Cameron’s POV
Whatever Chris needs, I am giving him about three minutes of my time. I do not want to leave Ava any longer than I have to before she leaves the packhouse for back home.
I also want to send her off with a proper goodbye, and that can take us awhile…
Smiling to myself at this thought, I see Chris, Alpha Caleb, and Ralph standing at the bottom of the stairs.
I take the stairs two at a time as the other men look up at me.
“Let’s make this quick, I have other things I want to be doing.”
“Agreed.” Growls Alpha Caleb. I notice Ralph glances at him in surprise.
“What’s the issue, Chris?”
Chris pulls out a clipboard with names scribbled on it.
“Darius wants to put extra patrol around the border where the newcomers are coming in from in the morning, but we aren’t sure there will be enough men…what do you think…”
As Chris talks, I feel a weird flutter in my stomach. An uneasiness. What is that? Ava pops into my mind.
Something is wrong.
I look up and I see Alpha Caleb is frowning, also not listening to Chris.
He makes eye contact with me.
“I think you’ve got this. I need to go check on something.”
Without waiting for me to respond, he takes off at a jog towards the Alpha hall.
I look at Chris.
“I need to check something as well, I’ll be back.”
Chris makes a face as if to object, but I am already jogging up the stairs, three at a time, my stomach clenching in a weird, unexplainable fear the closer I get to my bedroom.
I stop at the door, my heart thumping hard, and open it.
Ava’s not here.
Her scent would be stronger.
I look around the room and notice the balcony doors are open. I make my way towards it, looking down into the gardens, and try to mindlink with Ava.
“Ava- where did you go?”
But she isn’t there, there is no connection.
“Cameron?” Chris is standing at the door, looking around. “What is going on?”
“Ava is missing.”
He steps into the room and looks around. He leans down by the bed and picks something up and lifts it into the air.
Ava’s phone.
Why was it on the ground? Why would she leave it? I walk over to Chris and take it from him.
Loud footsteps are pounding down the hall and Alpha Caleb comes skidding to a stop outside of the door, followed by Ralph.
“Lily is gone! Something is wrong, I can’t even mindlink with her, it’s like she isn’t even there to connect to…”
His eyes wide, he looks around the room, his eyes falling on Ava’s phone in my hand. His eyes meet mine.
“Ava is missing too.”
Caleb runs both his hands through his hair and spins around.
“What is the plan?” It’s Ralph who speaks, stepping forward.
I slip Ava’s phone into my pocket and close my eyes for a moment.
There would be three reasons why we could not get to Ava and Lily through mindlink.
One - they have closed us off, shut us out. No offense to Ava, but I do not think she could keep me out, even if she tried, and I do not see a reason why she would try...
I quickly dismiss that option.
Two – they have been poisoned. Wolfsbane, mixed the right way, can be used to weaken werewolves, and not just their bodies, but their abilities to communicate.
And three…
I cannot bring myself to think anymore about number three…Ava is alive, I can feel it. I would know…
I look up at Alpha Caleb, who looks back at me desperately.
“We start a search party.”
Chris makes a movement beside me and I look over at him.
“Do you think that is wise? That would make us vulnerable. Maybe we should wait until the reinforcements get here.”
“Are you mad?” Alpha Caleb walks over to him and gives him a hard shove against his chest.
Ralph grabs him and pulls him back, keeping an eye on Chris, who had taken a step towards Alpha Caleb and is glaring down at him murderously.
“Let’s gather and get the groups figured out. If we wait until reinforcements get here, it could be too late.”
I nod, trying to mindlink with Ava again.
“Can’t you just find their scent? Isn’t there a trail?” Alpha Caleb waves his arms around the room.
I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Did you pick up on Lily’s scent?”
He glares at me.
“It was as if her scent vanished inside of the bedroom.” He throws his hands up in exasperation. “But YOU are a Lycan, you should be able to pick up your mate’s scent!”
I turn away from him, taking a deep breath. Nothing.
Alpha Caleb is right, it is as if her scent vanishes within the room.
Wist.
Someone must have used wist.
“Wist.”
No one says anything as I turn around.
“Someone must have used wist on Lily and Ava. That is why there is no scent, no trail.”
Ralph and Alpha Caleb look at me in concern.
“But that would mean…” Ralph glances at Alpha Caleb.
“Someone kidnapped them.” I nod.
“I am alerting the pack to meet downstairs.” Alpha Caleb turns around, his hand to the side of his head as he starts walking away, Ralph and I following.
“Cameron…”
I stop and turn around to look at Chris.
“Have you considered…that maybe this is a trap…”
I sense Ralph stopping and turning around to listen.
“It does not matter…”
Chris interrupts me, stepping towards me.
“Both the king’s mate and the alpha’s mate get kidnapped…right before reinforcements come…it sounds like a trap by the Red Night pack to separate us, to beat us before we can attack them.”
He makes sense. I glance at Ralph who is watching me.
“What are you doing? Come on!” Alpha Caleb is walking back towards us.
I look back at Chris and shake my head.
“Trap or not…we have to look for them. Tomorrow could be too late.”
Chris hesitates, then nods and follows as we make our way back down to the dining room.
I alert my men as we walk of the situation and there is a small crowd already gathered by the time we get to the dining hall.
We wait a few minutes for more to arrive, Alpha Caleb pacing anxiously beside me.
It is taking all my self-control to stay where I am. I want to be out there, searching for Ava…but we need a plan, we need help. Without her scent, it will be nearly impossible to find her.
With the room nearly full, Alpha Caleb addresses the situation, to many gasps and murmurs around the room.
I can barely listen as the full reality of the situation starts to hit me. My eyes roam the room, taking count of how many men we will have in our search party, how many we will have to fight…
My eyes fall on Rachel towards the back.
What is she doing here?
Without really thinking, I start towards her, her face apologetic as I approach.
“Oh, Cameron…I am so sorry…”
“What are you doing inside the packhouse? I told you never to set foot in here again. I told you to leave the village!”
She places a hand on my shoulder and I shove it away.
“No need to lash out at me, Cameron. I am not the one who kidnapped your mate.” She gives me a smile. “I am here to help, and it seems like you need everyone you can get to help.” Her eyes look over the room. “Shame we don’t have the reinforcements here yet.”
I turn my back to her and look around the room as well. With so many men on patrol, our numbers do look less than ideal right now, but we still should be fine.
As much as I don’t want to admit it, we do need Rachel. She is a great fighter and she will be useful in our search.
I turn back around to her and she smiles sympathetically at me.
“Fine. Stay. Once we find Ava, you go back home.”
“Of course.”
I turn and walk back to stand beside Alpha Caleb and Chris, who are starting to divide everyone into four groups.
Alpha Caleb, Ralph, Chris, and I each get our own group.
After the groups have been divided, the four of us stand outside together, waiting for families to say goodbye and to gather back here.
We know this could be a trap. We know that there will be fighting. We know the only way that we will find Ava and Lily is if we find the Red Night pack.
We shake hands with each other and walk back to our groups to leave. I notice Rachel is in my group, standing at the very front.
I nod to her and look around the group of around forty werewolves and Lycans.
“Let’s go.”