The Rise-Book II

Chapter 56: You Are My Sunshine

She was gone. She was gone and I wasn't there to stop them. She was gone and our kitchen was destroyed; burnt sugar and the smell of her hair still lingering

She was gone and I had no idea where she was; I couldn't link her, I could barely feel the bond. I felt like my whole world was falling apart–I think the worst feeling in the world was feeling this helpless.

I felt so damn helpless.

Powerless because there was no damn trail–I had no idea where to even start looking.

My wolf whined out for her, relentlessly pacing back and forth as he tried to find our mate over our bond. She was there but she was in pain and weak, we could feel that much.

"Ethan," Evan softly called out to me as he walked in the house. "Ethan, Levi's back."

I nodded and took one last look around. Ryder and Remi had the trackers earlier tear this place up and thought they had a few good leads, I prayed they had a good lead. The longer she was missing, the more dangerous it was.

"Ethan we'll find her," Evan said, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Jaxon's out looking, so are Ajax and Deryl. Levi's almost tore up everything his feet have walked on and those witches are here. We're going to find her."

I nodded silently then turn quickly to walk out of the house. Being in a place that smelled of her only made the guilt weighing on me that much more painful to bare. "What witches?"

"Caleb and some woman named Daphne? I think she's Caleb's light," Evan answered as he jogged to catch up with me.

"What about Bernard?"

Evan shook his head. "I'll let him explain because I still don't understand it all, but he's having a hard time tracking her."

"She could be anywhere," I breathed out, my heart chipping away slowly.

Quickly I tried to push the pain our of my mind and shifted to my fur; tearing off to the pack house and trying to let my mind focus on running rather than her. But it was impossible. It was like everything reminded me of her, like there were traces of her everywhere.

Haunting.

I made it to the packhouse to see Remi and Liam jog up. Liam tossed me some sweatpants while Remi pulled on a t-shirt. "Levi?" I asked.

"Inside," Remi breathed out.

I turned with Evan on my heel as I tried to hold it all together, hold all the anger and pain and fear in. I felt like a time bomb; a soda that had been shaken up too much with the cap on. My wolf and I knew we had to stay calm, lashing out wasn't going to help us find her faster, but when the bond would squeeze it was everything I had to not break out of my skin.

"Get the hell out my way!" Levi barked out.

I don't know why, but hearing his anger gave me some kind of hope. Hope that seemed to dwindle since the minute she had gone missing; I had been out looking for her with my own men, scouring every inch of this damn pack and came up with nothing.

Walking into the meeting room, we had turned it into the headquarters for the search. Pack wolves and warriors were running around like their hair was on fire while Evangeline tried to pull up someone on Skype that she had projected on the bedsheet we had hung over a white board.

She caught my eye and walked quickly to hug me. I sighed and hugged her back. "Hey, red."

"Anything?"

I shook my head. "Nothing yet–she and Amber could be anywhere."

"Ethan," she timidly said. "Are you sure Amber–"