Chapter 125: Where Is She?
Xavi had not slept.
The sun had set hours ago, and the forest was already getting dark, but none of that mattered.
Tera was gone.
She had gone to the lake with the other females and cubs. She had been right there, surrounded by clan members, within reach of safety. And when they returned to the settlement without her, no one could tell him where she had gone.
Xavi’s rage had been a slow build up that made the clan uneasy, but he had to control himself when he noticed they got scared. Especially the females. Tera was no cub, but why did they leave her alone at the lake?
The females were worried too and had said they had gone back to check minutes after leaving but Tera and the wolf cub had already disappeared.
And the guilt on their faces told him they would never forgive themselves if something had happened to her.
Neither would he.
Nadia and Althea had screamed for hours. The twins had sensed their mother’s absence before anyone had explained it, their tiny bodies rigid with distress as they wailed without pause. No amount of rocking, bouncing, or desperate shushing from the clan members could soothe them.
They eventually relaxed when their fathers held them, and they fell asleep from the crying, their small faces still twisted with distress even in rest.
Most of the clan had gone out to search.
The first round had revealed nothing. Xavi, Ermin, and the others had covered every path, every clearing, every section of forest within their usual range.
But there was a very cruel detail.
If Tera had a scent, any scent at all, Xavi could have tracked her across the entire landscape without rest. His nose had found prey in rainstorms. He had tracked wounded animals through rivers and across stone. He had located his own cubs by smell alone from the far edge of the settlement.
But his mate had no scent.
The female he loved was invisible to his strongest sense, and it made him feel useless in a way that physically hurt.
Ermin was no better.
The panther had not spoken since the search began. He moved through the forest in his beast form with a rigid, mechanical focus that Xavi recognised as barely contained panic. His pink fur was bristled, his ears were flat, and every few minutes, a low, involuntary growl would escape his throat.
The bond told them she was alive. It was distant, but present. That faint signal was the only thing keeping both males from losing their minds entirely.
Now they were on their second search, and they had pushed further than before.
Since the clan members could not rely on Tera’s scent or lack thereof, Xavi had picked up the faintest trail of the wolf cub’s scent near the lake. It was old, partially washed away by the water, but it was there. The cub had been with Tera for days at the settlement, and traces of its scent had rubbed off on Tera hopefully.
Wherever the scent led him to, Tera might also be there.
It was a thin hope, but it was all he had.
He wished he had Tera’s strong perceptiveness. She was always good at finding things, and he always admired that side of her.
They moved deeper into unfamiliar territory, passing through sections of forest that they had only rarely ventured to for hunting.
Both Xavi and Ermin sensed the intruders before the other clan members.
The panther’s body locked mid-stride, his head snapping to the left. A hiss erupted from his throat as he stared in the direction where the wolves slowly stepped out from.
For a frozen moment, the two groups stared at each other.
Ermin’s claws sank into the earth. His tail lashed once behind him, and he growled.
The wolves held their ground, but while the panther was a ticking bomb waiting to explode, Ermin was the least of their concerns.
Bears were large. Every wolf knew that. But this one looked like he had been specifically built to make other bears feel inadequate. And the murderous look in his eyes made them want to jump and run off so they could hide behind their leader.
There was also a chilling realisation that this bear might actually be able to beat their leader in a fight.
How was a beast this strong following a shiftless female?
They had assumed her clan would be weak and filled with small timid beasts. The kind that would accept a shiftless female as their leader if she had been telling the truth, but this beat had shattered their assumption.
The wolves needed to shift to their human form communicate, but neither dared. Transforming into a weaker form when the beast could attack them at any second felt dangerous.
The two wolves glanced at each other, silently debating who would take the risk first.
Neither volunteered.
Xavi’s nostrils flared, pulling in every scent the night air carried.
The wolf cub’s scent was on these wolves. It was very faint, but it likely meant they had been near the cub recently.
Which meant they might know where Tera was.
Xavi shifted into his human form.
"Where is she?"
One wolf, after a tense moment, shifted too. The other remained in beast form, one eye on the bear and one very frantic eye on the panther that looked like it was calculating exactly how many pieces it could tear him into.
Why was the panther so threatening?
The shifted wolf forced his voice steady as Xavi looked down at him.
It would be stupid to not know who the bear was referring to.
"The shiftless female was found near our territory. She appeared to be lost, and we found her with our cub. She is safely in our pack and is unharmed."
The other wolf looked at his companion with sharp eyes.
Why was he lying?!
Meanwhile the wolf who had just spoken swallowed. He was angry at himself for the tremor in his voice. He had only been caught off guard by the bear’s size. That was all. But he had also not told the truth that his alpha had brought the female to their pack because it could lead to a fight and the wolf did not want to bear that upfront.
Ermin shifted into his human form beside Xavi, and both wolves were startled.
The panther who had been radiating murderous intent seconds ago had a pretty face.
Ermin opened his mouth to demand more information about Tera when Xavi’s arm extended in front of him, cutting him off.
Xavi’s golden eyes hadn’t left the shifted wolf’s face. His expression was calm, almost thoughtful, but the muscles along his jaw were tight.
"You are lying."