Second chance love

F i v e

Holly felt herself release a breath she didn't know she had been holding. The relief she felt that the stranger had not attempted to attack her brother was palpable. 

He continued. "My pack was small, my father was the Alpha, and I was the only warrior. We were attacked and now I have nothing left. My family, my pack, they were all killed."

Holly let out a small sob, causing the stranger to look up for the first time. She could see even clearer the beautiful shade of blue of his eyes, but this time she could see the intense hurt and sorrow buried in them too. As they locked eyes, Holly let out a gasp and took a step forward at the same time he did. 

"Holly," she breathed.

"Caleb," he murmured. 

"Mine!" they declared, taking another step towards each other. 

"Wait," commanded the Alpha, forcing the two to stop in their tracks. Holly looked at her brother questioningly. "Let's go to the pack house and talk about what has happened to your pack Caleb, and how you want us to help you. Holly, Lisa, you guys do a perimeter check of the surrounding five miles, and make sure nothing else has followed us in."

Holly started forwards to disagree, but Darren gave her a look that told her that her brother was not about to change her mind, so she huffed and turned towards Lisa. The two girls nipped behind the tree cover to save shredding clothes, they shifted and began the jog that would make up the perimeter search ordered by their Alpha.

"Holly, that is him, our mate, we need to go back!" Lacey felt jittery and couldn't focus. Holly had to reign her in a little. 

"I know Lace, but Darren gave us orders, and we have to follow them. The quicker we get done, the quicker we can head back." At that, Lacey set off at a sprint, leaving Lisa and her wolf far behind. 

"Yo Holly, where's the fire?!" Came Lisa's voice though the mind link. 

"Just wanting to get home, that's all." Holly realised that Lisa hadn't seen the connection between her and Caleb, and decided not to tell her just yet.

"It's not like he's some sort of dirty little secret!" Came the accusatory voice of Lacey. Holly felt bad, but she needed to be certain. 

"How much more certain do you need to be?!" Lacey stated incredulously, before shifting up into a gear that Holly didn't even know she had. 

The rest of the search was uneventful. Lacey was mad at Holly so wasn't speaking to her, Lisa had trouble keeping up and Holly wasn't in the mood for talking, so when they realised that there was nobody else lurking around, they headed back to the pack house. 

Stopping to grab some clothes from behind a tree just at the forest edge nearest the pack house, Lisa finally turned to Holly and smiled. Holly frowned, but that just made Lisa's smile widen, until she soon resembled the Cheshire cat. 

"What?!" said Holly rather annoyed. 

"Nothing," laughed Lisa, "catch you later, young Juliet!" Before Holly could respond, Lisa had dipped into the small house that her and Finn had recently moved into. 

Holly kicked a stone from the path and geared herself up to head to Darren's office to let him know that they had found nothing. Perhaps they had spoken to Caleb and decided he was not a threat. Perhaps they had decided that they were going to help Caleb get his land back. Perhaps they were going to help him get revenge. She didn't know what to expect, all she knew is that she wanted to be around him again. To breathe in his intoxicating smell once more, to look into those deep and sorrowful eyes once more, to hear the sweet melody of his voice once more. As she rounded the corner of the corridor that lead to the Alpha's office, she suddenly realised that she still hadn't caught his scent. That meant that he hadn't even been this way. She knocked on the door of Darren's office feeling nervous, and after hearing no reply she opened to door onto an empty room. Where would he have taken her mate?

"You should have said something back in the clearing." said Lacey, clearly still in a bad mood. Holly could understand, but she wasn't helping. She decided to mind-link Finn to find out where they were. But as soon as she tried, she realised that she couldn't sense him when she reached out. Feeling confused and concerned, she tried Darren. No luck there either. Feeling panicked, she tried to get Lisa.

"Whatsup baby cakes?" Lisa's cheery voice came through loud and clear.

"Oh thank god. Can you link Finn and find out where he and Darren are please? For some reason I can't reach them."

"Thank you for calling Lisa's wolf connection service. Please hold while we try to connect you." Lisa's voice sang clearly through the mind link as Holly continued to worry about why she couldn't reach the boys. 

After a minute, she heard Lisa through the mind-link. 

"Hols where are you babe?" She sounded worried, which made Holly even more scared that something bad was happening. 

"In the doorway of Darren's office, why?" She couldn't keep the tremble from her voice, and before she knew it Lisa was stood in front of her shaking her. 

"Hols? Holly? Something is going on, I do not know what but I do know that I do not like it." Lisa had let go of my arms and placed her hands on her hips, and she was looking at her as if she was trying to work out if Holly had any more information than she did. 

"What did Finn say?" Holly held her breath, fearing the worst. She wasn't quite sure what the 'worst' would be, but she was terrified nonetheless. 

"Holly, I can't reach him. I've never not been able to reach him. What the hell is going on?"

The two girls looked at each other, fear reflected in their faces, as they tried to comprehend just what was happening. After five minutes of silence, Holly picked up the phone from Darren's desk, dialled a number and waited. After a couple of rings the phone was answered. 

"Mum," the relief Holly felt was evident in her voice, "What is going on?"

She paused as she waited for her mum's reply, while Lisa tapped her foot on the floor impatiently with her hands still firmly placed on her hips. After a few seconds, Holly replied.

"Okay, be right there."

Holly put her phone back in the cradle and looked at Lisa.

"Well?" Lisa asked, "What now?"