A Blood-Like Rain

— Kaden —

I began to panic.

We were heading to battle, but I smelled my mate. I smelled my mate!

I tried to track the direction the smell came from but it was so faint I could hardly notice it. I moved in circles half in a daze. I found a line, a line she must have been traveling, but I couldn’t tell which way she came from and which way she was going. And I tried to sniff both ways to see which seemed the strongest, the freshest.

Sam noticed my change in behaviour and got closer. When I noticed him, I raised my hand to make him stop. I was afraid his sheer presence would make me lose her scent.

It wasn’t completely irrational either as my own scent on her tracks was enough to nearly destroy what little clue I had.

I went in further.

I followed one side of the track all the way to a small stream, then I lost her. I checked all over, on the other side, everywhere. The track ended here. My best guess was she walked in the stream for a while, the water masking her scent.

I didn’t realize I had bolted in that direction, until I heard Sam running to catch up.

We were far now. The noise of my men, faint in the distance.

“What is it?” asked Sam worried.

“I found her,” I said in desperation. “I lost her.”

“Who?” he asked confused.

“My bloody mate.”

“Fuck! Now?”

“Yeah.”

“This is not a good time for this.”

“I know,” I growled in frustration.

I walked for a while, following the stream. I still couldn’t pick up her scent, so I stop.

“What now?” asked Sam.

“I go the other way,” I said.

I went back on my track. It was easier to go by the scent I just left than try and pick hers again. I went at a dead run, Sam could barely keep up.

reached the clearing again I slowed down.

you doing?”

I was when I found her.

opposite side. “This is her track. I don’t know what direction she went from but I know this side leads nowhere.” I pointed at where we went. “Which means this is my only chance.” I

looked back at the direction of our convoy

“It’s the worst timing in the world, but if I don’t give this a chance—.” I didn’t

know,” he

“I can catch on quickly,” I said. “I just need to know if this leads somewhere.”

time until nightfall,” he said

too. There was time, but not

nodded. “Keep this quiet. Just in case it leads nowhere.”

going on your own?” It just

things tight here,” I told him.

alone. That’s your

the direction

it’s a trap?” he asked.

shook my head. “I don’t know, but I think I need to

“You don’t make sense.”

know,” I said in frustration.

He looked like he was about

go,”

wanted to defy me on

followed the scent. I took my phone out and waved it at him behind me. “We keep in touch.” And I disappeared through the

After a while, the smell got a little stronger and my heart did a backflip. This was the direction she went in.

could maintain in the wood. I covered a lot of ground

she was probably walking, which explained why I was catching on, the track being a few hours old now.

woods and the mountain, it was hard to believe someone would travel here. A little further, there were some paths that would be far easier to travel. Was she

Sam resonated in my head.

this is a trap?

Was someone trying to get me away from civilization, from my men, from any

about this, but my feet didn’t seem to connect with my mind. I kept running.

Another stream? A river? Had she walked deliberately into the water to erase her tracks? The stream had been small, easy to cross, so why risk getting her feet wet far in the woods, otherwise? Then

anymore, the orange glow slowly turning to midnight blue.

running out of time.

wolf eyes, my vision was getting limited in the thick

close, I knew

I suddenly stopped.

If she was hiding her scent, she didn’t expect to meet someone so far in the forest. I had run relatively silently, but at this pace, I would have sounded like an elephant to

cleared, the wind pick up speed, and

this light exotic flower smell again, but it was richer now, softer, it reminded me of playing in the dead colourful maple leaf on the autumn ground as a child, of the feeling of strawberry juices running on your tongue, of a stormy night of April, of a warm blanket in front of a fire in the dead of winter,

barely visible at the edge of my vision, but I knew it was