The Search

Devon

My heart is pounding against my chest. It’s fair to say I’m furious when Mandy gives me the news through the mind-link. A group of my packmates is sitting in a cafe–the smoothie shop, I guess people call it here–talking to the sheriff about another one of our packmates. 

That’s all I needed–more unwanted attention for our pack. 

Mandy is pretty upset herself, and she doesn’t mince words. Normally, she’s pretty cautious in the way she speaks. She values her leadership role and never wants to jump to conclusions and upset the pack needlessly.

But from the information I’m getting, a human had stepped in when the group of our people spoke too loudly about Stephen, who’s missing. Both of those things are just about the worst news we can get–that a human is snooping around in our business, and that one of our own is out there somewhere alone, a high school kid, at that. 

So, we head out. I’m running through the forest in my wolf form, trying to follow what faint scent is left of Stephen’s essence to track him down. I’ve waited until dark to head out with a team of our biggest, fastest wolves to try to catch his scent because around here, humans–especially hunters–tend to roam around during the day, and we have to avoid being seen, especially me since a giant, ice-white wolf with silver eyes would be a pretty good trophy for somebody’s wall. Or maybe I’d end up as a rug on the floor. Either way, I don’t want that to happen to me or anyone else in our pack. 

Of course, Stephen is in the same sort of danger because he’s been out there missing since after he left school yesterday. It’s safe to say his parents are in panic mode, and they’d been searching everywhere themselves until I told them they needed to let me and the warriors handle it. They weren’t happy to stand down, but I’m their Alpha, so they trust me.

The problem is that Stephen’s scent all but ends at a stream that feeds into the lake down the mountain. Getting wet has skewed his scent so it’s harder to trace, so we split up after the stream and go in different directions. The shadow of his scent seems to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

My heart races. We have to find him. 

As I sprint in the general direction where I’d picked his scent up again on a light breeze, I make good time considering I need to dodge pine trees and leap over dead logs in my path. The quarter moon doesn’t give me much light, but my wolf eyes are sharp in the shadowy darkness, and I’m able to streak through the forest like lightning. 

It feels incredible to run free, to let my wolf out and feel the moist ground under my paws on a cool, dark night. I just wish it was under better circumstances. 

Stephen’s parents are right to be panicked because whenever anything happens to us, there is always the chance that it’s our worst nightmare, that a group of vampires has discovered our secret–that we’re hiding out in the open, among humans, right in Emerald Valley. 

If vampires have discovered us and kidnapped Stephen, then honestly, we’re done for. I haven’t even had a breakthrough on my tech experiment yet, so we don’t have the power to defend ourselves, not yet. 

‘Please, Moon Goddess,’ I call out in my mind as I sprint forward. ‘Don’t let them have found us… not yet.’ I don’t know why I’m asking Her for anything. After what happened to my parents and to the version of the Emerald Moon pack that they ruled, I figure She has stopped listening to any of us long ago.

And now, I have to worry about the human on top of everything. Mandy hasn’t told me who it is, but I have a pretty good idea–the redhead. 

I’ve seen her a million times, and every time I do, I start acting weird. I don’t know what comes over me, but suddenly I’m an embarrassing, fumbling mess like some teenage schoolboy, even when I’m just thinking about her. 

But I’m the Alpha. I have better things to do than drool over human females like an adolescent pup. 

I grind to a halt. Stephen’s scent is gone. Not even a hint of it remains in the air, and I don’t know how long I’ve kept running without noticing that. Who could blame me with all the worry in my head? Our pack as it once was is destroyed. We’re scraping out a living and trying to blend into humans. Vampires, the same ones who wiped out my parents and most of the pack, are out to murder all that’s left of us. And now, there’s a sixteen-year-old pack member out there, somewhere, alone.

“Anything?” I ask Tony, one of my biggest, strongest warriors, in a mind-link.

“Nothing from this direction,” he tells me. “Scent just disappeared.”

“Same here,” I say. “Watered-down pup scent is damn near impossible to follow.”

“Agreed.” It’s Kelly, another warrior. 

The rest check in one by one, and all of them have had the same experience–the scent has just disappeared. Mandy isn’t among them. I’d asked her to stay back in town to lead in my absence, which is why she’s stuck dealing with the smoothie shop woman by herself. But I can’t go back, not just yet. I’ll deal with that mess later. 

“Circle back,” I tell the group in the mind-link. “Let’s get back to that stream where we first caught scent of him. There’s got to be something about that place.”

Moments later, we’re all gathered together, trying to pick up the scent again from the undergrowth near the flowing stream. I’m thankful for the darkness. We aren’t exactly in stealth mode out here, a pack of huge black and grey wolves led by a giant white one–good thing all the hunters are asleep in their cabins. 

“I didn’t see this before,” Kelly says. “How did we miss this?”

My pack is crowded around something, and they split to let me through. Just across the stream is a flannel shirt with a green plaid print that blends into the foliage. 

“That has to be his,” I tell them, and they all nod and gesture as much as a pack of wolves can manage. “No human would be around here. The forest is too thick. Did anyone try going in that direction?”

One by one, all the warriors answer, and it’s the one direction we haven’t tried. I gaze ahead at the thick woods in front of us. There’s no path to speak of, but a wolf could have easily slipped through the trees, even on a brisk run. Could vampires navigate the dense, wild forest? I’m not sure, but I hope the answer is no. 

“This time, we go together,” I say. “I’ll lead.”

There’s no need for further discussion. All the warriors slip into formation as we forge ahead, navigating through the trees with precision. 

Now I just have to be sure to keep focused and not let any redheads with shimmering hazel eyes and alabaster skin get into my head.