I sighed, probably for the thousandth time. Sweat was dripping down my temple and my hair stuck to the back of my neck annoyingly. But, despite the infernal heat, I continued walking.

My packmates seemed to be having as much of a hard time as I was, but they too knew what was at stake. We couldn’t stop. At least... not yet.

Pushing myself forward a little faster I stomped my way through the forest, feeling somewhat angry at the fact that, despite being there to look for something that belonged to me, I ended up having to solve another pack’s problem; again.

Well, ok, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. Seeing as rogues posed a threat to all of our kind, I’d say I just ended up with another unofficial mission on my hands. Besides, chasing the rogues who had been attacking nearby packs had a bright side;

A fight would, maybe, help me cool my mind and calm my wolf - who seemed to always be on edge lately, and whom I couldn't blame for that in our situation.

I gritted my teeth, still unable to get my father’s last words to me before I left, out of my head.

‘You need to calm down,’ Fenrir’s deep hoarse voice resounded inside my mind, and I let out a puff of air feeling a little disdainful. Despite his dark, powerful tone still filled with anger, his words still managed to sound soothing. ‘He doesn't really think it’s your fault, but we both know how much the Elders can be a pain. So just relax, we’ll find them. I know we will.’

'How can you be so sure?' I narrowed my eyes at nothing in particular as I jumped down some rocks. 'And the Elders are getting on my nerves. What, do they think I made my- our mate disappear somehow?'

‘They might, for all I know,’ Fenrir made a sound that resembled a growl - almost like a laugh - before continuing. ‘But it doesn’t matter Gabriel, we’ll find my mate.’

'Our mate, buddy', I corrected him. He didn’t say anything else and I imagined he had gone back to the depths of my mind like he always did.

He was, very clearly, getting impatient about the whole ‘mate hunting’ issue, and I couldn’t possibly hold it against him, since I too was getting anxious. But, unfortunately, there was little else we could do other than keep searching.

I sighed again in frustration. 'What if our mate is dead Fenrir? Would we have felt it if it happened before we even met?'

I stopped abruptly, feeling a menacing growl erupt from my throat this time. “My mate is not dead.”

I didn’t notice the words had come out of my mouth until Yuri cleared his throat awkwardly as he walked past me.

I looked at my beta's back as he walked away - our pack bond was strong enough that I could feel his concern from miles away. I felt pretty astonished at Fenrir's overreaction, so I was glad he didn’t say or ask anything; despite knowing he wanted to. On the other hand, my gamma, Miranda, couldn’t keep her thoughts and worries to herself.

“Sir,” she called as she approached me. She tilted he head slightly to the side to have a better view of my face before continuing, “Is everything alright?”

I looked away for a moment before nodding my head. “Yeah. Everything is good.”

When I looked back at Miranda I saw her brows were furrowed, and she had a small frown on her face. She gave me a ‘really?’ look, but I only nodded again dismissively.

“I mean it, Mira,” I said after her staring began to bother me. She still didn’t look convinced but seemed to decide to drop the subject anyway.

“I think we’re approaching their camping area,” Yuri, was crouched down not far ahead of us. He picked a fistful of dirt from the floor and smelled it.

I saw his face contort into one of pure disgust before he looked at me and Miranda. “Yeah- ugh, we’re definitely close.”

Mira laughed and walked over to him.

“I almost feel bad for you,” she patted his head as if he were a small child then walked past him, gaining a growl from the man in return. “It must really suck to be the one with the best nose.”

She let out a small squeal when Yuri pushed her to the side with enough force to almost send her to the ground. And she gave him a dirty look over her shoulder.

“Not cool,” she complained but kept moving.

Yuri rubbed his hand against his pants to clean off the dirt. He then offered me a friendly smile. “Come on, prince charmless, you’re falling behind.”

The other six warriors accompanying us were already moving forward, following Miranda.

I flipped him off for the comment before waving him away dismissively, signalling that he too should keep moving.

'Fenrir?'

‘My mate is not dead,’ he barked at me, bitterly.

And all I could do was roll my eyes at his mood swings. They were getting worse recently.

“Whatever you say, buddy,” I mumbled out loud. And continued moving, making sure to keep a few feet behind the others, just in case something tried to flank us or her us into a trap - it had happened before.