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 slowed down.

you doing?”

back to where I

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 side leads nowhere.” I pointed at where we went. “Which means this is my only chance.” I pointed

looked back at the direction of our

if

“I know,” he said.

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

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

I looked too. There was time, but not

quiet. Just in

It just dawned on him as I

“Keep things tight here,” I told

“No one moves alone. That’s

I looked in the direction I had to

if it’s a trap?” he asked.

but I think I need to do

“You don’t make sense.”

frustration. “Go,” I told him.

he was about to argue.

said go,” I

wanted to defy me on

I turned and followed the scent. I took my phone out and waved it at him

a little stronger and my heart

covered a lot of ground and I was probably kilometers from my men now.

in her smell and my pace, she was probably walking, which

was hard to believe someone would travel here. A little further, there were some paths that would be far easier to travel. Was she lost, or was this deliberate?

Sam resonated in my

this is a

civilization, from my men, from any resources or backup.

didn’t seem to connect

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 now. Would I lose her now that

the orange glow

I was running out

Even with my wolf eyes, my vision was getting limited

I was close, I knew it.

suddenly stopped.

at this pace, I would have sounded like an elephant to anyone with heightened senses. I slowed my trek

got closer to the river, the forest cleared, the wind pick up speed, and I smelled

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, of the silkiness of

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