Chapter 62 - Lost II - The Royal Hybrid

Gabriel’s POV

We had royally fucked up by disobeying orders and in all honesty, I had not expected Shane to go around it this way. No, I had expected we would be sent straight back, taken off this mission, and not be allowed to participate in anything regarding the safe return of Tatiana…

‘She is our mate,’ Onyx huffed in my mind. ‘They wouldn’t be able to keep us apart no matter how hard they’d try, and you know it.’

I internally rolled my eyes at him despite knowing very well that he was right. If they really would have sent us back, I would have fought with everything in me to get a second chance, even beg on my crying knees if I had to and I wasn’t the only one. Despite Hayden’s usually good behavior and obedience, I had noticed a shift in him whenever it came to her. He was completely another person. Protective, stubborn, and caring in a way I hadn't seen since we were children.

I never knew exactly what it would be like to have a mate. I had heard many stories from many people over the years about this great love that would swipe you off your feet leaving you in this floating state of heightened emotions and not once did I fully believe that it would be that powerful, and yet here I was ready to defy my Alpha face to face had this not turned out the way it did.

‘We need to get her back,’ he nearly pleaded.

Being away from her not only hurt me but him as well and this was the first time I had ever felt him being this soft and sensitive... This vulnerable...

Usually, when someone mentioned the word mate, he would huff and act like he wanted nothing of that sort in his life, and even though I knew it was all just a facade, I never once asked him about it. I didn’t know whether or not it was because I simply didn’t believe I had a mate or if it was because I didn’t believe in at all, but then she came along which only confused matters even more. I knew she had a mate already and yet I felt this strong pull to her that I couldn’t understand. Everything I had been told about mates, I felt with her, and those feelings only enhanced with every day passing by. I ignored it for as long as I could and tried to push the thoughts out of my head. Back then I had thought it was a crush of some sort, that I was only attracted to her because she stood up against me. She didn’t swoon, she did falter, and she didn’t just do as I told her like so many others would have. No, she all in all told me to go fuck myself and I had thought that that was the reason why I was attracted to her. Or at least I tried to convince myself of that, because what else could it have been…

It wasn’t until the day where Hayden came at me outside the pack house, yelling at me that I finally completely understood what was going on. That day a part of me was screaming with joy and happiness while another part of me was howling in pain, because how could I be the one to come between two mates? That, in my opinion, could have never worked out, especially not when Hayden was involved, but as it turned out, he wasn’t quite the dickhead I had painted him out to be in my mind. He knew that taking her away from me would hurt not just me but her as well, and that was the only reason he was willing to give it a shot.

Don’t get me wrong, it had made me unbelievably relieved but had it come down to it, I would have done what I had told them both that day. I would have walked away and let her reject me once her second wolf had made an appearance and both me and Onyx would have accepted it.

Now, running through the forest, getting closer and closer to no man’s land, I was preparing to do whatever it would take to get her back even if it meant giving my own life for it. When it came to her, I was as weak as Hayden, or maybe strong would be a more fitting word seeing as no one and nothing would be able to keep us apart or stand in our way, and if something or someone did, they wouldn’t be standing for long.

We slowed down when we got out into the open field known as no man’s land. Not only because this was where we had agreed to meet, but also because it was an open field, and us running out there with nothing to hide behind, made us into sitting ducks.

Scouting around not seeing anything or anyone that could potentially be a treat, I nodded at Hayden who huffed back in return before he let his heavy paws cross over the hardened ground beneath us.

Alpha Shane and Kyle were right behind us and when we got to the very middle, we all stopped and waited for the others.

Out here the ground was filled with dust and tracks from a lot of wolves passing by, making it almost impossible for a normal wolf to sniff around and track one particular scent and so the only thing we could do now was to wait for the tracking team to show up alongside Ryan.

‘We could find her on our own,’ Onyx huffed. ‘She is our mate after all. We don’t need them.’

‘I am sure we could do it,’ I ensured him. ‘But if we want to find her as fast as we possibly can, we need them and we need to admit as well that we need them. We don’t have the same skills as they do.’

I hadn’t expected him to answer as I knew what kind of a control freak he was. Still, unexpectedly after a minute of silence, his voice rang in my head in the sassiest and most bragging tone I had ever heard making me drag in a deep breath in order to stop myself from snorting out loud.

‘Well, what they have in their noses, we have elsewhere.’

At least his self-esteem was the same as it always had been.

‘The tracking team should be here any minute now,’ Hayden informed me, still scouting the horizon.

‘One step closer,’ I sighed.

‘If we are lucky,’ he said hesitantly making my eyes flick to him in annoyance. ‘All I am saying is that we have no idea what Chad will possibly do with her or how far they have gotten already seeing as they got a pretty big head start,’ he explained slowly trying to ease my displeasure from his previous statement.

‘We will find her,’ I breathed and turned to look at the edge of the woods just in time to see Ryan appearing with the tracking team just in his heels.

I tried to push away all the negative thoughts I knew were forming in my mind.

I hadn’t always been a pessimist. When I was a kid I was as positive as Hayden was. I always saw the best, not only in every given situation I was put in but also in every person I crossed in my life.

But over the years that had changed. Not that I didn’t understand why, because I did. I used to have it all. Parents, friends, laughter, and love within the four walls I was born in and all too soon that was gone. A part of me felt like I had taken it for granted back then, that that was why I lost everything so fast and that I didn’t deserve it now because of it, but while that thought kept nagging me in the back of my head, I also knew that this was my chance at getting it back. My chance at being happy and there was no way I would let that slip away so easily. Not without a fight.

I was a kid back then lacking fighting skills and knowledge, but now… Now I was ready and prepared to do whatever it would take. I would be better, and she was the reason why. They all were. My family… Now that I finally had gotten a taste of what my life could be like, there was no way I was going to let it go and just go back to the way things were. Not that it ever would.

If I lost her... If we lost her, nothing would ever again be the same. It simply couldn't be.

‘Hayden, we should…’ I was cut off by my own howl that unexpectedly erupted from my throat.

Everything blurred in front of me, my legs, that before carried my entire weight with no problems, began shaking and the ground seemed to come closer every time my eyes closed and opened.

And the pain… The shooting pain that spread across my chest like someone was clawing my insides out, feeling like they tore every muscle and nerve within my body while hot water was being poured over me sent me over the edge and I felt my knees buckle underneath me just before my head met with the dusty and cold ground.

My eyes which couldn’t focus properly, searched for Hayden among the others desperate to see him, but he wasn’t standing there with them.

No, he was on the ground too, his howls echoing through the air mixing with mine, making the unmistakable sound of loss.