Chapter 8 Part 2

Simon's POV

Two days, I would give it two days before I went into that damn forest to track him myself. That was if the search parties or council still couldn’t find him or any of us could get into contact with him. I would’ve shifted and gone there today or tomorrow, but Sam and Xavier convinced me to wait it out. Xavier said he’d increased the patrols and amount of search parties they’d send out, but it still wasn’t enough in my opinion. The wolf that had last seen him hardly had any info, and it appeared nobody had seen or been in contact with him before then. 

My wolf thrummed in agreement, he too wanted to shift and take over, hunt every inch of the forest if we had to. Despite finally knowing why he and I felt so on edge, the news of our mate’s disappearance was not helping.

And the thought of Vince being injured or lost wasn’t something I could easily ignore. Two days was two days too long, he had already been missing for three. 

“Have you called the other packs?” Sam suggested as the other betas filed out the door.

“I can try again, but we’re not quite close with a lot of them. A couple denied our peace treaty offers.”

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Sam remarked, before turning to me. “I mean there’s like a few nearby, isn’t there? He could’ve wound up in their territory.”

Xavier nodded with a frown. “Yeah, but most of them aren’t keen on dealing with our pack members. More likely than not, they’d refuse to offer help. We can’t leave out the possibility that he’s encountered, rogues.”

My jaw clenched, the idea of unruly rogues confronting him was a nightmare in of itself. Vince had never been adept at fighting rogues, not since he was younger anyway. “He could be injured and lost.”

“Could,” Xavier tried to assure. “You would’ve felt something through the bond if he was, wouldn’t you?”

I sighed in frustration, not at Xavier but at this whole situation. After Sam had revealed Vince was missing, it dawned on me that I didn’t feel anything from the bond. Aside from my wolf urging us into the woods to find him, I couldn’t detect him or his wolf at all. Even now there was no pull, no clue or gut feeling that indicated where he was, or how he was feeling. “I can’t sense him at all.”

Xavier bit his lip at that, before looking down at the map sprawled on the desk. “We already checked the southern border, but nothing turned up. That beta said he left the north side near the Rogue Center, but nobody’s caught a scent.”

“Have you checked the cave?”

Xavier nodded. “We’ll check again.”

“What about the eastern part of the forest near the mountain ridge. It’s denser, he could’ve got stuck somewhere there?”

“We’ve sent three parties in the area.”

“Nothing?” Xavier shook his head. Sam gripped my hand calmly, as if would help the growing anxiety and frustration. 

I want to go out there. I needed to, I thought to myself. Before I could suggest anything else, Xavier got a phone call. He paused to stare at the caller ID before standing up and excusing himself from the table. He didn’t leave the room, instead paced the council room as I tried to reign in the impulse to run out there and shift. 

Xavier’s mouth hung open as he clutched the phone to his ear. He turned away from us, whispering something inaudibly. Sam called his name softly, but Xavier’s shuddered, turning to us slowly with his head down. Vince, I thought, but his posture and disheartened emotion on his face said otherwise. His hand that held the phone fell to his side, tears streaming down his face, his lips pinched between his teeth.

“What’s wrong, you alright?” I reached a hand to his shoulder, tremors wracking his body. “Xav, what’s going on?”

“It’s—It’s my mom.” Xavier let out a pained cry as his phone slipped from his hands, falling to the carpeted floors. “She doesn’t have much longer. Chase says she’s deteriorating faster. I don’t think—I don’t.”

Sam had placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as his somber words sunk in. We had known her condition was worsening, that her time was approaching, but neither of us had expected it this soon. The devastation was written on Xavier’s face; he had always been so close to her that facing this so unexpectedly had left him a blubbering mess in a matter of seconds. 

His breaths were ragged, bordering hyperventilating as the sobs overcame him. If it hadn’t been for me and Sam by his side, he would’ve crumpled to the floor as quickly as his phone had dropped. Sam had guided him to the edge of the table to sit, as my hand rubbed circles on his back.

“Breathe,” Sam reminded him. “In, out.”

It took a while for Xavier to steady his breaths, only for another wave of sobbing to continue. Through his cries, he managed to say, “I need—need to see her.”

“I know.” I grimaced, placing a hand on his wet cheek. “I know, Xav. But you need to breathe, okay? You don’t want her to see you like this, right?”

His pout deepened at that thought before a pained wail escaped his lips. He mouthed the word no, shaking his head excessively. Sam had brushed next to me to place his hand on his other cheek. 

“Oh, look at you. You’ve got all those snot boogers all over your face,” Sam had told him in a tone he used with his patients, one that elicited a faint smile from Xavier as he pathetically tried to wipe his snot away with the back of his hand. 

“Let’s clean that up first before we see her, okay?” My hand traveled the side of his head. 

He mewled in agreement before leaning into my hand before wrapping his around my torso. Clinging to me in support. With a sad frown, I rubbed his back as Sam enveloped us both into his arms too. The youngest had always been attached to his mother, even more so these days, and I couldn’t imagine how terrible he must’ve felt. 

And to think Vince wasn’t here—oh, goddess, he wasn’t here. With clenched fists, another wave of emotion hit me at that thought. It was bad enough that he was nowhere to be found, hadn’t been in contact for days. But now his mother was laying there, about to die at any moment, and he wasn’t here for her. Or for Xavier for that matter. He should be here; Xavier couldn’t do this alone. 

“Just come home,” I managed to say, to no one in particular. Maybe as a desperate plea that would hopefully reach him, urging him to be here. “Please, just come home.”