Heir To The Iron Crown: Dyrith

37 - þrjátíu og Sjó

My feet touched the ground noiselessly behind Valente's house, and I looked around to make sure there weren't any guard warriors around.

Perhaps Valente hadn't informed them about my go-to escape route.

Works for me.

My body knew where I was headed even before I paid any attention to where I was going.

The dark forest engulfed me in just a few steps, and I knew I was most likely to find Valente somewhere along the pack perimeter.

"Ima?" I called out to her.

She didn't respond.

I knew she was upset.

I sighed, and kept walking, trying to pick up on my mate's scent.

At some points during my walk, it was everywhere, and in some, the place was devoid of him.

I knew not to step out of the borders, I would know if I'm getting too close to them. A sense of protection that a pack provides falls off when you step out, and I knew better than to risk it.

I tried to reach out to my mate again, but to no avail. It was as if he had completely cut me off.

I tried reaching out to Delta Osvald, because I knew he was with Valente. But even he had this inexplicable mental block that I couldn't get through.

At first I'd thought Valente had cut me off because he was trying to focus on the search, but reaching the same dead end with Delta Osvald caused me to slowly panic.

The flip-flops I stole from Valente's room were doing me no good in terms of speed, but I managed to quicken my steps in my search.

I couldn't find any of them anywhere. It was as if they had completely vanished.

As I circled the perimeter, I tried to employ Ima's help, but was given grunts and huffs in return.

"I don't like the feel of this Rayne," she said, implying I needed to get back home right now.

"Neither do I, that's why I need to find out what happened to Valente and his search party," I said.

"Do you have to do this alone?" she asked, exasperated.

My feet had started to hurt again, after the long day in those tall-heeled shoes, and walking around the forest for nearly forty-five minutes to absolutely no avail.

"I am not doing anything Ima. I just want to see Valente," I told her, the worry reciprocating from her as well. I knew she felt this whole thing was a bad idea, but she didn't take over to stop me because she was worried too.

And that horrible feeling of not knowing kept me going, running around in circles, to find a clue, or anything.

My headache wasn't letting up, but I did my best to ignore it enough, in order to keep searching.

"Maybe he went back. Maybe he's at the pack house," Ima said, trying to get me away from here.

If that's the case, why hasn't he removed his mental block by now?

"You and I both know that's unlikely. He already told us no one has trespassed. If Bayo is anywhere, it's right outside our borders," I told her firmly, even though my faith in that statement was shaky.

I'd been walking for such a long time, I'm sure I'd covered a lot of ground. If anything was happening, I would have at least seen something, or heard something.