16. Dead

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nadia was missing. That had grown more apparent to everyone in the last two days or so. Jaden had been on the receiving end of Collins’ anxiety and frustration, who had him holed up in his home lab, running countless DNA tests on almost every recovered sample from the war sites. The Alpha had barely had any sleep but how could he when the love of his life was out there somewhere? At first, he’d thought that Adrian had kidnapped his sister but then he’d shown up at his pack territory earlier this morning despite knowing every wolf was out there to get him. He’d wanted an audience with his sister, claiming he needed to talk sense into her Then he’d suspected Drake but the stupid hybrid was actually with him in the lab, almost as anxious as him. It was taking every once not to strangle him to death.

“If something has happened to her I swear I’m going to-“

“To what? Kill me?” Collins covered the distance between them, looking deep into Drake’s eyes as he spoke, “ You think if something has happened to her, there is something else that can kill me more than that? She is everything to me and I failed to protect her,”

“You should be dead,” Drake spat in complete disgust.

“Honestly that would be a much preferred option at this very moment rather than having to hear any word coming from your lips,” Collins lilted. He was already at the tether edged of losing his sanity and the annoying hybrid was not helping. He should have him locked up or tortured but he was far too stressed and worried about Nadia to even let his thoughts get distracted by the hybrid.

“Then maybe I should just kill you right now,”

“Guys, I’m sorry but her DNA isn’t in any of this samples,” Jaden said as he gazed up at the two men, bags hooded under his eyes. He craved sleep more than anyone else and these two weren’t taking it any easy on him at all.

“Then run it again,” Collins snapped out of desperation. He should be relieved that this meant she wasn’t dead but he needed to be sure before he got his hopes up on full scale.

“No, I’m not!” Jaden finally lost it, “For the last forty-eight hours, I’ve been working non-stop while having to put up with the bickering between you two. I can’t go on like this and maybe you should call off the search parties too. God knows what they are going through right now,”

“I-“ he was distracted by his phone and it was his beta, Ethan. He quickly picked the call, “Tell me you found her, please,”

“Good news. Yes we did and we should be arriving at the pack house in a few minutes,” he answered.

Collins felt relief skid through him. He didn’t care about the details of where she had been. All he wanted was to lay his eyes on Nadia and hold her tight. Drake was relived too. Being whipped for Nadia was making him lose sight of the big bad hybrid reputation he had going on. He’d stuck around until Nadia came, despite knowing every remaining werewolf in town was gunning for his blood. When they brought her, she looked like she had clawed her way out of a grave with tattered clothes, disarrayed hair, no shoes and the look in her eyes screaming that of someone very distant. Collins quickly hugged her but she didn’t even flinch. Instead, she remained motionless against him.

“I missed you. What the hell happened?” he questioned, already inspecting her body for any injuries but there were none on her physique.

She remained quiet, unmoving with the same distant look. So Collins turned to Ethan for an explanation.

“What happened to her? Why isn’t she speaking?” he demanded. Did someone do anything to her? If someone tried anything- No, he couldn’t start thinking of the worst at this very moment.

“We found her by her family’s grave like that. She won’t speak to us either. Maybe something happened,” he shrugged.

Then her gaze slowly rose, connecting with Drake and rage instantly flashed against her orbs as she suddenly lurched at him, hitting his chest repeatedly as tears burned down her cheeks.

“I begged you over and over to stop him. You could have stopped all this. She would still be alive,” she snapped, tears running down her cheeks but she didn’t seem to care.

“What are you talking about?” Drake asked, finally able to restrain her hands while looking quite confused.

“Trina is dead,” she whispered hoarsely.

FLASHBACK (TWO DAYS AGO)
Nadia remained unmoving at the edge of the cliff as she looked at the war taking place. She wanted to do something to stop but she had never felt this helpless before. Suddenly Drake appeared in front of her.

“Well, hello, Love. We meet again,” Even in the face of death, the hybrid somehow remained cocky.

She stood up, clutching on his hands as her eyes welled up with unshed tears, “Please you need to stop this war. Talk some sense into Adrian. He’d listen to you,”

“War? I don’t give a shit about this war, sweetheart,” he traced the back of his hands on the right side of her face, “What I care about is the woman before my eyes. You and I will finally be united like we were meant to be. Lets get out of here,”

She detached her fingers from his palms, staring deep into his eyes, “I remember. You and me. Its not a lost memory anymore,”

“Wait, you are not lying to me, are you?” He questioned.

“We hang out a lot. You’d tell me about what’s it’s like to be your bride when I was older. You said you’d put me in a castle with servants and a library full of all my favorite novels. You promised you’d take care of me and do anything that would make me happy,” she chuckled, “Growing up, we only heard tales of the big bad Hybrid and my brother worshipped you. He always said you were such a badass. This is why I know he’d listen to you if you tell him to retreat now. This is me asking you to do something that would make me happy,”

“You don’t understand how war works, do you? You don’t just retreat. This is a supernatural war. Not something you can toot some horn at and the war comes to a stop,”

“You are hybrid, an original one, there is obviously something you can do. I’m begging you please. People are going to die if this goes on,”

“Why do you care? Do you think if you die right now, they are going to give a shit? No. Collins will probably mourn a few days and get himself a new Luna or go back to his cheating mate. Sasha and Trina will be devastated for sure but it won’t last forever. Eventually you will be nothing but part of a small phase in their lives. Your brother sees you as nothing more than a weapon he can use to put the wolves and witches in their place. You really need to start living reality. I’m the only one who would be ready to spend an eternity with nothing but the bitterness of losing you,”

‘Or maybe you should let her be. Get yourself a new hobby, Drake. You are starting to look really pathetic at this point. Just because you are being annoyingly persistent, doesn’t mean she’ll suddenly switch her feelings from Collins to you. It’s kind of pitiful watching such a supposed big bad original hybrid being so whipped for the wrong person,”

“Trina,” She screamed in happiness as she pulled her into a hug, a sense of relief cascading through her.

Drake had left them engulfed in a hug and that was when the unthinkable had happened. Darius, the dragon Alpha, had been aiming at Nadia, still very much upset over her betrayal but Trina had intercepted the ball of fire while throwing a dagger right at Darius’s chest, killing him on the spot.

“No, no, no. Trina you are not dying on me,” she mumbled, panicking as Trina sagged against her, blood gushing out from the raptured place on her chest.

“I didn’t know I had such a perfect aim,” Trina attempted to joke despite her state.

“Stop,” she whispered, trying to stop the bleeding with her hands but it was too late.

“There is nothing you can do, Nadia,” she paused, coughing blood, “I don’t blame for how I turned out. Because for the few days I’d been a hybrid, I’ve had the most fun in my life. Please…t-tell Adrian, he is the worst asshole I’ve ever met and I…” she trailed off to a stop.

“Trina? Trina? No, no, no,” she chanted but it was already too late.

She had no idea where she got the strength from but she carried Trina’s body away from the body and back to her house.