~~

Reece

~~

"I had needed a break, so I excused myself from the group. I was headed for the trees when I smelled her scent. Truth be told I had smelled her that morning too, but she had already left the woods when I came across her trail. I had almost tracked her down when Caleb called me about a rogue trying to cause problems. I had tracked her to the upper area of the compound, but that was as close as I got until the party." I could see the Elders looking at me with excitement, encouraging me to go on.

"When I smelled her again, I hurried in her direction. I followed the scent into the forest and out to a fallen tree. There I ran into her hiding on the tree."

"Ran into her?" Noah asked me.

"I was following my nose, not my eyes." I snapped at him, which only made him laugh. "Whatever. Anyway, I tripped and landed on her. The smell was so strong that my wolf had no doubt, she was my mate. I had just pulled her to her feet, but her hair, her long dark hair had fallen into her face when she fell. She managed to see me and notice who I was."

"She gasped and was scared. But then a girl called out to her, and she took advantage of my momentary distraction and bolted. She grabbed the girl's hand, and they left the party with two males. I tried to follow but that gang she-wolves wouldn't let me pass until I snapped at them. By the time I got to where the cars were parked, they were gone, and all their scents had mingled inside the car."

"I could have chased after them, but I would have gotten more frustrated having to track her scent mixed among so many others that way, and there was no telling if she had stayed in the compound or not after that. So, I figured the best option would be to send everyone home before they were in danger from my wolf's frustrations."

"This is not good."

"We need to find her." The Elders were starting with their crap already.

"You think I don't know that. I need to finish the mate circle so that the pack can be whole. I know that. I understand that just fine. You do not have to lecture me. I know that with every passing day, my pack is weakened by its lack of a Luna. I'll find her and bring her back. Don't you worry."

"Well, out with it boy, tell us everything you can about her. Tell us what we can use to identify her."

"I don't know much." I admitted to them. "I know she lives in the upper part of the compound, because her scent is strongest there. I know she is a lot shorter than me, but so is basically every woman in the pack. She had dark brown hair. And her friend called her Trin." At that last part I heard Noah's sharp intake of breath. I looked at him and he seemed uncomfortable for some reason. He noticed my stare.

"Alpha Reece, can we talk?"

"Talk." I told him.

"Privately." He insisted. That was unlike him.

"Very well. Gentlemen, please excuse us." I left the Elders in my office and went down the hall to a rarely used conference room.

"What is it?" I demanded of him as soon as we were in the room.

"I think I know who the girl is." He told me.

"Really?" I asked, sounding hopeful. But even with my mood lifting ever so slightly Noah looked as if he were about to tell someone their puppy had died. Why was he dreading this conversation so much? "Who is it?" I asked him, now not certain I wanted to know.

"If I am right, it's my cousin, Trinity." I should have known from the start. The nickname, Trin. There were no other girls in the entire pack named Trinity or had a name similar to it enough to have the nickname Trin. Why hadn't I connected the dots sooner?

"Your cousin?" I asked bewildered.

"Yes." He looked as if he really didn't want to be telling me this.

"That is the girl that I think it is isn't it?" Noah just nodded his head. "She never changed did she? She never got a wolf?"

"No, she did not." Noah admitted, shaking his head. This was why he had not wanted to tell me. And why he had insisted on talking alone. I felt the growl start to rumble low in my chest long before I ever heard it.

"This cannot be!" I roared. "There is no way that I can mate with a girl that does not even have a wolf. She will be too weak. She will be inferior. She will not be strong enough to be a Luna." I could see the emotions conflicting on Noah's face. He loved the girl, she was his cousin, his family, and I had heard him say she was like a sister to him. But here he was telling his alpha that this girl was supposed to be the next Luna, and he knew she wouldn't be strong enough.

"There is no way she can handle the role of Luna, the threat it will pose to her and the pack. It will make us the laughingstock of the entire wolf community. But that is beside the point. She simply would never be strong enough to handle any situation that were to arise. She would be nothing but a weak, senseless liability." I growled.

There was no way in Hell I would take her as my mate. My wolf be damned. I would find a new mate. I would do whatever I had to do to make this problem go away. She simply was not fit to be my Luna. I never wanted a mate to begin with and I certainly wasn't going to take a weak girl that was just one step away from being human as my mate. No way in Hell.