My Rogue

Chapter 26: Hope

Bly's POV

It had been about a week since Adriel had woken up. It was a mixture of relief and worry when he first opened his eyes and started with all the questions. We knew it would only lead to one outcome, but no one wanted to tell him.

Losing our Alpha for six months was hard, but at least he was here. Safe. The same couldn't be said for his mate and that's what scared the pack.

At first, I thought they were all worried about Mika for the sake of Adriel. After the elder had explained how the Adriel was receiving his wounds, the entire pack seemed to go white with worry. We had just lost an Alpha three years ago, were we about to lose another?

But as the months went by and Adriel's pain lessened and lessened, we could only grow more and more concerned about Mika. I remembered the conversation Elder Simi had with the pack.

"So what does that mean?" Uncle Tokala had asked, an unusual amount of tension in his voice. "His mate is no longer in danger? Or at least stopped torturing the child?"

We all had felt our hearts drop to the bit of our stomachs as Elder Simi shook her head.

"I'm afraid it's more than likely the opposite."

"W-what do you mean opposite?" Ayana had managed to get out. The entire time Mika was gone, she could barely leave the medical ward. Her hair was never brushed and her eyes were perpetually red and puffy from the crying.

Elder Simi had taken a big sigh, her downcast eyes sending shivers of nerves through me. "I fear that the moon spirit is simply weakening. The fact the Alpha is no longer in such pain is probably due to the fact the Spirit is losing the strength to divide the pain amongst the two. In all likely, the host is taking more and more of the damage until the Moon Spirit...tires."

"What do you mean, tires?" Uncle's voice shook ever so slightly but I had heard it.

Simi had looked us all in the eyes, her gaze intense and full of dreadful promises. "What I mean is, the Moon Spirit is desperately trying to keep the host alive. At first, it did that by passing the pain along to it's host's mate in order to make it somewhat bearable. Now, it seems to be losing the strength to do so. When the Alpha awakens, it most likely means the Moon Spirit can no longer protect the host. It has grown too weak. And if the spirit growns to weak, it's host cannot survive."

"S-so that means... if Adriel wakes up... Mika is..." Kele had to grip tight to his twin inorder to stop his swaying. He had looked sick to his stomach and I know the two of them had blamed themselves for not being there, for letting Mika get taken away.

Hell, I felt the same. When I heard those words, I couldn't stop the bile from rising in my throat. The tears had threatened to come from my eyes and all I could do was sink into Charlie's arms as he was luckily there with me the whole time. That almost made it worse, to know my mate was there with me while Mika and Adriel were torn apart because of our failures.

As the months had passed and Adriel remained asleep, the pack was in a mix of relief and dread. The pack did everything they could, I did everything I could think of, but we had no idea where he would be, or why he would even want a moon spirit in his possession. And what was the benefit to torturing the host? WHat good would that do him?

It seemed in the time Adriel spent taking the pain of his mate, the more and more questions we piled on with not an answer in sight.

And now we sat there, staring at the open eyes of our Alpha, our brother. The one who stood up, who took care of us after mom and dad died. The person who threw aside looking for his mate to run a pack younger than was typically allowed. The younger brother who let his elder sister go fulfil her dream while he took care of his siblings.

And when he finally... finally... has a chance to be happy? What a cruel world it was to take that away so easily. They had not yet marked each other, so he wouldn't necessarily die because Mika did, not like how mom went, but I know he would never really live again.

Now, a week after he woke up, a week of having to process all the news we couldn't bear to talk about for six months, and he wouldn't stop.

He didn't get angry at us when we told him Mika was probably dead. He didn't get angry when we said we couldn't find any information as to where he was. He just thanked us for trying and locked himself in his office.

A month later, and he didn't listen when we said he couldn't drown himself in work to find his mate because his mate was likely no longer findable. He didn't eat when we brought his food, didn't sleep when he begged him to. He never left his office.

All he did was search.

He scoured thousands and thousands of reports of rogue attacks. He contacted every pack we've ever had a positive interaction with and asked for help. He tracked animal patterns and police reports of wolf attacks on civilians.

He never stopped.

And surprisingly enough, the one by his side the entire time was our Uncle.

Uncle Tokala was like his second arm throughout the search. If Adriel needed a file, he had it in hand. If he needed a search, Tokala organized the tracking wolves. If Adriel didn't have enough pull with another pack, Tokala pulled some strings.

For three years I watched as my Uncle and elder brother nipped at eachother like the wolves they were, never trusting, never understanding one another.

Ever since our cousin Laura was killed, Tokala was never the same. Ever since our parents were killed, he never trusted Adriel as Alpha. But now, he was the perfect guide to Adriel's Alpha. The ambition of my brother and the experience of my Uncle, it was enough to make miracles.

And that's what happened, a miracle. The day Adriel walked through that door, a single piece of paper in hand, I felt a spark of excitement. His hair was disheveled and clothes a mess.. I couldn't say the last time he took a shower but by the smell, I'd say it had been before his coma. But he had a spark in his eye that could only be described as hope.

My heart pounded as he looked at me and with a cracked voice, said:

"I found him."

A/N: So it's a little short, but I've just had so much writers block with this story, I just needed to get something written. Hope you enjoy it, please vote and comment how you think the story is developing so far :)