The Alpha's Lost Love

Chapter 7

~Alpha Bastian's POV~

It has been weeks of searching for where the vampire coven near Moon Lake said others might be and we haven't found any trace. Originally, I thought maybe the one near us was responsible for Laila's disappearance; however, I realized that it couldn't be, since there was no scent of my mate in their camp. I even forced them to take me on a tour through their home just so I could check in every possible location.

My tracking team and I finally reached our SUV after hours and hours of searching the woods in our wolf forms. Now for the long drive back to my pack, empty-handed. This is gonna be great. I already know what mother and father are going to say when we come back without Laila, I thought sadly as I got into the back seat of the SUV.

"I can't do it, Bastian!" Baskier stated after hearing my depressed thoughts. "I can't quite feel the mate connection with Liza anymore, but I do know that she is alive! We would have sensed it if she had died. We would know if our mate was no longer and unless that happens, I just can't!"

"I know, Baskier, I know," I replied with sorrow. "I can't do it either and we will just have to calmly stand our ground and not let the FORMER alpha couple tell us what to do. They do not have the right since we are the current alpha."

The SUV pulled back onto the road from the shoulder and my head tracker started towards Moon Lake. Within three hours, we were pulling up to the packhouse. Slowly, I lifted my head off the window where I was resting and looked towards the house. No surprise, my parents are standing at the entrance just waiting for us to arrive. D**n those guards at the gate! I thought. I was hoping to have at least tonight to recuperate and not have to deal with any of the drama I'm sure my parents will mention once they notice I'm alone...

Just as I was thinking, I got out of the vehicle and immediately noticed the look mother gave to father as I closed to door and headed towards them.

"So," mother began cautiously. "Laila is nowhere to be found? I so hope she is okay. Do you have any leads on where she could be?"

I audibly sighed, "No, mother. I do not know where she could be. If I did, I would not be back home so soon. I would obviously be out there searching for her more and not coming back until I had her back in my arms."

The anger started to radiate out of me and my alpha aura caused all of the trackers and the omegas outside to fall to their knees immediately. I glared in my parents' direction as I noticed them trying to ignore my aura. Slowly, they bowed at me which caused the alpha wolf in me to accept and grant release from the aura. Mother came over to me against my father's wishes and laid her hand on my arm like she has done any time I was upset growing up.

"I apologize, son. It's just that without Laila and with your age-," she tried to say before I held up my hand halting her words and interrupted her.

"I already have a feeling what you are going to say and I do not feel like hearing it at 3AM when I have to be up in three hours to go down and supervise how the extra training has been going while we have been gone, mother. We can discuss this ridiculous notion you have tomorrow after training," I said with a grunt. "Right now, I am going to go up to my room, take a hot shower to relieve the tension I have, and go to sleep for the few hours I can."

Without waiting for a reply, I walked past the trackers, omegas, and my parents to head to the alpha floor and to my bedroom. I noticed the scoffing sound my father made as I walked by, but just ignored it because now is not the time to start something with them both. I quickly walked up the stairs to my room, the weight of our failure making my body feel heavier and heavier as I got closer to the alpha suite. As I got closer to the door, I began to imagine the same thing I always do when I am about to enter it.

If this was the perfect scenario, I would walk into the suite to hear Laila singing and dancing in the kitchen liked she enjoyed to do. I would walk in and smell the most delicious scent combination of honeysuckle and strawberries along with the scent of freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies. Laila truly enjoyed some fresh cookies and I know I, for one, could never get enough of their amazingness. As I step towards my lovely mate, the stepping of little feet would barrel towards me and I would feel little arms wrap around my leg as my son and heir greets me. Laila would stop her dancing and smile over at me before waddling over, holding her big belly full of my pups.

But, this isn't that perfect scenario. When I open the doors to the alpha suite, I will be greeted with silence and the photograph that was taken at Laila's Luna ceremony where we were officially made to be the two leaders of Moon Lake, mates for life. Or at least that's what I thought we would be...I thought to myself as I walked through the quiet suite and into my bedroom to get ready for bed so I can finally get at least a couple hours of sleep.

~The next day~

Training was a blur as my mind couldn't fully focus on what I was seeing. All I could see and think about is how I failed to find Laila, I failed myself, my mate, and my Goddess. I watched the new warrior trainees spar with each other and with the two lead warriors without truly seeing them, even though I am sure they tried to show off how well training has been going since I was standing on the sidelines. At one point one of the lead warriors, Chase, tried to call me over to help instruct the class on the best ways to incapacitate another without k*****g them. I quickly shrugged him off and claimed that the lack of decent sleep I have had to deal with for weeks was the cause, even though I had dressed appropriately for training in sweatshorts and a tight tank top.

As I made my way from the training field to the packhouse, I noticed how more and more of the she wolves in my pack glanced towards me like I am their prey. It continued to get so uncomfortable to the point where I snapped at one omega who had visibly stopped right next to me and stared, even going as far as to try and touch my bicep when I halted to ask her what the issue was. She quickly left the scene as I told her how much of a disgrace she was for having the audacity to not bow to her alpha and then to try to put her hands on a mated wolf in general. She gave me a confused look before she ran away, but at least she got out of my sight before Baskier decided on doing something worse than just berating her.

I could easily smell the scents of my parents as I reached the hallway to my office in the packhouse. It almost tempted me to turn around and bolt out of there. Before I could even have a second thought about that though, mother leaned her head out of the doorway and called for me to come into my office. Might as well get this over with now, I thought while walking into the room.

Upon entering, I noticed my father is once more in my seat at the desk. He quickly got up and moved to the chairs on the other side of the desk as I walked towards him, my brows furrowing in irritation. I sat down and decided to get right to the point with them.

"I know what you two want to discuss," I said without wasting any time.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" father asked with a smirk, as if this is actually funny in any way.

I cleared my throat, "You two want to suggest that I go and find a chosen mate to take Laila's rightful place. Is that right? As if anyone could actually even measure up to my mate and as if I would be that disgusting to want someone else when my Goddess-given mate is alive!"

"You don't know that she is alive!" my father began to raise his voice before realizing how bad that could turn out and toning it down. "You...don't really know, son. It has been over two years since she went missing. She could have left of her own accord for whatever reason or she could have been taken and if she has been taken, she is likely d**d."

"We just want what is best for you and what is best for the pack," mother said carefully, trying to lower the chance of an alpha on alpha battle. "It has been two years and this pack needs a Luna again. You need a Luna and you need an heir. You are now almost 29 years old and the pack needs to know that this lineage will continue on if something were to happen to you."

"Mother," I started. "I know that the pack needs a Luna and as soon as I find Laila, they will have their back. I appreciate you retaking that role for me with Laila's disappearance and I recognize that you, father, and Beta Mark have been working hard to do what's best for this pack for the last two years...but, I am just not ready to take a chosen mate. I am not ready to accept that Laila is gone from me forever. I still feel her."

"Do you feel the mate bond? Do you feel that connection telling you that she is alive and still our Luna?" father asked while he seemed to hold his breath in anticipation of what I might say.

"I...feel that she is still alive but...Baskier and I do not feel a connection to her as a mate any longer. I don't know what that means. We are just not ready to find someone else..." I said sadly.

Mother got up from one of the seats in front of my desk and walked around to put her arms around my broad shoulders, knowing how a parent's touch can calm a wolf only a little less than the touch of a mate. I reached up and grabbed her arm with my hand gently and rested my head on her arm, showing her my appreciation.

"Son," she said gently. "I know you might not be ready, but the pack NEEDS a Luna. They haven't seen you very much in the last two years and I am afraid they might be losing faith in our alpha line. You need to do something to show them that you are here and you are capable and you will continue the line for the pack."

I sighed loudly while looking up at my mother and then over the desk at father, who was looking at mother in high regard. That's the bond I want back...I want to feel that much love towards someone, like they are the only person in the room and I can't get enough of them, I said in my head to myself and Baskier if he is listening.

"Okay," I surrendered to my parents' wishes...to the pack's wishes. "What do you have in mind, mother? Cause I know you are planning something for when I inevitably give in..."