Losing Her Mate (Book 2 of The Red Dawn Trilogy )

Chapter TWENTY-THREE

James POV

"That was pretty impressive how you convinced the Alpha to stay home."
The sun is close to setting and darkness is beginning to consume the forest. Fortunately for us we have excellent night vision and don't have a problem seeing where we're going as we trek through the trees.

"It was no big deal. It's a common misconception that you can't get your way with an Alpha. I was with Amber for almost a year I learned a few things" I hop over a fallen log and pause listening for the sound of rushing water.

"Like?" Jared jumps down next to me.

"Like never confront her head on the way Dallas did it's suicide. All you have to do is appear objective and neutral and play on her sensibility. No woman wants to come off as crazy or unreasonable."

"Hmm I'll have to remember that my next relationship." he chuckles looking around at our surroundings.

"So if you were to guess which berry patches do you think the girls visited this way. The ones by the salmon stream or catfish?" I nod my head indicating the different directions. Jared scratches his head in thought.

"I'd say catfish it's the closes only about a mile. I can't imagine them traveling 9 miles for the other one"

"Agreed, let's go find ourselves a ghost" We begin walking again. Our direction veering more off to the east now.

"Ah James don't tell me you believe in all this ghost BS."

"No I don't but I'm not in the business of ruling things out too quickly."

It takes about 10 minutes before we reach the clearing where the berry bushes are. The smell of blue berries is strong in the air theres four long rows of bushes to our right and to our left a flowing stream about 5ft wide and shallow enough to see the fish swimming along the bottom.

At first glance nothing really stands out everything is as it should be. Definitely no heart eating ghosts. Jared must come to the same conclusion.

"Shocker not a damn thing. I was actually getting kinda excited"

"We should split up and scan the area. I'll check behind the blueberries."

"Alright I'll check across the stream"

With that we head are separate ways. I walk in between the gaps in the bushes. Its wide enough to where is not too much of a hassle. Once free I immediately begin searching. I extend all my senses as I walk around carefully scanning looking for anything unusual such as foreign tracks or the scent of a trespasser.

After 30 minutes tick by of inspecting random deer beds, following squirrel tracks, and isolating smells on trees, the only thing I came up with is nothing. I did smell the scent of a couple of pack members but it was days old and extremely faint. I have no clue what the girls saw but it's not over here. I see nothing out of the ordinary, I smell nothing strange , I hear-

I jerk my head up and listen. A small noise catches my attention like an odd huffing. It was no louder than the the flap of a butterfly's wing. In fact it was so soft I'm not sure if I really heard anything but something inside me tells me not to ignore it. I spin around in a circle seeking it's source but sense nothing.

I concentrate trying to remember which direction it came from. I'm not for certain but I think I know and I head that way. After about 20 steps I halt. The air feels off here like the pressure is heavier there has to be something here. I focus and...

Ugh I still don't sense anything. This is ridiculous, I'm just being paranoid. It was probably the wind or something. I should go back and see how Jared's fairing. I gaze around one last time then lift my head to look in the trees.