A Friend To The Elements

Chapter 22

She mumbled a curse and pulled herself into a sitting position knowing she had been trapped with her own words. I put the tray in her lap and walked around the room to her dresser. I pulled out fresh clothes before moving to the curtain. I barely opened it letting in a sliver of bright light. She ducked her head until her eyes could adjust and then continued to munch on the food.

When I made no further explanation of what I meant by us doing something she began to probe me. I was hoping I had at least until she finished eating before I came up with that because truly, I had no more idea of what I could do than she did. I had to get her out of this room though.

"We are going to go talk to Adam. They can't just leave us out of the loop. Now finish your food and take a shower so you feel a little better. I'll make up an excuse to your mom, and we'll get going."

I took a deep breath and walked out of her room hoping she would actually listen. It turned out her mom needed very little convincing or explanation. Just 'we are going out' was enough.

Less than an hour later Harmony bounced down the stairs with a fierceness I hadn't seen in her eyes since we got the news. Her hair hung in wet curls that had already started to frizz as she made a straight line for the door. No backing out now.

*Adam's POV*

"I marked my path coming from this direction so that one will be easy to find. You four will go that way." I moved my hand from the map and pointed to Noah, Thomas, Jennifer, and Daniel. I didn't normally like including a woman in these kinds of searches, but Thomas and Jennifer were mates and the best trackers in the pack. Thomas had his hands pressed on the table and was leaning down closely observing the map. He had bright green eyes and short curly hair. He was about 5'7 and one of the leanest adult shifters I had met. We all expected him to bulk out when he turned eighteen, but at twenty-one he was still just as lean. It made his wolf small and agile.

Jennifer stood behind him and ran her hand through her black hair. She kept her hair shorter than most of the males in the pack and stood an inch taller than Thomas. She was a year older than Thomas, but they hadn't had any children yet. It was slightly rare for a wolf couple in their twenties to not have any children or one on the way. It seemed like they were both still content with just focusing on the hunt, and for today it was beneficial to me so I wouldn't complain.

"You three and I will go around the other direction and converge at this lake checkpoint." I pointed to Josh, Zeke, and Jameson. Both Josh and Jameson had already been part of the initial planning along with Noah, so they weren't completely paying attention. Both were standing behind Zeke shifting between their feet and itching to start searching. Zeke sat staring intently at me to try and absorb every detail. Despite being only seventeen the boy was a genius. He already had his GED and spoke four languages. Him and his mother escaped from a tribe in Mexico and made their way to West Virginia where they met up with our pack as it was reforming. His skin was tanner than most of ours and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown. Once we become more stable, he will be leading a campaign back to Mexico to try and save the rest of his family from the violent Alpha that had taken their pack by force.

"Once we get to the lake we'll converge, and rest then reassess how we proceed. I circled the area about a mile out and couldn't find any further scent so I am hopi- "

"I am coming too." We all whipped our heads around to a small girl with dull pink hair. She stood in the living room with her arms crossed over the white t-shirt. The man that stood behind her was definitely taller and bulkier, but neither were really intimidating in any way.

"Who the hell are you?" Jameson stepped up with a growl and the man with the pink haired girl pushed her behind him while taking a defensive stance. Josh threw his hands up and stepped in between the two before things got out of hand.

"This is Harmony and her mate Cane. Harmony is Lily's other best friend." Harmony alternated her glare between the back of Josh's head, Jameson, and me. In that moment I wasn't sure who she hated most.

I stood and waved down Jameson so that I could introduce myself formally to the couple. "Why don't you guys go grab something from the kitchen. Josh we'll go on the porch so we can all four sit with some privacy. We'll head out within the hour." Everyone nodded and scattered while we turned to the porch. I sat down in one of the rocking chairs motioning for her to follow suit, but she remained standing in front of me with her arms crossed. Cane seemed to be apologetic but didn't say anything out of fear from his mate's reaction. He did exchange a look with Josh that was almost pleading.

They were off their pack territory and all but challenging the future Alpha. By wolf rules this was grounds for execution, and Cane knew it.

"Hello Harmony, I apologize that we haven't met sooner and that we are meeting now on such unfortunate circumstances."

"Cut the bullshit formalities. Nobody feels the need to update her best friend," Her eyes cut to Josh, and he looked down sheepishly. "So here we are, and come to find out you are clearly launching a party to go find her."

I glanced between Harmony and Josh not really sure what to say. I didn't even know Lily long enough to meet Harmony, and Josh never mentioned her. He finally stepped forward and sat in the chair Harmony refused to take.

"It's not his fault. I should have been updating you. I just got selfish and only focused on my feelings and finding her. The general consensus of the pack is she's no longer their problem. I grouped you in with them and that was wrong of me."

She nodded her head in agreement, but it was clear all was not forgiven. "Now that we have that out of the way you can tell me what you know and prep us a place in the search party."

My mouth dropped open, and Cane's eyes widened. He grabbed her hand and turned her to face him. "Are you insane? We aren't protected here. If we die, we would be branded as traitors. Think of your mom. We came here for an update, and we got it. I am sure they won't mind if we stay until the search party returns, but going with them?"

She flew her hand out towards Josh. "If he can go then so can I."

"I am not a member of your pack anymore." We all shifted our gaze to Josh, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Today was just not the day for all these revelations. "The decision was made a few days ago. We put off notifying anyone until we get Lily back. It will depend on what we find how the offer is set forth. Ultimately Leo has to approve the transfer, or I will end up demoted to a low rank or forced rogue. It was best not to trouble anyone else until we knew more. But I won't go back there."

I threw my hands up in frustration. "I need to be focusing on finding her right now. Not all this!" Cane and Josh looked down, but Harmony met my eyes.

"I am not just her best friend. I am a future tracker for the pack. My sense of smell is better than any wolf I have met. Since you still haven't found her, I assume you're having trouble tracking them. He must be using something to mask his scent. If I can't smell him then I can smell that. You need me."

I sighed. She wasn't wrong. Finding a scent would be a game changer. I couldn't turn down the chance if it got us closer to Lily. It had taken a few days to plan out this search party. Throwing a wrench in it could be a terrible idea, or it could be just what we need. I rubbed my temples and got up to open the door.

Our pack was small, and I didn't want to take too many of our strongest members. It would leave the pack itself unprotected which could be the whole point. I called Noah onto the porch to brainstorm who else we could bring in and how we could split the groups the most favorably.

Jameson ended up calling his younger brother. Only separated by a year they looked almost identical, except Parker kept his blonde hair longer. His eyes were slightly darker than Jameson's and his temper slightly shorter.

Jameson, Parker, Cane, and Harmony would start at the cabin. At this point most of his scent had probably disappeared due to how many times we had all tried to track it, but Harmony was determined to pick something up. Jameson and Parker would be able to communicate with us and protect the guests if things were to go south. The change left my group one person down, but we still had myself and Josh so we should be okay.

As I updated the rest of the party, I could see Cane trying to convince Harmony to back out. This was too dangerous to be doing outside of their own pack. Harmony didn't care though and followed Jameson out the front door to head towards the cabin.

Cane's shoulders dropped, but he followed.