Chapter 116

It is time.

Derek's POV.

I stared at the window longingly, even hoping to see the shadow of who I wanted to see. I didn't want myself to think of her name but my mind kept screaming it and the harder I ignored it, the louder my mind screamed it. Scarlett.

Scarlett, my mate. The one the Moon goddess had blessed me with and the one who had broken my heart like it meant nothing and disappeared into the night. I still didn't know if I was angry at her, hurt by her actions or if it was just a mixture of both, but I was willing to bet good things on it being a combination of both since I was so unsure.

Was she hiding in a safe room tucked away with the Luna while she waited for the Alpha heir to come back to her, her chosen mate? It still felt like a dream when I had read her letter and I hadd refused to hear any news on her afterward because I simply couldn't handle it. Hell, I couldn't even look at a flower or garden without being reminded of her. I never thought in all my years that something like a mate bond would throw me in for a loop because no matter how hard I tried to hide it, she was constantly in my thoughts and lived there no matter how hard I tried to kick her out. I had even been losing my mind so much over it that I had wanted to ask Ray if this was how things had been with his mate but I had changed my mind over it a million times. Any time he asked me about her, I would deny flat that she was on my mind and he didn't push me on it. He would just don one of thise his annoying knowing smiles and whisper an okay before going about his own duties. It was unnerving. If I had gone ahead and asked him what I wanted to know, it was admitting to him that he had been right all along and I wasn't humble enough for that. I still needed my ego in that department.

It just couldn't be normal with the way she occupied my mind but I had quickly gotten used to it, and I had even been quicker in being able to hide it left the pack till I was still hung over on the break up, if it could even be called that.

"You're thinking about her again aren't you?" Ray said, pulling me out of my thoughts and I turned to look at him, and just like I had thought, he had donned one of those his annoying knowing smiles as his eyes bounced all around my face. I avoided looking at him and form the corner of my eye I saw his smile grow even more.

"I'm no-"

"Don't give me that same crappy line you've been giving me for weeks. You and I both know that isn't true so just drop the lie. I'm not going to chew you out for it," he told me and I sighed, my shoulders slumping. It was almost as if a war was literally going on around us and we were the only two here.

"It's like a freaking disease. I can't do anything about it no matter how I try. Every waking moment I keep thinking and wondering about the what ifs. Like what if I had found her before she slipped away? Or what if she had shared things about her parents with me before she has magicked up me killing them and running away?" I ran my hands through my matted and wet hair, frustration eating away at me like I was it's best meal.

"Hey, it's okay. It's very normal to feel like that, it shows the bond is still going strong." I frowned at his words wondering what that meant for me. She had ran away and left me to go be with another man and they were possibly married.so him saying the bond was going strong had me rethinking everything. Going strong on whose end because it definitely was not on mine and it was on hers even less. I wouldn't be surprised if the mate bond on her end dampened with whatever was going on with her and the entitled Alpha heir.

"I'm not so sure about that," I told him my mind and he sighed. I heard him approach me and his footsteps stopped right next to me.

"When we see her, talk-"

"If we see her. She could be cooped up in one of their safe rooms with the other pack members and the chances of us finding her if that is the case will be slim," I let out, already feeling annoyed with the situation. Deep down inside I wanted her to feel the way I felt so that at least I I would know that all those times in the pack house meant something to her the way it did to me. But I didn't know if I would ever find that out.

Ray hissed out a breath then smoothed over his plastered dark hair. "When we see her, and I know we will. You will talk to her because the whole situation of her running away has always been fishy to me. It never sat right with me and I'm sure you feel the same way because it's still all so strange" he said, enunciating the when to get his point across. I had to agree with him though because it was strange. The day before everything had been peaches and roses between us and I never had an inkling as to anything being wrong because she never acted any different. The only thing I could say pointed something was off was when I had hard that maid tell me she seemed out of it the evening I had invited her to dinner, and that same night she had disappeared into thin air and left a letter that barely made any sense to me.

Ray went back to the spot he was in before and it was like as if we had never had the conversation at all. Our eyes were trained on the battle and we were both feeling it now. I glanced at him to see him already staring back at me and we both knew it then. It was time.

It was time to show the Hidden Moon Pack just what these rogues were capable of. We would take them by storm, both literally and figuratively and we would win this fight. I wouldn't accept any other option. I clenched my cold fingers over the pummel of my sword, feeling for it again. It would soon be my sword's time to shine.

"It's time," Ray whispered and I nodded. I signalled for one of the warriors close by to come even closer and when one of them did, I told him to pass the message along and for the others to get ready because we would be heading out. I looked down at my mud covered boots, the ground around us was waterlogged but they didn't deter me. Not even this horrible weather would stop us. It could continue pouring down, the wind could become a tornado hell they sky could even throw down mote lightning but nothing was going to stop us from achieving out goal. We had come far, too far to fail.

I straightened my back when I sensed the warrior from earlier approach me again, his steps more determined, no doubt be was feeling energized at finally being ready to pounce on the opposition.

"Sir, the others are prepared and ready to head out now, we are waiting for your orders," he told me. I glanced at my warriors watch one of them with looks on their faces I didn't have the strength to decipher. But I knew one thing for sure, they were faithful. Ray might have showed me that some of them were unhappy with the way events were unfolding but it didn't change the fact that they trusted me to make the right decision and followed me none the less. Some of them might have bailed out at the slightest inconvenience but bailing out and abandoning weren't words I would use to describe my warriors. They were loyal through and through and I couldn't have asked for a finer bunch of warriors to be the Alpha of.

My heart squeezed in my chest as the usual bouts on uncertainty and nervousness crept into my system, but those feelings were fleeting. It was always like get for me and I had long become accustomed to it that it didn't mean anything to me now. I stared at the warriors once again, a sense of pride washing over me as I looked at them. A warm genuine smile crossed my lips despite the situation and I called out to them, my passion leaking through my voice.

"Let's go and win this!" I declared and they roared in enthusiasm. I stilled my expression as we moved out. I couldn't wait to get out for this forest region and be in the battle for real instead of watching from the sidelines like we had been doing all these time.

"How are you feeling?"Ray asked from beside me after he moved closer.

"Good, I've never felt better. You?"

"Energized. I also have a good feeling about this."

I smiled

again. We would win this.