Chapter 146: Rhys
The pounding on the door pulled me out of some weird dreams. None of them seemed to make any sense. I still felt warn. I reached for Grace but completely woke up when I realized she was no longer in bed with me.
“Grace?” I called out, sitting up and scanning the room, my eyes finally landing on her in the corner. “What are you doing?”
“There’s someone at the door," She whispered, her voice shaking a bit as she pulled a hoodie over her head.
“I hear that.” I answered, rolling out of bed myself, and grabbing my sweats that were lying on the floor. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” She answered, but it was obvious she wasn’t. Even from here, I could tell something was wrong, but we didn’t have time to address it, the pounding was just getting louder.
I grabbed at the t-shirt she threw at me and walked over to the door, still carrying it.
“Stay there.” I told her. I waited till she was hidden in the shadows of the close before I cracked the door open to see who it was but then threw it all the way open when I realized it was Heather.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. She never came up to the Alpha floor, not since we were kids.
“Where’s Leon?” She demanded.
“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown. “I haven’t seen him all day. I thought he was home.”
“He hasn’t been home all day. I thought he was on a mission or something and you didn’t tell me!”
My heart sank to my stomach. “No.” I replied, clenching my t-shirt in my hand. “No. I didn’t send him on a mission.”
“Then where the hell is he?!” Heather asked her voice rising hysterically.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find him.” I promised as Grace’s hand gently touched my back in a soothing manner that only she could provide, even though it could only do so much. “Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you in our kitchen to come up with a plan.”
Heather nodded, and I shut the door, still feeling tired.
“I have to go find Leon.” I told Grace who was walking back toward the closet.
“I know.” She answered.
“I’m sorry I have to leave you like this.” I apologized, following her in so I could grab what I needed.
“Oh, that’s where you’re mistaken, you are not leaving me behind.” She said sassily.
“What?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice, she couldn’t be serious. She was barely trained.
“I’m coming with you, Rhys. I’m not getting left behind. Not again. Leon is my friend too.”
“Which is why I need you to stay here...” I pleaded.
“No.” She said simply as she tugged on her black leggings that I knew were her training ones, made specially so that she could theoretically shift with them, but they had never been trialed on Lycans before.
“Grace...”
“I’m going.” She stated, her eyes meeting mine. “You’re always there for me, let me be there for you. Now get dressed and let’s go find Leon.”
I nodded slowly, accepting her help because I felt like I had been punched in the gut, and I couldn’t think of a single reason why I shouldn’t let her go. Bad things happened when she was with me and when she was alone. At least I’d be able to keep my eye on her this way...
She nodded back at me and made her way into the bathroom. She looked tired still. I mean, a quick look at my phone told me it was 4 am. We had slept for a while, but not near long enough to have fully recovered from the day we had had yesterday. I was beginning to think we were never going to have peace for as long as we lived, and at this rate, that wasn’t going to be very long.
I finished getting dressed, and she walked out of the bathroom, her hair neatly braided. She had on a black tank top and a black zip-up, and for the first time she truly looked like a warrior. She pulled on her thigh holster and placed several daggers from the top shelf into each slot.
“What are you staring at?” She asked, looking at me in confusion.
I didn’t respond. I just shook my head and finished getting myself ready.
“You don’t have to do this.” I told her as she started to walk to the door, pulling her back toward me.
“Yes,” She answered. “I do.”
I didn’t quite understand her determination with this, but I was grateful for her nonetheless.
I intertwined my fingers with hers and let her lead me to the door. Going outside of our room felt terrifying, but I was the Alpha King. I couldn’t let fear get in my way. Especially not when it involved my Beta, my best friend.
We entered the kitchen, and I was surprised to Caleb standing there, talking to Heather. I wondered if he had taken the heat before because Heather didn’t look like she hated him at all.
“Hey,” Caleb said, taking a step away from her when he saw us. “What’s the plan?”
“Go wake up Sawyer, and I’m going to mindlink Kate, and see if we can get some more information.” I commanded.
Caleb went to do what I asked, and Grace and Heather both pulled out a chair at the counter and sat down.
I mindlinked Kate as I grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge and poured it into 5 glasses.
“Yes, Alpha?” Kate replied tiredly, but I was glad she was awake at least.
“Have you seen Beta Leon?” I questioned.
“Not since this afternoon." She answered, her tone instantly more alert as she seemed to realize the severity of the situation.
“When did you see him?” I asked.
This time she answered a little more hesitantly. “When we were out looking for Luna Grace... He said he had to go check something while we were in the middle of our search, I didn’t realize he never came back...”
I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe and remain calm. What on earth had he decided to go check?
“Leon?” I attempted to mindlink. I was sure that Heather had already tried that, and her mate bond with him would be the only thing that rivaled my Alpha bond, but I had to try.
However, the line was dead. Just like I expected it to be, yet it still hurt.
I reached for my phone and opened the tracking app I had for his phone. I could hope that he had taken it with him, even if it wasn’t with him now, it would at least give us a starting point.
Bingo. His phone was in the woods, 5 miles south of here, in the woods.
I passed out the orange juices as Sawyer and Caleb walked into the kitchen tiredly.
“Okay,” I started. “Now, that we are all assembled. I have a starting point and a plan. So, let’s get started.”