Forever Luna

Inspect

verb ~ to look at someone or something closely to typically assess their condition

PHOENIX

I was uneasy leaving Nova when she was so close to her due date. At twenty-seven weeks and five days, she was already a week more than her last pregnancy. With her only experience being twins, knowing when this singular babe would come was another guessing game. Her maternal aunt birthed her children after thirty weeks, but both of them were lycan wolves, and lycans tend to take after their human inspirations.

Leaving Sean behind was the easiest option. He was level-headed enough to manage the pack and tough enough on Nova when she was being too much. Compared to the last pregnancy, this one was as easy as it came. She was less snappy and complained less about backache, so I called it a win.

Just don't tell her I compared the two. I think that calm demeanour would soon change.

I came with a small group of guards. I highly doubt I'd need to defend myself or even need the back-up for that, but more people meant more ground to cover during our search.

As the plane taxied off the runway, we ran through a quick summary of our next movements. There were four of us, each with our own route in the forests.

"We will head to where the car entered the forest and search for tracks. We have to try to figure out if the vehicle stayed in the woods or if they used it as a diversion." I explained.

"Can't you just check cameras from the main roads?"

My eyes darted to Jacob. "Not all of them have cameras. Two potential exits are small lanes."

"They'd be the most obvious if they left." He suggested.

"They could be." I agreed. "That's why we need to see what we can find."

"He's been missing for months. It's rained countless times and now it's getting to snow season." Max stated. "It's going to be hard."

"That's why we split up." Kelsey frowned. "We have to look because if we miss something, it could cost Pollux's life."

Well, she put that nicer than I could've.

"Come on." I urged. "Before the sun rises."

Exiting the plane, we ran toward the trees. There, we stripped off our dark clothes and turned into our furs. This runway was amongst an enormous mass of forest, with a small break of fields before the rest of the trees continued. With Pollux deciding to get kidnapped in a town large enough to be a city, we had a lot of ground to cover.

My paws dug into the dirt as we ran toward the spot where the car disappeared. It didn't take us long, and much to our disappointment, there was no track of tyre tracks. I huffed, but ordered everyone to go their own directions. As the three of them scampered off, I remained where I was, glaring down at the ground as though tyre tracks would appear out of thin air.

Shaking out my fur, I moved on. We would run out of night cover if I didn't get moving.

***

As the sun rose, we were no better. Howling softly, I called a re-group. We have been searching for hours in the dark cold, and I was grateful it didn't rain. Through the mud, critters, and debris of my area, I found nothing entertaining.

It took our group longer than I'd like to re-group, but when Jacob came sliding in last, I could tell he had something. His eyes were wide, and he seemed a little annoyed that I had ordered everyone back.

His dark brown wolf huffed, brown eyes zoned in on me. 'Why the rush?'

The sun is rising. I stated. We don't need hunters or a hiker seeing a wolf this close to civilisation.