The Designated Mate novel Chapter 64

An hour later, we were all still quietly hunting through what seemed like a never-ending sea of papers. I rearranged Kiara and my's tall pile of papers after finding another older stack when something just barely sticking out from under the edge of the coffee table caught my eye.

I got down on my hands and knees and began pulling out the papers that had fallen under one-by-one. By the time I was finished, I had a pile that was at least twenty pages thick. I began skimming them, my breathing becoming labored as the realization hit me.

"I found them!" I croaked, my voice raising as I repeated myself again and again until they were all looking at me incredulously. Knox shot out of his chair and hurled towards me, gazing over my shoulder at the papers in question. "This entire stack covers everything over the last month. The last time they were seen was two weeks ago on unclaimed land just an hour outside your Uncle's pack in Greenville," I whispered, my heart beginning to pound violently in my chest. "Knox, you were right. They're still alive," I whispered, a single tear slipping from my eye and down my cheek.

He slowly reached forward and took the papers from my hands. I watched his Adam's apple bob up and down as his eyes filled with emotion. I examined the rest of his features, noticing how tense his entire body had become. His knuckles turned white and the paper began to shake with how hard he was clutching them.

"They're still alive," he rasped out so quietly I was sure I was the only one who heard him. My tears came harder as I watched his own eyes well up with unshed droplets. He brought a hand up to cover his mouth as his eyes continued to scan the documents.

"So, Alpha, what's the plan?" one of Alpha Aaron's warriors asked. Knox's face went from one of hope and longing to the most determined expression I'd ever seen. I watched him closely as I knew his mind was racing a mile a minute to conjure a plan.

"There's a possible complication that we have to consider," he began. "This last update is still two weeks old as they've yet to be spotted since their arrival in that area two weeks ago. There are only three possible reasons for that; one, they hid well after arriving, two, they packed up and left the territory again without alerting the investigators, or three, my uncle caught wind of their presence somehow and finally decided to capture them for some underlying reason," Knox explained smartly. I pondered over the options he'd given before a thought popped into my head.

"There's no way the investigators didn't see them leave. If they were good enough to be following them this long without losing them - especially into this unclaimed territory - then they're clearly watching their every move meticulously," I reasoned out loud. Everyone in the room mulled over what I said for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

"No. Next idea," Knox stated matter-of-factly before returning back to his desk and shuffling the papers around. I blinked a few times, caught off guard by his abrupt refusal - though I shouldn't have been. I wasn't sure why I was surprised, I was expecting this exact reaction.

"Knox-"

"I said no, Poppy!" he shouted, slamming his hands down on the wooden desktop.