Oh Hell No

Chapter 24

By the time Chris arrived at the clearing with a few of the pack's better trackers, Ryder had resorted to moping in wolf form. He was sure that there were no clues to be found anywhere. Jamie's trail ended in the clearing, so the rogues probably used scent blockers on her too. His own search of the area revealed nothing, no objects carelessly left behind or tracks in the dirt. So, he didn't see the point of bringing some other wolves around, as if they would be better at finding his mate than him.

Obviously, the future beta could tell that Ryder was in no mood to be a leader, so he got ahead to sending out the trackers. They both had incredible senses of smell, and keen eyes that would hopefully yield some bit of information that Ryder had missed. He tended to have problems focusing when someone he cared about was possibly in danger, and his mate wasn't an exception to this rule, so it wasn't a stretch to say that he might have missed something.

"Do you plan on giving up this quickly, or do you want to yell at the twins to work harder?" Chris asked him, nudging his side a bit with his foot. He got a quiet growl in response, "Quitting it is. When you're done pouting like a baby, let me know. Leona and Peter will find something, they always do."

Ryder just grumbled more, not liking being called a quitter. Chris would be just as bad if his own mate was taken, that is, once he finds his. It wasn't fair for him to judge, when he didn't know how important Jamie is to him. Wanting to pout, but not wanting to prove Chris right at the same time, he reluctantly got up and shifted. Granted, he was frowning in the same way a kid would when he was told he couldn't get a toy at the store.

"Well, look who decided to man up. Good for you," Chris congratulated him, getting yet another growl in response, "It's called tough love, without it you'd still be no more help than a kitten."

"I found something!" Leona called, making Ryder's frown turn even less intimidating.

"What? Where? I already looked everywhere within twenty feet of the clearing!" Then again, that wasn't very far and he was more than a little distracted. Still, it hurt his pride to know that they had been more successful after only a minute.

They walked over to where her voice had come from, finding her crouched down. She picked up a small bottle from the ground that had a little bit of clear liquid at the bottom, "It smells like disinfectant," Peter complained.

"Or, like a pack doctor's office," Leona observed, looking at the small label. It appeared her internship with Doctor Henry had been going well, "It's a tranquilizer, a strong one," She told them, passing the bottle up to Ryder.

He vaguely recognized the name of the stuff, since he had seen Doctor Henry sedate many injured wolves over the years after attacks. Injured werewolves tended to be quite cranky, and even the patient man didn't like dealing with them while they were conscious. The chemical was relatively common in the werewolf community, especially since many learned to make it from human hospitals, except they were originally meant for bears, so they probably hadn't stolen it from them. But, they still had to have gotten it somewhere, and a human hospital didn't seem likely. Those people had gotten much better at securing their cabinets.

"That's good," Chris commented, taking the bottle.

Ryder glared at him, "In what world is that a good thing?" He figured that it would be good if he found Jamie with a couple dead rogues, maybe going over to the lake afterwards to wash the blood off.

He shrugs, "It means that she didn't leave willingly, so she might actually appreciate a rescue. Also, they wouldn't have to take her by force if they used this, so she wasn't hurt during the abduction itself," Well, damn. He wasn't expecting Chris to come back with an actual argument, but then he remembered who he was talking to.

"Y'know, Henry might be able to figure out where this stuff came from," Peter pointed out, "Because all these things have their own numbering system and stuff, right?" He looked to Leona for confirmation.

"Should be, yeah," She nods.

"In that case I want you to run this over to Henry immediately," Ryder passed the bottle back to Leona, "And Peter, I want you to continue searching the area for any more clues," Because he clearly couldn't handle doing something as simple as that for the sake of his own mate.

Leona nodded and took the bottle back, immediately running off towards the pack doctor's office. It wouldn't take her long to get there, so hopefully Henry would have an answer for him soon. From there, he'd only have to get permission to go to whatever pack, or possibly hospital, that the sedative came from, and from his dad. Apparently, because he wasn't the alpha yet he had to ask his dad to ask the pack for a pass to enter their lands, like everyone else despite being perfectly capable.

"I'll stay too," Chris offers, "I've already completed my shift of dealing with mopey Ryder, so it's someone else's turn," Usually, they drew popsicle sticks for the job. No matter what you'd have to deal with him, but the later turn you got the better chances that he'd be in a better mood.

"You know I can banish you, right?" Ryder points out.

"True, but you won't," He argues, unfazed, "Because you know I'm right," He leaves with Peter to continue their sweep of the area, smirking the entire way.

"Prick," Ryder muttered. In all honesty he did appreciate Chris's clever efforts, because he did actually feel a little better. Or rather, he did feel better until he remembered that his mate might be hurt or dying right now. That put quite the damper on his mood.

If they had at least started the mating process, he would be able to have some sense if she was okay, but he didn't know if that would be better. On one hand, he'd feel a lot better if he knew that she wasn't hurt, but if she was then he'd probably feel even worse than he already did. It was a double-edged sword, and either way he swung he'd get cut.

A/N: Will Ryder and co. be able to find Jamie? I mean, probably, this would be a pretty damn depressing book if not