Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Wolf’s Auctioned Mate Chapter 13

Wendell

Never in my life had I gotten this worked up over a woman. Never in my days had I laid awake with my eyes wide open and my heart skipping a beat every time I tried to figure out where in the hell Laurencia could have gone. Without her scent filling up the apartment, I could barely catch any sleep, worrying myself sick about whether or not she'd gone back to the market.

Around 3:00 AM, I shot up from the pillows and called everybody who would answer their phone. Elias, Troy, Skye, Isaiah, and Jada joined me in the clearing where building items were scattered everywhere. Troy touched my shoulder. "Do you remember where you last saw her?"

"She was at the apartment."

Skye frowned. "Why wouldn't we start looking there?"

"Because she's Laurencia," Jada replied calmly. "She'd probably want to go where no one could find her."

I hung my head. "Did I do something wrong, Alpha? Did I fail her?"

Troy caught both my shoulders and forced me to look at him. "No, sir. Don't you dare go thinking of yourself that way. You're not a failure." He took a steady breath. "Now, tell me about the argument." "What argument?"

Everyone gave me a knowing look. While I didn't appreciate the look, I knew why.

I cleared my throat and took a step back. "Alright, you don't have to be like that. Seriously."

Isaiah covered his mouth to cover a chuckle while Jada elbowed him.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "She said something about a promise I'd made."

"What was the promise?"

I dug my fingers into my hair while my body went into flight mode. This was too much. Telling my pack about the way Laurencia and I knew each other and how she had rejected me so long ago made me sick to my stomach. Not many things made me anxious, but this one felt like I was dropping from a plane without a parachute.

The ladder became my focal point as I tried to think of something logical that wouldn't give away our history. "She said I broke a promise. That's as much as I can say."

Troy nodded. "Then that's all the information we need. Did she give you any warning before she left?"

"No, actually, things were fine when I left this morning-" I scrubbed my hand down my face. "I mean, yesterday morning. I didn't get much sleep. I thought maybe she'd come home or something."

"The market would have been last night," Jada stated. She looked at Skye. "You and I will talk to the stragglers and the people left in the street."

Skye nodded and turned to the others. "Check the beach. She likes camping and stuff like that."

Troy looked at me. "That leaves us with the forest."

Isaiah and Elias left shortly after Jada and Skye. That left me standing with my alpha in the middle of the clearing with the treehouse above and the hopes I had left up there. A peaceful life would have been within reach if I hadn't been matched with this wild woman. If I was left to myself, then I'd be tucked in a sleeping bag under the stars with only my nightmares to keep me company.

But was that truly how I wished to live out the rest of my life?

Troy smiled expectantly like he wanted me to spill every last thought in my head. As I shook my head, he laughed.

"It's alright," he assured. "There were things I never shared with people during my courtship with Skye."

"But you were matched with Skye by Blake."

He nodded. "That doesn't mean there wasn't a period of courtship."

"It just doesn't feel that way with Laurencia," I said while approaching the ladder. "Like it feels like we've already known each other forever. We've already fallen into patterns."

He hummed. "That means it's natural."

That meant we had a history-yet regardless of how safe it felt to talk to my alpha, I didn't want to tell him about that. Admitting my dalliance with Laurencia in the past would mean revealing other information.

I rubbed the back of my head. No wonder I ran the other night from that alleyway at the market. It reminded me of the one behind Garfield's Grill. Every time I got nervous, the back of my head hurt much like it had when I got attacked.

That was her fault, I thought. I scaled the ladder and walked out onto the reinforced deck, the new one I had installed yesterday. If she hadn't left me sitting at the bar, then I wouldn't have gotten lured into an alley by those idiotic vampires. For more free novels, visit FindNovel.net

Why would I tell Troy about that? His best protector, his greatest guardian had been assaulted by vampires in the most public-the most human-space around. That was a terrible thing to tell him.

Troy sidled up beside me with his hands in his pockets. "I know it's difficult."

"It's more than difficult."

He laughed. "You're right. It's the greatest challenge you've ever faced."

"I've jumped out of planes. I've battled raging rivers. I've climbed cliffs hanging over the ocean without any gear." I sighed. "How is this the most difficult thing I've had to face?"

"If it were easy, then it wouldn't be worth earning, would it?"

I chortled. "That's absurd."

"Isn't that life?"

"We've survived two wars, Troy. Two wars. Both of them drained us of energy, resources..." I hung my head. "...People."

He patted my upper back lightly, rhythmically. "We've both been through the ringer and back."

"I don't get how the hell we managed to get away from that crazy doctor, Troy. We got out of there alive. Now we just...what? Pick up the pieces?"

"Our worst enemies aren't those who threaten us harm, but the ones that linger long after harm has been done."

I took a deep breath, letting my eyes close with the inhalation, trying to picture the world as it was now instead of how I wanted it to be. Order, structure, control-those things existed within my body. While I couldn't always command them out in the world, I could be the vessel through which they existed.

Like the treehouse.

Like my relationship with Laurencia.

Troy rubbed my shoulder. I looked at my alpha, wondering how in the world he had gotten through his mating courtship without losing his mind. Or perhaps he had lost his mind without ever showing it on the surface.

Bravecrest members had a bad habit of doing that.

"Should I go to therapy?" I asked. "Should I take Laurencia with me?"

"That's up to you, Wendy."

I tried to smile. I tried to look on the bright side. I tried to think of what Laurencia might do in this situation.

Yet nothing seemed to comfort me. Her absence left a crater in me like it had five years in the past, laying in that alley like I was a trashcan that got knocked into by a reckless driver. Nobody picked me up. I had to do that. Now, I was managing the pieces of what was left. She rejected me. Why was I bothering to look for her at all?

"I should have finished the treehouse sooner," I stated while flipping around to walk inside. "I mean, look at this place. She probably took off because she's tired of me living in her apartment."

"It's her apartment. Why would she leave it?"

I grunted. "I don't know."

"Perhaps determining her motive would show us where she went."

The motive was right here in this treehouse-me. I knew what was happening. It was what I had been trying to avoid since we got matched. She had left me for good. No matter the depth of the scar on her neck or the attentive way I dug my fingers into her skin, she had left me high and dry again.

She had rejected me.

There was no other way to explain it this time. If she had left a note when she ran off to the market-even if she had lied about it-then she could have left a note this time as well. Her lack of response and the fact that she wasn't answering her phone for anyone meant she didn't want to be found.

I was wasting my time looking for her. Yet I couldn't stop myself from doing it.

I trudged to the door and motioned for my alpha to come back out on the deck. "Alright, let's see what we can see from here."

"Take the ground. I'll post up here."

"Good idea."

He nodded while squinting at the edge of the clearing. "Don't be discouraged if you can't find her, Wendell."

"I'm already discouraged."

"Then why bother looking?"

I ignored his question and descended the ladder, feeling like my stomach was about to drop out of my a*s. Why bother looking? I had no clue. All I knew was I had to keep looking until I found an answer.

***

The sun rose over me as I scoured the entire forest for a sign of my girlfriend. Juniper rose and fell in various directions, just about everywhere I looked, and led me to about a dozen dead ends. When I caught up with Isaiah and Elias on the beach, they reported that their noses failed them. Sea salt washed out any remnants of a shifter.

The agreement came easily. My own nose failed to sense her even though I had a feeling she was somewhere nearby. Each of us took a turn wading into the surf and checking the smaller islands of sand, hoping perhaps to find a sign of her.

But there was nothing to discover. If she had been on the beach, she would have left us in the dust. It wasn't like she had taken much with her. Items I would have assumed were precious to her had been left behind. The only thing missing was her special shifter backpack which she didn't even bother taking with her to the market, let alone anywhere else.

If it was gone, then she was gone too.

Elias and Isaiah accompanied me to Troy's cabin. Skye and Jada turned up with no news from the supernatural market. With the sun up, most people had gone to sleep-the nocturnal creatures, anyways-and anyone who could have spotted her was likely snoozing underground or in an anti-UV apartment unit in one of the buildings on that same cobblestone street.

It was useless to continue.

Elias set a cup of coffee in front of me while Jada loaded up a plate with over-easy eggs, bacon, toast, cranberries, blueberries, and Greek yogurt. As she shuffled her way toward me, Skye interfered and commanded her to sit the hell down because she was going to pop any minute now.

Jada laughed it off while Isaiah noted how Skye was being reasonable. I stared at my plate, trying to ignore the racket of noise growing around me. Though being with my family made me feel better, it also made me feel lonely. Because Laurencia should have been fluttering around the room with her bare toes getting caught on everyone's shoes and her incense making people complain.

Nothing felt right without her around. While that didn't make sense, I tried not to focus on the logical or illogical parts of the equation. None of that mattered when what I wanted was so out of reach.

"I got to get to the field," Isaiah announced. He kissed Jada on the cheek. "If Skye says sit down, you listen, understand?"

Jada smirked devilishly. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

I rolled my eyes. Being around these mated couples was going to make me sick. Just weeks ago, Elias was complaining about his mate. Now he was head-over-heels for Francine. Was I going to fall in line like them?

The room cleared when Troy shooed everyone away, even his pregnant beloved. He sat next to me with a plate of his own and gestured to my plate. "You need your strength." "I don't see the point."

"You'll find her, Wendy. I promise."

I huffed with amusement as I looked at him. "Hey, you don't make many promises."

"Neither do you."

My spirits crashed all over again. "I don't even know what I promised her, Troy. I can't remember."

"Maybe it's worth exploring once you catch up to her."

"I don't think that's going to happen."

He smiled warmly as he lifted a crispy slice of bacon and used it to gesture to my plate again. "Eat. It'll make you feel better. I promise."

***

Madness took over by the time was kissing the horizon. 24 hours without Laurencia was like having to scout out an enemy headquarters without any backup-long, grueling, and unpredictable. She hadn't yet turned up, so I went back to the treehouse to keep working on it. Whether she was here or not, I was going to finish the treehouse. I was going to make sure it was a fitting home for me. Whenever she decided to come back, she was welcome to stay here as long as we talked about it.

Doubt crashed into me. She's never coming back.

Pride would soon take over again. I wasn't terribly worried about the doubt, but I was getting annoyed with it, and I was aggravated with Laurencia for ever having planted the seed that she would be committed to me. Troy had praised her for never giving up. What about now? She was giving up a life with me that she could have built as a cozy addition to hers.

There were parts of me that had gotten used to the idea of her being around. While her betrayal had scarred me, her return had healed some of it over. That bite on her neck would ensure that she belonged to me, so it wasn't like she could run off with anybody else. Yet at the same time, she was dooming me to a horrible end.

Rejected mates usually ended up living by themselves in remote places where they slowly withered away. What I had witnessed in the past before the Gilberts had invaded was terrifying. There was one man who had taken off for the mountains who had been spotted occasionally during the full moon howling at the sky.

The man refused to wear clothes. He let his hair grow long. In the end, he attacked our cattle, acting like a wild animal instead of a shifter. Though many of us embraced our beasts, we retained logic while in our animal forms. He lost all sense of logic, going utterly mad from the fact that his mate had rejected him.

That was my fate. That was hers. Why would she accept that by running off?

I shouldn't have bitten her, I thought. I shouldn't have done anything for her. I knew this would happen again.

At least I was safe from vampires this time.

The second floor sat before me, mostly finished, desperately needing to be painted. If I had some kind of elixir that was stronger than coffee to keep me going, then maybe I'd get everything done tonight.

There was one place in town I could check.

Hope crept back in. Though I hadn't planned to leave the door open for it, the feeling came unbidden, reminding me of how it felt to be alive again. Laurencia did that to me. Her attraction to dangerous and risky things kept me on my toes. If she had run off somewhere, then it was probably a place we could locate so she could hide-until the market began.

Ah, the delusional hope of a man desperate for familiarity. That was me. At the very least I could admit that to myself. Nobody else was around to see me frantically getting my things together. My wallet, my keys, my sanity-yes, they were all carefully tucked away into the pockets of my jeans. Shifting tonight would rob me of energy. I had to save it for the treehouse.

In the back of my mind, the unicorn appeared, reminding me of the night we had run off. That wasn't too long ago. What kind of magic did mole women do? Were they magical at all? lyanna mentioned a free reading-so, perhaps there was a chance that Laurencia had gone back to deliver that reading. It was worth checking. If anything, it would just prove to me that her absence was permanent.

But what if I did find her? What then? Would I prostrate myself before her and beg for her return? Perhaps what she'd done was camp off for the night in the nearby woods so she could sell her wares and readings. However much I figured she would do such a thing, that didn't seem plausible either considering all her wares were at home.

Unless her bag was a magical bag that could hold much more than what seemed reasonable to the naked eye.

I raced down the ladder with my heart in my throat. The night burst with life as I raced out of the woods and back to my-to Laurencia's apartment. My car was parked nearby. I could hop in and race to the market, search for an elixir, and race back home. That was all I had to do. That was my only goal for the night.

If I ran into Laurencia, then I'd consider myself lucky.

Perhaps I'd even consider it fate.