[Third POV]

"Gone?" Damon echoed. "What do you mean ’gone’?!"

He immediately felt his own temper rising, followed by an oncoming migraine that was no doubt going to stay for the foreseeable future. He already had enough to deal with on his hands, with Blaise having eaten some vile, unknown substance provided by a hunter, and Harper being stuck in the same building as her killer mother. This was just adding fuel to the fire.

"We were attacked on the way back to Fangborne," Kyle said, looking almost sheepish as he watched Damon’s reaction.

There was already a vast power difference between the two― after all, even before Kyle lost his wolf, he was nothing more than a mere warrior while Damon was his alpha. But now, Kyle was as good as a human. If Damon flared up and decided to snap his neck, that would be it. He would die without much of a fight.

"The cars were congested on the way back, and when I stepped out to check, I was attacked by vampires. They injected me with a substance, and I was immediately knocked out cold. When I came to, Harper was gone... and..."

Damon’s hand raised to his forehead, massaging his temples as he squeezed his eyes shut. A slow, low sigh escaped his lips. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"And you realized that you couldn’t shift nor contact the pack link," Damon finished.

Kyle nodded. "Yes," he said meekly.

"How did you know to come all the way here, then?" Damon snapped, his eyelids twitching. "Upper Lumen isn’t exactly the easiest place to reach. You don’t even have a passport!"

"My senses aren’t completely dulled," Kyle confessed. "It’s enough to pick up scents, and I followed as best as I could. It took me a while, but I managed to find human vehicles that were willing to hitchhike me over to Lumiose. I made a guess, based on what I heard in Everhaven. I was thankfully right."

It sounded bizarre and crazed if Damon was being honest. After all, the journey to Lumiose by car would’ve taken way too much time. That was most likely why Kyle showed up here after Damon and Blaise, who came by plane. However, at the same time, he wasn’t surprised that Kyle was capable of doing such a thing.

After all, he had sworn an oath to Harper. If needed be, Kyle would’ve even followed her to the next continent no matter how long it took him.

"Everyone thought you were dead," Damon said, scoffing. "But your body was nowhere to be found. They were worried that it had been fed to the wendigos."

"I might’ve been if I hadn’t woken up in time," Kyle murmured, shaking his head. "But with my wolf and connection to the pack gone, I couldn’t contact you in time. I thought it might be better to find Luna Harper’s location first before finding a way to contact Fangborne. I didn’t think that it would take this long..."

Admirable. But insanely idiotic. Damon wasn’t even sure if he should reprimand that guy. At least he now knew that Kyle was willing to die for Harper, if not for the pack. That was good enough. Right now, in this city filled with evil eyes and ears everywhere, he needed an ally.

"Your wolf might just be blocked," Damon said. "If it isn’t enough to kill you or cause discomfort, it shouldn’t be silver. If it had been wolfsbane, the dosage probably isn’t high enough for it to be lethal."

Kyle’s face quickly darkened.

"That’s the thing," he said. "I―" He then paused and looked around the room, frowning. "I thought Beta Blaise was with you. His scent is still on you, and―" Kyle’s eyes lit up. "You guys found Harper?"

Damon’s lips tightened into a straight line.

"They’re in one of the buildings in the heart of the city," Damon said. "Or to be exact, the hunters’ headquarters. Harper’s mother is running it."

Quickly, Kyle’s face blanched white, turning into the color of a sheet of paper.

"Then, that means that the beta and luna are both―"

"In the tower, yes," Damon finished. "Apparently, I wasn’t considered a guest."

"That is terrible!" Kyle shot up to his feet, his hand clutching at his head as he began to curse under his breath. He paced back and forth around the room, chewing on his fingernail. Anxiety poured out of his every pore, and Damon was starting to get ticked as he watched him walk back and forth.

"That I am stuck out here while they’re stuck in there?"

"It’s much safer out here on the streets," Kyle said.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

"You don’t understand." Kyle shook his head. "Did you guys eat anything after setting foot into Upper Lumen?"

A chill quickly ran through Damon’s entire body, causing the hairs on his skin to stand upright. He felt a shiver shooting down his spine, feeling as though he had just been doused with a bucket of cold water.

"Why?" he cautiously asked.

"The cuisine in Upper Lumen is filled with spices," Kyle began to explain. "I noticed it ever since coming to the city."

"I thought you just arrived," Damon said with a frown.

"A day or so ago," Kyle said, but he waved it off. "But that’s not the point. I’ve been looking for things to eat, but I realized that nothing here is edible."

"Just because it’s spicy doesn’t mean it’s inedible," Damon pointed out.

"But the food isn’t doused with spice for no reason," Kyle said, exasperated. "The food in Upper Lumen is filled with spices so that it can cover up the scent of other ingredients used in their cooking. And everyone adds it― this city is filled with hunters!"

Damon’s fingers dug into the mattress beneath him. He already had a clue what Kyle was referring to, yet, patiently waited to see if he would perhaps be proven wrong.

Harper’s mother had served them curry when they arrived, and Blaise had finished two whole portions of it.

"The scent and taste of the spice is simply used to mask the fact that wolfsbane is added into every dish! That’s why everything here is inedible!"