Runt [ManxMan]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The meeting room was filled with anyone of importance in the pack.

Mav sat at the head of the table as, officially, he was in charge in the alpha's absence. Not that anyone seemed to care; they were too busy arguing over what to do to notice the beta nodding off.

He sighed and tried to sit up a bit straighter, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He should have at least been paying attention, but there was a reason he avoided responsibility most of the time. It was just so hard to focus on boring conversations, and attempting to follow the chaos surrounding him now after almost a full 24 hours without sleep was near impossible.

A glance at the windows showed the first signs of dawn, meaning they had all officially been awake all night, and were no closer to deciding what came next. They had no leads, and no one knew where to start to search for their missing alpha--or the omega, though Mav doubted anyone in the room but him cared about the kid, save perhaps Dax's father, who sat near the other end of the table with the rest of the elders. They'd tracked them as far as the neutral territory, but hadn't been able to follow the scent any further, and their only tracker who might have stood a chance of following them further was preoccupied.

Mav rubbed a hand over his face, pushing thoughts of the little hunter away. Now was not the time to think about Chase. Not that telling himself that kept the man from his thoughts.

He'd left the hunter peacefully sleeping hours before, and hoped it would be hours yet before he woke so perhaps they could have some sort of plan to give him hope. Mav didn't think he could bear to witness Chase's heartbreak again. He hadn't expected the hunter to take the news that Mason and Dax were both missing well, but he'd still hated watching the man fall apart, and had struggled to leave him behind. Not for the first time, he'd wished he wasn't the beta, wished he didn't have responsibilities, wished he could have stayed and watched over the little beta-born, been there when he woke, held him while he cried, and not worried what anyone would think.

But instead, he was here, rubbing sleep from his eyes and reaching for his paper coffee cup—which, regretfully, was empty again. He'd lost count of how many times he'd refilled it already, but knew if he was going to have any chance of focusing on the argument around him, he was going to need more caffeine in his system to chase away his lack of sleep.

Mav wasn't sure what drew his eyes to the doorway--some instinct he'd developed over the years, perhaps—but he found his eyes meeting Chase's and was out of his seat and moving for the door before he'd had time to consider what he was doing. Luckily, no one else in the room had noticed the hunter or seemed to care that the beta was leaving.

In the hallway, he took Chase by the elbow and led him further from the meeting room and the noise, relieved to finally have a bit of peace and quiet. Then he turned the hunter to face him and studied the man carefully. His eyes were red and his golden blonde hair was still mussed from sleep, but otherwise he looked deceptively normal, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel thrown on top—Mav noticed it smelled more of Mason than Chase, so likely one of the ones the omega had worn recently.

"How are you feeling?" Mav asked, watching the hunter's expression. "Did you sleep alright?"

The hunter studied him right back through narrowed eyes. "Did you sleep at all?"

Mav waved him away and turned to head downstairs. He may as well get more coffee while he was already away from the meeting room. After a moment of hesitation, the soft sound of footsteps indicated Chase had decided to follow.

"Has there been any news?" he asked as he caught up to the larger man.

Mav slowed his stride so the hunter would have an easier time keeping up. "No." He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "Everyone just keeps arguing in circles. Honestly, we need help, but no one will listen when I suggest contacting the Council because of course that would mean admitting we can't handle it ourselves, and that our alpha is missing, both of which would make us appear weak. Fucking politics, I swear."