No Laughing Matter.

Chapter 15

A/N sorry if this part is a little shit, I am trying to get my mojo back after leaving the hospital, thank you for your patience xx

Four days. Four long fucking days I had been searching for my mate with no leads or any direction to look in, it seemed as though he had disappeared off the face of the earth. I had contacted the packs and prides we share borders with, and they had said that no one had been seen passing through at the time of the disappearance or nearby after. I had been going out every day and searching for Cas and holding our children every night as they would cry for their mother. It pained me to think of how they must be feeling without the loving embrace of their mother they had spent so much time with just him after the downfall of the hyena clan that the distance between them now is taking a toll on them. Hagan had been babysitting throughout the day whilst myself and a few of my most trusted warriors along with Todd, my beta searched everywhere several times.

We had searched every known site in the pack lands and were beginning to broaden our searches with the help of our neighbours whose alphas were now also searching for my missing mate. If I had of put the mating mark on the side of my mates neck I would know exactly where he is and what he is feeling, I hadn't wanted to push Cas and I'm happy I didn't cause him any discomfort but fuck I hope he is okay.

Its morning now so the search begins again. It was just becoming six am and I was awake, its hard to sleep alone after nights with my mate. I kissed each of the children on their little heads and traded places as Hagan came stumbling into my room and yawning his goodbyes and well wishes.

I left the pack house into the chilly morning air and met up with my trusted searchers. Each one was putting on a brave face, but we all knew the chances of finding my mate happy and well were dwindling as the days passed. I wouldn't stop searching and if someone is behind the disappearance of my mate, I will skin them alive and display in the centre of my home as a reminder to not fuck with my pack or mate.

The search had began hours ago and we were no closer to finding my mate and my mood was beyond irritable I was snapping at everyone when I chose to spoke but all my pack mates seemed to understand so there were no hard feelings. Currently we were on the border of my packs land and the small area of no mans land that we share with the local pride when a strange smell hit my nostrils. It was sickly sweet almost too sweet as if someone were trying to hide their original scent. I stooped and took a deep breathe of air and could smell the hint of metallic that is blood. I had a feeling deep down in my animal soul to follow the scent.

'follow the scent of rich sugar, my wolf and I have a feeling.' I sent to the search part via mind link.

I heard a chorus of yes alphas back and we were off into no mans land. It was a short run but was made harder due to the twisting and turning this scent seemed to make as if trying to throw off any followers which in itself was suspicious, why would someone attempt to hide their scent in no mans land, it was a free zone with no fighting allowed.

The scent took us to a dilapidated looking shack which reeked of fear and pain, it caused a few of the newer warriors too whine and bow their heads at the sorrow that saturated the land. Due to this area being no mans land their were no routine border checks or checks of the contents and it seemed I would need to bring that up to the council because whatever had happened on this land had changed its vibe forever.

We slowly circled the shack looking for signs of life, there seemed to be no-one inside at the present time but the crushed grass leading to the door suggested someone frequents here and may very well be asleep inside or returning to this place.

It may be a rouge or lone wolf who had made camp here but the scent just wasn't normal, it didn't smell of any shifter I had ever met and I have met almost every kind, the scent also did not seem stable, it fractured and moved in a weird way not common to that of a shifter pattern.

I decide to inch closer to the house to see if I could catch another scent in the shack and the second I did a shrill alarm began to blare causing me to jump back and bark at my search party to be on high alert. Why would someone but an alarm on such a run-down shack unless they had something to hide.

My team and I shuffled back into the thick mossy under bush to watch if anyone was coming to check on the alarm sound. I could detect movement in the house but not one time did a figure show themselves. However just as I was losing hope a m tall buff man made his way past the upstairs window where the curtains were shredded, I got a good look at him and decided their was something off about him, there was something wrong with his scent, I couldn't detect exactly what he was so that sent me on high alert also, I mind linked the team to see if anyone could find a scent on the mysterious man but everyone came up blank which was entirely suspicious in itself, very few creatures could conceal their scent and none of them were to be messed with, I would fight anyone however if it had to do with my mate.

We continued the surveillance for another hour just to be sure that the man was not near any windows but there seemed to be no noise or movement in the house it was like he wasn't there even though we could see him at some points.

We inched closer and closer making sure to keep our footfalls silent and to avoid anything that would alert the strange man that we were enclosing on his territory. We were ready for the alarms this time and instead of retreating back into the under bush we bolted towards the house, my largest enforcer in the front ready to bash down the door where as I was after him ready to attack anything that came out, the rest of the party were fanned out and ready.

Helion my largest enforcer ran and shoulder budged the door and it completely shattered, I had expected some reinforcement to topple out or for the door to be reinforced but luck was on our side because the house was as strong as it looked.

We swiftly moved throughout the house searching for any sign of life but came up a blank until we heard a door unbolting downstairs, we headed in that direction as swiftly as possible and standing before the door that was now wide open was the tall man from the window only this time he did have a smell, it was the smell of my mate and I saw red, the growl that released from deep within me was animalistic and sounded feral even to my own ears. My pack mates must have smelt their luna as well because all their hackles raised, they were beginning to fan out to encircle and trap the tall man.

"My, my what do we have here? More werewolves? I wasn't meant to get the next shipment quite yet." The man spoke in just above a whisper. I wasn't in the mood to understand what he just said all I knew was he was covered in blood that belonged to my mate and he had to be exterminated at any cost.

The tall man pulled a small pistol from his pocket and pointed at me, before he had the chance to pull the trigger I was dashing towards him in a zig-zag pattern and latched myself onto his large forearm causing him to drop said pistol and to yell out his obvious displeasure at being bitten.

My enforcers took this as an opportunity and latched onto anywhere on the man they could find, it helps that he wasn't expecting us and therefore wasn't hard work to subdue and take down. He had punched one of the younger members in the eye causing it to bleed profusely and we would need the pack healer to see if he would be able to see again from that eye.

I took the final bite of the man's neck and watched the light slowly leave his eyes as the blood rushed from his neck and his mouth as he attempted to yell. I had my enforcers watch to make sure there was no funny business whilst I ran into the room that smelt of my mate, I shifted mid-step but staggered back at the sight in front of me there was a long table covered in blood and a desk with a laptop that was covered in many papers and diagrams, I yelled out to Todd to collect all the data and information he could form the table and we would bring it back to the pack house to investigate what was going on.

I followed a blood trail to a heavy locked door, I ripped the lock off using my wolf strength and then descended the stairs in front of me down to a dark, damp, tiny cell that held the one thing I didn't want to see, my weak, pale unconscious mate.