The Wolf King's Luna novel Chapter 20

DAMON.

"No Catherine?" Ryder asks as I stalk into the pack.

"No," I growl. "No clue."

"Oh Damon," my mother calls as she rushes to me, her hands stretched out to take me into a hug. 

"Mother," I sigh into her shoulders. "Why… why would she leave?*

"I don't know Damon. But you have to understand, Catherine has scars, she has been hurt before and would probably do anything to not get hurt again."

"But I thought… I thought she was happy here," I say as I lift my head to look at her.

"I thought so too. Maybe something spooked her or someone. Think, was there anything that she saw or heard that would have set her on edge?"

"I don't know, * I say as we walk into the mansion. "She seemed happy and everyone was careful with her… except…"

"Except what?"

"Mel. When she returned she barged into my room, cursing the Skylight pack and Vance."

"And got Catherine worried, of course. She still doesn't know we are aware she is from the Skylight pack, does she?"

"No. She didn't mention it. I believe she wanted to hide it and move on from it. Oh, my goddess, she must have been so frightened. And I didn't know."

"Damon…"

"What kind of mate am I? That I wouldn't know when something was wrong?"

"You can't blame yourself. You two just met, how could you know her well enough to tell?"

"Still I should have."

"How about your wolf? Can he sense her? What does he say?"

"I can't find her," he whimpers. "I can't sense her anywhere."

"but you sensed her once before, didn't you?" 

"I could. But something is blocking her wolf, suppressing her."

Silver. 

"Damn it," I snarl.

"What? What is it? What did he say?" Mother frets.

"He can't sense her. Something is suppressing her wolf," I answer as I begin to pace around the living room.

"Oh, no."

"DAMN IT."

I throw a punch out in front of me and it connects with the wall and goes straight through."

"Damon!"

"She is being kept prisoner! Some bastard somewhere is keeping my mate prisoner! With silver! I will kill them. I will rip their limbs one by one and feed it to them!"

"Damon! You need to calm down. Please!"

I can't.

The rage at the audacity that anyone would dare to cross my lands, take my mate… have I been too calm?

Just as I am still raging across the room, both Melissa and Faye rush in.

"What's wrong?" Melissa demands. "We can hear the racket from outside."

"Damon's wolf can't sense Catherine's," Mother tells them. "We believe that whoever took her used silver to keep her wolf suppressed."

"Did you two find anything?" I growl.

"Not me. But Faye has something."

I turn to Faye expectantly.

"I found that scent-, the one that was mixed in with Catherine's… It was on the edge of their pack."

"The edge? Not inside?"

"No. At the edge. I don't think they are a member of the pack, it didn't mix with the earth," she answers.

"Did you track it?"

"Yes. First to the city, specifically the mall Melissa and Catherine went shopping, and then here, the edge of the pack."

"Wait-, are you… are you saying that, that they were watching us? Yesterday?" Melissa exclaims, guilt coming over her face.

"It looks so."

"Oh. Oh no. I am… I am so sorry. I didn't notice. I am sorry," she says almost close to tears.

"So? Where did the scent end? You must have tracked that too,' I tell her.

"I did. But it just… faded a few miles past the Skylight pack.

"Faded? What do you mean?"

"I mean just that. It just… faded."

"What was there? Any landmarks?"

"No, nothing. It was just one large, open, empty…field."