Chapter 89: Maybe It's More Serious Than We Thought

ALASTAIR:

Wednesday. It was Wednesday; a whole four days had come and gone without a bloody sign from her. I’d have been lying had I said that I wasn’t starting to worry. I would never have presumed to know the person that Merari was at the time, but in the short time that she had been back in my life, one thing that I noticed hadn’t changed completely was her consistency.

She had days, just as Valene did, but she’d been clear leading up to the last time I’d seen her, and she swore on her return, as she was only helping secure the borders around Shadow Veil. At least that was what she’d relayed to me. I had no reason to think that she would lie.

Merari and I had not been on the same page for a while. But we were trying. Me especially, as I had committed far more transgressions than she had. Rari still didn’t fully trust me yet after the tumultuous history that we shared. Understandably so.

It was for that reason that our mating bond, strong as it was even in spite of the damage that I’d caused, was nowhere near the heightened frequency that it should have been.

Try as I might, I could not find any bloody trace of her. A beastly counterpart always had a slightly more powerful sense of their mate, however, even Aziz fell short of luck when it came to locating her.

It felt like me and Merari were both trying to reach one another while tethered to opposite sides of an impenetrable wall.

What was this? I had never felt anything like it.

Even Valene began to share my concern as while their relationship was not the strongest by a long shot, they still kept connections open with each other. Valene heard from her mother in days.

This, coupled with the situation of Harlyn and Penny’s crimes was almost too overwhelming to deal with.

It was days like this that I envied those who did not carry the weighted title of an Alpha.

“Still no signs of her, I take it.”

The sound of Toran’s voice was a welcome distraction. I turned around and leaned back against the edge of my office desk, shaking my head in bloody irritation.

“No, Toran, I have not found any trace of her.” I took a sip of my blood-spiked whiskey.

“Something’s not right then.”

“I dread thinking about the possibility, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s true.” I replied. “Vale…where is she? How is she?”

“She’s with Harlyn…guess she needs a distraction too.”

Distressed, I gulped down the rest of my drink and poured myself another glass. I offered Toran one but he declined.

“One of us needs to be sober just in case that girl of yours tries to go out looking for her mother.”

“You really think you’ll be able to stop her?” I asked, bitterly amused at his assumption.

“With a bit of help from her father and that mate of hers, I think I’d have a pretty decent chance.”

“Her mate,” I murmured. Still, I could not believe that the fate had placed those two togethers.

“Ares Barbosa,” Toran chuckled. “What a pair.”

“Yeah, I…I still can’t believe it.”

“Well, I mean…”

“You mean…what?” I pressed curiously. “You can?”

“Well, yeah, I can believe it, if I’m being honest. The girl is head-strong, and stubborn. Humble, and she’s always trying to save everyone but herself. Ares…is the same, but stronger in some of those characteristics than Vale. They balance each other out.”

Hm, I didn’t see it that way, but I guess it did make a bit of sense.

“Besides, she's had a hold on that boy since before she was forced into inhumanity,” added Toran.

“That was because she was a gold blood.” I attempted to explain away what was so obvious even back then.

“Even you don’t believe that, Alastair,” Toran chuckled.

“No,” I finally confessed. “I guess not.”

There had always been something there. I saw the way Ares would look at her whenever she was near, and how he watched her from afar. Of course, he was attracted to her blood. Even now inhumans desire it, and they don’t bother to train themselves not to. He did.

“He’d do anything for that girl.” I realized and was glad for it.

This conversation, unfortunately, furthered my concern for my own mate. Merari could take care of herself along with the best of them. And that was even before her second life, but I was still concerned for her. These were difficult times.

“I have to find her, Tor.” I muttered. “I can’t let her down again…Not again, Toran.”

“Then we will find her.” My beta said in reassurance. “I ‘ll call the meeting for the clan leaders now.”

At first I nodded in confirmation, then thought better of it. “No,” I said. After what happened that night between Merari and Val, quite a few of the clan members feared them both. I was sure that the expiration of both mother and daughter was what they favored. “I wouldn’t waste time on those whose minds are already made up about her. I know without question that the lot of them feel that her death would be best for everyone. Call only those who can be reached. The ones who are not close minded.”

“Ares, I’m sure, is one of the few souls. Not to mention, that he’d do anything for Valene.”

“While that may be true, I don’t want to lord that over his head as a tool of manipulation.”

“Ares cannot be manipulated, Alas,” said Toran.

“You’d be surprised what love can do to one’s mind,” I said. “In fact, I know that you are well aware.”

Toran sighed, no doubt, our conversation having brought about his thoughts concerning his departed wife.

“I do.”

There was a moment of silence for Sara before we continued the conversation. “Call, Ares. I will assure him that his decision to assist or not will not be met with bitterness.”

“I’ll call him and Zevi.” Toran hesitated a moment before continuing. “Unfortunately, that vampire might be of some use as well.” Toran reluctantly added. It was always amusing to see my best friend when he was trying to be tolerable of Lucius and his coven. Specifically, Lucius.

“True,” I smirked as I realized how hard it was for him to admit this.

He grimaced. “You caught that, huh?” We didn’t have to clarify what he was talking about for us both to realize what he was referring to.

“I did, and I am very proud of you.”

Toran rolled his eyes. “I’ll reach out to the bloody vampire.”

“Thanks,” I sighed, returning to the seriousness of the situation. “Truth be told, we can use all the allies we can get. Don’t know what we’re up against.” I murmured.

“Yeah, and your daughter?” Toran followed. “What about her?”

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place where Valene was involved. It seemed like a no-win situation where informing her was concerned.

“I don’t want her worrying anymore than she already is. And if I’m being honest, I don’t want her to be involved either.”

“Yet you know that in the event that we do find out that something untoward has happened to Merari and she wasn’t involved in the process of finding it out, would only succeed in making her worry more. And you also know that she is going to get involved anyway.”

He was right, of course. It wasn’t in Valene to stay on the sidelines while everyone else was getting their hands dirty trying to make sure that everything was alright. There would be no stopping Valene. Admittedly, she was like me and her mother that way.

“Fine,” I finally relented. “Call on her too, but don’t make it seem urgent if she’s with Harly.” I was quite adamant about that. “They both could use the support of one another right about now. And I don’t want to risk Harlyn knowing what’s going on. Somehow, I can’t help but think that she’ll want to get involved too.”

“Yeah, she’ll want the distraction, I’m sure.” Toran glanced at me and suddenly a hint of guilt fell across his expression. “I…I’m sorry about what Tal did to her, Alas. I don’t know how she’s really been taking it but-”

“Hard,” I expressed.

“Really?”

“Very hard. Surprisingly so.”

“Ah, well, surprising is true,” Toran replied. “Talon is under the impression that she will get over it quickly. I…I’m sorry that he may be wrong about that.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “Harlyn had to learn that there are always repercussions to her actions. I love my little girl, but Talon is a good young man, and a promising title holder of the future pack. She should not have played with his heart that way.”

“I appreciate you saying that.” Toran said. “It’s hard seeing your kid suffer over unrequited love,”

“Yeah, messing over a good thing,” I said. “Something that us Wade’s have a tendency to do. Not so proud that I passed that gene along.”

“And yet your eldest baby girl seemed to learn before it was too late,” he smirked.

“Yeah. Not the Ares made it easy for her not to.”

“True.” I shifted back to the subject at hand. “Make the call now. Tell Vale last. Give her time to end her day before you bring this to her. End of day makes it feel a little less urgent. She won’t be too worked up and the idea that we’re taking her mother’s absence seriously may put her at ease-at least enough not to go off on her own.”

“One can hope.” countered Toran.

“Yes,” A familiar voice interrupted. It came from the direction of the window sill. “One most certainly can.”

Toran turned around, bewildered. “Tobias?!”

The handsome young rogue stood there against sill, legs crossed and arms folded as he delivered a half sheepish, half charming smile to his father.

“I wouldn’t hold out much hope in that category though. Not when it comes to Valene.”

“T-Tobias, what…”

Toran was speechless and so was I.

“Hey dad,” said the young man. There was a forlorn look in his otherwise charmed expression. “Guess we need to catch up a bit, huh?” He tried to make light of his presence but once he realized that there was no way that was possible, he took a deep breath, and his mirthful expression turned into something a bit more serious. “We…we need to talk.”