My Mate's Touch

After the warrior left, Xander stood up abruptly and leaned on his desk, his palms bearing his weight. His head was turned mostly downwards, but anger seeped out of him, more than I'd ever seen from him before. While he would usually display his outrage with no hesitation, this anger was different. Currently, he was trying to contain his aggressive emotions but looked as though he was about to burst at the seams. Without a doubt, this anger was much scarier.

"Fuck," Xander spat. "I should've killed that fucking bastard when I had the chance."

"We didn't know that he was still lurking around our territory," Aspen said calmly, attempting to lessen Xander's guilt. "We didn't know that he was a threat."

"It's too late now." Xander rubbed the nape of his neck with a deep sigh, a troubled look apparent on his features. "We need to tell Felix about this."

The three of us walked over to Felix's office, Xander leading the way. He opened Felix's door in a sudden movement. It was nothing new, but Felix sensed Xander's urgency, especially since we were standing with him.

Felix immediately took his reading glasses off and gave us his full attention, speaking with concern laced in his tone. "What's wrong?"

"Elias is gone. We're almost positive that the rogue from a couple weeks ago is the one who took him," Aspen explained, her determination to find Elias evident.

At her statement, Felix's eyes widened and he quickly turned his head to look at Xander. He pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in a concerned expression. I looked at Xander too, and I could feel the misery and distress exuding from him. Is this because of the mate bond? Xander looked as if he was experiencing inner turmoil, as if he wanted to kill the rogue that did this and comfort Elias at the exact same time even though he knew that wasn't possible.

"We need to find him," Felix replied. "I'll deploy warrior units out to search around our territory. If they still can't find Elias or the rogue's whereabouts, the four of us can go as soon as they report back."

"Why don't we go now?" Aspen threw her hands in the air, trying to convince the alpha. "We need to find Elias as soon as we can!"

Felix sighed. "I know that. However, it would be the perfect time for that rogue or others to cause trouble if Xander and I were gone right now."

Aspen couldn't deny that logic. If that rogue was still nearby and saw that the head alpha and head beta had left the territory, who knew what could happen. Still, I didn't want to just send some warrior wolves to search for Elias. If they found him, they wouldn't be as ecstatic as I would; If they didn't, they wouldn't be as heartbroken. I wanted to find Elias not because it was my alpha's instruction, but because he was my best friend and could very well be in danger.

"I want to look for Elias," I said bravely, causing the three of them to look at me. "Even though you're sending wolves, Felix, I still want to try and find Elias myself."

Felix looked at me as if he was trying to make a decision. Before he could speak, Aspen chimed in. "Me too, alpha. I'll go with Luca and search, too."

"Ok," Felix said with a bit of uncertainty, knowing that he couldn't change what Aspen and I had set our minds to. "Be careful. If you feel that you are in any danger at all, come back immediately. Is that clear?"

Aspen and I nodded, taking in his words. Before I had realized it, a tear slipped down my cheek. Another soon followed, and Felix eyed me with concern. "Luca, what's wrong?"

I rubbed my eyes and tried to hold back my sniffles before they turned into full-out sobs. "I... this is my fault," I said, my voice shaky. "If I had gone to the library with Elias, or if I didn't let him go in the first place..."

Felix stood up and came closer to me, but stopped while we still had some distance between us. "It's not your fault, Luca. You didn't know what was going on. Don't feel guilty for something you had no control over."

Aspen put a supportive hand on my back. "Yeah, and from what you're saying, I'm just as guilty. That's why we need to work as hard as we can to get him back."

I wiped away my last tear and looked at the two of them. "You're right, and I'm sorry."

"If you're going to go search for him then hurry up and go," Xander said, obviously upset that he had to stay here.

Aspen and I looked at each other and then nodded. We headed towards the door and I looked back towards Felix and Xander as we walked out of Felix's office. They both wore solemn expressions, and Xander looked more stressed than I had ever seen him. I couldn't help but feel bad for him. Aspen and I needed to find Elias as soon as possible, for everyone's sake.

Once we got out of the Shadowclaw pack headquarters building, Aspen made her way towards the river bordering the territory and I quickly followed behind her. She talked to some of the warriors that protected the border and then signaled for us to leave the territory.

"Where do we start?" I asked, hesitant to venture into No Man's Land again, especially when I knew that there was an active threat.

"I don't know," Aspen replied. "But we'll need to go into the forested areas. I doubt the rogue would be keeping Elias out in the open."

I nodded and we walked at a steady pace into the areas that were more heavily forested. The grass was taller and small wildflowers sparsely decorated the ground. Sturdy oak trees and lively shrubs were abundant, a few mossy boulders adding to the forest's mysterious charm.

Aspen and I looked around but made sure to stay within a close vicinity to each other. We both knew that if we got separated, this situation would be exponentially worse. She checked the ground for footprints and other signs of recent activity, while I looked around to see if I saw any movement. When she got up from her crouched position, we both gave each other a look that signaled we had found nothing.

Still, we kept going deeper into the woods of No Man's Land. Elias is probably terrified, I thought. We have to find him no matter what.

After a while, I started to feel a hint of fatigue. Aspen and I still hadn't found anything and while I didn't want to give up the search completely, I began to wonder if we were going in the right direction. Before I could ask her, Aspen gasped loudly and pointed at the ground.

"A broken stick!" She exclaimed.

I walked over to her and looked at it. As much as I didn't want to burst her bubble, that didn't seem like a very strong clue considering we were in a forest.

"Is... that all?"

"Nope!"

She pointed at the stick again and then moved her finger to point further in front of it. I squinted and then my eyes widened. I walked a little further out and bent down to touch the ground, sweeping away some fallen leaves and brush from the soft dirt to reveal slightly fresh pawprints. The rogue had been here, and he'd forgotten to get rid of his trail.

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Hi everyone! As a little gift, I hope you enjoy this double update! I cannot wait to finish writing this book so that I can share it with you in its entirety. It's taking me a little while because I want to make sure the ending is quality. Thank you so much for sticking around despite the irregular updates :)

On a different note, a sign has been found! Should Luca and Aspen follow it, or is it a trap? If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote and comment what you think will happen next! - D ♡