Some Mate You Are...

------------------------Enzo's Point of View-----------------------------

I sat at my father’s desk. The desk that was supposed to be mine after the Accension Ceremony, but none of that seemed to matter anymore. Marvel was missing. My mate was missing. And as I stared down at the map that laid out all of the nearby territories, as well as, the neutral or “rogue” land, I had never felt more useless in my life.

She had been missing for more than two months at this point and each day since the day that she had disappeared had felt more terrible than the last. I did not know how much longer I would survive not knowing what had happened to her. I had reached out through, both, our bond as mates and my connection as her Alpha, yet I had come up empty-handed. It was as though she had disappeared off the very face of the Earth. My only solace lay in the fact that I knew she could not be dead. If she were, then our bond would break, and I would most certainly feel it. So, I held on to that thread of hope with every fiber of my being.

I could still remember that day like it was yesterday. She had gone out for a run with Kiara, not unlike her. They typically went for a run every morning to start off their day. But when they did not return by lunch, concern began to rise. However, we avoided causing too much alarm at that moment. Perhaps they had just lost track of time. Maybe they were out exploring. There were a number of reasons why they could be taking their time returning.

Then it started to get late and we knew that it would be getting dark soon. I knew that they were both strong wolves, completely capable of handling themselves. But Marvel is my mate and Luna, I could not help the worry that began to spread throughout my chest as I anxiously awaited her return. And Kiara was a former pack member who was now a visitor from another pack. Her mate, Valentino, and her new Alpha, Timber, had placed her safety in my hands when they had allowed her to travel to Crescent Falls. The fact that she was one of Marvel’s best friends only made her safety that much more important to me.

I could not wait any longer. I knew that Marvel would be embarrassed that I created a fuss over her for no reason. But I could feel in my gut that something was not right. I called for Tyrus, Daray, and several other warriors to begin a search for them and I set out on the path that I knew they traditionally seemed to head on their runs.

About an hour later, I received a mindlink from Luis, one of the warriors, stating that they had found Kiara unconscious in the woods. She was taken back to the pack house to be checked over by the doctors and questioned about whatever it was that had happened out there. But, devastatingly, Marvel was nowhere to be found.

We continued the search all night and throughout the next day. Kiara had been unable to tell us anything. Though we did determine through testing that she had been knocked unconscious by a tranquilizer dart that was powerful enough to take down a full-grown elephant. My concern for Marvel only grew at this knowledge. Someone had very clearly attacked them. They had targeted Marvel on purpose, leaving Kiara behind. Now, I just had to figure out who and why.

We started our search by targeting the local rogues and known rivals of the Crescent Moon Pack, assuming that it had been an assault perpetrated by one of our enemies. Who else would want to hurt the pack and future Alpha in this way? But when that proved fruitless, I did not know where to turn.

I began to grow paranoid, suddenly seeing everyone as a potential threat. Anyone was capable of hurting my Marvel and they had obviously done so. This caused me to act out. Irrationally. Angrily. For this reason, I was put on the back burner of the group search fairly early on. My father and Marvel’s father, Beta Jonas, thought it would be best for everyone’s morale if I took a step back because I was becoming too much of a "loose cannon."

That was fine with me. If they did not want me to lead the search with the overall pack, then I would simply do it on my own. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Now that I was acting on my own behalf and not as a representative of the Crescent Moon Pack, I could behave as I wanted. Threaten who I wanted. Question who I wanted. How I wanted. So I did.

My first stop was the Blue Moon Pack. I knew that it was unlikely that Alpha Timber would have orchestrated this attack. His own pack member had been assaulted. However, as I said before, I was irrational now. In my mind, Alpha Timber had wanted Marvel before, perhaps, he had wanted her still and took matters into his own hands.

But that thought was quickly squashed when I paid a visit to him. Not only was there no sign of Marvel anywhere in the pack. He had actually been mobilizing volunteers to join our pack in the search for her. I ended up apologizing and thanked him, directing his wolves to where they could find our fathers leading the main search.

I went to several of our allies acting in a similar fashion. Only to come up empty-handed every time. And most of the Alphas that I falsely accused were not quite as understanding as Timber had been. But I did not care. I was on a rampage now and I did not intend to stop until I found my mate.

I did find it suspicious, when I visited Blood Moon, that no matter how hard I tried, I could not seem to speak with Alpha Harm directly. Only his Beta would meet with me, always making some kind of excuse for the Alpha’s absence. I found it obnoxious and disrespectful that Harm did not consider me worth his time. However, as deep as I dug around that pack, I could not find any evidence of Marvel there. No one in the pack even appeared to know what she looked like, except for their Gamma, Sergio. But that was not surprising as he had been the one to visit Crescent Falls with his Alpha.

Eventually, I was forced to return home with no more information than I had left with. At this point, I had been reduced to tracking down every random rogue that I could possibly find. But this was proving to be difficult work as most rogues spent their time trying to avoid the packs as much as possible. This made them adept at hiding and it was making my job that much harder. But I just knew that someone out there had to know something. It was simply not possible that she had been taken in broad daylight with no one being the wiser.

I ran my hands through my hair in frustration, further destroying the lack of hair style that I had been sporting as of late. I no longer cared much about my appearance. What did it matter when Marvel was not here? Who else would I be trying to impress? If I was honest with myself, truly honest, she was the only one that I had ever really been trying impress with my looks anyway. I never really cared much what the other females thought of me. They would swoon and I would think that was nice mostly because I knew that I could get inside of their pants without issue. It was only Marvel who truly counted. When her breath would hitch, and her heart rate would increase as I came into her view. That was all the validation that I had needed. Even though I had pretended to be disinterested in her. Even though she would say that she hated me. We both knew the truth.

Now she was gone, and I had to get her back. It did not matter how long it took for me to find her. Even as others began to lose hope and started to return to their lives. I would find out what happened. I would not give up on her. I would never give up.

I studied the map before me until my eyes were bloodshot and strained from staring. There had to be something that I was missing. Some stone that I had left unturned. There was a clue to her disappearance somewhere. I just had to find it.

There was a knock on the office door. I did not give the person on the other side permission to enter, but I knew that she would do it anyway. She was my mother after all.

“Enzo, honey, when was the last time that you ate something?” She questioned, as she stepped into the room, eyeing my crazed form hunched over my father’s desk. “Or got any rest?”

“I don’t know…Wednesday…” I responded rambling off a random day of the week, figuring that Wednesday was in the middle, so perhaps it would be close enough that she would leave it alone.

“Wednesday, huh?” She questioned with an air of skepticism in her tone. “Which Wednesday?” She pressed and I cursed myself for having such a discerning mother.

“It doesn’t matter.” I huffed, keeping my eyes trained on the map before me in order to avoid seeing her disapproving gaze as she judged my choices.

“I think that it does matter a great deal.” She argued. “You are not going to be any use to Marvel if you allow yourself to waste away like this. Do you think this is what she would want? For you to be starving yourself and going crazy from exhaustion?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “I guess it depends how badly she wanted to be RESCUED.” I retorted, placing extra emphasis on the final word to remind her of the importance of what I was doing here.

I was not some teenager who was addicted to playing some stupid video game. I was a wolf seeking to save his mate from some unknown and possibly terrible fate. I needed to focus. I had to bring Marvel home. Nothing else mattered.

“I understand why you are doing what you are doing.” She replied, her tone growing more serious as she dropped the soft, motherly demeanor that she had first approached me with, noting that I needed a firmer hand. “We are all worried sick about what happened to Marvel. But you are not the only one searching, there are tons of wolves out there looking for her as we speak. And we cannot afford for you to fall ill because you are not taking care of yourself. I am still your mother, and I am telling you that you need sleep.”

Whenever she took that tone with me, I knew that she was not going to let it go. She was being the den mother as a good Luna should. She was not going to leave me be until I agreed to take a break. I rolled my eyes and released an exasperated sigh at her persistence. The sooner that I gave in and got some rest, the sooner I could get back to work.

“Fine…just give me thirty more minutes and then I will head to bed. I promise.” I conceded.

“Alright.” She agreed. “I am going to the kitchen to make you a sandwich and I will leave it on your nightstand for you. Please eat it and get a little sleep. I know that it is difficult, but you will feel better when your mind has rested and then you can look at things from a fresh perspective.”

I knew that she was right. I was hardly in the right mindset any longer. I was overstressed and overtired. But I had a hard time relaxing when I knew that Marvel was out there somewhere, and she may be suffering. How was I meant to relax when she could not?

My mother left the room with a nod and a reminder that she would be keeping an eye on the time. I assured her that I would keep my word and as soon as the door clicked shut behind her, I started up staring at the map before me with renewed concentration. I did not have much time now and I needed to find something that I could cling to that perhaps would help me to get some sleep. I knew it was a long shot, but what choice did I have?

The phone that sat beside me began to ring. And for several moments, I considered not answering it. I did not want anyone to screw up my concentration. I was running short on time, thanks to my mother, and I did not want anything unimportant getting in the way of that. Not that wildly staring at a map covered in red x’s was really getting me anywhere, but it was the principal of the matter. If it was truly important, then they would call back or reach out to another high-ranking member of the pack.

Then I started to consider it further. It was already after ten o’clock at night. It was customary for all out-of-pack business to be conducted before eight at night, as most Alpha’s have families that need tending to. The only exceptions being for special circumstances and emergencies. What if the call was in regards to Marvel and I had stupidly chosen to ignore it?

Without hesitation, I quickly grasped the receiver and brought it to my ear, announcing my presence with a gruff “hello.”

“Oh…er…umm…hello…” The person on the other end responded before clearing their throat. “Can I speak to Alpha Enzo, please?”

“This is Alpha Enzo.” I replied. “To whom am I speaking?”

“Oh…Alpha…I am so glad that it is you.” The person remarked, though the nerves in his voice said differently. “This is Beta Zaccai of the Blood Moon Pack. We met when you visited our pack a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yes, I remember.” I scowled at the thought.

The unhelpful Alpha and Beta of the Blood Moon Pack.

“Yes, of course. Well…” I could hear the Beta hesitate as he gulped into the phone. “At the time of your visit, I was not certain. But over the last couple of weeks, I have become more aware that something was not right. And after a long conversation with my Gamma over how to proceed, I have decided that, despite my loyalty to Alpha Harm, I think that there may be a few things that you deserve to be made aware of.”

Now I was confused. What was this Beta getting at? How would revealing any information to me about my mate, call into question his loyalty to his Alpha?

“And that is?” I pressed, not wanting to beat around the bush any longer.

If he had information. Any information at all. Then I needed it and there was certainly not any more time to waste. Honestly, I was a little annoyed that he was only revealing this to me now after admitting that that this may have come to his attention weeks ago.

“Around the same time that your mate went missing, our Alpha decided to take an extended sabbatical. Suddenly announcing that he would be leaving the pack in my charge for an undetermined amount of time.”

“So, your Alpha was not even present when I visited your pack?” I growled, growing further annoyed with this Beta.

“No, sir. I apologize about that, but I was instructed by my Alpha to act as though he were simply indisposed, should anyone come asking for him.” He explained.

I grumbled under my breath. But ultimately, I understood his decision to do as his Alpha had told him to. I would expect my Beta to do the same.

“Continue.” I bid through my clenched jaw.

“Well…at first, I did not think anything about the coincidental timelines. I did not believe that your mate had anything to do with our Alpha, so I did not see any reason for concern. However, after you left…I began to question my Gamma about his visit to your pack with our Alpha. Alpha Harm was becoming more difficult to reach day by day and the few instructions that he still provided me with were becoming more erratic. His mind was obviously elsewhere.”

“I do not mean to be rude, Beta…but is there a point to all of this?” I questioned, growing frustrated.

“Yes, sir.” He assured with certainty. “When I spoke with Gamma Sergio, he revealed that your mate, Luna Marvel, had in fact been Alpha Harm's date to the dinner that they shared that night with your family and the other pack leaders.”

“Yes, I was aware of that.”

“Well…were you aware that Alpha Harm has apparently been obsessing over Luna Marvel ever since?” The Beta questioned and it was as though I had been smacked in the face.

The cold, hard truth had been in front of me this entire time. And just as I had suspected, I had missed it. That tiny piece of the puzzle that I needed to begin making sense out of why someone would take Marvel.

“Apparently, his obsession was so great that he had been secretly conversing with a member of your own pack as a way to spy on Luna Marvel. A fact that we only recently discovered while going through some paperwork in the Alpha’s office.”

“A spy?! Does it say who?!” I demanded.

If there was a traitor in my pack. Especially one that had known who had taken Marvel this entire time yet had chosen to shield this information from me. Then I wanted to know who it was because I intended to make them pay for their mistake.

“I am afraid that it does not say. Alpha Harm’s notes only refer to the contact as ‘Lady C.’”

“Well, at least, we know that it is a female. That gives us something to work with which is better than nothing.” I offered, trying to remain cool-headed and focused, despite my ever-growing rage.

I was no longer irritated with the Beta. The information he had provided had proved to be quite useful. However, I was furious at the thought that one of my own pack members would betray me and their future Luna in such a heinous fashion. The mere idea that one of my own wolves could be responsible set my mind on a murderous path and I had to struggle to keep the bloodlust under control.

“I have been out of touch with Alpha Harm for the last several days now. No matter how many times I reach out or what form I attempt it in, he refuses to respond. I am not certain where he is located, but I have a few ideas. If we work together, perhaps we can put a stop to whatever more he has planned for Luna Marvel.” Beta Zaccai offered.

“Would you really turn on your Alpha like that?” I questioned in surprise.

I was grateful for his help, if he was genuine in his offer, I truly was. But I had to be certain that he understood the stakes here. A Beta rising against his Alpha was a coup in pack hierarchy. This was a very serious decision that he was making here. And if they were wrong, then he could be risking not only his rank but his membership in the pack altogether.

“When he stopped putting the pack’s interests first, then he stopped being my Alpha. If he has kidnapped your mate, then Blood Moon will never support him.” He assured.

“You are a good man, Beta Zaccai. Thank you.” I replied feeling truly grateful to this wolf.

“No thanks necessary, Alpha. Let’s just get out there and find your mate.”

And that is what we set out to do. The very next day we arranged to meet in person halfway between our two packs. Then we began systematically searching all of the locations where Alpha Harm had been known to frequent in the past, searching for anyone who may have seen him, or more importantly, Marvel.