Chasing His Scentless Mate (Caroline) novel Chapter 389

Chapter 389: Chapter 389 Rock Bottom

Joseph’s POV

I woke up in a hospital room. The lights were too bright, and the air smelled like cleaning chemicals. My head hurt badly, and my mouth was very dry.

"What happened?" I tried to sit up and saw a tube in my arm.

"You’re awake," Eleanor said. Her voice was sharp and clear.

I looked at her. She stood by my bed with her arms crossed. She looked very angry, even through my blurry vision.

"What happened?" I asked again. My throat hurt.

"What happened?" Eleanor’s voice got louder. "You drank for three days straight. You didn’t eat. You passed out in your hotel room. The cleaning lady found you next to an empty whiskey bottle. You had alcohol poisoning and very low blood sugar. The doctor said if they found you an hour later, you could have died."

Then I remembered. I remembered finding Ava’s apartment empty. I remembered drinking whiskey because she left without a word.

"It’s not that serious," I said, turning my head away.

"Not serious?" Eleanor hit the bed rail hard. The sound made me jump. "You are the Alpha of the Nightbane Pack. Hundreds of people rely on you. And you’re acting like a heartbroken kid!"

"Watch how you speak to me," I growled, feeling Dean stir with anger inside.

"No, you watch what you’re doing!" Eleanor shot back, not backing down at all. "I’ve known you for years, Joseph, but I’ve never seen you like this. All because a woman left?"

"She’s not just any woman," I said quickly, the words coming out before I could think.

"Then why are you lying here instead of going to find her?" Eleanor asked. She took out her phone, looked through it, then showed me the screen. "Do you want to know where she is? Because I do."

That got my attention. "What do you mean?"

"While you were drinking yourself sick, I was looking into things. Ava left Harbor Bay almost a month ago. She went west with that Alpha, Kenneth."

A cold feeling washed over me. "Kenneth?"

"Yes, the Alpha who came to see her. She’s been gone for weeks, Joseph. She hasn’t contacted any of us. I’ve texted and called her at least twenty times since you were hospitalized." Eleanor’s face softened a little. "She isn’t answering."

Dean growled inside me. "We need to find her."

I sat up, even though my head was pounding. "I need to leave."

"Joseph, wait—"

"No, I’ve waited too long already," I said, starting to pull at the tube in my arm. "She can’t just vanish like this."

"So now you care?" Eleanor challenged. "After weeks of feeling sorry for yourself?"

Her words hurt because they were true. I had completely fallen apart. The great Alpha Joseph Garcia, turned into a sad drunk because a woman left. The shame of it hit me hard.

"Look," Eleanor went on, her voice softer now. "If Ava really wanted to disappear from us, from you, you would never find her. But I don’t think that’s what happened. Something about this doesn’t feel right."

"What do you mean?"

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