Chapter 121: Saving Sparkle

Third Person

Dalton had deployed many males from his half of the pack into the woods where Sparkle was last seen, yet the results were still the same. Now she had been gone for 5 days, and that made him sick every time he thought about it.

Not even the suit he gave her had been found; it was becoming unclear if she was dead or alive. It didn’t help that the pack was at war; concentrating on two things at once was becoming hard.

“I heard that Ronald is expanding his camp in the Northridge woods. I bet that is his hiding place. Over 100 rogues have set up camps on that site, and it can’t be for nothing.” Edmund said as he handed Dalton a tab in his dimly lit den.

“I can’t concentrate, Edmund,” Dalton replied with his face buried in the desk.

“But you have to.”

“I can’t. For the first time, I can’t do something.” Dalton moaned bitterly.

“I know it’s about Sparkle’s disappearance, but don’t you think capturing Ronald will solve all our problems? Look at this…” he sat on the opposite side of Dalton’s table and shoved the tab in Dalton’s face. “Nobody is safe once Ronald is on the loose. You’re probably worried sick about Sparkle because Ronald is on the loose; you can have the freedom and peace of mind to find Sparkle once Ronald goes down.”

Edmund was making a lot of sense, but Dalton couldn’t bring himself to abandon the search for Sparkle. However, it would be unfit for him to ignore him, even if he was falling apart; as an alpha, he was supposed to be strong and fierce for the pack’s sake.

“Dalton, you have to get it together. I know this is hard, but the longer you take to make a decision, the harder it’s going to get!” Edmund raised his voice, but still Dalton said nothing.

The next thing he did was try his best to maintain focus so he could link James. That was his last resort.

“James, if you’re listening, I seriously need your help.”

“Mmm,” came James’ reply, “isn’t this wonderful that you need my help?”

“This is no time to play rivalry; Sparkle’s life is in danger as we speak.”

“And I hope you’re blaming yourself for this; I warned you, didn’t I? I warned all of you, even Sparkle! But nobody listened.”

Dalton wasn’t interested in the blame game; all he wanted was results, so the rant was beginning to bore him. “Are you going to do it or not?”

“I don’t take orders from you! As we speak, I’m already in the woods, looking for her.”

Dalton let out a sigh of relief. He regarded Dalton as a competent Alpha and could rest in the assurance that Sparkle was safe.

“Please let me know as soon as you find her; I will greatly reward you.” Dalton promised, but James ignored him, which Dalton didn’t take personally.

He suddenly looked up at Edmund with bright eyes, then got up from the desk. “Do you know what we’re going to do?”

Edmund furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out where Dalton’s sudden burst of energy had come from,

“What?”

Dalton snatched the tab from him and analyzed it. “This war must end. It makes no sense that it started in the first place, but now it has to end. I have let it go on for far too long.”

Edmund went and stood behind Dalton, looking at the screen over Dalton’s shoulder. “I think that we should mobilize our forces and start marching for this location.”

“What? What if they start shooting at us?” Edmund sounded very perplexed at the thought of losing people.

“Then we shoot back. If we stay here doing nothing, the battle will go on for five more days, and then five more, and before we know it, we will be living in a war zone, and if we’re not lucky, they will come for us eventually,” Dalton replied.

Edmund allowed Dalton’s words to settle, and in the end he agreed with him. It was either they attacked or Ronald would attack. It had been 5 days already; they couldn’t watch this go on any longer.

“I think I would have to agree with you; tonight we must begin our mission. I will assemble our troops now and inform you so you can speak to them.”

“Sure,” Dalton muttered.

Meanwhile, in the woods, James had been searching for Sparkle for 5 days. He had been at the swearing-in ceremony, and he had been there when the conflict erupted. He had seen Dalton’s car veer off and had concluded that Sparkle was in there with him. However, after days and days in the woods, he was beginning to give up hope.

Maybe it was time to go back home and hope that she would return home in one piece, but just as he was leaving the cottage, a well in front of it caught his attention. It was a bit isolated from the cluster of cottages he had come across while searching.

Maybe this was his last chance to actually find Sparkle. He steadily approached the praying for good news before he got any closer, the front door burst open, and a lady with black hair stepped out holding a small bucket. She was pregnant and walked with a slight limp. An old lady closely tailed her,

“No, young lady, you’re not fit enough to draw any water from the well.”

“I want to make myself useful.” Sparkle insisted.

James gasped when he saw her; he wasn’t expecting to find her when he had almost given up, and he certainly didn’t expect to see her visibly pregnant. Wasn’t it just 5 days ago she seemed so fine at the ceremony? How did things change so fast? It hurt him to see her pregnant; obviously, Dalton was responsible for it.

“So he got her pregnant and asked me to find her? He must be crazy if he thinks I will do that for him.” James fumed.

Sparkle then turned and noticed him standing a few yards away from the house; it was too late for him to hide now. When their eyes met, he was expecting her to call his name, but in her eyes, there seemed to be no recollection.

“Do you need help?” She said to him, but James stood there looking at her, too shocked to give an answer. Has Sparkle forgotten everything? He closed in on the two women, still shocked that Sparkle didn’t recognize him.

“Sparkle, it’s me, James.” He said.

The old lady turned to Sparkle and gasped, “I think he knows you. He just called you.”

“Am I… Sparkle,” Sparkle asked James, who was clearly devastated at her lack of recollection, but then a thought struck him, an idea that could help him turn this unfortunate event into something very fortunate for him. What if he lied to her and said he was her husband, and what she was carrying was their baby? She would believe everything, hook, line, and sinker. Just the thought of it brought the smile back to his face.