Mateless and Home Bound (In Process Of Publication)

Chapter 14: Scent

"Hold on," Max said. "You guys are telling me that you think a witch lives in the forest?"

"That's what Eric thinks," Reggie said. He had just heard about this when he got off from patrol. They both decided to get some sleep before telling Max. It was too early in the morning and he needed to make sure he was ready to go for his next shift.

"Where did this all start?" Max looked to Eric.

"Well," Eric started. "It was after Alistair said that the forest was mourning for someone. Jane decided to ask Elder Martha if she could remember anything and she told the story of how this witch saved her life during the war with the Blood Moon pack."

"That was ages ago," Max told his son. "That witch probably died a long time ago, or moved out."

"Except for the fact that Reggie knows someone who says they live in the forest," Eric told him. "And his grandma passed away just last week."

Reggie tensed. He really didn't want to talk about Sage. He still had yet to tell Max that he had found his mate, which could cause some trouble if he took too long. He was hoping to wait until Sage was in a little better of a mood. He didn't exactly want to bring all this stress on him while he was still grieving.

"Who?" Max looked at him. "The one we told you to go and see the other night?"

"Yeah," Reggie said. "I met him in school, but he never told me that he lives around here until he flew in."

"You met him at the school?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?" he wondered what his cousin was thinking right then. His purple eyes looked lost in information that he couldn't tap into.

"Don't worry about that right now," Max said. "Can you get ahold of him?"

"Unfortunately, not," Reggie frowned. "He just left Gila to his grandma's place. It doesn't have reception." It made him worried that he couldn't even get a quick text from him. Sage really seemed like he needed someone else to be there with him. But he was going there all by himself. He told him that he had already told the family friends not to worry about him. He could make it on his own.

Reggie just didn't believe him.

"Could you follow his scent?" Max asked him.

"Not really," he told him. "It's a faint one, much too faint to track in the forest." There were too many scents from animals and other wolves in that forest. Even with his hypersensitivity towards his mate, he wouldn't be able to pick up on his scent.

"Is he going to be coming back to Gila sometime soon?" Max continued to question.

"He told me he would in a week," he answered. "He's setting up the memorial for her right now."

"Alright," Max ran his hand through his hair. "We'll leave it at that for now, then. When he gets ahold of you, ask if he'd allow some more people to that memorial. I'd like to know who's been able to stay hidden in that forest for so long without us knowing."

"What if it's in one of the other pack's territories, though?" Eric asked. "That's what we were thinking when he first told us about it."

"No one lives in the forest other than the three packs," Max shook his head. "I already asked both packs if they knew anyone other than their members. They told me that not a single soul lived in either of their territories. All that came through was the occasional hunter or camper."

There lied the greatest mystery that their pack had dealt with in years. With mysterious hunters disappearing into thin air, and this news of someone living in the forest, it seemed like all the warriors were on alert. Even Ed, the Gamma of the pack, was brought out to help with the patrols. Max had upped the guard so much that every warrior was being used and put into full time.