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.

When I reached the clearing again I slowed

you doing?”

to where I was when I found her.

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

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

in the world, but if I don’t give

know,” he said.

said. “I just need to know if this

Sam nodded. “There is still time until nightfall,”

was time, but not that much.

quiet. Just

“Wait…” he said. “You’re going on your own?” It just dawned on him as

things tight here,” I told him.

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

looked in the direction I had to

“What if it’s a trap?”

shook my head. “I don’t know, but

make

I said in frustration. “Go,”

he was about to argue.

go,”

He looked like he wanted to defy me on this.

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

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

I kept running at the highest pace I could maintain in the wood. I covered a lot of ground and I was probably kilometers from my men

and my pace, she was probably walking, which explained why I was catching on, the track being a few hours old

was hard to believe someone would travel here. A little further, there were some paths

resonated in my

this is a

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

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 was she doing the same thing here? Would I lose her smell again? The tracks were probably minutes old at best

anymore, the orange glow slowly turning to midnight blue.

I was running out of time.

was getting limited in the

close, I knew it.

I suddenly

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. The wind was coming from

cleared, the wind pick up speed, and I smelled her just before I could see her.

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, of the

of