Xavier's POV

"She's not here," Grayson mind linked me.

Those three words sent me into a spiral. She's not there. Addison isn't at the Blue Moon Pack like we thought she would be.

"I can barely pick up her scent anymore," Hunter chimes in the mind-link. "I can barely pick up anyone's scent, the smell of death is strong here, Xavier."

"She has to be there!" I shouted through the link. "She has too!"

Addison was officially missing now. My mate was missing and I didn't have a single clue on where to find her, on if she was even at the pack or not. And if she was, did leave on her own account? Or was she taken? Was she going to reject me? Was this her breaking point? Was this the end?

"Son?" My dad asked me. "What's wrong? I can feel you through the pack-link, and if I can, then others in the pack will be able to also."

I couldn't hold my wolf back anymore.

I feel him pushing forward, breaking through the barrier in my mind and completely taking over. I can feel my eyes changing and my claws intending fully. We needed blood.

I could hear my dad calling my name, begging for me to tell him what was happening, to come back before I did something stupid. But all my self-control went out the window the second my mate went missing.

Pack members bowed as I passed by them, no one wanted to get on the alpha's bad side.

My dad was hot on heels as I stormed through the house, up the stairs and back into the meeting room.

My mom and Cecelia jump at the sudden noise of teh doors slamming against the wall, and undoubtingly cracking the drywall. Mr. Thomas on the other hand, he looked scared.

"Where is she?" My wolf, Ryker, demanded in his alpha tone. "Where is my mate!?"

I took a few long strides forward until my hands were wrapped around Mr. Thomas' shirt collar, my claws ripping the fabric as I moved to slam him against the wall.

"Xavier," he begged me. "What are you doing? Put me down."

"Xavier!" Cecelia shouts out. "What are you doing?"

I don't move my stare from Mr. Thomas' face, Ryker is taking a type of sick enjoyment in watching him squirm.

"I know what you did," I growl. "I know where you come from, that you hate humans, that you hate my mate for something you believe her great-grandmother did. I know it all."

"What are you talking about?" He tries to play dumb, but I smell the fear and guilt oozing out of him.

"You kidnapped my mate! And now, if you don't want a slow, agonizing death, you'll tell me exactly where she is and pray that she's safe, because if even one hair of hers is out of place. . . " I trail off letting him get the idea. "You were an elder of this pack, you were trusted! The Midnight Moon took you in when your pack was killed! When you had nowhere else to go, we became your family. You watched me grow up, he babysat my sister, you helped to train my best friends and beta and gamma of this pack -- yet you betray us."

Each word was pushing me farther over the edge, I could feel myself losing the little control I had left, my bones were starting to crack, my skin was coming in. I was about to shift and kill everyone that stood in the way of my mate.

"Xavier!" My dad bellowed behind me in his alpha voice. Even though he wasn't the alpha of the pack anymore, he still had some sway and influence. "Stand down and step away. You need to take back control, Son. Ryker, if you kill him now and shift he won't be able to give us any information on Addison. You need to back down."

It was an internal struggle. Me versus Ryker fighting for control, and the worst part was that I didn't want to. I wanted to kill him. I wanted Mr. Thomas dead whether it be by my hands or Ryker's claws.

"Xavier," Cecelia said gently. "You need to take back control. Addison wouldn't want you like this, on the verge of shifting and killing someone because of her. We're going to find her," she promised. "We're going to find her and bring her back and she'll be safe and nothing will ever happen to her again. But in order to find her, you need to let Mr. Thomas and for him to be taken down to the dungeon."

She was right.

Addison wouldn't want this.

We're going to find her, I chanted over and over in my head until Ryker gave me back full control and pushed back in my brain. I'm going to find her.

I let Mr. Thomas' shirt collar slip through my hands as my claws disappeared, he hit the chair he was sitting on before with a thud. Two pairs of arms pulled him up, and out of my view while I took a few deep breaths to regain myself.

"Hunter said that they're almost back," my sister broke the silence. "We should go to the tactics room and wait there for them, I already mind-link all the warriors to meet us there as well."

Sometimes I forget that Cecelia isn't just my little sister who I love to tease. She's smart and knows how to take charge when everything seems to be going wrong. She is an Alpha's daughter after all.

"Have someone bring the rest of the Elder's to the packhouse as well. Ivy talked to one and she got useful information, maybe another saw something," I jerked my chin at my sister in an unspoken gesture of 'please-don't-yell-at-me-for-bossing-you-around-right-now.'

"Dad's already on it," she said as we made our way down to the tactics room.

"As soon as the rest get back I want to talk to them. See if there were any signs that Addie was there at all. Ryker took over before I could ask," I explained. "Because if she was and now she isn't, he has to have a partner. But if she never was, we're on the wrong trail."

"Hunter said that they were having trouble picking up any scents, something about the smell of death. But I think that Audrey mentioned she saw fresh footprints in some of the muddier areas." My sister went on as we speed-waked to the basement.

I didn't have time to answer before we entered the tactics room and I was bombarded with questions.

"Alpha what's going on?"

"Have you found the Luna yet?"

"Is it true that an Elder is being taken to the dungeon?"

"Alpha, I'll kill anyone you want me to. I don't care who."

"Did anyone put on coffee yet?"

"Silence!" I bellowed out, my alpha voice bouncing off the walls. "Your Luna is missing, and one of the pack Elders is believed to be behind it at the moment. Yes, he is being taken to the dungeon for questioning and is being treated as a prisoner for treason."

There was a low mummer once I finished talking, and the anger through the pack-link was the strongest that I had ever felt it before. Now that Addison was officially Luna, and the pack had bonded to her, it was intense.

As we were going over tracking plans, splitting into search parties and my dad was on his way to his office to ask our allies if they had seen Addison and or heard anything of her, the rest came back. They all looked out of breath and were covered in dirt, showing just how fast they obviously ran here.

"We couldn't pick up any scents, but Audrey did find some muddy footprints that were fresh, and as well some blue fibres mixed in with them." Hunter rattled off as soon as he was close enough. "All the houses were either burned to the ground, or looked like they were about to fall over at any second, so there's no chance that someone had been living there. The nearest human down is miles away."

"I hate to say it," Ivy blurted out. "But we should talk to Andrew. He was involved the last time, and I know that Addie said he was innocent, but maybe he wanted revenge or he heard Mr. Davis mention something else."

"It's worth a shot," Grayson agreed.

"He left," Cecelia cut in. "He left a few days ago, said something about a family emergency to the school."

"And why didn't anyone feel the need to tell me this?" I all but screamed out.

"You told him to leave, Xavier," my sister rolled her eyes at me. "He was being watched while he was here, and there were no reports of anything weird. You already had enough going on with officially becoming Alpha."

Andrew was gone, Addison was missing and none of this was adding up.

—

Surprise update!

Happy Friday all!

I hope that you're week

wasn't too bad,

And that this chapter maybe

Brightens your weekend ❤️

We're almost at the end

Of this story and I'm not ready :(

But after this story is over I will be

Updating one I just

Published called 'Glorious'

It's an enemies to lovers with

A summer setting and it makes me happy.

I'm going to get the prologue out

This week if y'all want to check it out!

It would make me happy ❤️

I have a little bit of it up already as well!

G❤️