Bear with Me (#2, Completed)

13. Bang! Bang!

CALLUM

I searched yet another part of the area with Jack and a few of my closest bears but there was no sign of my Flame. Whoever had her knew how to cover their tracks- her scent was all along the road that led from the pub to Aiden's castle until it suddenly disappeared at one of the banks of Loch Lomond. With nothing to go by, Riley, Rafe, Aiden and I agreed to use our respective shifters to go through all the possible locations where someone could have hidden her.

The lack of leads over the past twelve hours were driving me crazy. My bear was no better- Mahon was pushing to be let out.

Jack's hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing it just hard enough to get my attention.

"She is not here, Callum," he muttered with sympathy but I didn't need his pity. I needed results. I needed her. My mate. His future Luna. And nothing short of finding her was going to quench the fury that burnt inside me, threatening to consume me if Scarlett was not unharmed in my arms soon enough.

"Keep going." My words came out as a bark, an order that no one dared to dispute. I was the Alpha and, right now, the only thing that mattered was saving her. But above all, they all understood the importance of their mission.

As the men continued to scout this end of the woods, Jack stepped in front of me to get me to look at him.

"Callum-"

My eyes shifted away from him almost immediately. "I don't want to hear it, Jack. We do not stop until I know she is safe and sound."

His chest rose as he took a deep breath and sighed his reply. "Yes, Alpha."

Heat flushed through my body when I finally stood there alone. The clothes that I was wearing suddenly became unbearable, almost like they were suffocating me. My fists clenched and unclenched as I tried to calm myself down but my rage was too strong. The pounding in my ears made me focus more on my rushed breathing which made my throat dry. My vision clouded. It was like I was losing myself.

Let me out, Callum. Let me out, Mahon demanded as I was on the cusp of shifting.

We both desperately wanted to go for a run and burn off the anger. We wanted to smash something, to cause destruction- anything to take our mind off the pain we were feeling from being separated from our mate. Part of it was the mate bond which inevitably used its pull to push us to find Scarlett, claim her and mate her. But even without it, I had come to care for Flame in the short time we had spent with each other.

My protective bear nature, especially as an Alpha, always drove me to go to great lengths to keep others safe, but I was unable to protect my own mate. Whoever had taken her was going to pay for this.

The buzzing of my phone snapped me out of my spiralling anger. I took it out of my pocket and checked the message on my screen.

Rafe Macalister:

Two rogue wolves were spotted up in Rhu Woods. Last seen heading to Strone Woods meeting point. Could be worth checking them out.

Rogue wolves in the area was normally hardly a reason for concern but our search party was the closest to the area and I was eager to explore all avenues. I texted Rafe back and gathered my men to head over.

The ten-minute drive felt like an eternity in my impatient state. We parked the cars a good distance away from the meeting point and continued on foot to avoid being detected. The area was pretty big, so I knew that the only way to check it all out was to split up. Jack was not eager on the idea but he didn't have much choice on the matter.

The path that I chose was hardly ever used by anyone, yet it was also the one that I would have used if I was one of the kidnappers- there was no chance of bumping into anyone as most tourists took the main walking routes in the forest.