five

Francis ran into the house immediately the car stopped.

 He had felt uncomfortable for no reason and decided to go home.

 He quickly grabbed the gifts he bought for Aurelia and raced to the house. 

Sabina and Scarlett were eating. 

"Where's Aurelia?" He asked looking around.

 "Oh, you're home? I thought you said you will be coming back tomorrow" Sabina said eating.

 "Am home now. Where's Aurelia? Why isn't she eating too? And why can't I feel her presence?" Francis roared angrily.

 "I don't know. I have not seen her since I came back from the mall" Sabina said in irritation. 

Her heart was shaking. 

She had never seen Francis look so angry and impatient.

 Francis turned to Scarlett and a trace of fear zapped through her face and Francis immediately caught her expression. 

He had dealt with questioning suspects for decades. 

"Scarlett where's your sister?" Francis asked coldly. 

Scarlett swallowed the lump in her throat and hardened her face. 

She looked up at her father and lied through her teeth looking straight at his face as she had practiced before the mirror.

"I don't know, as if she tells me where she goes. We aren't that close. She has been acting weird since the first shift. She might have gone to a quiet place. Besides I once heard her talking to a boy over the phone. Maybe she sneaked out to meet her lover" Scarlett said. 

"Shut up. You're lying. I know exactly what Aurelia can do or think about. If you don't know where she's, shut it rather than make crazy speculations" Francis roared.

 He threw the package he bought on the sofa. 

He wanted to give her a surprise but ended up being surprised instead. "Jake!" Francis roared and the captain of his guards came running in.

 "Organize the men, send out a search party. We must find Aurelia within an hour. Send Arnold to the barrack mobilize some soldiers to comb the woods" Francis roared running up to Aurelia's room. 

But the room was squeaky clean. As he turned to leave, he noticed a drop of blood on the sheets and gasped.

 He went through the CCTV footage but saw nothing. This is an insider work. They practically knew all the blind spots!

 He raced downstairs and looked at Sabina and Scarlett who were watching movies unconcernedly. 

 "You both, it better not be what am thinking. Pray. Pray I find my daughter, otherwise I will send the both of you-to-you death" Francis said in a chilling voice making Scarlett's heart to skip a beat.

 She immediately hardened her face; she left no clues. No one knew it was her. 

Francis immediately spread out with his men. Soon the boys under his battalion arrived including Oliver and the Alpha's son. 

The search party has reached the woods and Francis was leading them.

There were drones and helicopters searching everywhere, with powerful beams of flashlights everywhere and soon, the whole pack knew that something was amiss. 

Everyone had been ordered to search their surrounding and report to the pack office. 

"There's a female slipper here" one of the men called and Francis quickly raced towards the coordinate. They saw the single slipper that some of the boys were encircling. He knows the slippers; he bought it himself on his last trip. He quickly picked it and noticed the drag marks going forward. As if someone was dragging something heavy. He quickly followed the mark.

"Converge!" He roared and the men quickly moved closer searching for clues. 

But the marks suddenly disappeared. Francis insisted on going forward and soon he noticed a tiny drop of blood on a leaf. 

They were on the right track. 

As they ran forward, they came to the river.

His heart skipped a bit.

Aurelia couldn't swim!

They moved deeper along the bank and noticed the patches of floating blood. The drones were quickly sent into the water and Francis and some of the men dived in. 

"There's another slipper" one of the men called. Francis quickly swam to the deep edge where the shout came from. It was the other pair.

He held them and groaned. Goddess no! 

Just then one of men brought a stick to him and one of the drones came up.

 "Sir we found this stick at the bank. It is stained with blood. There are marks suggesting that it was used to hold down a victim in the sea to prevent them from floating up." 

Francis gasped again, clutching his heart.

 "Sir" one of the drone operators called. 

"We found a blood patch and a fragment of shattered skull in the sea. She seemed to have hit her head against the jagged rock".

 "What? Continue the search since you found a trail" Francis shouted. 

"Am sorry sir, the clues disappeared there." 

"Excuse me? Search the whole sea" Francis shouted, clutching the man's collar.

 "We already did sir. A...and sir" he stammered.

"That place was a shark trail so..." 

"Nooo!" Francis howled and the soldiers shut their ears as the weak ones fainted in fright. Francis eyes turned to red, and he fell to his knees in tears. 

The other generals have arrived when they heard they found a trail. Francis clutched the slippers to his chest and cried miserably in loud sobs. 

The soldiers shivered. Francis was a great warrior, very fierce. He never winced no matter the extent of a wound but he's crying like a baby. Jack had only seen him shed tears when his wife died, even then he cried silently unlike now.

 "Impossible search again" Francis cried. At once his men all dived into the sea though they knew it was a futile venture.

 Oliver clenched his fists angrily and turned around. 

He sneaked back to the mansion and met Scarlett drinking whiskey. He dragged her arm from behind making Scarlett to gasp. 

He turned her towards him and looked at her coldly.

 "Oliver, what are you doing here. I told you I will see you tomorrow."

"Scarlett, did you kill her?" He asked coldly. 

Scarlett shivered; she had never seen this look in Oliver's eyes before