Chapter 35: Flicker of hope

Chapter 35: Flicker of hope
Vander

I woke up with a fright, calling out for Calina. It was an odd dream to have of her and so damn realistic that I could physically feel her in my hands. I hadn’t really realised how much I’d missed her until that dream. Even though she’d only been here for a few days, her presence was a welcomed one. I wanted her around me. And without her, it left me feeling lonely and empty. I realised that some part of it was the mate bond, but there was another part to it that felt a bit more real and a bit more genuine. I sighed and placed my hands on my face. I was exhausted. I’d gotten only a few hours of sleep most of which was plagued by dreams. The one that stood out to me was the last one I’d had in which Calina revealed to me the names of her captors. Lana and Nova. Although it had only been a dream, I had an intense gut feeling that it was something to look into. And so, I visited Freya early in the morning. She lived closer to the stream than she did to me, in a nice, off-blue cottage. When she answered the door, she had a towel in her hand as she dried her red hair. She had dark circles underneath her eyes and let out a small yawn.

“You look like you haven’t slept in months,” she said as she stepped aside and let me enter her home. I’d been here a few times in the past, but it had been a while since my last visit. Her house was the same as always. Minimal decorations, a few portraits of her and her cat and plants here and there. But other than that, the house was quite empty. It was clear Freya spent more time performing her duties than she did in this house.

She offered me a cup of coffee which I accepted. With it, she brought out a plate of chocolate chip cookies. They were my favourite ever since I was a child and Freya had made them quite frequently. To be honest, Freya had always been a good friend of mine and a role model. She had been taken in by the pack years ago and we’d grown up together. She was the only person, apart from my brother, that I truly trusted and she’d helped me throughout my entire journey into becoming Alpha.

“Did you get all of the information you needed from Brutis?” she asked.

I shrugged and then proceeded to detail everything that had happened yesterday, from the meeting with Brutis right to the conversation with Calina’s mom.

“Do you really think my mom would have killed Calina’s father?” I asked, wanting to hear her opinion.

Freya’s blue eyes gave nothing away as she shrugged and said, “I’m not sure. I didn’t know much about your mother and so I can’t say for certain. But it does make a lot of sense, especially when you consider how guilty your father always seems.”

I had to agree with her. My father was far too guilty and far too welcoming of Calina.

“So where do we begin? I suppose it will take time for Mason to attain the information we need. What can we do in the meantime?” she asked.

“About that… you might think I’m crazy, but I had a dream last night. Calina was there and she told me that her captors were Nova Brookes and Lana Tourmaine. I was thinking that you could send out an inquiry, finding out which pack Lana and Nova may be affiliated with. In the meantime, I’d also like to visit the neighbouring packs in order to see if they have perhaps seen any suspicious activity around their territories.”

Freya had surprisingly agreed with me and as soon as we had finished our coffee, we set off for our first location. The nearest pack bordering ours was the Barracuda Pack. Although it was the nearest, it still took quite some time to travel to. When werewolves started a pack, they did so far from other packgrounds. This allowed for greater exercise of autonomy as well as protection from the hunters. If we were all bundled together it would just make us easier to find. To further protect ourselves, we tried to all integrate ourselves amongst humanity, sourcing out territories near other residential areas so as to not seem too suspicious.

The Barracuda Pack was located near the ocean and the smell of saltwater wafted in the air. It was a familiar scent which I welcomed. When I was younger, my father would take my brothers and I here for swims in the ocean. We had quite a good relationship with the Barracuda Pack, one which we still shared today.

We’d informed Alpha Amy of our visit earlier already and so she waited at the gate to greet us. She had recently taken over from her father, Alpha Byron who’d passed away a few months ago.

“Always a pleasure to see you, Alpha Vander, Beta Freya.” She then peered further into the car, her brows furrowed and her face disappointed. “You didn’t bring your mate along? I looked forward to meeting her.”

I scratched the back of my neck and sighed, “That’s actually why I’m meeting with you. I’d prefer it if we could talk in private?”

She nodded and then I offered to drive her to her home. She agreed and took a seat in the back. Amy’s home was beautiful. It was painted a soft lilac colour and surrounded by rows and rows of rose bushes, each of different colours. She’d always been a fan of roses for as long as I could remember. And the moment we exited the car, the scent of them wafted in my nose, mixing with that fresh scent of seawater. Though my spirits were low, these scents seemed to make me feel hopeful.

When we entered her home, she’d already prepared glasses of whatever we’d requested. I chose chocolate milk and Freya asked for orange juice. Next to each glass were saucers with slices of lemon cake on top of them.

We all sat down at the table and Freya busied herself with her drink and cake while I spoke, telling Amy about what had happened to Calina, and swearing her to secrecy.

“That’s awful… in fact, the whole thing just seems so suspicious. Especially with Brutis. I’ve never liked that man, and my family has been on the receiving end of his schemes before, especially when my father decided that I’d be the Alpha of this pack. He’s a manipulating bastard… and I hope he dies soon.” She said that last part a little softer, leaning in slightly. I was glad that she believed me. She was the only other Alpha I’d let know of Calina’s disappearance. The others would need to be given information on a need-to-know basis. Unfortunately, however, she hadn’t seen or heard anything of substance, and she had no idea who Nova or Lana were.

Freya and I left her pack with heavy hearts, but we continued our journey which spanned for days. We travelled far and wide, meeting with Alphas from the Golden Gibbous Pack to the North Hornet Pack. Unfortunately, none of them had any information for us and quite a few seemed quite hostile. In fact, we had one pack left on our list— the Cape Jade Pack. Alpha Gerard had refused to respond to our requests for a meeting, and he had denied our entry when we arrived. Eventually both Freya and I had decided to go back home. I was exhausted, to say the least. It seemed as though we were running in circles over and over again. My hope was dwindling and my heart felt heavy and hopeless. Perhaps Nova and Lana didn’t exist. Perhaps Calina had actually run away and didn’t want to be found. These were the thoughts that plagued my mind and drove me to feel lost and uncertain.

When I finally arrived home, I sank into my bed and reached for my phone. I was surprised to see a message from Mason. It read:

Meeting tomorrow @ 09:30. I’m bringing Louis and Luca with me.

And there it was. A small flicker of hope. It wasn’t much, but it was there. Perhaps… just perhaps, we’d actually find her soon.