my knowledge of the human city, I think we can figure it out. The less people know about her return, the better."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Gosh, I need her badly!" Then lowered his voice and edged close to the witch. "Rodney is onto me, same with my luna. I can't keep making excuses to our pack that Nyla placed a curse on me before her departure and plunged us into this nightmarish situation. Our numbers are dwindling daily due to the humans poaching us and my weakness as alpha will soon be brought up in the pack meeting. Rodney keeps proving himself as a more competent ruler by showing off at every hunt. His wolf is the largest in the pack right now. He brings home the biggest kills. He's in first place on the leaderboard with the most human kills. He's turned more humans and enlarged our pack and now they're loyal to him. I can sense a few key members of my inner court silent clamoring for him as a true alpha in our time. But Nyla is back now. With her help, you can unbind my wolf so I can redeem myself and restore order to my pack."

Isla moved away from him to process everything.

"Nothing will happen to Ark, I promise." She assured him before shutting her eyes and trying to sense Nyla.

"I can barely hear him when he speaks. He's gotten weaker."

Zain ceased his complaints when he noticed Isla in witch mode. A sudden gust of wind wrenched the windows open, knocking down framed photos off table tops and shelves. It took a minute before Isla opened her eyes.

"Still nothing. I can't feel her. You know what that means. She can't be alive."

Now Zain was worried. If the witch couldn't sense Nyla's soul, then who the hell did he see? Did he hallucinate?

"But…I saw her. I saw Nyla."

"Don't lose hope, alpha Zain. I'll risk it. I'll find the woman in your trance. Maybe I can get a proper reading up close. I'll see what I can find."

Zain knew Isla had never needed to be up close to sense Nyla's soul before but he nodded all the same. "Thank you, Isla. That would mean a lot to me." He kissed her hand and left.

Isla sank to the floor and crossed her legs. Nyla was alive? Was her sister really alive?

"Why can't I sense you, Ny?" Isla wondered. "but most importantly, how did you survive my poison?"