Chapter 4 Markus

“No!” I growl in frustration at the pack elders.

“Be reasonable,” Jonas, one of the older pack elders, barks back. He has been on our case for taking a chosen mate since the day we turned eighteen.

“Be reasonable! You want us to take a chosen mate! How is that reasonable?” I demand, my frustration growing at each comment.

“Markus,” Calyx orders, his voice barely above a whisper but still commands the room. “I understand where you are all coming from, but I agree with my brother. We will not be taking a chosen mate. We know she is here, and we will find her.”

“You have been spouting this tale since you turned eighteen,” Allison sighs at us. She is one of the two female elders we have. She found her fated mate years ago. I would expect her to be more supportive of us finding our mate. “I understand wanting to find your fated mate, but you have met and talked with every female we have.”

“We are running out of time,” my father states as he pins the two of with a glare. “We are receiving more rogue attacks by the day. The pack will start to weaken unless you take over soon.”

“Father, you are still strong enough to lead as we search,” Cal states.

Neither of us like to bring it up, but we had been watching our father’s strength diminish over the years. Our mother had been killed two years ago in a rogue attack. It was a miracle that our father hadn’t lost his mind as the bond broke. The alphas, in our line, feel more deeply than normal wolves. We have a stronger connection to our mate, but that also transfers into being able to feel our pack members and have a stronger connection with them.

“Father, please,” I start to beg, “just a little more time?”

“You turn twenty-three next week, you will announce your mate or relinquish the claim on the title of Alpha,” our father growls at us.

“Alpha Mathew!” several of the elders shout, shock clearily heard in their voices.

“The boys need an ultimatum,” our father growls before is storming out of the room.

The rest of the elders followed suit. Jonas and another Elder do not acknowledge us as they leave. The other four do as they leave.

“Well, that went well,” James laughs as he strolls into the meeting hall. James is our beta. He is a great friend and even better beta.

“It could have gone better,” Sam hisses. He is our gamma. Sam takes after Calyx, very serious, very broody.

“What did I miss?” Nick asks as he runs into the room. Nick is the youngest of the group. He is eighteen compared to our twenty-two, James’ twenty-three, and Sam’s twenty-one.

“You would not have missed anything if you had been waiting outside the meeting hall,” Sam states in a scolding tone.

“Sorry, I had to finish a test. It’s not my fault I’m still in high school,” Nick grumbles in defense.

“It’s fine Nicky,” I sigh as I sIt down at the table.

“So, what's the plan?” James asks as he sits beside me.

“I’m not sure,” I sigh in defeat.

“She is still here,” Cal state as he stared out the window.

“Dude, I know! But we’ve looked everywhere! We’ve even checked homes during pack meetings. If Amalie is still in our territory, they are keeping her well hidden,” I say. I am worried about her. The pair of us knew that she was our mate when we started high school. We were waiting for her to get her wolf so we could announce it. I can feel that she is still within ou borders, but not where she is exactly. Goddess, this is so frustrating. I wish we had free reign to use our Alpha command on the pack to find her.

‘We should have claimed her the moment we surfaced,’ Aziz growls in my head. Aziz is my black wolf that towers over most of the pack. The exception being Zviad, Calyx’s wolf and our father’s wolf, Samson.

‘You know we couldn’t do that. Mom and dad were right. Letting the world know that our line gets their wolf at a younger age is dangerous,’ I sigh. As much as I hated to admit it, we had been trying to protect Amalie.

‘I don’t care, our mate is trapped, and we could have protected her,’ he growls back.

I wince at how loud he is getting.

“Aziz?” Cal asks as he rubs his temples as if he has a migraine.

I nod my head. “I’m guessing Zviad is causing a headache as well?” I ask.

“He says she’s here,” he growls as he grips the windowsill.

“Have you thought about looking into her family?” Nick asks.

“Gee, why didn’t we think of that years ago?” James snarks.

“No, you idiot!” Nick yells as he gets into James’ face. Being the youngest, he has been trying to prove himself. “I mean, her parents’ scent or her sister’s. If they are around her, they should have trances on them of Amalie's scent."

The four of us pause. Is it really that simple as going to see them and see if they have her scent on them. We have been over a few times over the years. But we always gave them warning when we would be coming, as our parents had told us to give them common curtesy. The first time was right after she left. The house still smelt of her, so we were unable to get anywhere. The second time, it had been the anniversary of her disappearance. Melissa had worn so much perfume that it clung to us for the next two days. The third and fourth times, only her father had been there. He had been drunk and the whole house smelled of alcohol. Then it had been Sam, Nick, and James going back and looking during the pack meeting and other functions.

“That, is actually a good idea,” Sam states as he looks around at us.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” I state. Her mother, Marie, did not wear perfume. If we could get close enough to her, we could probably see if Ama's scent was on her.

“Tomorrow, after Nick gets done with school, we’ll go over to talk with them. With the five of us, we should be able to know for sure,” Cal says in a final tone.

“Tomorrow we find her,” I agree.