A Secret Alpha Mate
Chapter 25

(Jackson)

"Sorry, man, I got caught up with Alpha Benjamin," I say to Lucas as I meet him out back.

He's smiling and leaning against the back of the house and springs up when he sees me handing me a large cup of coffee and a giant muffin, "Figured you would need this, you look like hell." He jokes. "I feel like hell."

"I got her description and already called the Alpha's back, they're on the lookout for her and some have even sent some warriors to comb their territories. There's no way all of us will miss her."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He shrugs, "No seriously I do. I know you're my Beta and this is part of the job description, but." He cuts me off and gives me a quick one-armed hug.

"I'll do anything to protect our Luna, you know that." I nod and scarf down this muffin, not tasting it but knowing I need some fuel in my body for this long day ahead. "Shall we get to it? Or did you want to wait until Cam gets back?"

"I don't want to sit around doing nothing, I can't. Let's just try to see if we can pick up her scent anywhere. Now that it's light, it's going to be easier to see if she left a trail if our wolves didn't disturb it last night."

It turns out our wolves did ruin any chance we had of tracking her trail. I was so desperate to replace her last night, I didn't even think of the possibility that we wouldn't replace her. We were able to see where she must have taken off from but a few minutes following that on foot was all we could do. The rain washed away any traces of footprints, and our wolves weren't exactly careful following the scent.

I sigh in frustration and kick a tree.

"Hey, what did that tree ever do to you?" Lucas jokes lightly, we're walking back to the packhouse now at a slow pace, we're not really hoping to replace anything at the minute, but I don't want to rush back to wait around for Cam.

"So, uh, what does she look like?" I ask still looking at the forest floor, I don't want Lucas to see how eager I am.

"Ah, she sounds absolutely beautiful, Jax. Abigail said she has long reddish-brown hair, I think she called it Auburn or something? Big green eyes, but Abigail said she's not the tallest werewolf in existence." He laughs a bit, "She said she was shorter than her. As long as you don't mind a height difference."

I smile to myself thinking about her, I've been waiting for her for so long I honestly didn't care what she looked like but she does sound incredible. I lose my train of thought when my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. "Yes?"

"We're at the gates now, where should we meet you?"

"Damn, that was fast. We're nearing the back of the packhouse now, I guess we should start at the beginning but I don't want to call attention to ourselves. Have them walk to the back, but tell them to give it space. I don't want them to be seen near the packhouse, Alpha Benjamin thinks that would be best."

"Rodger that." Cam cuts off the line.

"They'll be here in a few minutes," I tell Lucas and we pick up our pace.

We comb the area and search for hours some of us in human and some in wolf form. We never pick up her scent again. Either she is too far away now or the rain has completely washed her trail away. Since we don't have a clear lead on which way she went we split up into smaller groups and are searching for her calling out her name.

Find anything? - I mindlink Cam and Lucas

Nothing yet, the trackers can't replace her scent anywhere and there's no clear path

I'm sorry, but no. We can't replace any trace of her.

The sun is high in the sky now as we've been at this for hours. As much as I want to keep searching I know my men are probably getting hungry now. I link the group leaders to come back to the packhouse and we can figure it out from there.

Once everyone is back I look around at their worried faces, they all look ashamed, Cam the worst of them all, "I don't know. We should have been able to replace something, I'll go look again." Cam hangs his head.

"It's not your fault, we caught her scent too late last night if it weren't for the rain." I trail off.

"So what now, boss?" He asks, "We can refuel and continue the search. I need to check in with our warriors too to see if they found anything back home, but they would have alerted me if they did."

"I haven't heard anything from other packs either. Honestly, she could be anywhere by now, she might not even be in the forest. She could have headed towards a city or even stumbled back on a road and got a ride with someone. There's no saying that she's still in the woods." Lucas muses.

"You're right, I didn't even think about that. If she left because she thought she was in danger there's no reason for her to stay in the forest, she could be anywhere." The thought reassures me a bit, knowing that she would be safer out of the woods, especially with the recent rogue sightings, I shudder at the thought. I kept picturing her cold and alone with no survival skills, I hope she made it out, even if it would make it harder to replace her, I need her to be safe.

"What's the best course of action then?" Cam says to himself.

"I'll stay here for another night, trying to replace out as much as possible about the threat, maybe if we figure out why she left we can figure out where she would think she would be safe and that will help up narrow down where she would have headed. I'll search again tomorrow in the forest just in case we missed anything and then meet you back at Moonstone.

Cam, I want you to head back this afternoon, take your trackers and head back in wolf form. I know the chances are low but I want to cover as much of the forest as possible. Make your way out from our pack if you don't come across anything."Cam nods and gets his trackers together to strategize.

"Lucas, will you stay here tonight too? I want to see if I can get Alpha Benjamin alone again and see if he would be willing to send out a few of his own men over the next few days, just in case she decides to head back this way."

"Of course, let me go make calls to more packs, if there's any chance that she's heading towards a city or has gotten a ride then we need to extend the reach of Alpha's on the lookout." I give him a grateful smile, "You really need to rest, you look awful." He adds, "Seriously, you'll be no help to us if you can't even think straight."

I know he's right, I have never felt so frustrated or hopeless in my life. I thank my warriors and give Cam instructions for my absence. I head back up to my room and try to get some rest but sleep evades me for the longest time. I think of Isla, picturing what she looks like, hoping she's not frightened out there alone.

"Isla, I'm coming for you," I say out loud.

I must have fallen asleep because I awake to a banging on my door and the open curtains show a dusty night sky. I reluctantly get up to open the door and thankfully it's Lucas that barges in, not Hailey trying to seduce me again.

"Dinner time." He states. I just nod groggily.

"Any updates? I head into the bathroom to get ready

"None yet, but all the packs in the next few states are alerted about our missing Luna. I've been making calls all afternoon." He flops down on the bed.

When I get out of the bathroom I see that he is snoring softly on my bed. I debate letting him sleep, but I'll need his help at dinner tonight so I shove him awake. "Wha-what is it?" He jumps up.

"Good Morning Sleeping Beauty." I say with a smile, "I promise you can go to bed early tonight, I just need you at dinner."

He groans, "Yes sir, I'm ready for battle." He salutes me.

(Benjamin)

I haven't seen Alpha Jackson since we spoke this morning, he didn't show up to breakfast or lunch, thankfully Hailey didn't notice. She showed up right before lunch with massive shopping bags in tow, two omegas following behind them carrying even more bags. I groan internally wondering how much damage they did to my credit card, at least she wouldn't be my problem after this weekend.

I head to the dining room and see that some of the visiting members are already there mingling with drinks in their hands. Comfortable conversation fills the room, everyone has seemed to have a great weekend, and there have been no major slipups on my family's part. I think we've shown a great front and when Hailey leaves with Alpha Jackson, our line will be secure.

I take my seat at the head of the table, I requested that Alpha Jackson and his Beta and Gamma were seated on my left with Julianna, Hailey, and Seth to my right.

Julianna and Hailey come in shortly after and Seth comes in with his arm hanging over a visiting Alpha's daughter's shoulder. I wish he would be more inconspicuous, I didn't want to start anything with another Alpha. I give him a stern look and he comes and sits down.

Thankfully, Jackson and his Beta come in right before dinner starts. Meghan leads them to their seats.

"Jackson, I trust you had a pleasant day." I waste no time talking to him as soon as he's seated

"Yes, everyone in your pack has been more than accommodating."

"Is your Gamma joining us?" I motion to the empty seat by his Beta.

"He had some things to attend to back at our pack, he passed along his thanks for the hospitality."

"How did your search go? Did that end up going ahead?" I ask genuinely curious, I didn't hear of any of his warriors coming on our grounds.

"Yes sir, it did. However, we didn't replace what we were looking for. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I was wondering if you could increase patrol until she is found, just in case she comes back here I want someone to notice her."

Hmm, so he intends on going through with this little search party, "There is something that I wanted to let you know, we think your mate is an omega. Actually, we know she is." I whisper, I don't want to embarrass him any further by anyone else hearing he's mated to an omega.

Jackson looks confused, good. I want him to process this as fast as possible and call off this stupid search. I see Hailey look across the table and give him a smile which he returns. This is going perfectly to plan.

I didn't get much more of a word in since Julianna was monopolizing the conversation. Normally, this would have annoyed me but she was doing a perfect job of including Hailey into the conversation and talking up her few accomplishments.

Dinner wraps up, and we all head into the ballroom for some drinks and conversation. I see that Alpha Jackson dismisses his Beta early but he heads into the ballroom. He makes his way towards me and my family.

"I was hoping to speak with you privately before I leave tomorrow." I notice Julianna squeezes Hailey's hand beside her.

"We can speak now if you have the time?" I ask, hoping to make this as official as soon as possible. To my chagrin, he shakes his head.

"This is official business and I would rather not pull you away from your hosting duties. If you have any time tomorrow before I leave?"

"Of course, anything for you, first thing in the morning we can get all the arrangements sorted."

"Perfect, thanks. I'm going to turn in early." I see hurt cross Hailey's face and Julianna gives me a pleading look.

"How about you stay for one drink? Get to know the family a bit more." I suggest.

He gives a slight nod, "One drink then." I quickly wave down an omega and get a drink in his hand. Julianna switches spots with Hailey so that she is standing right next to him. He resumes the conversation from dinner with her and Julianna for a few minutes. "Thank you all for your hospitality and conversation this evening, I have truly enjoyed it. I've had a long day and I'm going to turn in." He leaves again too soon.

"I'll see you in the morning." I shake his hand. When he leaves the room I turn to my family, "We are finalizing things first thing tomorrow." I smile at them and Julianna and Hailey bounce up and down in excitement. "I wouldn't stay up too late tonight Hailey, you need to start packing."