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.

clearing again I

“What are you doing?”

I was back to where I was when I found

imaginary line in the air with my finger, going from where we just came from to the opposite side. “This is her track. I don’t know what direction she went from but I know this

Sam looked back at the direction of our convoy then back at me, worried.

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

he

catch on quickly,” I said. “I just need to know if

“There is still time until nightfall,” he said looking at the sky.

I looked too. There was time, but not that much.

quiet. Just in case it leads

said. “You’re going on your own?” It just

tight here,”

“No one moves alone. That’s your own rule.”

looked in the direction I had to go.

“What if it’s a trap?” he

my head. “I don’t know, but I think I

don’t make sense.”

in frustration. “Go,” I told

looked like he was about to argue.

go,” I insisted.

wanted to defy

waved it at him behind me. “We

track. After a while, the smell got a little stronger and my heart did a

wood. I covered a lot

walking, which explained why I was catching on, the track being a few

was far in the woods and the mountain, it was hard to believe someone would travel here. A little further, there were some paths

Sam resonated in my

What if this is a trap?

trying to get me away from civilization,

slow down, think about this, but my feet didn’t

erase her tracks? The stream had been small, easy to cross, so why risk getting her feet wet far in the woods, otherwise? Then was she doing the same thing here? Would I lose her smell again? The tracks were probably minutes old at best now. Would

visible anymore, the orange glow slowly turning to

out of time.

vision was getting limited in the thick forest.

I knew it.

I suddenly stopped.

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 anyone with heightened senses. I slowed my trek to a walk, silent, undetectable.

As I got closer to the river, the forest cleared, the wind pick up speed, and I smelled her just before I could see

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

dark outline, barely visible at the edge of my vision, but I