Delina didn't understand much. Katrina? Was her given name Katrina? Was she the daughter of a witch and a mighty king? Was she not even from Earth, but from Erfreut? Her head was spinning.
"We'd better go back to your quarters, huh? You'll rest and in the morning I'll explain you more about your origins and what really happened to your parents. At least, all That I know." Suindara said, offering his arm to Delina, who accepted it willingly. She felt dizzy and her head was throbbing.
*
"Kraig, man, you need to get something to eat..." Kendric said, on the other side of Kraig's bedroom door, who refused to leave except to look for Delina.
"Fuck off!" was the answer of the future Alpha. After passing out in front of the pack, Bernard decided Kraig wasn't ready yet. The boy seemed bewildered, and until he was stabilized, Bernard would continue to take care of the pack, as the Alpha.
"Bro, we're going to find Delina, but you need to eat something. Or you'll be dead when she comes back." Kendric said, in an attempt to convince Kraig to open the door and get something to eat.
First the noise of the bed creaking, then footsteps, and finally the door being unlocked. Kendric waited a few seconds before entering. Kraig was already lying back on the bed and covering himself with the blanket.
Kendric deposited the tray of food on the dresser beside Kraig's bed and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I can't feel her presence, Kendric." Kraig said, his voice muffled from being inside the covers.
"She might just be too far away." Kendric tried to calm him down. Then Kraig uncovered himself and sat up in bed, looking at his friend.
"No, Kendric. It's like she's gone. She was walking away and suddenly she was gone. Puff!" Kraig snapped his fingers to confirm how sudden the situation had been.
"Well, she has to be somewhere. She couldn't have vanished into thin air, could she?" Kendric said as if that was obvious.
"Kendric, even though I rejected her, she didn't accept it. So I'm still connected to her. The pain I'm feeling is like my female has died, don't you understand?" He screamed. Kraig was a wreck. His skin looked pale and gray, his hair looked lifeless, his eyes furrowed, his lips dry and it was obvious that he cried a lot, as the eyelids were more than swollen.
"I have a mate and I understand how painful this can be. Rage can feel Zyon's pain and I understand you, Kraig. However, there was no body. Me and other males sniffed around the place and apparently her scent trail disappears near a tree."
"Yeah, but you also found a stone with her blood. Pretty small, but still..." He whined and went back to covering himself. Kendric can hear Kraig's sobs.
"That blood wasn't enough to kill her. And why would anyone kidnap her? At most, some rogue has taken her, if he thinks she's of value to us. If he had intended to kill her, he would have done it right then and there. Let's wait for daybreak to see if we have news." Kendric said, putting his hand on top of Kraig's, over the top of the blanket.
"What if I never find her again?" Kraig asked tearfully. "I swear I'll take her. I will never reject Delina again." He sobbed as he spoke.
"I believe you, man. Your father asked me why you are like this. I said I would talk to you." Kendric said as he didn't know whether or not to tell the Alpha that his son had rejected the future Luna from the pack and now she was gone without accepting the rejection.
"Say I'll talk to him." Kraig replied, sniffling.
"OK. Now, eat something. Alpha Bernard won't be long over here to have this conversation. And you better be well fed." Kraig uncovered his head and started to eat. Kendric told him to sit up straight and placed the tray on his friend's lap.
When Kraig finished, Kendric got up with the tray already empty and left the room. Bernard was outside, waiting.
"Go in, Alpha. He wants to talk to you himself." Kendric said, head down. He knew full well that Bernard Gewählt wasn't very patient and would definitely get mad at what Kraig had to say.
Bernard walked into the room and Kraig was sitting on the bed, looking like he was very sick. Bernard knew that for a wolf to be like that, he was either really sick, or it had something to do with their mates.
"So, what happened?" the father asked, standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed in front of his chest.
"My mate is gone." was Kraig's dry reply. Bernard frowned.
"I thought your mate wasn't from the pack, after all, you were announcing Keira as your future Luna." Bernard knew they weren't mates, but it was common for Alpha's to choose another female, when theirs was still unknown or had rejected them in some way.
"I rejected her." Kraig admitted, head down.
"Because?" Bernard asked, trying to remain calm.
"She was human." Kraig said.
"Human? Delina?" Bernard asked in disbelief. Kraig just nodded in confirmation. "Are you telling me that girl is the Luna of this pack?"
"She was, isn't it? She disappeared."
Bernard was furious at first, but then he realized that this was neither Kraig's nor the girl's fault. And despite his lament, he always trusted that the Moon Goddess knew what she was doing. She would never pair Kraig with a weak creature that wasn't up to him or the pack.
"If you're still feeling the pain of her loss, it's because she didn't accept the rejection. And yet you would crown Keira as your female and future leader of this pack?" Bernard asked, growling.
"I had been trying to get her to reject me, but as she wouldn't accept it, I decided to take drastic measures. I thought she would just send me to hell and accept the rejection if I made Keira the new Luna. Keira and she don't get along. I didn't know she would literally send me to hell by disappearing." Kraig said regretfully. Bernard sighed and walked over to his son.
"And what did you except? Not only you hurt her, not only the heart, but her soul. You can't just go and reject your mate! Why didn't you come and talked to me first? When an Alpha rejects its mate, he can drag all the pack to the mud with him! So, you wronged Delina and you wronged that pack!" He was furious!!
"I'm sorry, father! You have no idea how sorry I am!"
Bernard let go a huge deep breath. This was so complicated.
"Kraig, how many times have I told you, as I know your mother did too, that the Moon Goddess's decision is not random? Sometimes we don't understand it right away and we don't even want to accept it, but she doesn't make mistakes. If that human was meant for you, it's because she has something special. If we stop to think about it, her appearance within our territory, alone, is already something that differentiates her from everything we know. She wasn't left here for nothing." Bernard put his hand on his son's shoulder, and he looked up and looked at him.
"But it's too late now, father. I don't feel her anymore. Her presence is gone, as if she had died. And all I want right now is to die with her." Kraig started crying again and Bernard held him. He understood the pain of losing a mate, but either way, the boy brought that upon himself.
"Son, I understand you. When your mother left, I thought I was gonna die with her. But you kept me in this world. What do you know about this disappearance? I know Kendric took some males out on patrol."
"They followed her scent but came across a huge tree and a small rock with a few drops of her blood. Nothing else."
"She was found near a huge tree. Very curious." Bernard said and told his son that he would help look for the girl. But for now, Kraig had to fortify himself, because if that had the rogues' fingers, they could soon be attacked.
Leaving the room, Bernard went to his office. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat in the armchair behind the table. Delina had disappeared in the exact place where she had been found. This couldn't just be a coincidence.