Not mate, mute. There's a difference

NNMTAD- 21

Cypress's P.O.V.

"Why did she leave?" Basil yelled his face turning bright red in anger. 

Ash's face went pale and he looked away when I tried to catch his gaze. "Why is a very good question. Where was she heading though?"

"She thought he'd left her." I gulped trying to swallow back the sobs. "I don't know where she was going but now she's gone and we can't find her. We have to find her!"

Ash growled and I stepped away from him almost expecting his wolf to come out with the way he was shaking. The fact that he was a werewolf and neither Basil or I was still amazed me. "Well he still hasn't come back now has he? She's probably just gone off to hide in a tree."

"He'll come back eventually. He'll know she's in trouble. The fact that she left and is now missing is what worries me most, and we all know Bluebell wouldn't just do that and not let us know she was at least okay."

"Unless she's so heartbroken she can't think straight," I muttered earning a few glares. The door to the room opened and in came Daniel who'd taken over the pack with Troy gone and Lucas having run off in a rampage weeks ago. 

"They're checking everywhere but the only thing we can figure is since the scent of the Stone pack is everywhere around the car is that they took her." He looked over his shoulder watching Tami as she walked by waving to us sadly. "Where is Alpha West?"

"Um..." I looked to Basil and Ash.

"He's..." Basil began but stopped when he seemed to realize he had no idea where Grandpa was. 

Ash kept staring out the window for a long moment. "I'll go get him."

Daniel nodded. "Where is he?"

Ash shrugged, "Does it matter?" Daniel narrowed his eyes but shook his head no. "Then don't worry about it." 

Watching Ash walk away I exchanged a worried glance with Basil. Daniel gave us a strange look, "Any clue where he's headed?"

Basil and I both shook our heads. We didn't exactly understand our brother sometimes. Of course we didn't understand our big sister a lot of the time either. 

Troy's P.O.V.

“No?”

            Celeste tilted her head and nodded with a sad smile. “I cannot leave. Jackal will follow me and attack you and your pack.”

            I scoffed, “You don’t hear Alpha Scarlet taking down Jackal’s pack as we speak? You’ll be safe and so will my pack. There’s no danger. Blazing Fire can defeat Blood Claw, though at this rate it won’t be necessary. I just need you to agree to come with me and trust I have a plan.”

            Celeste looked indecisive. I took that as her truly thinking this over. “How do I know I can trust you?”

            “You trust Jackal?”

            “He may be my enemy and keep me imprisoned here, but he doesn’t lie. I can count on him to tell the truth, even if it is ghastly.” Celeste turned from me running her fingers over the bark of the tree. I waited as she sighed heavily. “Do you know why I left?”

            “I figure to protect your pack.”

            Celeste scoffed. “I’m a dryad. I care nothing for packs. I left for my mate. When Blood Howl attacked combined with their allies to defeat us we were unprepared. No one had any reason to attack us, we weren’t expecting it. I was terrified of my mate getting hurt or killed. I went to Jackal myself and begged for him to stop his attack. At first he turned me away, sent me fleeing back to Moon Song. The battles continued on and on for so long… I went to him three times. The second time he chased me out of his territory himself. He never would have killed me at least. A dryad’s murder is bad luck on the land in which her blood spills and prosperity to the land where she dies in peace.” Celeste, who was circling the tree slowly stopped to look at me, her eyes showed deep thought. “I trust you young one. I can yell you know. An old dryad can always tell, so can many of age whether human or werewolf or dryad. It just comes with the years I suppose…”