The Rare Mate

Chapter Four

Endre’s pov

The wolf walked up to him, with something shiny and black in his hand. “Oh no you don’t, you need a license to drive one of these.” Stephan jumped back, he was in such deep concentration that he didn’t hear the wolf walk up to him. The wolf put his hands up in surrender, “sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said apologetically. 

Stephan quickly replied, “it’s okay I just didn’t hear you.”

“That’s one of the perks of being an omega, our aurora is so small that we can be pretty stealthy when we want to be.” He smiled and held his hand out. “My name is Sam, have you ever ridden in any vehicle?” He asked.

He took his hand and shook it, “my name is Stephan, and no, I have never even seen one of these things until today. None of my men have.” 

Sam nodded his head, “well then, this is the driver door, this is where I will be sitting and some of the warriors will trade off as we get tired.” he nodded his head trying to absorb everything Sam was saying. “You guys can get in any of the other three doors. Four people can fit comfortably in back but we may have to squeeze in more like six people. One person can sit in the seat next to the driver.” He nodded his head again.

I walked away knowing that my men were in good hands. I looked around for Asyra and found her easily. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and leaned my chin on her head. “Are you ready to go home?” I asked. 

She nodded and held up an envelope. “Yep, and these are the terms my parents want to negotiate.” 

I nodded my head, “Okay, we can look at that when we get home.” She smiled and turned around in my arms. 

“Okay, let’s go home. We have an office to finish setting up.” She quickly kissed my lips.

“Hmm, okay, I know what we need to set up in the office first.” I said huskily into her ear.

She looked at me and smiled before she yelled over her shoulder, “bye guys, see you soon!” Next thing I see is my mate laying on the desk, in our new office, wrapped in my arms. 

“You didn’t want to waste a single second, did you?” I asked her as I started to kiss her neck.

“I never want to waste a single second with you.” she whispered back. 

I dug my hands into her hair and pulled her closer to me. I smiled as I felt the hard bump under her shirt. “I am the luckiest man alive.” I whispered into her ear.

Zac’s pov

The car ride was long, we all took turns driving. I looked at the map and saw we were only a mile away from the cabin the dragons would be staying in. It was January and we had the windows open and everyone was wearing sweatshirts. 

I looked around the wooded area and could just make out the cabin. It was a decent size, definitely big enough for a dozen dragons to stay in. It wasn’t anything special, it was a logged cabin with a large wooded area around it. The owners of the property were humans and rented it to us for a few months. We weren’t sure how long we would need it for and we paid them handsomely. 

We all jumped out of the car to stretch, “damn, Ronan have you seen a house this big before?” One of the dragons shouted.

I was shocked to see the surprise on their faces as a group of them bolted from the car and towards the house. This cabin was a decent size, eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, one very large kitchen, a rec room, dining room and sitting room with a small tv over the fireplace. “Dude! This place looks awesome!” The one named Ronan responded as bounded up the stairs two at a time.

I looked at my dad who chuckled. “Don’t you guys have places like this on the island?” Luca asked, amused by their reaction. 

“The only place that is like this is the castle, the rest of the houses are more what you guys call huts.” I looked at the man who was talking, he was tall and thin but quite muscular, he reached his hand out. “My name is Stephan, I am in charge of the dragons while we are here.” 

I shook his hand, “I am Zac, the island must have been a tough area to grow up in.” 

He shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms, “It had it’s good points though. I know my family is really close, we had to learn how to work with what we had on the land. Thankfully we were able to fish, some of us had gone to the mainland and grabbed some livestock to breed. The king didn’t even notice or if he did he just didn’t care.” I watched as he frowned at the memories.

He watched his men run into the house like kids in a candy shop for the first time. We could hear one of them shout, “OH MY GOD! I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH FOOD IN ONE KITCHEN!” 

We all started laughing when Stephan said something through his own laughter, “he probably isn’t joking. None of these men have been off the island before. None of us had ever seen one of these before, much less ridden in one.” He said pointing towards the vehicles.

“Stephan, get in here!” one of the other guys shouted, he let out a small laugh and held up his hand.

“I was told there was a way for you guys to communicate with us.” He said firmly.

“Yeah, we have enchanted rocks. If there is trouble, rub it and it will warm the rest of them.” He looked at it skeptically, so I pulled mine from my pocket and rubbed it in a circle. His rock began to warm up and his expression changed to a look that said he was impressed.

“Well that’s brilliant.” He said quietly. 

“It also works to help find someone too. The closer the rocks get to each other the brighter the colors become. The further away the darker they are.” I told him. 

He nodded his head and took the small bag I offered, “each one of my men will have this on them at all times.” He started to make his way to the house when I called after him.

“Stephan, one more thing. Sam and Mike have money for supplies, so if there is anything you need feel free to get it. Also they will be showing you guys how to use the stuff in the house.” He nodded his head in thanks and ran towards the house with the rest of the dragons.

“Sir, what is our role here?” I looked over and saw two of our male omegas ,Sam and Mike. He looked over to the house and seemed a little bit disgruntled.

“We were hoping you could help these guys out, they aren’t used to the technology so thought that maybe you guys could help them out. Unless you guys really want to rough it.” My dad said.

They looked at each other then quickly shook their heads, “no sir, we would gladly show them how some of these things work.” Sam said, relief flooded his face. 

“Thank you guys, we really appreciate it. We don’t know how long we will be here but anything you are able to help them with would be appreciated. Also here take this,” I said and handed them two cards. “This card is for food and things you need, and this one is for fuel only. The town we passed through about ten miles out is in human territory and I have already discussed you guys being here with the mayor. So if you guys have any issues with the locals tell them to go talk to the mayor.” 

He nodded his head, “Thanks alpha!” He said in an upbeat tone. 

“Hey, make sure they help you guys out, you’re not servants. You’re just here to help them out, especially with the cooking. They haven’t ever seen a stove before, so you guys might want to get in there and make sure they don’t burn the place down.”  My dad added quietly. “Hey that black bag in your hand is filled with board games and card games. I am sure they would rather learn those than the game systems you brought with!” 

I laughed as the two of them quickly scurried off to the house as they hollered a quick thank you. “Ready to go?” Ryken asked.

We all nodded our heads, I looked at my watch, it was almost nine in the morning, “they are expecting us there any time now.” I said.

We left the two SUV’s and told them only Sam, Mike or one of the two warriors were allowed to drive. Once we were all in the vehicles we made our way further south, it took us twenty minutes to reach the border of the pack territory. Once we pulled up to the gate a tall bulky man walked over to the driver window. Ryken rolled it down, “I believe your Alpha is expecting us.” He stated firmly. 

“He is, I see you brought more men than what was anticipated.” He said coldly.

“Yes, a few of us tagged along to see how well Prince Zac is getting along with other packs. Then a few asked to come with to search for their mates. We just made it a big group thing.” He eyed him down before he nodded his head.

He slightly leaned into the car and I caught a whiff  of the most wonderful smell ever. I swallowed hard and clenched my hands into fists to keep my wolf at bay. The scent was extremely faint, it smelled like vanilla and cinnamon. “Okay, down the road is a fork, follow the road to the right, at the end you will find a guesthouse big enough to fit twenty-four people. The road to the left will take you to the pack house.” Ryken thanked him and we made our way through. 

My jaw clenched and my fists still balled when Luca touched me, “Zac, what’s wrong.” I shook my pounding head, Matt was trying so hard to take control. I saw my father turn around in his seat and look at me.

“Luca take your hand off of him, he is fighting his wolf for dominance.” Luca quickly removed his hand and I tried to take calming breaths.

“Matt, I need you to take it easy! We can’t go berserk here!” I shouted at him in my mind.

“Mate! Mate! Mate! I smell her! I know she is here! I NEED TO GET TO HER NOW!” He tried again to push through and I pushed him back down as hard as I could I leaned forward and put my hands on my temples. 

“Matthew! You have to stop! You’re hurting me, if you hurt me we won’t be able to get to our mate. We will find her, I swear!” I hissed out through the pain.

“You swear?” He growled at me, what has gotten into him? Normally he is a very laid back wolf and is willing to take his time.

“I swear, we will look for her while we do the tasks we have to do here. Okay?” I said in a calmer tone.

“Fine, but did you smell it?” His tone was tense, something was really wrong.

“Yes, she smells good, like vanilla and cinnamon.” I said, calming from just remembering her scent. 

“No, not that. What was mixed with her scent. There was something off about it.” I thought about it and couldn’t place what he was talking about.

“I didn’t smell anything else, why are you freaking out?” I asked him, now I was concerned as to why her scent would be on that male guard.

“Something is wrong, I can just feel it.” I shook my head.

“I am sure everything is fine, we will find her, I swear.” I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again, everyone was looking at me worried.

“Son, you okay?” My father asked me, I could see how worried he was, one eye was black and one his normal golden brown color. 

I shrugged my shoulders as I tried to steady my breath. “Honestly I don’t know, what I do know is my mate is here and Matt is ready to go on a rampage to find her.” 

He looked at me shocked, “are you absolutely sure?” He asked quickly.

“Yes, I caught a whiff of her when the guard stuck his head into the car.” My breath was short from fighting against Matt, he wasn’t normally this aggressive without reason.

“Well we will find her, okay, we will do what we can to find her.” Ryken said as he put the car in park. I didn’t even realize we had arrived at the guesthouse until then.  The guesthouse was quite large, it looked like an old colonial plantation house. There were steps going up with columns holding up the roof and a balcony. The house was pure white with black trim and shutters. The door was black with a window in the shape of an oval on it. Each window had flower boxes that were currently empty.  

I looked at my father, “Matt said there was something mixed into her scent, he couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly but it put him on edge.” We all climbed out and started grabbing bags. 

James looked at me and smiled, “maybe it was the scent of arousal and that guard is just her boyfriend until they find their mates.” He let out a laugh and I growled deeply at him, his eyes grew wide when Ryken stepped in.

“James, I don’t think it wise to antagonize an Alpha wolf about a mate he can smell but not see.” James' eyes were wide and filled with fear, this was the first time I was truly angry with him. “Before we unpack we need to find out if the house is bugged.” 

“Got it, and my lips are sealed, I won’t say another word about her.” He grabbed his bag and quickly ran into the guesthouse. I felt bad for growling at him, why is Matt so on edge right now? 

“Look I am sure that she is fine and Matt will calm down as soon as he sees his mate. Right now we need to get ready to go meet with the Alpha. I am sure he will be expecting us soon now that we are here.” My dad said as he gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “On a positive note, your mother is going to be ecstatic to hear that you found your mate.” 

I smiled at him, he was right Matt was probably on edge because he couldn’t see her. “Alright let’s get settled in then go meet with Alpha Black.”I said. 

I grabbed my bags and walked up the stars and through the door, the scent hit me like a ton of bricks. I dropped my bags and froze taking in the alluring aroma. “What’s wrong Zac?” Luca asked me.

“Do you smell that?” I asked him.

He took in a whiff, “smell what?” He asked me.

“She was in here, I can smell her. It’s faint, but I can smell her. She was here within the last twenty-four hours.” My gut turned into a knot, I could tell there was a difference but still couldn’t tell what it was.” 

Max growled in my head and Ryken looked at me, “are you talking about that cinnamon scent? The one that has practically faded to nothing?” 

I nodded my head, “yeah!” 

“Trystan noticed it too, it was too faint to pinpoint exactly what was off, especially with all of the cologne he was wearing.” I looked down and He spoke again, “look we will find her, she is to be Queen, so let’s get our stuff unpacked so we can go to the pack house, I am sure we will find her there. Okay?” Ryken said as he picked his own bag up again. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” I quickly ran upstairs and found a room for Luca and I to share.  I put my bag on the bed and pulled out what looked like an old mp3 player. “Luca, what would you do if you couldn’t find Margarete but could smell her?”  I asked him as I started walking around the room moving the device all over the furniture. 

He looked at me and smiled, “anything I could to find her.” He looked at me with sympathy. “We will find her. I swear to you we will.” I nodded my head and continued to clear the room of bugs. I was surprised I didn’t find a single one. 

I sat on the bed and caught a faint smell, I sighed, her scent is in this room too. I will find you, even if I have to tear apart this entire pack to do so.

Magnolia’s pov

I could hear a faint dripping sound and the occasional clank which told me I was still in the dungeon. I raised my head as high as I could, which honestly wasn’t very high. I was still in chains, I jumped when I felt something cool touch my back and a searing pain followed. “Sorry, I was ordered to clean your wounds.” A familiar voice said.

“Annabelle.” I croaked out, pain radiated everywhere.

“Don’t speak, you need your energy.” She said calmly.

“Please, help me. It hurts.” I could still feel the pain between my legs. I knew I would heal better if she would remove it. 

Her voice shook when she spoke. “The alpha said he would be down here this evening to remove that himself. He wants you to suffer for what you did.” I could hear the pain in her own voice.

“He is going to kill me, isn’t he?” I asked, new tears streaming down my face.

“I don’t know, I am sorry.” I could hear how upset she was as she spoke. “The king is here, they arrived about twenty minutes ago.” She sighed, “you didn’t deserve any of this. None of this is your fault.” She whispered.

“Help me escape, please.” I felt her gently dab the wounds on my back again. I let out a cry of pain. “Please.” I begged, I gripped the chains and tried to pull myself  free. 

“If I do then I will have to go with you, you know this. What will we do then, where will we go?” She hissed at me quietly. “I could be punished just for talking to you right now.” 

I sighed, I knew she was right I was asking too much of her. “I understand.” I said as I dropped my head. I knew then what I needed to do. “Leave.” I said as firmly as I could. 

“Mags, you need these wounds cleaned.” she said roughly.

“No I don’t. Leave.” I was shocked when she suddenly came to stand in front of me.

“What are you doing?” She looked into my eyes and I into hers. I could see fear, guilt, and sadness in them. 

“There is no point in cleaning wounds when he is just going to kill me anyways. Go, you are not needed here.” I could see the conflict in her eyes. She stood up, grabbed her bowl of bloody water and left.  I let out a sigh and let myself hang for a minute. 

I looked up to the ceiling, this would be the last thing I remember. I wrapped my hands around the chains and yanked myself up, the pain throughout my body amplified from the silver and my muscles moving. I pulled myself up and up ignoring the pain as much as possible. I grabbed the chain and began to wrap it around my neck, with the silver my healing would be drastically affected. 

“Mattea, please forgive me.” I whispered.