I padded down the stairs in my sweats, pulling my hair into a messy ponytail, peeking around the corner, noticing my father sitting in the kitchen on a bar stool, stuffing his face with his breakfast.

I took a deep breath, knowing that my Dad and I needed to have a talk about me finding my mate, but I didn't know how he was going to react about me not telling him, and the last thing I wanted to do was stress him out even more when Jared was missing.

Dylan had walked me home last night, and I was hoping that my Dad and were going to talk then, but he had gone to bed, and I didn't want to disturb him. Dylan had offered for me to stay the night with him, but I felt like I needed some time by myself to try and deal with everything that was going on, despite the fact that my wolf was longing for us to stay together every second of the day.

"Good morning," I said as I stepped out from behind the corner, trying to make my walk seem natural as I settled down on the barstool opposite my father, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning. What time did you get back last night?" asked my Dad, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know, I didn't check," I replied, avoiding eye contact, focusing my gaze on the marble counter top, suddenly finding it incredibly fascinating.

"Okay, well, Alpha Paul has agreed to organise a search party since Jared has been missing for over twenty four hours now. I'm going to go and check with him after I've finished my breakfast."

I nodded, feeling a sense of relief that a search party was finally going to be put out there. I knew we had a much better chance of finding my little brother the more volunteers we had.

"I'm coming, and I'm sure Gia will too," I said, taking a swig of my coffee.

"And your mate?" asked my Dad, raising one of eyebrows, causing me to almost choke on my coffee.

"Umm, yeah, Dylan will probably come if he isn't training," I responded, taking a deep breath, feeling incredibly awkward.

"You found your mate and you didn't tell me."

Guilt washed over me as I looked at my Dad's hurt face, my brows furrowing. "I'm sorry Dad. It was just such a shock to me, I didn't really even know how to handle it myself, and I didn't want to stress you guys out with the thought of me having to leave become a Luna. I didn't want you and Jared to think I wouldn't have time for you."

"Being a Luna is a big responsibility," stated my Father, nodding at me.

"Thanks, no pressure," I said, rolling my eyes, getting down from the kitchen barstool and pulling on my shoes.

"It's nothing you won't be able to handle. I always knew you were destined for greatness."

"Well, I can't exactly turn it down," I replied, a wave of nausea washing over me as I thought about how I would soon be in charge of a whole pack. "But just so you know, I will not be leaving until we find Jared. Even if it takes months, I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," said my Dad, smiling sadly, making his way over to the front door, pulling on his shoes.

"Where do you think he is, Dad?" I asked, attempting to swallow the huge lump that had formed in my throat, my eyes starting to tear up slightly.

My Dad sighed, pulling me in for a quick hug, rubbing my back soothingly. "I don't know, but I know we'll find him."

"Do you think it has something to do with the calls?" I asked, pulling away from the hug, causing my Dad's brows to furrow.

"The calls?"

"Yeah, those weird calls we kept getting. Jared was so eager to call the guy back, you don't think he went to see him, do you?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know. We haven't received any calls for a while. I had kind of convinced myself it was just someone pranking us."

"Should we mention it to Alpha Paul just in case? I know he probably won't be able to do anything, but it might be best to just let him know just in case they are linked." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

My father smiled sadly, nodding slightly. "If that would make you feel better, then yes."

"Okay," I replied, rubbing at my runny nose with my sleeve.

"I hope Dylan is treating you well."

I nodded, opening the front door and stepping out into the sunshine, relieved that the storm had finally passed. "Yes, I'm very lucky."

My Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we walked through the pack grounds towards Alpha Paul's office, the sun rays beaming down on us, causing warmth to radiate across our pale skin.

"You two are being safe, right?"

I widened my eyes, pulling away from my father, attempting not to choke on my own saliva. "Ew, Dad!"

"Clara, I'm just saying that there are precautions that you need to take when you get into those kind of situations and-"

"Okay, we are not having a sex talk. I refuse to have this conversation..." I trailed off, clearing my throat awkwardly, quickening my pace so to rid myself of this awkward conversation as quickly as possible.

"I'm just saying," shrugged my Dad, shaking his head.

"Okay, well, please stop," I stated, laughing, shooting him a quick glare as we rounded the corner, approaching Alpha Paul's office.

I heard my Father quicken his pace behind me, making his way up to the door and knocking on it eagerly, patiently waiting for Alpha Paul to appear.

"Ah, Patrick, you're here!" exclaimed Alpha Paul cheerily, opening the door fully and stepping outside. "I have great news, we have four volunteers for the search party, so we can get started straight away and find your son!"

"Are you kidding?" I scoffed after a few seconds of silence, causing my Alpha to raise his eyebrows questionably at me.

"Excuse me?" asked Alpha Paul, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You're kidding, right? Four volunteers?! We only have four volunteers?! Out of this entire pack, only four people volunteered to help find a missing kid?!" I exclaimed, taking a few steps backwards, my breathing getting heavier, my wolf attempting to take control.

"Clara, stop," warned my father between gritted teeth, shooting me a quick warning look.

"No, what are four people going to do? We might as well go out there and just look for him ourselves! Did you even let everyone know, or did you just send the message out to a few specific people?!" I asked Alpha Paul, causing him to growl lowly at me.

"I suggest you-"

"We don't need four random people out there looking for my brother, we need the God damn fighters, I mean, this is what they're training for! This is a chance for them to actually put their skills to the test, and I really don't understand why you're not jumping at this opportunity!" I growled, turning on my heel and walking away, anger bubbling up inside of me, spilling over.

"Clara, you-"

"No, Dad!" I yelled, turning around to face him and Alpha Paul. "This is a joke! This pack is a joke!"

I ignored Alpha Paul's growls and warnings, storming away, making my way towards the training grounds, knowing Dylan would be there finishing off his morning training session with the fighters. I growled to myself as I made my way through the grounds, knowing that I would definitely be punished for the way I spoke to my Alpha, but I didn't care.

This pack wasn't the pack I had once thought it was, and I wanted to leave. If anything, seeing how little this pack cared about its own only made me want to become Luna of Dylan's pack even more, because I didn't want to be associated with such selfish and narcissistic people. I was determined to help run Dylan's pack as best I could, and I promised myself I would be more of an Alpha than Paul ever was.

Once the training ground came into view, I latched my vision onto Dylan, his shirtless sweating form turning me on slightly, dulling down some of the anger.

"Hey, you okay darling?" asked Dylan, offering me a smile, but frowning when he took in my stressed facial expression.

"I hate this pack!" I exclaimed, causing a few of the lingering fighters to turn towards me, muttering between them as they watched me, causing Dylan to glare at them, warning them to get going.

"Why? What happened?"

"Only four people volunteered to help with the search party! It's ridiculous!"

Dylan widened his eyes, shushing me slightly as he tucked my dark hair behind my ear, his brows furrowed. "I'll go around and round up more people, don't worry."

"Even if they do agree to help after you've asked them, they didn't volunteer to help in the first place! I thought packs were supposed to stick together, why did I have to be born into such a crappy one?" I growled, scowling down at the ground, my wolf begging me to let her out.

"For now, let's just focus on finding Jared, okay? That's what is important right now. You stay here and I'll go and get as many people as I can, okay?" said my mate calmingly, looking deeply into my emerald eyes which were turning darker by the second.

"Okay, thank you," I replied, sighing as Dylan leaned forward, kissing my forehead softly, quickly rummaging through his training bag and pulling on a black T-shirt, before jogging away, making his way towards the pack grounds.

I took a deep breath, deciding to sit down on the green grass in an attempt to calm myself, soaking up the sun rays. I shook my head, knowing that as soon as my father saw me again, I was going to be getting a very stern talking to and I knew he would be very disappointed with the way I spoke to our Alpha.

"He won't be your Alpha for much longer," I whispered to myself, closing my eyes and letting my head hang back, enjoying the feeling of my muscles stretching, releasing tension.

Suddenly, my eyes shot open, my relaxation being ruined by the aggravating buzzing of my phone in my sweat pocket. I sighed, pulling it out and putting it up to my ear, not feeling in the mood to talk to anyone.

"Hello?" I mumbled, a hint of annoyance laced in my tone.

"Hello Clara. If you want to see your brother again, alive, I suggest you do exactly as I say."

.........................................................

Oooh a cliffhanger! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

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