“It’s too late, her scent stops on the human road.” Slade told him.
“I can track a rogue boy, so can you.”
“No, father. She got in a car, and I believe she was still a pack member when she did.”
“Just fucking great.” His father snarled “My office.” He once again rapped out, and was just gone. His wolf ripped out of him and ran him back inside the pack.
“Slade?” it was Palmer.
“I know.” He murmured. They were all actually to blame, bar Palmer and Yuri, who’d also been blindsided themselves, had no idea what was going on until his father had made that announcement.
“No, it’s not that…the bloodlust,” he stated “That’s why it didn’t evolve, why she didn’t get lost to it, and kill Hayden. It would have killed the pup,” Palmer stated.
“She’s going to keep it.” Yuri murmured thoughtfully.
“She’s not going to want to come back here.” Slade told them, and he knew she wasn’t, certainly wasn’t going to want any of them to be near her pup, they had all betrayed her in her eyes. Deemed unworthy to be around the child as far as she was concerned, untrustworthy, likely to China as well.
He turned and headed for the pack himself, made his way to his father’s office, pulled his pants on and looked at everyone in the office. Her father and mother, her brother even. He could feel anger welling in him, off Hail, as well, as they looked at Hayden.
None of them had wanted her to be the Beta. Not her mother, not her father and certainly not that brother of hers. His own father had shoved her from her position, all because they thought she’d be his Mate, and she wouldn’t want to be his Luna, just his Beta, only now he knew they weren’t Mates at all.
“You all fucked Ori over.”
“Watch your words, Slade.” His father snarled at him.
“No.” he roared right back “You pushed Hayden on me, to step her down, because you lot.” He pointed at them all “Decided amongst yourselves, deluded yourselves into thinking she was my Mate. Yanked her from being the Beta, so she wouldn’t, in all your eyes, argue with herself over it, about not being the Beta and reject me.” He held up that moonstone band on his wrist at them all “I did not scent her. This proves it; she was not my Mate. You all screwed her over for nothing.” He roared at them. “Now she’s fucking gone.”
He could feel hands on him, knew it was Palmer and Yuri trying to stay him from doing something he might regret. “If you’d not fucked her over, not brought that shit’s.” He snapped and pointed at Hayden, “training forward, she would have stopped training herself, unable to shift and Palmer would have figured it out, in less than a bloody freaking minute, and none of this would be happening. But nooo, you all thought you knew best. Now she’s gone rogue, because she’s been betrayed by all of us, in her eyes. Including me, the father of her pup.”
His eyes moved right to Hayden, and he watched that boy’s eyes go wide. At the news he was hearing, he saw him actually step behind his own parents. “Afraid are you?” he grated out at the boy. “Your sister wouldn’t have been, she would stand her ground in the face of a fight with even an Alpha Wolf.”
“Slade, that’s enough. Let it go, we have to focus now, on finding Oriana.” His father snapped at him “Get your head in the game, pull yourself together. You know her best, Palmer, Yuri, where would she go?”
Slade
There was nothing at the airport, it had been three solid days, and they’d found nothing, she’d walked all over the airport in and out of every bloody gate there was, passed every damned possible flight that had left between 10pm and when they’d gotten there to search for her at 1am.
He, Palmer and Yuri had searched fruitlessly. There was no rogue scent outside the airport, which had meant she’d gotten on a plane and left the state. To where no one knew, the taxi driver had stated he’d picked her up and dropped her off, she’d spend the trip in relative silence. There’d been no stops on the way, he’d not even seen her use her phone, which was odd to him. Everyone did that.
It wasn’t odd to Slade she’d left that behind, so she couldn’t. The girl was smart, absorbed all their wolfen classes as a Beta should, and they had taken classes on how to track and retrieve, it was a must for the future Alpha and his unit, seeing as it was part of the job later in life to be able to hunt down and bring back any stolen pups or she-wolves from the pack.
She knew how to confuse one, to hide where she went, his girl was smart and that was what was going to make this so bloody difficult. She had trained with those hunting her, so she knew what to do, how to avoid them even, and she was using her knowledge.
In that window at the airport there had been 60 flights leaving for 34 different destinations around the country, over 7 airlines from all of those gates. They now had to check each and every one of them, likely even go to each of those places and search in person, at some point.
The only thing they had to their advantage was her eyes. They were so unique that everyone looked at them, so showing a photo of her to someone if they’d seen her eyes, come across her, they’d recognise her and his wolfen senses would be able to tell if they lied. Pick up the change in heart rate, the way their pupils reacted, the hard swallow that some did. Their fidgetiness even. But that was it.
He knew she’d not left the country; Anders had stated he had her passport locked up in the Beta family suite. At least that was something, only a search here and not all over the world..
He’d tracked her pack card, curiously she’d not left that here, she had taken it with her, though even that had shown him the next day, she’d used it at the airport to draw out her maximum daily limit of 5 thousand in cash withdrawal. Was keeping it for emergency use, he supposed. Though he doubted she would use it anywhere near her actual destination. She wasn’t that stupid. She would likely leave the town or the state, to withdraw cash from it in the future to. He’d stood in the middle of his suite and scrubbed a hand over his face. He couldn’t actually do that. It wasn’t right and he knew it. “I just need a few days.” He’d tried to tell her, and she’d hung up on him after a furious rant about how she wasn’t going to be coming second best to that girl. Who had been and was not now his Beta, wasn’t even a pack member anymore.
He’d been in his father’s office after that argument when Lindal had strolled in, carrying a box, she’d knocked on the door and stated “I found this in my house, it’s addressed to Bronnie. Ori’s handwriting.”
They’d all looked at it, she’d left something behind, a clue maybe? Anders had taken the box and nodded.
Slade had looked at Lindal why they were waiting on Bronnie to come to the office, then had mind-linked to her ‘How long have you had that.’
‘Long enough for her to get wherever she needs to be.’ She’d told him simply. ‘I understand why she left.’ And then she’d turned to leave.
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