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Alex.

Kyan was pacing at my door when I pulled it open.

"Alpha!" He stepped into the hallway. I felt him exhale, as though a dead weight had been lifted off his back.

"I waited all day for you at our meeting place. It's very unlike you to not show up, what happened? I tried mind-linking you too and nothing. Then I got really worried..."

I motioned him to a seat. I couldn't just tell him that I fell asleep. It was unlike me alright. These days I didn't even know who I was anymore. Damn, it was unlike me to sleep all night on an arm chair beside a girl. Even If I'd been paid, I couldn't have left her bedside that night. It was most unlike me to fall asleep in the daytime and forget all about an important meeting that affected the security of my pack.

I wanted to call out to one of the maids, but remembered that Selene had said that they all had the day off, so I went into my study and picked out a dated bottle of Jack Daniels.

We sat in the lobby drinking and strategized into the night. When I finally ushered Kylan out the door it was nearly midnight. I was thankful that we had made so much progress.

"Allie," Selene was waiting for me in the lobby, "I'd like a word with you, please."

She had thrown some kind of exotic sheer robe over the lace lingerie. Her hair was pulled in an updo. Even at midnight her face was covered in layers of makeup that failed to mask the depth of her unhappiness.

"I'm sorry Allie, didn't mean to jump you like that earlier," She seemed genuinely distraught. "It's just that in all the two months that I've been here you have not so much as looked my way... We're going to be married any moment now Allie and we ve got to make this work!"

I felt quite sorry too. Selene and I were once great buddies, but things had gone downhill very fast these past few months. Why in the world did she have to move into my home?

I felt a familiar black flash and the painful tightening that meant only one thing, something had gone wrong with my mate. I wanted to get out of there right away, but Selene had begun to sob. It was something about the wedding again. I had heard enough about that. I crossed my legs and leaned my head over the back of the chair. The tightening only got worse and in one swift movement I exited.

"Selene," I called out, to let her know why I was leaving abruptly then I clamped my mouth shut. Why should I inform her of my movements? She would figure out I had left whenever she decided to stop crying.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

The fern trees stood still in the inky night. It was beautiful out there, the manicured grassy footpath, the row of cultured trees that snaked into the garage. I thumb started the Maserati, and shot out like a fiend out of hell. The only alternative was to shift, but even that would have slowed me down some. I had to get to the pack clinic at the speed of light.

When I pushed open the door, the room was empty. So I took my place in the armchair waiting for her to return. I had barely sat down when the pack doctor rushed in with two nurses. I wondered what was going on. It was nearly one am.

"We were just about to call you, Alpha," The doctor looked pretty upset and something in his tone caused my heart to miss a beat.

"Where is Anaya?" Had she relapsed suddenly and died?

"We have combed every corner of the premises, Alpha, the miss is nowhere to be found!"

"What do you mean she's nowhere to be found? I left her here just this morning," I glanced at the unmade bed, willing her to be somewhere beneath the ruffled sheets.

"Indeed," said the doctor. He had aged about ten years in the past day or so since I last saw him. "She had improved so much when I conducted the ward rounds earlier this morning. So much that I asked the nurses to take out the tubes. Quite impressed I was, I mean even the wounds had started to heal. Remarkable progress if you ask me. Just remarkable!"

I had started to pace the room. My anxiety was going right through the roof. So again my mate had received the spontaneous healing that was the exclusive preserve of royalty. That was just fantastic but where was she now? Had she gone to seek her mother out again?

"She specifically asked for rice pudding for dinner, but when I brought it in, she was gone...." the maid from earlier today added.

Maybe Tim had come to get her and they had gone to visit their mother together.

"Did her brother come to visit?"

"Yes," She said "but that was just after you left and after that he returned to his bed but he says he fell asleep and did not see her leave."

I tried to mind link Kylan, but he must be fast asleep by now. I kept trying all the same.

We were interrupted by a loud shriek from the next room.

"Doctor, she's fully dilated now," The other nurse was saying.

"Please excuse me," the doctor said as he shuffled out the door, "I have a patient to attend to. I shall be with you shortly."

Suddenly I was alone in the room, but it felt more like in the world. I took the now familiar arm chair, my mind a whirlwind. How could they have been so careless? How could I have been so careless? Ever since I had found out about Anaya's roots something had changed in the equation of things. At the very least I should have posted a guard to her hospital bed. It was the least I could have done.

I shifted uneasily in the armchair the rest of the night. I did not sleep a wink. The digital bedside clock read 5.12 when I finally got through to Kylan. He sounded exhausted but there was no time to waste. When he arrived I began to bark out orders:

"Get our best men to search every nook of the pack. Mount road blocks at the two entrances. Put in place twenty four hours of surveillance!"

These guys had to find my mate, or else..

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