“No… why?” Aaron asked, clearly worried. “I thought she went to the packhouse to grab something…”
“You came back from there too, right? Did you see her?” His mother’s voice quivered. I felt like the ground might swallow me up.
“No… I didn’t see her,” I stuttered, my mind racing as I forced the words out.
“Where could she be?” Aaron’s mother pressed, her voice breaking. “She’s not at the packhouse, and her scent is faint. She shouldn’t have been gone for two hours.”
Two hours? I tried to sniff the air, searching for the faint scent of roses that always reminded me of her. But… it was gone. The bond… it must have been the broken bond that made it so faint.
“She must be close,” I muttered to myself. “She could be hiding, crying somewhere in the trees…”
“Let’s go look for her,” I suggested, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest.
“Yes, we must,” Aaron’s voice was firm as he nodded.
We ran through the woods, the search frantic, with Aaron’s parents and Eliana’s friends joining us, sniffing the air as they scanned the surroundings. I felt my irritation growing again. Why did she have to be so sensitive? A night meant for celebrating was now ruined because of her. We should be reveling with the rest of the pack, not running around looking for a human who didn’t belong.
“Her scent is leading toward the cliff,” Aaron’s father said urgently.
“Let’s go,” I ordered, though my heart raced for reasons I couldn’t explain. We dashed through the trees, the smell of roses still faint in the air. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
When we reached the cliff, my heart sank. The river below shimmered under the moonlight, the water flowing fiercely, and I couldn’t shake the dread filling me.
“Look!” Mira’s voice broke the tension as she picked something up from the dirt.
“Her phone!” she exclaimed, furrowing her brows, worry flashing across her face.
“No!” Aaron gasped, his voice breaking as he looked at the phone, panic flooding his system.
“My Ellie!” His mother whispered, but her voice trailed off as if she couldn’t even finish the thought.
“No. We won’t think like that,” Aaron’s father spoke, trying to steady his wife, his voice strong but filled with concern. “She’s fine. She’s out there, we’ll find her.”
“Go check the waters,” Aaron’s father urged.
Aaron nodded, rushing toward the river. Unable to stand idly by, I followed him, with Victor right behind me. Mira and Lydia weren’t far behind either. Our wolf senses made it easy for us to move quickly.
When we reached the water, Victor called out. “Guys…”
He was holding something—something that had washed up onto the shore. My stomach dropped as I saw it.
It was a shoe.
“No! Ellie!” Aaron’s voice cracked, his hands trembling as he held the shoe close to his chest, like it was the last thing that mattered.
I looked at my friend’s broken face and felt my own heart sink. This can’t be happening.
Mira and Lydia gasped, their faces pale with shock.
“Why?” Aaron whispered hoarsely, staring at the shoe, his voice lost, as though he were searching for something he could never find again.
No… this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Not this way. Not her.
