***Ryker***I should have done something the moment Tamara told me that she had a bad feeling something heinous would happen. Guilt, contrition, fright and anger crowded my conscious. My wolf was out the moment Tyron uttered those words.Paper, blood, monica, gone. The four main words in his statement swirled and occupied my mind. Had these occurred the first time Tamara informed me about her gut feeling? Would I have prevented anything had I done something about it then?Questions upon questions darted in my brain cells. Still rooted to the floor of my office, my mate attended to Tyron, helping him seat down on my office couch. She gave him a glass of water, whispering sweet somethings to coax him into calming down.I wanted to sprint into action instantaneously but a mind link from my father stopped me. After learning about the news, he had told me to stay where I was before going to both scenes. He insisted that it might have been a plan to lure me out, a distance away from Tamara.

***Ryker***The enervating and enfeebling pain consumed me, throaty groans emanating from my voice box. Helpless, an alpha leading a group of warriors straight into a trap. Even through the excruciating affliction, I tried to sort out relentlessly for our mate.Everything was just okay until we walked right in to a perfect ambush. No one could have imagined that it was all a lure, one that had triumphed over our thinking game. The papers had been neatly arranged, dripping with flesh blood. With his muzzle raised in the air, Tyron led us deeper and deeper into the forest. He was the only one in wolf form, for now.The further we went the more Monica's blood scent became more hefty and overpowering on our sense of smell. We could also detect the aroma of the malodorous earth. I could hear rustling sounds of small animals scampering under widespread orchids and ferns. They must have felt the presence of predators, unlike several whiffs of a nearby group of deer that we could catch.We wo

***Ryker***'What's even more weird is that there hasn't been any scent of Theo on the entire pack lands. ' Tyron had exhaustively carried out a protracted scour all around and it ended up being futile.'Curt, did you find anything?' They had been combing out the borders, trying to see whether anything bizarre was going on.'No alpha, nothing stood out. ' My thoughts went back to what my mate had been telling me for the last couple of days. Deep down I knew she was making a lot of sense, but again, were kidnaps supposed to be coherent?'Jayson, how is the search for Addanc progressing? ' Only a disdainful taste filled my savory glands as the name made way past my tongue.' We traced a trail of blood we have a plausible reason to believe belongs to him at the northern boulder. ' That was by far the most promising news I had heard since he vanished 5 days ago.'He crossed the border because the drops of blood were present on the other side. ' If he was outside the pack lands, we needed

***Ryker***Tamara humorously chuckled. ' Of course that was the only convenient excuse you could come up with.''It's not an excuse. ''You're right. ' She nodded, taking a few strides to where I stood.'It's not an excuse, it's a freaking lie. ' She whispered the last part in a shaky voice. Pain was potent in her words and it was all my culpability.'I'm telling the truth. ''The same truth you told when you said you were going to delve in searching for Addanc? ' Her hands were now stubbornly placed on her hips, legs apart and eyes affixed to me in a glare.'Tamara please, can you at least let me talk. ' Only equanimity could stop the situation from exacerbating. She had the absolute right to flip a wig, but disbelieving me? Now that hurt my beast and I.'No, I am not going to stand here and listen to one more cock and bull story. ' She stomped away leaving me standing there in stupor before finally resulting on following her. She made urgent steps, flailing her arms angrily and mum

***Ryker***I stood silently at the pack's natural burial grounds trying to face up to the old werewolf departure. The place was covered by white and yellow flower meadows, surrounded by trees. The serene scenery and the tranquil weather assuaged my inner poignant grief.My mother embraced my mate as she let out plaintive sobs. Her shoulders shook with every cry that raked through her. She had done everything she could to help her stay alive, but finally the murderer finished his job. My arms itched to pull her to me but my beast and I understood that she needed girls' time.The burial was long over, people had retreated back to their places and yet I remained behind, giving my mate the space to grieve. Yes she was safe in my mother's arms but I wasn't about to risk anything. Mimi had been murdered with a lethal dose of a silver dart, in my pack, a pack full of trained warriors.Even as I swallowed the almost tangible sorrow that had been neutralised by the weather, something else unn