Oops! Still Your Mate

Chapter Thirty Seven

The search party had been moving for seven hours with no break when Lucas pulled Zeke over. He had insisted against being left in the pack when every other person is out there, searching for Ivy. Zeke had been skeptical before but he begrudgingly agreed when he figured he might need someone he knew so well out there. So another beta was left to manage the pack for the time being even though Darius still held the greater power.

“You need to eat something.” Lucas told Zeke.

“No.” Came Zeke's simple reply. Lucas said nothing as he fell back into formation.

He didn't know how it felt to lose a mate because he didn't have one yet but he could only imagine Zeke's pain even when he had spent his days denying feeling anything towards ivy.

The search party moves through the territory between the pack's eastern border and the rival pack's known boundaries — forty square kilometers of forest and rough terrain that Zeke has mapped in his head since he was seventeen. He knows every crossing point, every likely holding location, every route that a group carrying a prisoner would take to avoid detection.

And finally, they arrived the place where the fight had taken place. They knew because Zeke had pointed out that ivy's scent was strongest here and the place bore evidence of a great fight. Meaning one thing, ivy put up a struggle.

The ghost of a satisfied and proud smile flashed through Zeke's face and he looked around. The bond pulled him towards the east.

“This way.” He instructed and started marching the way ivy had first been taken to.

The bond is his compass. He reaches for it constantly — the faint thread of Ivy, distant but present, pulling slightly northeast. He doesn't tell anyone this. He doesn't explain how he knows which direction to move when the tracks run out. He just moves and his warriors follow because they know better than to question him when his eyes are this color.

They arrived the abandoned warehouse in no time and rushed inside. But it was too late. There was no one present in the warehouse. But someone have been there. Inside the room where ivy had been held, the ropes were enough evidence. Faded footsteps were pressed into the damp soil and Zeke exhaled through his lips.

“Zeke, you should see this.” Lucas walked over to him, holding up a bottle. It was a well known spray, made from rare elements and sometimes spells used in weakening mate bonds. Making it dormant. “The bond. A seer must have tampered with it.” He explained.

“My mother was the last seer known and…” Zeke trailed off.

“It means someone has been hiding one.” Lucas muttered. “The bond.” He reminded .

Zeke nodded and reached for the bond but it wasn't there. The thread was gone. His heart thumped aggressively against his chest but he remained still and reached for it again. It still wasn't there.

He turned swiftly to Lucas. “It's gone.” He shuddered slightly and Lucas shook his head.

“This is bad.” He muttered. “We have no other options than to hope tracks were left so we can follow them.” And tracks they did follow with the help of leer who seemed to know more than he let out.

Leer is a constant low presence beneath his skin — not fighting for control, just close, ready, growling softly with each hour that passes. The wolf fever makes everything sharper and more painful simultaneously. His body is burning and his senses are heightened to the point of discomfort and he uses both of these things deliberately.

Darius sent his own search party separately. Zeke noticed. The whole of the search party noticed but Zeke said nothing. When Darius's party was questioned by Lucas. They looked him dead in the eyes and replied that they were following Darius's orders. The men with Zeke felt trampled on, felt as if they were being judged as unable to find their Luna but they said nothing because the years they had spent with Zeke being their leader had taught them silence. They continued moving in the opposite direction of Darius pack.

Zeke had the sinking feeling that Darius sent his men here to confuse his men. With the confidence they used in their movement, one would think they knew where exactly ivy was being kept but maybe it was just a tactic to draw attention.

He said nothing. But he filed it carefully in the part of his mind that has been quietly reassessing certain things since Ivy read the letter in his chambers.

The sun hung overhead sharply with an intensity to burn and Lucas walked up to Zeke again.

“Don't you think it's time for a break?” He asked. They had been going at for more than 12 hours without a single break. Even though Zeke was hell-bent on finding ivy, he couldn't lose his men while doing that. When he looked back at the men he had singlehandedly trained and picked with him, he could see raw exhaustion on their faces but he also knew that they just needed a small amount of time to be back on their feet.

“One hour.” He said and the men breathed out before dropping to the floor. In less than twenty minutes, the men were slowly becoming energized again when Darius search party passed by them. They were carrying something or somebody in their hands.

Someone from Zeke's men called out to them. “Did you find the Luna?” Darius men just stared at them with a smile on their faces before they jogged off.

“Not her.” Zeke said loudly for his men to hear and they nodded because they trusted him. He was so sure because without the bond, he still had a way of knowing if Ivy was present and he couldn't feel it with Darius men.

Lucas walked up to him, his hands behind his back. “Why did they do that?” He asked with a sigh.

“They are talking orders. From him.” Zeke replied and he was beginning to piece things together.

"She's alive," Lucas said finally.

"I know," Zeke replied

"I can see it on your face," Lucas said. "The bond."

Zeke doesn't confirm or deny this. He turned back to look at the men. Energized enough for another 12 hours. “Come on guys, let's go.” He called.