Henrique saw no point in that question—did Elias intend to charge him for not conforming to exemplary behavior? As a father, was he within his rights? Since he was the partner, there was no reason he had to explain himself.
"We treat her tenderly, my wolf cherished her deeply and now whimpers inside me, why?"
"It might be why she ran away. But I can't catch her scent outside, it's hard to determine what happened. I'm going to patrol further out, towards the border."
"Do you think someone took her?"
"You know what, Henrique? You're turning out to be quite the coward, how could you have such a devoted mate and leave her alone, sleeping in a cave after mating? What kind of male does that? We werewolves like to keep our females safe. Ahhhh, I'm not going to stay here teaching you what you should already know."
Henrique thought it best to keep silent, for Elias didn't know that he had almost rejected Luana. It was his wolf that claimed Luana, and there was no explaining that. He decided to do as Elias had done and went searching for his mate's trail.
As the two tracked towards the border, following paths she might have taken, they began to pick up the scent of strays. Strays are wolves without a pack; they flee from theirs and wander the world or are survivors of some massacre.
Elias hurried back to Henrique to report his findings and they followed the lead. They reached nowhere; at a certain point, the trail was lost.
Desperate Henrique let his wolf take over and they howled, tearing across the land, howling from place to place, in search of Luana. Dawn came, and there was no sign of Luana, while Alpha Tulio laughed maliciously from his home, wishing ill upon his son. Luna was saddened and locked herself in her room, deeming herself unworthy of a crazed mate.
What kind of father envies his own son and wishes him harm? She questioned the extent of Tulio's madness. When Henrique returned home and his father approached him, laughing and mocking, Henrique couldn't contain himself and punched him, sending him against the wall, knocked out cold.
Luna hurried downstairs at the sound of her son's arrival and witnessed the scene, shocked, yet said nothing.
"He truly deserved that. What happened, my son?"
"I've hurt her again, mother, and I think she's fled."
"Who, my son? Your mate?"
"Luana, mother, she's my mate." Henrique spoke nearly in tears as his mother clasped her hands over her mouth, astonished.
She didn't want to believe that her son had harmed his own mate and didn't dare to ask. Shell-shocked by all that was transpiring, she hadn't expected this. She had hoped that when her son grew up, things would be different. The Alpha would retire, leaving his son to lead the pack, and harmony would prevail, but that wasn't the case.
"My wolf marked her, mother, and when I saw who she was, I hesitated and he stepped in and marked her again, for me. Proudly, I went off to celebrate with the pack wolves and left her alone. When I returned, she was gone."
Luna's worry deepened; she couldn't believe Luana would abandon her mate. It seemed more likely she'd been abducted or hidden away. She looked to Alpha Tulio as he was waking, on the ground, and suspected he might be to blame, given his joy at his son's misfortune.
Alpha Tulio got up, grinning at his son's misfortune but kept his distance. One punch was enough to show him his son wasn't the weakling he had perceived; he would have to be more cautious around him.
"Did you think after treating her so poorly, she'd stay with you?"
"That's not what happens with my mother; you've mistreated her since you mated, and she's still here. You should be ashamed."
Henrique raced up the stairs to his room, unwilling to face his father. Recently, every word from him was revolting, and Henrique was filled with an urge to behead him.
Natalia joined Elias in the search, but they found no further traces. At one moment, Natalia crouched and wept, her cries deep and agonizing, as if she was losing her baby for the second time. She sat in a corner of the forest against a tree, crouched, crying, and crying, and crying.
Elias carried her back home, blaming himself for having rescued a little girl from a warzone, the lone survivor of a pack he had helped annihilate. It felt like retribution, reprisal for a guilt of doing the unthinkable.
No one should take the life of another, life is not yours to take, not even the life's owner should have the right to end it.
The guard wolves returned empty-handed, and one made a peculiar remark, which drew everyone's attention:
"I ran to the border between our land and the lands of the gray pack, but I couldn't cross; an invisible barrier stopped me. I bounced off it every time I tried to leap over, falling back."
Elias had taken Natalia home and upon his return, he met the guards and heard the tale. He understood. It was Luana there and that power stemmed from the spirits within her.
All that remained was waiting. What lay ahead, perhaps only Alpha Henrique could resolve. Yet there was another issue, the planned attack on another pack the following day, and something they couldn't escape; already the Alpha's laughter echoed from within his house, reveling in a victory not yet had.
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