Royal Secret

Chapter 27

Its been two days since I have left the pack house.  I have stayed close to the river searching the banks for any signs of Celina.  I let my wolf take over and relied on his keen sense of smell and his connection to Celina's wolf to drive us.  We continue south searching for two things, Celina's scent and the color red.  Trying to find Celina's scent would be near to impossible with the water masking her scent so we search the edges hoping to pick up her scent when she crawled out of the river.  We were also looking for any fragments of her dress, the red chiffon would be easy to spot and most likely leave a visible trail. We traveled nonstop, taking only a couple hours of sleep and hunting for food as we went.  I decided to stay in wolf form because I would be quicker and a better tracker. I also needed to be careful, I was traveling in rogue territory it was in a part of the county that no packs laid claim to. Therefore it was a place that rogues could roam freely. I masked my alpha scent in order to masquerade as a rogue to avoid in any confrontations.

A sense of urgency course through my veins and my wolf picked up his speed.  I focused on what had grabbed his attention when I spotted, red. We ran to the banks and intertwined with the broken branches was a piece of red fabric.  I frantically scanned the area looking for more clues and my heart began to sink. I caught a slight scent of Celina entering into the woods and upon further investigation there were signs of a large encampment. What if the royals tracked her and got to her first.  My wolf whimpered and we followed the path that the large group took along with the scent of Celina. I moved quickly and as we continue to run I started to rule out the idea of royals taking Celina. The group was very large and had families traveling with them as I observed a couple of  dropped toys and baby diapers that were buried to cover their scent from wild animals. The encampment was moving at a fairly fast pace and so far I can tell they had to stop and set up twice.  What took them days, only took me hours to travel because of the sped in which we ran.  My hopes of finding Celina alive spurred me on pumping adrenaline through my body causing us to fly through the forest. When I find her I will beg her for forgiveness and do what I should have done when we first met.  Let her mark me first so that we can become fully mated. 

I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard them, rogues. I searched for a hiding place locating a huge log and dug a hole and crawling under the log.  Two male rogue where traveling in front of me coming from my left.  I realized that they were heading in the same direction as the large group that had Celina. I allowed them to gain some distance before I began trailing them.  

The wolves slowed their pace and I noticed we were getting close to their camp. I could smell Celina's scent. She was  alive! The sounds of people talking and laughing grew louder. I kept a distance after spotting a few lookouts in the trees. I decided to retreat and camp out nearby. I would catch up on a few hours of needed rest and wait for nightfall to search for my mate.