The Chase

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Logan

"Any news?"

"No not yet." Hayden said avoiding looking me in the eyes. He felt bad he had let my mate go, he was beating himself up for not even getting her name, or accepting when her friend had offered to swap numbers.

It had been 9 days now since I lost her, my mate, I hated that I didn't even know her name. I had smelled humans and had gotten angry, it was shifters night only, and letting humans in was not only bad for business but could also be dangerous. I had stormed into the bathroom ready to order then to leave right away when I saw her and my world shifted. She was beautiful. She had gorgeous ginger hair, stunning green eyes and a couple of freckles on her face. She was sitting down holding her friends hair, and even just sitting there she awoke something within me. But when Jeff had called me for an emergency I knew I had to go, he wouldn't have called me if it wasn't important. It had been hard, but I had told her to stay and I figured she would. But when I came back and she was gone I lost it, my panther took over and I shifted on the spot. Hayden hadn't known what was going on and had been confused and worried. I had sprinted out of there in my panther form before anyone could stop me, hoping to catch her scent and chase her down. But it had disappeared at the end of the pavement where she had entered the taxi. At first my panther wouldn't let me change back, he was too upset, he wanted to go on the hunt. It wasn't before I got through to him that I could do more as a human than he could, that I finally managed to get the control back.

As soon as I told Hayden my mate was in that bathroom he rang the taxi driver to get him to turn back. But it was too late, he had already dropped them off at the train station. We got hold of a hacker right away to get the footage from the train station, but it wasn't much help. We could eliminate some of the trains. But she didn't show up on any cameras entering a train. So now Jackson, our hacker, was getting footage from all the possible train stations she could have gotten off at and watching them. So far nothing. The more time there went by, the more afraid I was that she wouldn't show up on any cameras. I have no idea what I'll do if that happens. Maybe travel around the state hoping to scent her and track her down that way.

As I pulled up to my house I saw my father sitting on the front step. "Hi. Thought I would stop by and see how you're holding up, or if I can help with anything."

"Thanks, but right now I'm just waiting for Jackson, he's still looking through and getting more footage. Want to come in for a coffee?" I had recently just finished the house. I'm an architect and had designed the house myself, ironically with the idea of my mate in the back of my mind. My dad owns a big construction company, and has been training me ever since I can remember to take over from him one day. It surprised everyone when I announced I wanted to become an architect instead of finanse. But as it turns out, having your own personal in house architect department has been good for business.

"How are you holding up? Still no sign of her?"

"No. And let the fact that I'm the fittests I've ever been speak for itself. The only thing which calms my panther down just a little bit is working out. It's pissed that we lost our mate, wants to go hunting but frustrated it has nothing to go after. And I feel the same." I said in a somber tone. My dad sat down by the island in the kitchen as I put the water on boil preparing to make a french press coffee.

"I can't imagine what you're going through. The fact that you're staying as sane as you are just shows how powerful a shifter you are. If I or your mum can do anything let us know. If you need anyone to take care of the bar while you're gone, or the land, don't hesitate to ask. We'll do anything." My great grandparents were farmers, and had acre and acre of land. My grandparents had decided they didn't want to be farmers, but instead of selling the land, they had decided to turn it into a forest, giving us shifters a place we could safely run being this close to a big city. My parents didn't want it, so they had decided to give it to me, none of my siblings wanted the responsibility of chasing away poachers which came with the territory, plus as they said, I found a good use for it.

"Thank you. Speaking of the land. What background information did you get about Andrew?" Andrew was an alpha of a pack nearby who recently offered to buy my great grandparents old farm land. I wasn't going to sell, but I still wanted a background check on him. With everything going on with my missing mate, I had asked my dad to take care of it.

"There wasn't much to find. He wasn't born alpha, but rose to power when the old alpha got too old to lead anymore. He fought his way through all of the contesters, even the Alpha's son. He has been alpha for 3 years now and is doing well from what it looks like. But this move of his to want to buy your land doesn't make much sense, it's not that close to his territory. He's very territorial over his pack. Few have left and he has accepted anyone who wanted to join."

"So why does he want our land? It's not like we're a pack and would threaten his territory. Does he want more power and he think this will make him more powerful?" There was always someone out there looking for power, control and money. My family was all from the panthera onca family, so we all lived by ourselves. It's not like with wolves who crave to be in a pack and need it. We are from the cat family and prefer to be by ourselves. As soon as me and my siblings could we moved away from home. We all had houses spread all over the land, within the forest, with my parents living where my great grandparents' old farm house used to be. We had a few other shifters, like Jackson and Hayden living on the land, shifters who for some reason or another didn't function in a pack life.

"I don't know, but I'll try and see if I can find out more. I might know someone who will be able to talk with someone from his pack. See if they can figure something out." My dad suggested. The water was done and I poured the boiling hot water over the grounded coffee beans before I sat down next to my dad.

"Now please tell me how is mum, and the rest of the family." I just hoped he could tell me something interesting enough to make me forget about my mate, for at least just a couple of minutes. I hadn't felt like myself or felt I could relax for 9 days now, and my body and brain was spent and tired after fighting my animal instincts to go hunting.

As soon as my dad left and I had cleaned up after the coffee I went upstairs and turned my computer on. The first thing which popped up was a picture of her. A still from the camera by the train station. She looked tired and she was almost carrying her friend along, but she was beautiful. I hadn't been able to sleep for the last many days. Every time I closed my eyes her face was there. I kept going over and over again all the things I could have done differently. I should have taken her with me when I left. Should have talked to her first. Acted faster and said something instead of just standing there staring at her. My panther had been close to the surface ever since we lost her, and having to constantly fight myself for control plus not having had any sleep I felt drained. But I couldn't give up. So like any other night I went through the footage Jackson had gone through that day. In case he had missed her I went through it as well. He used a facial recognition programme to scan the crowds for her face. But it wasn't always you could count on a computer to do the work. It might miss something which shifter eyes could catch. Not likely since the program was made by a shifter but I couldn't take any chances. So like every night I went to work on looking through the footage even though I should go to sleep.