The Human In The Wolf Pack
Chapter 27

Rider’s POV

Four months after Vera’s disappearance

“Alpha, we’ve searched the entirety of the State. We also checked with The Lightened Horizon Pack, and their Alpha and Luna claim they haven’t seen or heard from Luna Vera,” Blake informed me, his own worry and desperation staining his expression as he told me the news.

“Send a small team of wolves there, just to be sure. She would likely go somewhere she is familiar with,” I told him, urgently sending messages to all the other surrounding packs.

I had even contacted the human police, incase that piece of s**t male had taken her into hiding in the human world. I offered a ten thousand dollar reward on any information that could lead to her return.

“Yes, Alpha,” Blake nodded, turning out of my office and hurrying to his task.

I sighed, feeling the pain from the matebond spike sharply. I had hoped she was still in Montana, but with the amount of pain the bond was giving off, that wasn’t likely. My wolf whined in my head, and I could understand his own worry. Whatever pain I felt, Vera had to be feeling too, but wherever she was, she was alive.

She’s with a male. That trash we saw with the blond hair. I can’t see Vera. I can’t replace her. What if she needs us? What if he touches her? What if he-

I cut my wolf off with a rageful snarl. Even the thought made my b***d hot with fury, but I couldn’t be taken over by my emotions. I was already exhausted. I couldn’t sleep, let alone eat. The pack was in a panic, trying to replace her. They didn’t want to lose another Luna, and I couldn’t blame them. Each one of my wolves already cared about her so much. She was a non-replaceable existence. I-…We needed her.

Pushing back a wave of dizziness and fatigue, I sent the email to the other packs, and tried to mind link her once again.

Vera, no matter where you are, no matter who you are with, I will replace you. I won’t let you go again.

Seven months after Vera’s disappearance

The heat of the summer was almost sweltering as I stood before the pack. They had grown with desperation. Pack order had already started to slip. The wolves were getting too anxious, and I was starting to lose my grip. Blake stood by my side, just as tired as I was, but we hadn’t lost hope.

“The Red River Pack has been rumored to be taking in runaway Lunas. When I reached out to them, looking for Luna Vera, they refused to cooperate, even though Vera was forced by outsiders to leave. A small team of warriors have agreed to infiltrate their Pack, and look for clues to see if the Luna has been taking shelter within their lands. Blake will be leading the rescue mission. I know it has been hard without Vera, but she is still alive. Our bond is proof of that,” I spoke, reassuring the members.

“We will replace her, and she will never leave us again.”

Nine months after Vera’s disappearance

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor filled me with a sense of desperation. Blake had returned from Red River along with two other members, out of the ten who had made up the small group charged with searching the pack we suspected housed Vera. They had been found out, and attacked. Severely outnumbered, Blake was forced to retreat. He barely made it back alive, and has been in a coma for over a month. The other two… died during surgery. The pain of losing my pack members, the desperation to hold my mate in my arms, the torture from the matebond had turned numbing. I was losing my sense of reality. I had begun to hallucinate. Sometimes I would see her, laying in the bed we used to share. I would stand there, and watch the illusion of her, asleep. Sooner or later, from one blink of the eye to the next, she would disappear.

My wolf had gone silent, but sometimes I would be overcome with rage as hot as a branding iron. The transformation would rip through me. It would take hours to get myself under control again. I had waited for two months to know if Vera was indeed in the Red River Pack, before Blake finally woke up. He was looking at me with pained eyes, as if it was his own heart ripping from his chest.

“She wasn’t there, Alpha. We stayed too long, to make sure. That was why we got caught. I’m so sorry, I’ve failed you,” The man I had grown up with, my most trusted ally, and one of the strongest people I had ever met, shed tears as he looked away in shame.

The numbness had quickly changed at his words. Denial, desperation, sorrow, rage. My wolf tore through my body, and ran from the room. I saw red, but then I would feel nothing. Glimpses of her in the corner of my eyes, would make my soul tremble. I knew it then, I was going insane.

A Year and Six months since Vera’s disappearance

I was seeing her again. Her soft brown hair fanned across the pillow, the rising sun rays catching on the strands, revealing the copper highlights only revealed by sunlight. Her skin was a creamy, fair shade, but she had a lovely, pink flush against her cheeks as she breathed, calm steady breaths. Her eyelashes created shadows against the apples of her cheeks, and her eyelids twitched, as if she was having a dream. Her lips were slightly parted, her expression relaxed. She was curled into a fetal position, laying against the mattress on her side. She looked so real. Sometimes I wondered if this was real, but her scent. That sweet, floral smell with a slight kick, it wasn’t there. It had long since faded.

And as I finally blinked, my eyes burning from refusing to do so up to that point, she was gone. It was a moment of shock, and I blinked again to make sure, but her figure did not return. A cry left my lips, one of anger and dismay. I blacked out. When I came to, the bedroom was destroyed. I had smashed the bed frame, and tore through the mattress. The side tables had been thrown against the wall, and shattered. The small vanity that used to be her’s, was in pieces. Glass littered the floor. I looked down at my feet, seeing the b***d. I must have stepped on the shards.

Ringing caught my attention, and I slowly pulled my phone out of my back pocket.

“Hello?” I answered gruffly.

“Rider, it’s me, Ripley.”

“Have you found her?” The words were not as hopeful as they had once sounded. My tone was tired. I was tired.

He sighed, it was a heavy sound, like a rock falling into the pit of your stomach.

“No, but I looked into what you told me about in her letter. She said she was given Gifts? There have been numerous cases of missing persons who left similar notes, saying they were suddenly given strange Gifts, and were now called to fulfill some sort of duty. Almost two hundred people, since Vera’s disappearance. The human authorities are calling it some sort of cult.”

The words weren’t reassuring. In fact, they just made me feel more helpless.

“Have any of those people been found?” I asked, swaying lightly on my feet.

Looking down, a shard of the mirror reflected my image backup at me. I looked like my father, the version of him I remembered from my childhood. I had lost too much weight, and I had dark bags under my eyes. My facial hair was overgrown, and I looked haggard and unkept. I turned away from the reflection, unfazed. Living without Vera was a slow, and tortuous death, and anyone could tell just by looking at me.

“No,” Ripley’s voice was regretful.

He was worried, I knew that. His parents had cried, when they found out she was missing. Her friend with the red hair had tried to storm onto my pack grounds, demanding an explanation. She sobbed when I couldn’t give her one. I hung up on Riplely, holding my head in my hands.

How much longer could I live like this?

A Year and Eight months after Vera’s disappearance

“Alpha, you should eat,” Blake coaxed me, gently.

Ever since he got back on his feet, he had been trying to look after me. He had taken up a lot of my work, I didn’t have the strength to do it all anymore. I was numb now, completely. I wasn’t sure if it was better or worse. I hadn’t seen her hallucination in two months. I didn’t get angry anymore, when search teams came back empty handed. Morale within the pack had hit rock bottom. Fights would break out between pack members. They were depressed, or angry.

Blake would have to break them apart so that they wouldn’t kill each other. You didn’t see pups running around playfully anymore. The constant, reassuring noise of pack life had been silenced. It felt like a ghost town. The pack was worried about me, I knew that. I couldn’t pull myself together. My body was weak. If an enemy attacked, the pack would be vulnerable. But even knowing this logically, I was just an empty shell.

I knew she was alive. It was the only thing keeping me from ending it all, but she was beyond my reach. It felt as if someone had scooped the soul out of my body.

“Alpha?” Blake called, trying to get my attention.

It was then that noise trickled in from outside. The wolves were stirred up. Blake looked at me, and sighed. It was probably another fight, but something in me pricked. This was different. I stood up slowly, almost moving on auto-pilot,as I made my way through my house and out the front door. The muted sounds from the wolves hit me full force, as I watched them howl and whine at something at the tree line.

Blake hurried out the door, running to see what the problem was. I followed after slowly. They barked frantically, crying and yipping. I was becoming more aware, as if I was waking up from a dream. It wasn’t until my wolf stirred, for the first time in months that I knew. I took off running. The whole pack had started to gather, and formed a U shape around whatever had them so excited. I pushed through them blindly, too entranced to even order them out of the way. Then I saw it.

That soft, brown hair seemed to dance gently on the wind. Copper strand peaked out in the sun, flashing ever so often as she moved. The length was longer than I remembered, hitting just past her waist. The girl was wearing a long, ivory dress. The length of it ended at her ankles, but the skirt moved animatedly on the breeze. Her feet didn’t touch the ground, but where she levitated, flowered bloomed from the Earth, stretching to meet her.

Her arms were fair, and her movements graceful, unlike the woman I had been searching for. She seemed like some sort of forest nymph, who had wandered too far from her home. Still, I couldn’t see her face as she looked at the wolves writhing around her. A laugh left her, a sweet, joyful sound. It felt like a punch to the gut, and I stared at her, breathless.

Turn this way, I prayed.

Almost as if she heard me, her eyes flung to mine. Her face had changed. A little older, more mature. Her pink pouty lips had popped open slightly, shocked. Her crystal blue eyes were wide as she looked at me. She was different, but she was my Vera. I hesitated though. Was it just an illusion? A comfort my mind created to encourage me to survive?

The beautiful girl’s eyes filled with tears, as her hands went to cover her mouth, her expression full of emotion. The wind changed directions, her hair blowing forward. Her scent hit me like a ton of bricks. Sweet, floral, with that mysterious afternote. My body trembled as my wolf tried to take over, leaping to the front of my consciousness.

“Rider?” Her sweet voice called, her own body trembling as well.

It was if she had pulled me forward, as if she was gravity itself. I wrapped her in my arms, shuddering as her entire being enveloped me. Her scent, the feel of her in my arms, the sound of her breathing. She cried as I held her, and my body shook.

I could feel the pieces of me resurface. Each moment I inhaled her scent, as I buried my face in her neck. Her soft brown strands tickled my nose, but I didn’t care. She was so soft, and she fit against me perfectly. My everything. My World. My Vera.

She was back.