Looking for Ollen.

    Joyce Feathers...

I woke up feeling refreshed.

The precious day had been exciting, so exciting that it had drained me of all my energy.

I was knocked out the second I laid my head on the bed and didn't wake up until Mavus knocked on my door.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw that it was Mavus instead of Ollen.

I remember him telling me he would come get me for breakfast before I walked into my room.

I assumed he was busy.

Mavus told me that breakfast was ready before she left.

I took a few minutes to wash up and get dressed.

I noticed that the mind link between Ollen and I was broken, so I tried to open it. But I couldn't.

It was like there was something blocking me in my mind or in his.

I didn't worry much. I was about to see him in the dining room anyway. I made a mental note to ask him why we couldn't link and left my room.

I skipped to the stairs and wanted to spend more time with our people after breakfast.

Ollen and I trained yesterday morning, which meant we wouldn't be training today.

I practically ran down the stairs. I came to a stop by the door of the dining room when I realized that Ollen's chair was empty.

"Good morning, Luna..." A few of them greeted, looking up from their plates for a few seconds to acknowledge my presence, smiles bright on their faces.

"Good morning, everyone." I greeted back, walking into the dining room and taking my seat.

I filled my plate before I started eating, feeling a bit empty because of Ollen's absence.

I glanced towards Sam and Mini.

"Where is Ollen?" I asked after I tried to reach him again and failed.

"The Alpha's in his office. He has an early meeting with managers of patrol and Arthur. They should be done in a few more minutes." Sam replied.

I nodded my head, feeling this odd lump form in my throat.

Ollen had been very vocal about wanting me to be involved in the pack business, so I assumed he would have told me about the meeting.

Maybe he knew how tired I was and decided to let me sleep in.

I tried to chase the unease away and enjoy my breakfast.

I ate fast, shared a conversation with the people in the dining room here and there, and when I finished my food, I jumped to my feet and rushed to the stairs.

I climbed the stairs two at a time.

I realized just how eager I was to have him close, to be connected to him the entire day.

He made me feel safe, like I belonged with him. The realization didn't scare me. It fueled me instead, giving me a bigger reason to want to stay even after the initial six months are over.

I knocked on the door of his office when I reached and waited for his to invite me in. I waited for a few seconds, and when I didn't hear his voice, I knocked again.

No answer still.

I pressed my right ear against the door to listen if the meeting was still ongoing, but there was no single breath being taken in that room.

A frown covered my face as I opened the door and peeked my head in.

There was no one, not even Ollen. I guessed the meeting was over, so I tried to open the mind link again.

Frustration built in my chest when I realized I couldn't reach him. A few more tires later, the frustration turned into worry.

I closed the door and decided to look for him outside of the main pack house.

I looked around the house first, greeting people and asking them if they had seen Ollen.

No one had an answer for me. A lot of them haven't seen him, and a few said he was in a meeting. But the meeting was already over.

I went through the smaller woods, and there was no sign of him there. I went from one warehouse to the next, went to the area where they they prepared the chopped trees for work, and even went through the main woods by myself looking for him. But he was nowhere to be found.

I found myself standing in front of the waterfall, looking down at the water that was filling up.

The thin line of water was now wide. It surprised me how wide it got within a few days, but if it continued at that rate, the pool would be full.

"Good morning, Luan." Three men and women walked up to me.

"Good morning." I greeted back, taking note of the buckets in their hands.

"Have you seen the field?" A woman asked as each of them lowered the buckets to the pool and filled it with water.

"No. What happened?"

"A lot of the plants have started to peek out, Luna. And the lettuces, they will be done with a maybe a week." She replied.

I felt my eyes lit up.

"Really?"

The joy I felt was unimaginable. I grabbed one of the buckets to help and followed the three to the field where we planted the seeds. And are enough, I could see little leaves all around. The little lettus leaves definitely looked like they needed another week or more. It's been over a month since we plated them, and they were finally doing good. It wad as if they sprung up from their hiding places overnight.

"This is wonderful." I whispered, helping water the field with our own water from the waterfall.

My heart felt slightly fuller than it was before. But the question still lingered in my head.

Where did Ollen go to?

Why wasn't I able to contact him through the mind link?

Was he blocking me out on purpose, or did something happen to our bond?

I glanced down at my wrist and stated at the bracelet Jenny gave me. The sight of it bothered me even more than it did other days.

My gut told me that something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what, or why.