Chapter Four — She Was Gone

Elliott

My hand moved across the wet grass beside me, searching for my mate. But the space was empty.

My eyes opened immediately, and for several seconds, I simply stared at the place where she had been lying beside me. Then everything from the night before rushed back—the rain, her scent, her body against mine, and the impossible moment Setra finally recognized the woman I had waited forty-two years to find.

I had been travelling back toward Courtland when the attack started.

The Eclipse Fang Curse had lived in the Moonfang bloodline for generations, and after spending most of my life with it, I knew every warning sign. The sudden heat beneath my skin. The pain. The aggression. The feeling of Setra pushing harder against my control because he wanted out.

I hadn't expected the curse to hit that badly while I was still on the road.

My convoy was just crossing Silvercrest territory after dealing with reports of forbidden black magic when the heat became unbearable. I knew we wouldn't make it back to Courtland before Setra forced his way out, so I ordered the vehicles to stop and entered the forest alone.

All I wanted was to let my wolf hunt. Instead, I found something I had almost stopped believing existed.

I found my mate.

I sat up immediately and searched the clearing. But she was gone.

“Damn it.”

Setra rose inside me with demands. 

‘Find her.’

“I know.”

I dressed quickly and called out, but nothing answered except the distant movement of the forest.

Setra became increasingly restless.

‘Find her.’ He kept demanding. 

I inhaled deeply, expecting her scent to guide me. It should have been everywhere.

Instead, only the faintest trace remained around the clearing.

I frowned and followed it several metres. Then farther. The scent weakened with every step until it disappeared completely.

That didn't make sense. A mating scent didn't simply vanish.

Setra pushed again, his frustration becoming mine.

‘Find her.’

“I am trying.”

I searched in every possible direction, but the result remained the same. No scent. No trail. Nothing that told me where she had gone.

How had I even slept through her leaving? That question bothered me almost as much as her disappearance.

Sleep has not come easily to me for years. Even when the curse wasn't at its worst, Setra remained restless enough that true, peaceful sleep had become something I barely remembered.

Yet last night, I had fallen asleep beside her in the middle of an open forest, and I hadn't woken up once.

It was then that I noticed something else. The heat and the pain had eased almost completely. 

Setra was angry because our mate had disappeared, but he wasn't fighting me or clawing for control.

I slowly looked down at my hands. Not trembling. No burning beneath my skin. What happened last night? 

Branches moved behind me and I turned sharply.

Alaric emerged through the trees with two royal guards following several metres behind.

“You've been gone for hours.”

“I know.”

He approached, studying me more closely.

Alaric Moontale had known me since university, long before he became my Beta. There were very few people alive who could look at me the way he was looking at me now without lowering their eyes.

“You're calm.”

“I noticed.”

His gaze moved around the clearing. “What happened?”

“I found her.”

His brow furrowed. “Found who?”

“My mate.”

For perhaps the first time in years, Alaric looked completely stunned. Then his face changed. “Your mate?”

“Yes.”

“After all these years?”

“Yes.”

His excitement lasted only seconds. “Where is she?”

My silence gave him the answer. “She left?”

“I woke up and she was gone.”

Alaric looked around the forest. “Did she know who you were?”

“No.”

“Did she know what she was to you?”

I remembered the way she eventually stopped questioning the word I kept whispering and simply accepted the night.

“She knew I wanted her.”

Alaric stared at me for another moment. Then understanding crossed his face. “You already mated with her.”

“Yes.”

His eyebrows rose. “This is not the conversation we're having.”

“No. Obviously not.”

He studied me again, and this time his attention remained on my face.

“What happened to the attack?”

“I don't know.”

“You could barely control Setra last night.”

“I remember.”

“And now?”

I exhaled slowly. “I am fine.” 

Alaric went quiet. Neither of us had an explanation.

The healers had spent years trying medicines, rituals and treatments. Some helped temporarily, but nothing had ever ended an attack like this completely.

I wasn't ready to decide what it meant after one night. Especially when the woman involved had disappeared.

“Search the area,” I ordered. “Quietly.”

Alaric nodded immediately.

“No unnecessary questions. Nobody outside the men we trust needs to know what we're looking for.”

His expression became serious. “You don't want anyone knowing you found your mate.”

“Not until I know who she is.”

A King's mate could become a target before she ever learned what being beside the Crown meant.

I would not announce her existence to half of Lunavale while I didn't even know her name.

Alaric sent the guards away with instructions before returning.

“We're still in Silvercrest territory.”

“I know.”

“If she lives nearby, we may find something.”

“Maybe.” I looked toward the trees again. Then I remembered something.

Alpha Corvian Drawolf had requested an appointment concerning the black-magic investigation I ordered him to conduct in this region. He was supposed to travel to Courtland and give me his initial report.

I looked at Alaric. “Corvian requested a meeting.”

“Yes, I know. Tomorrow afternoon.”

“Cancel it.”

Alaric frowned. Then he understood. “You want to go to him.”

“We're already in his territory.”

Officially, there was nothing strange about the Alpha King visiting a regional Alpha to discuss forbidden magic.

Privately, it put me directly inside the pack closest to the place where my mate disappeared.

Alaric nodded. “I'll inform him.”

“Not yet.”

He paused. 

“First, have the men search everything around this forest. Ask questions without mentioning me or my mate. I want to know if anyone saw a woman walking through here last night.”

“And you?”

“I need a shower and fresh clothes.”

For the first time since waking, I felt the exhaustion in my body. Not the painful exhaustion caused by the curse. But something different. Almost normal.

Alaric looked at me once more before turning away. “Elliott.”

I stopped.

“We'll find her.”

I looked toward the empty forest.

Forty-two years. That was how long I had waited to find my mate. One night was not going to be all the Moon Goddess gave me.

“Tell Corvian the King has accepted his request for a meeting.”

Alaric nodded.

“But he won't be coming to Courtland because we're going to him.”