Find Her... Again
1361 Words
*Gabriel*
Beth peeked her head into my office, her grey eyes held worry I’d never seen before.
“Hey Beth, how ya feeling?”
“Oh… good…” she hesitated. Hovering in the doorway.
“What’s… wrong?” I asked her, letting my pen drop to my desk.
“Have… have you seen Ella?” She asked. I c****d my head and looked down to my watch, it was already 7:30…
“She wasn’t at breakfast?” I asked. Beth shook her head. “Did… you check her room?” Beth Nodded. “And…”
“Well… uh…” she started, “She… wasn’t there…”
“The track?”
Beth shook her head.
“So… maybe she’s showering or…”
“Her stuff is gone…” Beth began over me.
I paused… raising an eyebrow as I stared into her face. She still hung at the door, afraid to enter my office.
“Close the door…” I said as I beckoned my finger at her.
She swallowed hard as she stepped in slowly. Her hands wrung on her sweater as she cast her eyes down to the ground avoiding my gaze.
“What do you mean, her stuff is gone?” I hissed in a low tone. She gritted her teeth and gave a nervous shrug. “Beth…” I urged.
“Her room is empty… it was like… like she was never there…”
I raised quickly to my feet, slamming my hands down on the desk as goosebumps ran over every single part of my body, anger radiating from the pit of my stomach as my throat dried and a growl emanated from my chest. “Find… her…” I ordered.
“O-okay…”
She swallowed, the color draining from her face as she nodded and backed up to the door.
“I want the entire house searched top to bottom by the staff.”
She nodded again. “Y-yes Alpha…” she scurried from my office door.
“Esen… come to my office now.” I growled at him over the mind link. I heard him panting, knowing he had taken off for his morning run not long ago.
“Yeah, give me a few to finish…”
“NOW.”
“Dude. What the f**k do you want… Beth said you scared the s**t out of her…” he groaned as he stepped into my office. He paused when he saw me leaned back onto my desk, my arms folded over my chest. My muscles strained as I fought the urge to shift and track Ariella down myself.
“Beth said she can’t find Ella…” I growled in a low tone. “I want every available man and woman searching for her… I don’t care what it takes… turn this entire region upside down if you have to.”
“Gabe…” He said as he folded his arms over his chest, mimicking me… I always considered Esen my equal as a friend, but seeing my beta mock me while I was angry only worsened my mood.
“Esen…” I growled, “Beth said everything in her room is gone… I don’t even know when she left… I want everyone looking for her.”
“She probably went home…” Esen shrugged, “you said you guys had a pretty gnarly fight at Silver Fall… maybe she needed time to decompress…”
“We didn’t just fight Esen…” I sighed, finally relenting and dropping my arms down as I scrubbed one hand over my face. I pinched my fingers on my chin, day old stubble pricking my fingertips.
“What do you mean?”
“She… She was part of Waning Moon…” I admitted.
“What?” Esen stuttered as he took a step closer to me, like he hadn't heard me correctly.
“She was… is Alpha Arlos daughter… Ariella…” I sighed, “The lone survivor of my dad's rebellion against Waning Moon…” I shook my head as my voice stuttered, “She… she was furious we talked about the revolt against her pack with Alpha Roman. She told me she wanted to go home, she told me she wanted me to kick her out of the pack… I told her I wasn’t kicking her out because I loved her… she hasn’t said a word to me since… I thought I’d let her cool down but I didn’t think she’d… she’d leave…”
“You told her you loved her?” Esen cringed, “dude, what the f**k?”
“Stuff it…” I growled back at him. “I… I’d never kick her out for being part of Waning Moon… but she wouldn’t listen to me…”
“Dude I…” Esen paused and shook his head as he met my eyes. I could feel my vision darkening as I stared at him. “I’ll get the guard in motion…”
I paced the floor back and forth in front of my desk, it had been 2 days. My entire guard was searching for her, her scent had completely disappeared from my home besides for a small lingering whiff I could get from her bedroom. The only other things with her scent were the mask and thin black thong she had left in my office when we first met…
I found myself not only irate she had left, but utterly craving her. Something was telling me I needed her nearby. If I thought I had craved her in her heat it was only getting worse the longer she was away from me.
Her heat had been slowly dissipating within the few weeks she was with me, making it even harder for my guard to scent her. According to Esen he could hardly smell her any longer, but it berated my brain constantly every single day. It was mouth watering, and only seemed to get worse for me while it got better for every other male around. The only other male who seemed drawn to her within the last few days was Alpha Roman, which would make sense considering his senses would be heightened.
Esen knocked on my door gently before peeking his head in. I looked at him eagerly but based on his demeanor I could tell it didn’t have anything to do with Ariella…
“Hey… Beth has the new cook…”
I sighed… the last thing I wanted to do was orientate a new staff member when all I could think of was Ariella being missing. “Bring them in…”
Esen motioned behind him and Beth walked in. A tall woman with shining red hair and bright green eyes followed behind her. A low cut yellow tank top squeezed her well shaped chest and she had tight olive green pants hugging her well built long legs. She was gorgeous but for some reason, the idea of any other woman sickened me after Ariella…
“This is Melody.” Beth introduced.
“You can call me Mel, Sir.” She said warmly as she gave a slight bow.
“Welcome Mel…” I responded, “I apologize for the short meeting, but I’m currently tied up in an urgent manner… would you be willing to schedule a different meeting time with me when I’ve dealt with some of my politics?”
She nodded to me and gave a bright smile. Her freckled face scrunching as she did so. “of course Alpha Gabriel.”
“Thank you Mel… Thank you Beth… I’ll let you know when I can get scheduled with you.” They both nodded and waved small goodbyes before they turned on their heels and Beth led Melody from my office.
I sighed again and dropped into my chair, holding my head in my hands. Still fighting the urge to shift and run through every corner of my pack, even wanting to risk entering enemy territory, wherever I thought Ariella could hide. As soon as my last meeting was over for the morning I would be headed out to join Esen and the rest of the guard in the hunt for my mate…
- Writer
