In the kitchen…
Damon pried his arm free from Cassie's hold and her eyes widened in surprise.
Why did he back away? Why was he frowning? Things were going well, damn it!
She composed herself and called sweetly, "Alpha Damon, do you think I was out of line?"
"Cassie, you accused a teenage girl of being a thief. Do you really think that my pack members have a need to come here and steal food?"
Cassie pressed her lips into a line, feeling wronged. "But she was in the dark which is proof that she was up to no good. How could she see anything with the lights off?"
Damon took a moment to process what Cassie said, and he realized that Cassie was right: Talia was in the dark.
The light in the kitchen was off and so was the one in the hallway. The visibility was close to nil.
Werewolves have enhanced senses, proportional to the strength of their wolf.
Cassie is a weak werewolf and the boost her wolf provides her is negligible when compared to other werewolves.
However, Talia was able to move freely in the completely dark kitchen, which she was unfamiliar with. Doesn't that mean that the power her wolf is giving her is significant?
An even bigger revelation would be that Talia has a wolf because if her wolf is gone, she wouldn't have any boosts.
Talia's healing is low, but if her vision is sharp to the point of seeing in the dark, then she definitely has a wolf.
There is a possibility that her wolf is weak and that's why is enhancing only her vision while other things are blocked.
'What should I do?', Damon asked his wolf.
If this was facing rogues, or determining a budget for the next quarter, he would know what to do, but right at that moment, Damon was lost.
His wolf didn't respond, and Damon cursed under his breath. The old guy was still ignoring him because he allowed things to escalate.
"Damon?", Cassie called while rubbing his forearm.
He was spacing out for a minute, and it made her nervous.
Damon yanked his arm away. "It's Alpha Damon. Don't forget that!"
Absolutely confused, Cassie gaped at Damon as he took a big plate and placed in it the chunk of bread and the apple that Talia left behind. He looked into the fridge and grabbed some grapes and cheese and headed out of the kitchen, without paying any heed to Cassie.
Damon took two steps at the time all the way to the third floor and paused in front of the door of Talia's room.
The lack of her scent told him that she was not there, but he still knocked before entering the room.
Damon placed the plate on the coffee table and tried contacting Maya on the mind-link, but she was unavailable.
'Caden…', Damon went to the next person. 'Are you with Maya?'
'No. She felt like sweets and went to grab something from the kitchen.'
Damon exhaled in frustration. 'I just came from the kitchen. Do you know where she is?'
The response came a few seconds later, 'She is in the garden.'
Damon told himself to calm down. After the incident in the kitchen, Talia probably needs some air, and that's good because it will give him time to figure out what to say to Talia when she returns to her room.
Damon couldn't leave it be and allow Talia to think that he doesn't care.
He can't tell Talia how much she means to him, but he can tell her that Cassie is nobody.
Minutes trickled slowly, and Damon switched between sitting on the sofa, to bed, and in-between, he paced through the room.
He realized that more than an hour passed.
Where is Talia?
His heart ached and it was suffocating, and he was unable to stay still, so he went to the second floor and started pounding the last door on the left with his fist.
"Is your mind-link broken?", Caden asked with a frown when he opened the door wearing only a bedsheet bunched around his waist.
It was obvious that Damon interrupted something, but Damon didn't care.
"Is Maya here?"
"Yes. She is.", Caden responded dryly.
"What do you want, Alpha Damon?", Maya grumbled while exaggeratedly dragging the last two words.
"Where is Talia?", Damon asked while trying to make his way into the room, but Caden didn't move and his deep frown told Damon to give up on that idea.
Caden knew about the incident in the kitchen. Maya told him that Cassie was doing her Luna-act while holding onto Damon and accusing Talia of stealing food.
Seeing that Damon was on the verge of panicking, Caden enjoyed Damon's predicament.
If Damon acted like an ass, he should pay for it.
No matter the circumstances, Caden couldn't imagine the situation where Maya was in distress and he just watched.
As an Alpha, Damon's animalistic instincts (mate bond included) should be much stronger than Caden's, and Caden had no idea how Damon was able to sit this one out and allow Cassie to disparage Talia.
Caden narrowed his eyes at Damon. "You came at this hour, banging on the door. First, you ask about Maya, and then about Talia. Do you think that Talia joined us for a threesome?" Caden paused and glanced at himself, obviously making a point about his naked self. "Or did you start spot-checking every pack member in the middle of the night?"
Maya was frustrated with how Damon allowed Cassie to bully Talia, and she didn't want to make his life any easier, but she had a strong feeling that he will not give up until he gets his answers.
"Talia said that she needs air, so I left her in the garden. Maybe she is still there…"
Damon didn't hear more than that, as he dashed down.
"Why did you tell him?", Caden groaned at Maya while closing the door behind him.
"Because he needs his mate just how I need mine.", Maya responded in a singing voice and bit her lower lip seductively.
Caden had no objections. The bedsheet that was around him fell on the floor at the same time he jumped on the bed and pounced on Maya.
Damon frantically sniffed the air in the garden. There was no hint of freesia.
He rubbed his face with force.
This situation reminded him of the evening when he lost Talia the first time. They were in the kitchen of the Red Moon pack, and he was an ass… and she left… and he couldn't track her. The next time he saw her, she had additional injuries on her body.
Damon told himself not to panic.
Maybe Talia went to her room while he was talking to Caden and Maya.
Damon dashed back to the third floor and his stomach sunk when he realized that Talia was not there.
He went back to the kitchen, only to find it empty. He checked the living room and the dining room and the entryway, and he went through all the hallways, and even into the basement, with the hope of picking up Talia's scent. Nothing.
Eventually, he returned to her room.
A whirlwind of negative emotions crashed on Damon. Anger. Dejection. Guilt. Worry. Fear. They switched so quickly and amplified each other that he was unable to breathe.
And he was caught unprepared when a gush of loneliness overtook his senses.
Did she leave? Did he lose her?
If she stayed in the garden, everything would be fine! Didn't he tell her not to go beyond the garden!?
What if someone kidnapped her?
What if she wandered off, and someone mistook her for a rogue?
She was already hurt, what if she got hurt more?
He was angry at Cassie for bullying her.
He was angry at himself for letting it happen.
He was angry at Talia for leaving.
But she couldn't leave. Not yet. His territory is huge, so even if she was running, she was still within borders.
'I want extra patrols around the border!', Damon shouted into the mind-link of warriors. 'Search for a she-wolf in her teens, wearing a blue t-shirt and black bottom. She is in her human form. The girl is not an enemy; however, she might be frightened. When you spot her, don't engage, and notify me immediately!'
Damon could feel the commotion of his warriors stirring into action. They did this many times, whenever they have rogues attacking.
With this, he had extra eyes and paws searching for Talia and he told them that she is not an enemy, so they will not attack.
Damon wanted to go after Talia, but he didn't know which way she went. What if he takes the wrong direction? What if she comes back and he is not here?
Damon sat on the bed and grabbed the pillow on which Talia slept. He buried his face in it and took deep breaths, inhaling the lingering citrusy sweet scent of freesia.
The scent calmed him a little, but it also reminded him of the girl that went missing. And this was not any girl. This was his mate.
Damon couldn't believe that this was happening.
He didn't want a mate.
He didn't want to meet her or acknowledge her.
He hoped that all these foreign feelings will disappear, and he contemplated leaving Talia at the Red Moon pack and forgetting about her.
Damon took the plunge and brought her with him, risking the exposure and endangering his pack because he couldn't leave her behind. Not like that.
He decided to keep her close and safe, to feed her and buy her clothes and give her whatever she wants but he messed up and now she was missing, and he was on the verge of losing his mind.
She was somewhere out there, in the cold, hungry, hurt, scared… and it was his fault.
"Damn it!", Damon cursed loudly.
