Not mate, mute. There's a difference

NMMTAD- 26

Uploading twice in one day. If you have no clue what's going on in this chapter than you probably missed the last one so go back and read it. Enjoy! comments would be appreciated! So close to being finished!

Troy’s P.O.V.

            “You’re sure you’ve searched everywhere?” I asked holding my head in my hands. This was impossible. There was no way that Bluebell was nowhere on Stone territory, now territory being returned to its previous owners. The remains of the Stone Pack territory were being reserved. It was a nice area with a large town and plenty of woods space. For the moment the remainder of the Stone pack, a few women and children, were the only werewolves there. Blazing Fire was in control of the territory until we fully claimed it or gave it to another pack. I still hadn’t decided what to do about that.

            For now my full focus was on Bluebell. She was missing, two days after the battle with Stone pack and we still hadn’t found her. I still hadn’t found her. It was ridiculous. I should have sensed her somewhere anywhere. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t figure out where she was. She wasn’t even appearing on my radar. I was slowly beginning to wonder if she had left of her own accord and actually gotten as far from me as possible as she had promised to do had I not reached the deadline.

 I hadn’t reached the deadline. She had every right to be gone, but I couldn’t really believe she’d done so. Everyone who had been around her kept telling me over and over how much she had missed me. The lost look that had grown in her eyes as she waited for me to return was an ever constant sign, they told me.

            Where was she that I couldn’t find her? “Maybe it’s hunters.”

            My head shot up at that to look at Louise, Frank’s mate, in confusion. “What do you mean?”

            “We’ve had hunters around here before. Maybe the Stone pack made a deal with them in order to get a hold of some of the hunter’s fancy bag of tricks.” Louise shrugged as if to end the subject but I was intrigued now.

            “What tricks are you referring to?” I asked and Daniel sat up straight like a light bulb turning on.

            “You mean a mate blocker?” He asked looking to Louise for confirmation. She nodded. “That has to be it! But where would she be that we can’t even find her?”

            “A mate blocker?” I asked in disbelief. “You really think they got a hold of the hunter’s most precious baiting tool and are using it to keep Bluebell from my senses?”

            Daniel and Louise nodded along with the rest of the people in Dad’s-my- office. West seemed just as intrigued by this as me. “It’s a good theory, but Daniel is right. We’ve looked everywhere.”

            “Maybe she’s in plain sight. We could be looking right at her and just not seeing it.” My mom suggested from her station at the window. She was watching for dad, she was always watching for him these days. He was staying with another pack and hadn’t given a hint to when he’d return, but mom was hopeful as ever.

            “What, so she’s right in front of us? I’m afraid we’ve looked right in front of us and she’s not there either.” I growled getting more and more frustrated. This brain storming was getting us nowhere.

            “I’m sorry, but I’m lost,” began Basil. “What exactly is a mate blocker?”

            “It’s anything really. The hunter’s make deals with witches to have them put strong spells on objects or places. Put that object in a designated spot and any mate, the male or female, in its range, will be unable to be sensed by their mate. It’s a way hunter’s would attract wolves to come to them instead of the other way around. A wolf would go out looking for his or her mate, usually the male looking for the female, and the hunter’s would ambush him. The mate going off the radar would drive him so crazy he’d have no choice but to go looking for her.” West described his hands shaking in slight anger. “Blood Howl had one on Celeste when I first tried to go looking for her. After a while they took it off her and I could sense her again but by then it was so faint and far and I thought…”