The Rejected Alpha's Vengeance

"No, Ella. I'm looking for my Mistress. I haven't heard from her since she locked the mind links. The only thing I felt was her pain, which she had blocked, but I guess it was too much if the pain broke the barriers and got to me.

"Before you ask me if I can track her, I can't. She commanded me not to use magic to track her. So, the hidden dungeons, do you know where they are?" Malika asked Elodie, her face making it seem like she was a little too close to killing someone.

Elodie looked at Malika, the worry on her woman's face making her realize that losing Hawi wasn't in the cards for the both of them.

She could see that it was more than just about power and loyalty, and whatever it was, Elodie would work on making sure Malika got what she wanted.

"The other dungeons are built in the tunnels under Sicario. But even if we found an entrance to the tunnels. There is just no way to get to her on time. That place is a literal maze. Only the Sicarios knew how to navigate them and as it is, they are all either dead or imprisoned.

"Jer also knows his way around the tunnels, but as you can see, Rukiya is about to punch his face into tomorrow if he isn't careful," Elodie said, adding the last part since she saw Rukiya glaring at Jer like he was wasting her time.

Rukiya Greyson was something else and perhaps the one person who could help her figure this out. But then would they be able to rely on Ruru's bond with Hawi or even the oath that Ruru had made to protect Hawi?

"If I start a search today, how long would it take me?" Malika asked, ignoring the last bit of Elodie's sentence.

Frankly, she couldn't give a fuck if Malika ploughed Sicario using Jer's face. She would help her later on, but until then Hawi was her greatest priority at the moment.

"If you go with a marker, then it could take you a year at the very least. Those dungeons are complex to find. They need a lot of expertise and given Jer has a switch on his side, there is a high chance they used magic to tamper with the directions.

"Which also means the maze is near impossible to solve, for someone who has never been there," Elodie said and Malika let out a frustrated low growl. Of the things she had expected, this certainly wasn't it.

She would have been okay, if she hadn't felt Hawi's pain and that was haunting her even more. She needed to get to Hawi because if she didn't, then there would be worse repercussions than she would ever be ready to face.

Patience was always Malika's thing, but right now as she started pacing around Elodie, constantly clicking like the world was about to end and there wasn't a thing she could do about it, Malika's patience had clearly taken a leave right then.

Oh, Malika.

"I don't have a year, shit," Malika sighed angrily as she continued her pacing. She was already regretting not stopping Hawi when she locked the mind links. Perhaps she would have been able to tell what was happening to her mistress. But would she have the time for that?

"What will you do now?" Elodie asked, the worry on her face making a show for the hundredth time in minutes.

If there was a way she could have helped, then Elodie would have but then she had no idea how the dungeons worked and with Jer's power and new confidence, something else was at play.

"My job," Malika said before she rushed out of the hall and went to where Jer and Rukiya were standing.

Elodie was quick to follow her.

"I'm sorry but can I talk to you? Woman to woman?" Malika said to Rukiya who was staring at her skeptically. It was unexpected, and to many who hadn't seen them together, it was a weird interaction.

The urgency in Malika's voice was something that Rukiya hadn't expected, but now it had gotten her attention and the both of them knew that only one woman would ever get Malika that unsettled and irritated for her to pull her protector-face.

"Baby, I got this," Jer said, ready to defend his woman, but Malika simply forced a smile at him.

"I am your luna, husband. She questioned my legitimacy. I think this is something only a woman can do, given she is a woman. Let me try and fix it. Besides, Elodie will be beside me all the time, in case Alpha Rukiya thinks of harming me," Malika said and Jer looked at her worriedly.

He hadn't expected this.

The fact that his wife was suggesting being left alone with the most dangerous woman known to him was wild. But then, who was to tell Jeremiah Warner that the woman he married, the woman who was smiling at him, could kill him with just her mind?

"Are you sure?" Jer asked again and Malika had to remind herself that she was just a weak luna. Oh, how this man was testing her patience on all accounts. If he wasn't careful, he would be the reason another funeral wake took place in Sicario today.

"Let her, Jer. If it gets heated, I'll call for backup. You said you trust her, perhaps you should let her fix this," Elodie said and Jer looked at her with a worried face. Of course, he was worried, but the three women standing with him weren't in the mood to listen to his worries.

"Call me if you need me—"

"I will, husband. I will," Malika said reassuringly before she threw herself at Jer, hugging the man tightly like it was what she had been yearning for.

"If a strand of hair on her head goes missing—"

"She'll be fine. Besides, alpha Rukiya must already know that she's outnumbered right now," Elodie said, like she didn't know that the Greyson army was in the woods waiting for a signal from their alpha in case shit went sideways.

"Fine. Don't stay too long," Jer said before leaving.

"Goodness isn't his face punchable?" Malika asked once she was sure that it was just her, Elodie, and Rukiya

"I could bring him back, we check," Elodie said and Rukiya sighed. They were psychos and they had long accepted their fate and their reality, even though on some days, they were determined to make their fates worse.

Did they care though?

"Something happened, didn't it?" Rukiya asked as she looked at the frustrated protector before her. Malika was always the most composed person she had ever met and right now, composure seemed to be a thing of the past for the protector.

"I can't reach her, Rukiya. And there's a thousand dungeons in the tunnels. And she's hurt. I don't know what else to do. I can't use my magic because the witch we saw earlier will track it to me and blow my cover," Malika said frustratedly as she paced around.

"Malika. Slow down. And stop pacing, you're making me nervous," Rukiya said.

"If I don't pace, I'll start dropping bodies," Malika said angrily as she looked around.

"On second thoughts you can keep pacing. Perhaps she didn't want you distracted. Hawi does that a lot of times," Rukiya said

"You seriously don't believe that, do you?"

****

[A/N]

* I vote they kidnap Jer and torture the information about the dungeons out of him. Surely it can't be that hard for three psychos, right?