Mate Mysteries

Chapter 46

Pip often woke up sweating, or woke to Krey shaking him, but he never woken up to a tree branch hitting him in the face.

Pip blinked into the darkness. Silence pricked him like tiny hands grabbing the hairs on the back of his neck. "What," Pip whispered. His eyes widened, darting back and forth inside a still head. His hands trembled when his eyes got used to the darkness.

He stood in the middle of the woods, dark, and alone, and cold. "Krey?" he whispered, blinking when shocked tears stung his eyes. Pip dared to move his head, and then his feet. He looked down. His feet were bare and muddy.

His breath shone in the moon above, and Pip suddenly crouch into the shadows, pushing his back into the rough bark of a tree trunk. His back stung, but Pip ignored it. He wrapped shaking arms around himself. Woods looped his vision for as far as he could see in the dead of night.

Pip had no idea where he was, why he was in the middle of the woods, and how he had gotten out of the Packhouse without anyone knowing. Pip assumed nobody knew he was gone because nobody was with him. "Krey?" he whispered again. Not even leaves rustled. His wobbling breaths were the loudest noises around him.

No reply came. Pip sat in disbelieve for what felt like hours, but the moon barely moved in the sky, so he hadn't been there long until he gained the courage to move a little. As soon as he stepped away from the shadows, he heard something far in the distance, like quick footsteps.

Pip panicked and hurried towards the darkest part of the woods, shielded by a large tree and big rocks. Pip had no idea what was going on as he squeezed himself between the rocks, and next to god knows how many bugs and spiders or badgers or rabbits. But he was in the shade and could only be found by scent.

He pulled knees to his chest and listened to several feet running louder and louder. The cold stone numbed his arms. Pip freaked when he assumed wolves had smelt him. He barely had the time to think about why he was in the middle of the woods, but he could barely think at all with the threat of wolves in the dead of night.

Pip covered his mouth when a terrified tremble escaped him. The running got even louder, then he heard voices, and Pip almost covered his ears until he realised that voices meant humans, not werewolves.

"I can smell him stronger here!" a female voice said.

Pip thought it was Francis, but he wasn't sure until he heard a deep voice yelling his name. "Krey!" Pip gasped. Now that he had squeezed himself into a small space from so much fear, his legs weren't keen to move.

"I heard something!" the deep voice yelled. He was getting close. Pip heard his heavy panting. "Pippor!"

"Krey?" Pip replied timidly. A small part of him was scared he had got it wrong, and it wasn't Krey.

Pip yelped when someone suddenly crouched in front of the rocks. The man's brows furrowed. His brown eyes burst with worry. "Pip!" Krey breathed, reaching between the rocks to pull him out. "What the fuck were you doing?" he yelled, inspecting him from head to toe.

"I-"

"How the fuck did you even get out?" Krey continued, grabbing the top of his arms. "What the hell are you even doing in the woods at this time of night?"

"I-" Pip burst into tears. "I-I don't know!"

Krey then realised Pip was trembling, and he grasped the fact that he had been too angry. "Come here," he said quietly. Pip clutched him tightly and sobbed into his chest as Francis sprinted up to them, out of breath.

"You got him," she breathed, looking up to the moon with relief. "You got him, thank goodness."

"He's freezing," Krey mumbled, picking Pip up. Pip clung to Krey with his shaking arms and legs. "Let's get him inside and get him warm, then we can ask what's going on."