TITUS:
I woke up to the beautiful light streaming in through the windows. Without opening my eyes I rolled over and reached out my arm for Liana. I shot up when I touched the cold bed. Her smell was faint around the room which told me she had been gone for awhile. Immediately, I got up and checked the bathroom, finding nothing there I sped toward my bag for my clothes, determined to find the love of my life and bring her back into bed with me for the rest of the day. On top of my bag there was a small note with a simple message: 'come find me'.
She wants to play! Telum jumped up and down. Her wolf must be out waiting for us. Let's go find her!
Let's go find her indeed. I smirked and grabbed some clothes to leave on the back porch. There's no neighbors for a couple of miles in either direction so there was no need to be shy as I popped out the back door nude and shifted to let Telum have full control. We howled a warning that we were coming to find our playful little mate.
Liana's smell was all over the yard in different patterns and directs.
Clever girl hid her scent well but not well enough. Telum started running in the freshest direction. We hit a wall of trees where the scent faded back toward the house. I grunted. We never tell her we fell for this, I think to myself and head back for the house. I tried a few other pathways, only getting a couple steps into the forest before backtracking.
I tried to use the mindlink to follow her thoughts but nothing came. She had blocked me out so I couldn't follow her thoughts, I was forced to rely on my nose and my knowledge of her. I started heading toward the water, thinking of last night and how much she loved the lake. I had only travelled about a mile before I felt the pang of fear through the link.
Something's wrong, I told Telum and forced him to pick up the pace. Suddenly, I couldn't feel Liana and Amara at all, it was like they had disappeared from the earth. My heart wretched into my chest and I sprinted, catching on to her scent. I came to a stop at the edge of a clearing where I could smell her and several other unfamiliar wolves; but they were nowhere to be seen.
Liana? I tried the link again but it was like talking to an empty void, there was nothing there. This wasn't just her blocking me out. Something was really wrong. I ran around the clearing trying to pick up which way she went from here but there was nothing.
Bella! Ven! Get to the cabin now! I can't find her! I snapped through the mindlink.The last few words almost lost their power but I had to hold on.
A large silver wolf and a slightly smaller grey one appeared before me. My brother's eyes were filled with panic and Bella's with the calm determination I had always known him to hold. I filled them in quickly and we each set off in different directions looking for any clue as to where she had gone.
Titus? Ven's voice rang in my head.
You found her? The desperation was hard to hide as I turned tail and headed back toward his route.
Titus... I found tire tracks but there's no sign of Liana.
Any scents you recognize? There was a long pause as I reached him. Ven! Any scents?
I smell Mathias and Philious...
I growled so loudly that Ven bowed his head in instinctual respect.
Where the fuck is she?
Titus, Bella appeared behind us holding a needle carefully between his teeth. Titus it's wolfsbane and silver. Her wolf may be gone but she might live.
I'm going to kill them all. Find her and bring them to me alive.
The two headed off down the road to follow the tracks while I headed back to the house, shifted and dressed. Grabbing our things from the bedroom I caught sight of Liana's bag in the bathroom, her smell was strongest in here. There were tears stinging the corners of my eyes but I couldn't let them fall. Instead I smashed through the shower door with my fist and let the glass fall onto the floor. My sweet mate, so kind and beautiful, always full of laughter and love; and just like that I had lost her.
"Fuck!" I threw the bag out of the bathroom and put the other fist through the wall. I had waited for her my entire life and when I found her she was everything I had ever wanted and never earned. How could I have failed in the one thing I swore I would always do? How could I have failed to protect her? What if I can't find her?
We will find her; she's our mate. She won't give up. Telum tried to comfort me but I couldn't compose myself and put the anger aside. When I left the house there were holes in walls, the furniture destroyed, and the front door hung off the hinges. The house could survive without a door but I wouldn't survive without her.
* * * * *
"What do you mean you lost the trail?!" I threw everything off my desk as my brother and Bella stood in front of me.
With sadness in his eyes, Ven tried his best to explain. "We can't follow it back to their territory, it goes cold."
"Titus, we may need to come to terms with the facts. We can't scent or sense her wolf, you can't feel her through the bond." Bella's implication was clear.
"She's not dead," I wouldn't accept her being dead unless I saw it with my own eyes; but I also doubted Philious would be so stupid. If Liana died, he would get nothing but death himself. "I can't feel her pull but I know she's alive or I would be dying too."
The matebond is designed to keep you together and when one mate dies the other is often immediately to follow. In some cases, strong Alphas or even Betas can survive the death of their mates and continue to live. But it's a half-life, one barely worth living because your love has already come and gone.
"Keep looking," I sighed and waved the two out of my already destroyed office.
Bella left without a second thought but Ven lingered a moment.
"Titus?"
"What?"
"You need to eat and sleep. She's been gone six days and you look like shit."
"I'll sleep and eat when she's back in my arms Ven."
"You won't make it like this." I growled at him even though I know that he's right. "She wouldn't want you to torture yourself. She needs you alive when she gets back."
I ran my hand through my hair and put my face into my hands trying to contain myself. "I can't sleep without her."
"I know it's hard but you have to try."
"Easy for you to say," I snapped back at him. I immediately regretted it. Ven was one of the lucky ones. He had found his mate at 18 and they had been the best of friends already. She was beautiful and strong, and she made him everything that he never was alone. There was an accident in the forest during a rouge attack and she was killed. He had almost died too; but the Goddess had looked on him with kindness and let him live. He will tell you it's a curse; but I love my brother and losing him would have been nearly unbearable.
"I have hope for you Titus... but I lived and so will you if anything happens." Ven turned to leave the office but just before the door closed he peaked back in. "One of her shirts wrapped around a pillow might help settle Telum a little bit. It worked for me." The door clicked shut leaving me alone with my regrets.
There was something in the back of my mind itching at me. It was like a fine little voice that I couldn't quite hear. All I wanted to hear was my mates voice again, her sweet laugh, the way that she said my name. I wanted to see her smile again, one more time.
Stop talking about her like she's dead. Telum demanded from the back of my mind. I had tried locking him out but he was too anxious and determined to be left out of the search for his mate.
Can you find Amara?
She's out there somewhere but she's too weak to connect with me. I can feel her heart beating though. Our mate is alive.
Although that couldn't completely eradicate my fears, it gave me some peace to know that she was still alive, still holding on and that she was strong enough to continue to wait for me to find her.
I chose to take Ven's advice after pacing around my office for another hour. I needed sleep and planning to get her back. So I went to our house and did as he said. The combination of her scent and my exhaustion lulled me to sleep faster than I expected.
I woke with a start as my back seared with pain and my legs burned like a thousand bee stings. I felt my stomach aching, my throat was dry. What the hell is happening? I tried to reach out through the mindlink to get ahold of my mother and sisters but I couldn't connect with any of them. After what felt like hours, my breathing slowed and the pain stopped.
VEN! It didn't take long before he crashed through my bedroom door to find me curled into a fetal position on the bed. I gave up all hope of holding back the tears that had been threatening to fall since she went missing.
"What's wrong?" He approached me carefully.
"She's hurt!" I growled.
"What? What happened?"
"I can feel what she's feeling. There was pain all down my legs and back. I don't think they're feeding her; I could feel her practically starving and my throat..." I tried to think of what it felt like.
"Burning?"
"For lack of a better word, yes."
"Titus..."
"She's not dead but she's fucking hurt!" The growling wouldn't stop as I ripped through the remaining pillows on the bed. "We have to find her and we have to find her now!"
"Fuck," he whispered and whipped out his cellphone. Talking to someone on the other end he relayed the information. I assumed he was talking to Bella. But his face suddenly went pale and his voice got quieter, more deadly than I had heard it since he lost his own mate. "Say that again Mathias."