A Secret Alpha Mate
Chapter 21

(Jackson)

Abigail is waiting for us outside hope in her eyes immediately turning to worry when she saw that her friend wasn't with us.

"Is there anywhere else she would be?" I plead with her. Abigail shakes her head.

"None of the other omegas know where she is either, she wouldn't just leave"

"See if you can get her scent," I tell Cam. He nods seriously and goes into head warrior mode. Leaving us to head back to her room to collect anything with her scent on it.

"Lucas, search the rest of the packhouse, ask anyone and everyone." I turn to Abigail, "Do you have a photo of her?" She shakes her head.

"None of the omegas have photos taken."

"If she left the packhouse, who would she tell?"

"Me."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm the closest person to her here, she's my family," Her voice starts to break and she's getting really worried now. "She wouldn't have just left like this, it doesn't make any sense, not without telling me or leaving a note. Wait." Abigail turns back inside and goes upstairs, I follow her without a word. We pass Cam on the stairs and he gives me a nod indicating the shirt he has in his hand.

"I have her scent committed to memory. I'll link you if I replace anything." I nod at him and continue to follow Abigail back up to their room.

She pulls back her thin mattress and reaches her hand into a small hole in the floor. "There's something here." She exclaims pulling out a sheet of scrap paper. She hands it to me after she reads it.

Can't explain. I have to leave to protect myself. I'll try to reach out to you. Love you, take care of yourself.

"Is there any threat to her that you can think of? What would she have to protect herself from?"

Abigail shakes her head, "I know the lead omega, Meghan, wasn't a huge fan of hers recently and started to single her out and she got in trouble with some of the ranked members for something that wasn't her fault. Nothing that would make her get up and leave like that."

"And you're sure she wrote this note?"

"Yes, it's her handwriting and we are the only two that know about that hiding spot, it's where we've always hidden our special things since she was a little girl." Abigail starts tearing up.

"Does she have any family that might know something?"

"She came to the pack as a child, the Alpha took her in after her parents died in a rogue attack. She's been in the packhouse working with me since she was four." Tears start rolling down her face, "I'm worried, she is such a good girl, why did she leave?"

I start to shake with rage, what kind of Alpha would "save" someone only to force them into child labor? She should have had the opportunity to be placed with a family and adopted instead of immediately thrown in with the pack omegas. I take a few breaths to calm myself, I would talk to Alpha Benjamin after my mate was safely by my side.

I grab her arms and look her in the eyes, "I promise we will replace her, and I will make it my top priority to keep her safe from whatever this threat is. The threat, no matter who or what it is will be eliminated. I promise you that" She nods but doesn't stop crying. Just my luck. I replace my mate and she disappears. A loud crack of thunder rumbles in the distance, the weather reflecting my mood.

I mindlink Cam

Find anything? We found a note saying she left

Her scent is all over the packhouse, there are so many people it's hard to get a good lead.

She's gone anyways. Meet me out back.

I cut the link and then link Lucas to meet us too.

We stand outside and Cam is sniffing around until he gets a scent. He takes off his clothes and throws them against the back of the packhouse and shifts. We follow behind him as he gets the trail. Thick raindrops start falling around us making it harder when we're running see even with our heightened senses while we're in wolf form.

We follow the faint trail for hours, having to circle back over our track a few times as the rain starts to wash the already faint scent away. Finally, we lose the scent altogether. The rain finally lets up as the sun starts to rise.

We can't do much else at this point - Cam links me

You guys go back, I'm going to keep looking.

We need to strategize, you running around all night isn't going to help her.

I sigh but realize he's right. I let out a loud frustrated howl and head back the way we came. We shift back and put on our clothes that are now soaked. "I'm sorry, the rain made it impossible." Cam sighs in defeat. "She's out there alone and I don't know what to do. I can't protect her."

Lucas comes up and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Let's try to get some rest, there's nothing we can do right now."

"I'll head back to Moonstone first thing in the morning and get a few search parties together. I'll send one out around our pack territory and then bring another one back with me here to see if we can pick up another scent." Cam says.

"I'll alert the other packhouses in the area to be on the lookout for her. We can try to search for her again tomorrow. We might be able to catch her scent again, I'm sure she couldn't have gotten too far." Lucas reassures me, "She's fine, I'm sure she's more than capable of taking care of herself, she is our Luna after all."

"We will replace her," Cam promises.

Heading back up to our rooms we see the last remnants of the party being cleaned up. As tired as my body is my mind is awake. I'm worried about her safety, and anxious that I can't do anything to help her. What if I never get a chance to meet her? I quickly shrug that thought away and focus on being able to take my mate back to my pack and introduce her as my luna. Sleep eventually comes but it's a restless sleep that has me tossing and turning all night.

(Isla)

I wake up as raindrops start to fall lightly on my face. The trees create a thick canopy so only a few drops make their way down to the forest floor but I can hear the wind above the trees and the thunder so I know it must be a pretty bad storm.

I move a little further into the woods and replace a nice dry spot under a tree that has started to grow sideways and provides even more cover from the drops that make their way down through the treetops.

I hear the saddest howl in the distance which startles me but instead of scaring me like I thought it would, it almost comforts me to know that I'm not alone out here.

I let the soft sounds of rain drift me back to deep sleep.