6/6
Sixty–Two
Alexander’s POV
She wasn’t in the first location.
I don’t know why I expected her to be. I don’t know why I expected it to be so easy after how long this entire nightmare has dragged on. I bet my men were not fazed. I wonder if after searching for so long with no result they had already given up in their hearts and were now just humoring me. Maybe it was because of how restless I was to finally be out here myself, how determined I was but after we searched the first and the second of the places we had marked as unlikely and they proved themselves, I began to get really irritable.
I would snap and yell at the guys and it’s either they wanted to accord me the respect of being the Alpha or they just pitied me because they just remained silent through it all… including Caleb. It annoyed me that they may pity me. We were going to find Isabella, that I was sure of. My small words of encouragements to myself went a long way in calming me down and boosting my lost confidence as I stood straighter and walked smarter, announcing to the guys that we were heading to the next location.
I pulled out the map and the guys all gathered around as I went through it before ticking off the places we had just thoroughly searched. I went through the pattern of questions I had been asking with each location as I stared at our next location on the map. “Where is this place and why is it in this category?”
1/5
288 Vouchers
It was Blake that replied, “We came across it once when you just got back and took over from your dad. It appears to be a small struggling pack surrounded by thick forest. You mentioned that if they clear a bit of the forest around them, they could use it to expand their land and develop themselves but decided that it wasn’t your place to advice them. They simply would have no reason to kidnap the mate of the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the country.”
I grazed my chin with the back of my fingers, “A small struggling pack huh?” I echoed. “Let’s check them out and see if they have a motive after all.”
We had a quick meal on the way to sustain ourselves for what could possibly be ahead and halfway through my first bite, I wondered if Isabella was even being fed properly and that was the end of my appetite. I feigned patience as the rest of the guys ate and an hour later we were deep inside the thickest of forests. We walked through the forest, backpacks on our backs as we wondered for hours with no results. My frustration was threatening to push forward once again but I couldn’t let it. The tracker captain suggested that we split up and I happily obliged, welcoming the idea of a change to help with motivation and keeping my head above the water.
It didn’t take long after that before I got a link that made my entire body stiffen. I wondered if it was a normal reaction. Wasn’t I meant to sprint down to where he was immediately? ‘He‘ being the tracker captain who just sent me a mind link that said, ‘Her scent is all over this trail. I’m certain she was
here‘ but I stood there frozen. I had been restless ever since and almost threw a tantrum when we didn’t find her in the first two locations, and now that there was a possibility that she was close, I just froze. Maybe it was because a part of me had already began to prepare me to grieve never finding her.
288 Vouchers
Maybe because I’ve been losing my mind bit by bit all this while and I was prepared to lose it all. Eventually I unfroze and with a speed that would put the speed of light to shame, I located the bearer of good news.
What’s the matter? Blake asked quickly, obviously concerned at my sudden movement. I didn’t answer him, knowing that he would follow me to find out anyway and besides, I was too busy basking in my mate’s scent, my chest bubbling with excitement at the thought of being so close to the end and at the same time, the beginning. I stared down the path as the rest of the guys soon gathered around me. Even the ones among them who had not previously been accustomed with Isabella’s scent before this entire incident were all familiar with it by now. At the very early stages of her kidnap, all the men that would be sent out to search were scent to her office in the gallery to get familiar with her scent since it would be very crucial in finding her. Of course, any of her clothes would have sufficed but I was not letting anyone put their nose in her clothing.
That being said, immediately they got to me, they
immediately realized what was up, their eyes lighting up at the scent that filled the air. The scent that I smelled more strongly than any of them. The scent that meant more to me than it would ever mean to any of them. My heart swelled as I stared down that promising path. I’m coming, Isabella.
“Let’s move.” I said quietly and they all nodded as I led the way through the path. We were a long way in when I saw something familiar looking stuck in a bush. Pulling out the material, my heart clenched as a huge wave of Isabella’s scent hit me. She tried to escape, I realized, my fist tightening around the pale blue cloth that was no doubt torn from her dress. She tried to escape and Antonio had dragged her back.
O
Sixty–Two
18 288 (Vouchers
My jaw clenched as I finally caught a whiff of my brother’s scent which had probably been there from the first place we detected Isabella’s but I was just noticing it now. What were the consequences of her attempt to escape? Was she punished? My stomach churned, hating the way my mate and my brother’s scents were mingling at this spot. Did he carry her or something?
It didn’t take long after we moved on from there for a low pack house to come into view. I heard my men mumbling among themselves at how they really overlooked this place and labeled it to be a small struggling pack. I know many of them were skeptical when I prioritized places they thought were unlikely because if she was found in any of those places, it would mean that their poor judgement would have caused them to never find her. Now that we’re in one of those ‘unlikely‘ places, they were probably scared of what I’d do since they were basically useless. In truth, I mostly didn’t care. I had found my mate and it was all over although a part of me got pissed at the realization that if I didn’t take control and find a way to get out of the pack house, these men around me would’ve never found their Luna.
We were closer to the pack house than ever since sighting it from a distance and I still couldn’t believe that Antonio’s thirst for power had actually led him to building his own miniature pack. I turned to my men, “We’re going in immediately. Whether we have to break in or by whatever means it takes to get into those walls. So be prepared.” I told them before jumping over the low fence, an action they all mirrored before running along with me as we searched for an entrance. People were beginning to sight us but they must be regular people and not one of Antonio’s fighters because they just got scared and ran off. We located a door shortly after that,
4/5
Sixty–Two
288 Vouchers
while people still scurried away but we sighted a head peek
out through the door and once we were sighted, the door was shut with a huge bang. Seeing that, I ran forward, not wanting to give them time for anything and while I was preparing to break down the door, Caleb beat me to it, jumping up and ending it with a kick that brought down the door instantly.
I could tell that he was itching for a fight an some action. Well, so was I. We went in through the now opened door, Caleb falling behind me once again along with everyone else. We were met with scared ladies in uniform whose eyes widened like saucers when they saw us before they began to run. My heart began to thump faster as blood rushed to the organ. It was faint but I was beginning to feel hints of the mate bond. It was all I needed to push forward. My mate was in this place and I was going to find her and save her.
5/5
