Two Pups (bxbxb)

A Bit of Stalking

Elliott's POV

It felt like such a victory to find out who stole my children, that the moments after the fact filled me with dread. The truth was that we knew it was Noel, but we didn't know where Noel was.

I paced up and down the kitchen, filled with anxiety. At least, based on Zander's story, it seemed that Noel wanted to take care of Jake and Josh for himself. He wanted to keep them safe and healthy.

For days I'd been tortured with thoughts of my children, scared and cold and lonely and in pain. Maybe that wasn't the case.

But it didn't matter. Nobody could take care of my children the way I could.

"I have always had a tight leash on Noel," Zander was saying as he searched through Noel's phone. "I'm surprised he managed to keep this horrible thing from me for so long."

I didn't want to hear about how Zander knew all of Noel's passwords and hardly ever gave him time to be alone. I wanted to hear that he'd figured it out.

"There must be a way for you to think of where he went," I blurted out, resisting the urge to punch Zander's stupid family pictures off his wall. "There must be a way. Think of your son and where he might want to go."

Zander stared at his hands.

I tried not to growl at him.

The one thing that was keeping me calm was the knowledge that there were people at Mark's house. My mate's parents and Mason were searching for any clue they could find related to Mark's disappearance.

"Any summer homes?" Tate rattled off. "Favorite vacations places? Any locations that Mark and Noel used to go to alone? Anything at all?"

"I don't know!" Zander growled. "I have no idea. At this point, the best we can do is find some way to track them. Obviously Noel left with cash and no cellphone, but maybe Mark is using a credit card."

Zander's mate, Eliza, came down the stairs. She was a tiny woman, smaller than Noel even, with dark hair and bright eyes. "I couldn't find anything in his bedroom," she said mournfully. "There's nothing out of place."

"His computer history," Tate stressed. "He must have done research."

She nodded and raced back up the stairs.

"His phone search history has nothing out of place," Zander said, looking a little red in the face. "And I would have been happier to not look through it."

We were just sitting here doing nothing, and they got further away with every second.

"Did you see him leave?" I asked. "How early did you discover that he was gone? At least they're only a few hours away at most."

"He said he was getting breakfast with Mark," Zander explained. "And he took off. I didn't think anything was off until I looked at my bank account. When it had been a few hours and there was still no sign of Noel, I knew that something was wrong."

"Which is when you called Charlotte?" Tate asked.

"Exactly."

We were all silent for a moment, and then Oliver shoved the phone away from himself. "Well, we know for a fact that it was Noel. The only texts left undeleted were between him and his mate, talking about their future family."

I could taste vomit in the back of my throat. His future family. Which he stole from me, because I was able to have children and he wasn't. Because my family's bloodline was going to continue, and his wasn't.

"Isn't his health declining?" I asked, not really understanding why it suddenly mattered. "Why would he do this now, when his health is in a decline?"