Her Brother, Her Mate

Safarah POV

“Is there still no lead on her yet?! You still have no f*****g idea where your daughter is?!” Fadel roars from behind his insanely large, mahogany desk, making me flinch in the seat across from him, Zachary at my side.

“No. None. I tracked her plane to Ohio, and then it appears she took a bus to Chicago, but after that there is no trace of her. It’s like she disappeared into thin air outside of the Sears Tower.”

That makes me grin slightly, keeping my eyes downcast. Hadley always wanted to see the Sears Tower. She always wanted to travel and see the world, but Fadel was always too scared she would be like her mother, my sister, and run away once she got a taste of freedom.

Not that Sabrina ever had any freedom. She was property in the eyes of this man. Something to be used to grow his empire, and then carry on the seer line so his son could ascend after him.

That is not the way these things are done in a coven. That is not tradition, but Fadel didn’t want his family to lose the source of greater power once he got it, so he is trying to create a dynasty to pass down to his bloodline alone.

Usually, the next head is selected through trials, to test a witch’s will and ability. Fadel did away with that the second Micah left. He didn’t want his reign to ever be in jeopardy, and he knew his incompetent, entitled son would never make it through the trials. Zeki didn’t even start showing he had magic abilities until he was almost an adult. There are witches here who have been using magic since they could walk and harness it from the world around them.

“If she’s not here, how can I become the next head? Father, you need to find her,” Zeki whined, sitting on a short bookshelf behind his father’s desk.

“We will find her, Zek. It is just going to take longer than we anticipated,” Fadel pats his son’s knee.

“Why weren’t you two watching her better? How did she get away in the first place?”

“The camera’s and motion sensors weren’t set that night. They malfunctioned for some reason,” Zachary tells Fadel.

I knew how, but I wasn’t going to speak up. I would never tell. I keep my eyes trained on the ground, clamping my teeth to keep my poker face so as to not give anything away.

I thought it was a miracle when Alisha Phillips turned out to be one of Hadley’s professors. It was my task to take her to and from school to ensure she stayed in line. When Alisha saw me, and then saw Hadley, she knew. She knew that Hadley was Sabrina’s daughter.

I am allowed more freedom than Hadley, but my moves and actions were still very much monitored. It took quite a while to reveal to Alisha that Hadley needed help. She needed saving so she didn’t face the same fate as my sister.

The night Hadley escaped, Alisha used a master key I had given her to slip into the building, using her magic to tamper with the security controls.

I had to suffer that night, using myself to distract Zachary and his two security personnel, allowing them to siphon from me in the sick ways they did so Hadley could make her escape. I kept my tears at bay and gritted through it, knowing I was saving her by doing something I had been forced to endure plenty of times before.

It was worth it. Hadley was saved, and Micah could protect her. He was the strongest one among them in centuries. His leaving for a werewolf mate devastated the coven. Everyone but Micah and Zachary were sad to see him go. Micah was a good and fair man. He would keep Hadley safe, if for no other reason than to make up to Sabrina for abandoning her to this horrible life. Micah was like our brother, and I could understand why he didn’t want to marry her. He wasn’t interested in increasing his power. He found someone he loved more than Sabrina and our coven and chose her over us.

I spent years being mad at him for it, but now I can’t feel anything but gratitude since he is saving my Hadley.

“You said you found her phone when we spoke earlier, did you not?” Zachary asked Fadel, making my eyes snap up. Alisha told Hadley to destroy her phone if she didn’t want us to find her. How did they find it?

“It was tracked to the waste transfer station, but the actual phone was too smashed to retrieve anything helpful on it. I sent it to Tim in IT to recover what he could. The SIM was still in one piece.”

Could they find anything on her phone to find out where she was at? I didn’t even know where she was at. I didn’t want to know in case they started suspecting me.

Zachary and Fadel are engrossed in their discussion and aren’t paying attention to me, but I didn’t notice until it was too late that Zeki had been watching my reaction to hearing them talk about Hadley’s phone being found.

“Safarah,” he drawls, pushing himself off his father’s bookshelf, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about how my fiance escaped, would you? You would tell us if you knew something, correct?”

Zachary and Fadel both turned their attention toward me, making me shrink back in my chair.

“No, of course not,” I shook my head in denial, casting my eyes down on the ground.

“She couldn’t have helped her if that’s what you are getting at, Zeki. She was with me and my men for most of the night,” he says, as if it was completely normal for a husband to pass his wife around to fuel his men’s magic.

I guess in our world, it is the norm now. Fadel and Zachary made it the norm. That is why the women in the coven had all left. Alisha was the only one to remain in the city, since she was strong enough to hold her own against the men. The rest of the women moved away. Those born without magic, like me, were left to suffer at the hands of this scum to fuel their own egos.

It’s sick. I didn’t want that for Hadley.

“She seemed very intrigued when you mentioned finding my fiance’s phone, father. She looked almost worried.”

“I was just worried about my daughter,” I murmured, “I want her to come home,” I lied.

Fadel studies me for a long time, but I keep my eyes downcast, maintaining a submissive aura to not raise any more of their suspicions.

“If I do find out that you had something to do with this, Safarah, or that you helped her leave this city, you will be facing the same wrath as your late sister. Do you understand? If you confess now, the punishment will not be so fatal.”

Lies. He would kill me no matter what. Even if he doesn’t, I’m still not telling him anything. I owe that to my niece, who I love like my own daughter. Who I have raised like my own daughter. In my sister’s place, she is my daughter. I love her that fiercely.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I know nothing, Fadel. Like Zachary said, I was preoccupied that evening. I couldn’t have helped her if I wanted to.”

He continues to stare at me, working his fist into a ball like he is resisting the urge to hurt me anyway, but he soon relaxes.

“I will trust your words because you have never crossed us before, but keep my threat in mind. If you learn anything, you will tell us. My son’s future depends on that girl coming home.”

“Yes, Fadel,” I bowed my head submissively, though I know I am being anything but submissive in my drive to protect the last person on this earth I love.