After their short meeting, the three of them walked out of the study. Logan's spirit was much lifted after talking to his two best friends. His mind was still full of worry about Aella and how she was doing, but he was also happy that he seemed to be making progress on one thing at least.

He remembered something that his father had once told him, that the fastest way to forget about something painful was to drown that pain in work. He had been extremely sad about Aella's kidnapping and had worried for her safety, but at least he had been able to do some work with his beta and cousin and make headway in the process. It had drowned his worries about his mate for a few precious minutes.

But now thoughts of Aella had returned and had started haunting him again. He felt as though he would lose it if he didn't find a way to clear his head.

Logan escorted Casper and Louve to the door of the dining room, where they were to have dinner. Louve turned to her cousin. "Come and eat dinner with us." She said. "I know you're still worried about Aella but you need to get something into your stomach at least. A hungry man cannot think or make decisions now, can he?"

"I'm not hungry." Logan muttered and tried to walk away but his cousin held him back by the arm. 

"Logan..." Louve started to say but he gently withdrew his arm. "I'm fine, really." He spoke. He wasn't exactly fine but he needed them to believe he was. Thoughts of Aella had filtered into his mind and stolen all the happiness he had felt mere minutes ago. He was starting to get sick of the mood swings. When would it end?

Right now, he was racked by guilt about what he could have done to change the situation of things. Perhaps if he had stayed behind, she wouldn't have been kidnapped. Perhaps he could have prevented it in one way or the other. The kidnapper might have been scared of his presence and might have turned back.

Thoughts about her were like slow torment. It felt like a torturer was wielding a sharp object and slowly cauterizing him with it. He knew it was unhealthy to keep having those thoughts about her, yet he couldn't stop or restrict himself. Sometimes he felt like he was slowly slipping away. Why did the Goddess have to bless him with a life partner only to use it to torture him like this? When would everything be well between himself and Aella?

He shook his head to clear his mind of the dark thoughts. "I'll see you guys later. I have to go to the creek to clear my head." He said and walked away from them without waiting for their replies.

He walked down the stairs and towards the foyer door, glad that the foyer was empty. He didn't think he could stand any more suspicious looks and snide comments from anyone. He'd had enough mental torture for today.

He walked outside and looked around. The pack house lawn was equally devoid of anyone. The only sound came from the crickets chirping and frogs croaking in the grasses. The crescent moon high up in the sky barely illuminated the ground. Any other normal human wouldn't have been able to see where he was going, but Logan was a werewolf. His eyes were twice as sharp as any ordinary human.

He looked up as he walked across the pack house lawn. The crescent moon reminded him of Aella's tattoo. Once again, he wondered how this tattoo linked Aella to his mother. Did that mean that in some funny, twisted way, his mother was related to Aella? No, Logan shook his head. The Goddess could certainly not mate two people who were related by blood.

He got to the edge of the forest and began walking toward the direction of the creek. There was a lot on his mind, but strangely he felt very peaceful. His mate had mysteriously disappeared, the seat of alpha was being threatened by one of his most trusted advisors, a rogue king was on his way to attack his pack, and yet he felt at peace. He could not explain it. Perhaps it was being here in the great outdoors that was doing it, or something else. 

He got to the creek. As usual, the place was devoid of people. He rolled up the legs of his trousers and sat on the tree stump by the creek, dipping his feet into its cool water. He sighed and closed his eyes. This was like therapy to him. The water of the creek seemed to carry away all his worries and fears along with it as it flowed downstream. 

He thought about something that his mother had told him when he was about fifteen. He had gotten into trouble for doing something mischievous with Casper when they were that age. His mother, in anger, had berated him, then told him that where she came from, this sort of behavior would have earned him a public whooping.

He had wondered then where exactly she had come from, but he had been too scared to ask her. There was this closed look that came upon her face anytime he asked her where she had come from before she imprinted on his father. She had told him it was a faraway place when he was much younger, then when he had grown older she had told him that it wasn't something he needed to worry about. He had studied her face when she had said those things. There had been a mildly terrifying look in her eyes then.

He had asked severally, until he learned not to ask anymore, until he learned that not all questions are meant to be answered. His mother had had secrets that she hadn't told even her own mate, his father. How then did he expect her to tell him, her child?

He guessed he had learned the art of keeping secrets and holding things to himself from his mother. Before her death, she had been a pro at sharing just enough to make the other person believe that he knew her very well, yet still keep so much to herself.

But now it was all clear, he thought as he got to the small creek. All the secrets his mother had hidden from him was all clear to him like the moon above. She had come from the rogue pack too. But the rogue pack and his father's pack had been at loggerheads for as long as he could remember, so he could imagine her hesitation to tell anyone where she had really come from.

Logan opened his eyes, then removed his legs from the creek, suddenly craving a walk to the pack's border. He decided to have a small look at the condition of the boundary before going back to the pack house. He knew that the situation of security was very fragile in the pack, and the Rogue King and his pack could slip in from any gap. 

He turned left and continued walking, listening to the chirps and croaks of the nighttime animals.

In a matter of minutes, he got to the boundary and looked around. This was where Casper had seen those wolf prints on the ground. Springtime rain had washed away the prints, hbutLogan still recognized the place. 

The border was about as long as a mile on both sides. He could see now how the rogue wolves were able to sneak into the pack and kill off his members. The border was too wide for the patrol members to cover, as they had only about seventy patrol members and so much ground to cover. On one side, the mountain acted as a protection too, but the mountain could as well be climbed by anyone who is determined enough, as Aella had done.

He looked around, wondering how Casper could have missed that amount of space. Suddenly his eyes fell on a tree. He wasn't sure what drew his eyes to that tree, but he moved closer to it. He decided to examine the tree and saw, close to the foot of the tree, a hastily scrawled arrow pointing to the right.

A sign.

He frowned and felt the arrow with his finger. "That's strange." He said to himself. He noticed the arrow pointing to a nearby tree and moved to the tree, crouching at the foot. There he saw another similar-looking arrow. How did he not notice this when he was looking around with Casper?

Remember you were very agitated that other day, his wolf reminded him. But this time you're calmer. This could be the good news we've always been waiting for, Logan. Keep checking, keep checking!

Logan moved to the next tree and saw the same arrow. Then on to the next, and the next. A small sliver of hope came alive inside and he could feel himself getting somewhere. He continued to follow the trees that had the arrows on them until he got to the foot of the mountain. 

On the side of the mountain, there was a cave entrance, closed off by a large rock. Logan walked closer to the entrance and touched the rock. It was smooth to the touch. He wondered how he, Casper, or any of the patrol team could have missed this. Or perhaps they all saw it and thought that it was nothing worth checking out.

As he felt around the rock, his fingers hit something. It was a very small incision, almost childlike in its shape. He peered into the rock and saw that the incision was shaped like a crescent. Almost overcome with anticipation and discovery, he pushed the rock away from the entrance, grunting slightly with the effort, and looked inside.

The inside of the cave was semi-dark, lit only by the light pouring in from the entrance. Logan fished for a small torch in his pocket and brought it out, then put it on and took a good look around the cave. What he saw made his mouth hang open in shock.

"What the fuck?!"