Runaway Mate

Chapter 12

Axel

Axel had only been the Alpha of Orion Valley for a month now, and the small office he had taken over was a mess. Stray paper lay all over the floor, along with splintered wood and broken projectiles he threw when he lost his temper.

He sat at his new desk, after having completely destroyed the last three. His hair had grown and looked unruly, his skin had lost its tanned glow and was starting to pale and he barely ate, which made it look as though his clothes were wearing him.

He hadn’t spoken much with his family since his first day as Alpha. His father only ever came to report things to the Alpha, his mother spent as much time out of the pack house as she possibly could and Fidelia had taken to locking herself away in her room. He didn’t blame her, he had felt awful after forcing information out of her by using his authority as Alpha.

Even Leon had stopped speaking to him. It had been a week since he last heard a sarcastic remark from his wolf and he was starting to miss the company. But Leon blamed Axel, just like everyone else, for locking his Mate away and causing her to flee and run away out of their reach. Leon had whimpered and cried in his loneliness and begged and prayed to the Moon Goddess for her to come back to them, but she never did. Now he locked himself away in the crevices of Axel’s mind, where even Axel could not reach him.

He was doing his best to get through some of the paperwork he had neglected over the past few weeks, but no matter what he tried he couldn’t get his mind to focus on it. He ran his hand through his dark and messy hair, before dropping the document in his hand back on the desk. He spun round on his desk chair and gazed at the wall behind him.

It was the wall that had had the map of his territory with pins in it, but now it had a lot more. Instead of the territory map, it now had a map of the entire continent, with various pins and pieces of string strung between them. If you walked into the office without knowing the situation, you would automatically assume it belonged to a mad conspiracy nut. Along the wall, pinned around the large map were various pictures.

He looked at one intently. It was her, Nessa, sitting on a bench alone gazing out at sea. She looked just as beautiful as he remembered her, even with the modifications she had made to evade him. Her hair had been cut short and she had dyed it a dark, chocolaty brown. But her eyes were the same sapphires he remembered gazing into, lost in their beauty.

He had obtained this picture after widening his search beyond his own territory. A wolf from one of the packs along the eastern shores had gone out early for a swim before training and spotted her. She looked different from Axel’s description, but he had caught sight of her eyes and snapped the picture without her notice, just in case. As soon as the photo had reached Axel, he sent trackers there immediately, but she was already long gone.

Any time he had a lead on her or got even a little close to finding her, she disappeared without a trace. It was like she was always one step ahead, but how did she know when he was close to her? At first he was convinced that someone within the pack was still in contact with her and, from his investigations, the only person that would have been considered close enough to give her insider information was his sister, Fidelia. He had her room investigated and even confiscated her android phone, but there was nothing out of the ordinary on her phone or in her room. Even her call and text logs were normal and had no trace of contact with Nessa. So he dismissed the theory of someone passing her information from within the pack, while simultaneously pissing Fidelia off even more and causing her to avoid him as much as possible.

But, how did she know that he was still looking for her? How did she manage to escape anytime he got close to her?

He sighed deeply, still staring at her picture. He needed to calm down before he got upset about his failure to bring back his mate, and ironically, the only thing that calmed him down these days was her scent. He couldn’t find her to inhale it straight from the source, but he had cordoned off her house and had the only set of keys. When he felt the stress or pain of losing her too much, he would sneak in to her house and inhale her scent; which was all around the small wooden house. It was peaceful and quiet and the only escape he had from his misery, surrounded by the smell of winter berries and blossoms, of his mate.

He got up from his chair and as he turned, his office door opened as his Beta Oscar entered. He looked cautiously at Axel, before closing the door behind him and walking over to the desk with a tray in his hand. He placed the tray down carefully, sliding the paperwork out of the way so the tray wouldn’t damage anything important.

“I don’t have time…” Axel started saying, before Oscar interrupted him.

“You have to eat!” He spoke back firmly.

“And I told you, I don’t have time!” Axel bite back, staring his Beta in the eye.

Oscar stared back defiantly before inevitably crumbling under the power of his Alpha. He shook his head and gazed at the wall behind Axel’s desk. He sighed and shook his head again before continuing to speak.

“You have to stop!” He sighed, not meeting his gaze.

“What?” Axel spat. How dare he try and stop him in his search!

“I said you have to stop! She’s not coming back!” He looked him dead in the eye, with a new-found determination.

“I can’t!” Axel replied simply, refusing to give up.

“What is so special about her!?” Oscar yelled, throwing his hands up into the air. “So she escaped the cells! So what? You are wasting away because of one little human! We’ll get another one and maybe then you’ll start acting normal again, Alp- No! Axel! Maybe we’ll get the real Axel back!” He huffed, his chest rising and falling rapidly from lack of air after his speech. His face was red and Axel could see concern in there, concern for his friend, not his Alpha.

“I don’t want another human! I need her!” He answered in a defeated voice, before falling back into his desk chair and slumping down in it.

“Why? What is so special about her?” Oscar pushed.

Axel didn’t answer. So far he had managed to avoid telling anyone that Nessa was his mate, the one true love he had been gifted from the Moon Goddess herself. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell any of them, maybe because he'd thrown her in the cells when he thought she was a mere human? Maybe the shame of his mate running away from him? Maybe because he didn’t want them to judge him for the way he had treated her or feel sorry for him, that she was clearly doing everything in her power to stay away from him. He just never found the right moment to tell even his Beta that the prison escapee he was trying his best to recapture was his mate.

So he didn’t say anything, too afraid of the truth himself.

“Axel!” Oscar continued talking, once he realised Axel wasn’t about to answer willingly. “I’m asking as your friend, not your beta, as someone who cares about you and wants you to feel better! Why are you so determined to bring her back? Why is she so important to you?” He asked calmly, holding Axel’s gaze.

Axel cracked; he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had to tell or he would do something worse like cry and he didn’t want Oscar to see him cry!

“She’s my mate!” He croaked, looking away from Oscar. Afraid to meet his eye.

“What!?” He heard Oscar gasp. “So that’s why…”

Silence fell between them as Axel waited for Oscar’s judgement and pity to rain down on him.

“Well, that decides it then!” He heard Oscar say and risked looking up at him, to see that Oscar had settled himself in the seat on the opposite side of the desk.

“What?” Axel c****d an eyebrow at him and Oscar grinned back. There was no pity or judgement.

“Guess I’m joining team stalker! We’ve got to find her so you can be with your mate!” He grinned at Axel.

Axel was shocked by his response. He had honestly expected to at least get a lecture from him and Oscar going off to tell Axel's parents, who would then give their own speech about how he had treated Nessa.

“You can’t tell anyone else, you’re the only one who knows!” Axel burst out, afraid of anyone else knowing.

“Cool, so I’m in the inner circle of team stalker!” He chuckled.

“Please stop calling it that!” Axel scolded, but couldn’t stop himself from smiling. This was why Oscar was his Beta; he was one of the only people that could pull him from his funk like it was nothing.

“Okay, team 'girl catcher' it is!” He laughed and Axel couldn’t help but laugh along with him. “But, I want something for my silence.” He winked.

“What?” Axel asked suspiciously, shuddering at what his best friend would possibly ask.

“I want you to eat and bathe and stop walking around like a zombie!” He said, smiling. “I want you to deal with pack business and stop losing your marbles and wrecking the place.” He gestured around the office. “We’re gonna find her, no point turning everyone against you while we’re looking. Pack comes first, until she’s your Luna.”

Axel thought about this. Oscar was right. What was he doing? He was a ghost of the man he really was and he had been neglecting his duties as the Alpha and he’d only been in power for a month. The pack must think badly of him! He had to stop acting like a love-angst teenager and start being the man he was! If Nessa came back, there was no way she would be impressed by the way he was now. He had to be the man worthy of her love, worthy of being her mate! He had to buck up and take charge, so that when he found her she would never want to leave his side or his bed again! He grinned at the last thought.

“You’re right.” He agreed, nodding his head and sitting up straight.

“Cool! Well, the first step is having some dinner!” Oscar grinned, handing him one of the bowls from the tray he had brought and then took the other for himself.

Axel gladly accepted the bowl and was confused when it was cool to the touch. He glanced at the contents inside and then looked up at Oscar with an incredulous look.

“Cereal for dinner? Seriously?” He asked.

“Hey, what do you want from me?” Oscar shrugged. “The cooks were too scared to cook anything in case it upset you, so I said I’d make your dinner! And this is the only thing I know how to make.” He grinned.

“Thanks.” Axel smiled and then took his first spoonful of cereal. He instantly regretted that spoonful and nearly gagged. It was soggy and somehow the milk to cereal ratio didn’t seem right.

He put down the bowl and burst out laughing at his friend’s expense.

“You can’t even make cereal right!” He choked between laughs.

“Shut up! It’s harder than it looks!” Oscar yelled back, but was still grinning away.

“I’ll talk to the cooks tomorrow and maybe we can get some real food again!” Axel kept on laughing.

He felt better than he had in a long time and he wasn’t sure whether it was mocking his closest friend or just having the knowledge that he was there for him. But he felt better and he had a new-found sense of purpose. He would find his mate but he would make sure there was still a highly organised and powerful pack to bring her back to and protect her with. He couldn’t wait for the day they would be reunited and he could hold her close and call her his Luna.

He felt like he had taken one step closer to finding her, by confiding in Oscar.