"We've swept down the northern border twice last week but the terrain there is harsh, there is no way she went that way barefoot." The male's voice was low as he delivered the report and I narrowed my eyes as I looked over the map of the territory on the table. There were so many fucking Xs to mark off what had been searched and we were running out of area.

Anger made my jaw ache. Two weeks. It had been two fucking weeks. I hadn't found anything and I had searched the territory top to fucking bottom. Her scent was nowhere, not that it would have lingered for long but the fact remained there was nothing. Her scent had been in my house, then down the trail where it turned to blood and Jason's scent. So where he must have met the rogue leader. From there Menza's scent got... muddled.

I had told everyone to not interrupt the scent but there were so many other scents there, like the pack members had walked the path back and forth. Menza's scent had been all but drowned out. It didn't make any sense. To do that was deliberate, I knew it was, and my eyes narrowed. Even near the river where the rogues said they had met her had been muddled again and again with the scent of random pack members. It didn't make any fucking sense.

I winced as I lifted my leg and grabbed the top of my foot, pressing it tight to my thigh. I stretched out muscles that protested the hell I was putting them through. Every single bit of spare time I had was spent searching for Menza and Maeve. I scowled. Two fucking weeks and nothing, not a single fucking sign of her or my Maeve. Anger was rolling in my chest so viciously I felt like if I talked too much I would ignite and burn up. Two fucking weeks. I was angry at myself, angry at the fucking whelp, at Getts, at the rogues, at Stenton for allowing the pack to wander through the area I told them not to.

"What if she went in the river?" The male asked it low and I glanced over to him. The thought had popped up inside me as well. If she went in the river... I gave a stuttered inhale. I didn't want to think about that. Menza was small, delicate, and that river had taken shifter lives. We were in my house, discussing what we found, what we had learned during our searches. I had even allowed the fucking whelp, despite how our hackles raised the moment were were forced to interact.

"She can't swim." The whelp looked about as ragged as I felt. "If she went in, she can't swim." His voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat roughly as one of the males, grabbed his shoulder as if in comfort. I was pissed at him. He never should have brought Menza home. He should have insisted she stay at the craft hall. They would be safe, they would be here. He brought her home and now they were gone. That was on him.

"We could try following it, seeing if she did go in and hit a bank further down." Another male, Nash, crossed his arms over his chest, frowning slightly.

I closed my eyes tightly, "We can think about that later. There is still that north western edge where we scented some rogues." I could practically feel the whelp tensing up at my voice but I ignored him. "There is a good possibility that she ended up-"

"Don't fucking start that!" Simon snarled at me and I felt my own snarl in my throat as I tensed.

"Keep your fucking mouth shut, whelp!" I threw him a dark look, my eyes narrowed to slits. He was getting on my fucking nerves, he really was.

"She didn't run away, she didn't take Maeve!" The words were growled and I lifted my head further. It's all bullshit, Brochan, and the fact you seem to believe the blatant lies-"

"Get the fuck out of my house." My voice was cold and my wolf snapped his jaws, baring his teeth. I didn't want to hear anymore of that fucking bullshit. All it did was muddy the fucking waters. All I cared about was making sure Menza and Maeve were back home, safe. We could deal with everything else after that but not right now, not while we were looking for them. All it did was distract us from exhausting all options in searching for them.

The whelp bared his teeth, "I can't fucking believe you! You refuse to even search by the river-"

That had me snarling, my anger igniting to rage at the reminder that Stenton had Commanded me to leave the river alone. "They wouldn't be gone if you had just left them in the fucking craft hall!" Every bit of vitriol I felt spewed out with the words but I didn't regret them, at all. He needed to hear it.

He reared back, his face paling. "You bastard." He hissed it out, his eyes narrowing. "You fucking bastard, don't you turn this around on me!" He took two steps towards me before Nash stopped him.

"Enough. Outside." He and the other two, I couldn't keep track of their names, circled the whelp and guided him out of the house. My breathing was sharp, the anger still a glowing coal in my throat. My wolf wanted out, wanted to teach the whelp a lesson for trying to fucking blame me for it.

There was as thick silence as the others looked betwenn me and the door. "What if... what if the rogues took her? We have to think of that possibility. She couldn't move that quick or far under her own steam." The words washed over me and I gritted my teeth harder. The words of the rogue bit at me, haunting me.

We helped her. She wanted out. So we gave her an out.

That fucking laugh echoed in my head and it took all I had not to bare my teeth. After the initial anger faded during that first search and the worry and concern grew, that stupid fucking laugh and his words taunted me. Getts said he smelled her on them, enough that she had been around them for a bit. There was a lot that wasn't adding up. Getts was adamant of what he came across them by the river but the entire area had been compromised by pack members. I couldn't verify his story. Sure he had never lied to me but I also knew he didn't like Menza.

Then, when I had started really digging into the area, combing it, Stenton had fucking Commanded me away from it. Something was fucking rotten, it was. I didn't know exactly what it was but it was there. I couldn't place it but things had my hackles up and I never disregarded my instincts and I wasn't about to now.

Everything the ranks were telling me was pointing to where they said it was clearly pointing. That Menza took my Maeve and ran. But that didn't make any fucking sense. Menza, timid little Menza who could barely talk around most pack males, wouldn't just randomly meet a rogue and run off with them. Something happened.

That tugging sensation, that little part of me, told me I was right, that would never do that but another part of me, an insidious part of me said didn't know her, not actually. She had been with me for what? Four months? That wasn't enough time to truly get to know someone. However what the ranks were pushing me towards didn't make any fucking sense with what I had seen with my own eyes and I trusted my own eyes more than anything.

"Brochan?" Someone said it and I shook the thoughts off.

"I had that thought too. She doesn't have the stamina to run off that far, especially not with all of us looking." Something happened, something had made her disappear.

The river.

That tugging whispered it at me and I pushed it away instantly. I didn't want to think about the river. If Menza went into the river there was a good chance her and Maeve would have died. Something dire would have had to happen to her to force her to make that choice. No. I refused. Besides I couldn't search the area. The reminder of the still standing Command had me gritting my teeth. "We can try the western border." I glanced up at one of the patrol members. "There are some neutral highways there. Is there anyway you can get word to the bordering packs? I wasn't allowed to contact them, another Command Stenton had given me when I suggested it.

We don't let other packs know our weakness, Brochan. So you are not to let anyone outside of this pack know. His words had been a heated Command of anger and it had taken all i had not to swing on him for it. That was the easiest way, to spread the word, to have them be on the look out for Menza and Maeve. And he had slammed that door in my face.

"No." The male winced as I narrowed my eyes at him. "Stenton Commanded us away from the neutral highways." That had me slamming my hand down on table in sheer anger at it. Stenton sat there and said he would help me do whatever I needed to try and find Menza and Maeve, to bring them back, and yet he was blocking our every fucking step.

"He also Commanded us not to alert the other packs about it." Someone else said it warily and my hand balled into a fist.

"He Commanded me the same." I gritted the words out and I could feel some of the others tense up. "We need to figure out a way to wiggle around the Command. There has to be a way." there was always away to work around them. We just had to figure out what it was and work hard at it. "He Commanded me-" The words cut off and I gave a low growl. "The river is off limits to me." It gritted it out, working around the Command. Stenton was fucking this up. It was crucial to get as far as we could to search for Menza and Maeve, to bring them home. Every single delay, every single road block let their trail get cold.

"Fuck." At the word I glanced up and Mike looked stunned. He had put it together. "Are you serious?" he gave me a look and I simply blinked at him. I couldn't confirm it, not like he wanted. "Fuck me." he ran a hand through his hair. "We should have some of the patrols try the river if they can." I just nodded at that, it was all I could do.

I rubbed at my face roughly. "Simon... you gotta give him a bit of grace." Another male spoke up and I slowly turned to look at him, my eyes narrowing to slits. "She's his sister. He's just worried and this is hard on him."

"Hard on him? What about me?" I snapped the words out. "My daughter is out there! My baby girl. Menza is out there doing Mene knows what! She could be hurt, they could have killed her or she's been kidnapped! How the fuck do you think I feel right now?" I hissed the words out as my shoulders tightened. My wolf wanted out. I wanted to be out there searching more. "If he had just left her at the craft hall, we wouldn't be here." I wouldn't forgive him for that. If he had just left them there, Menza and Maeve would have been moved to the jail and they would be safe. He didn't.

"I don't want to talk about the whelp anymore. We need to figure a way out of the Command and get some news over to the neighbouring packs. We should comb along where we scented the rogues and see if her scent turns up." I just wanted to focus on finding Menza, on finding Maeve, everything else could wait. It didn't matter what the whelp though or what the ranks thought. Everything else was secondary to getting them back here, getting them back where I could ensure they were safe.

The tugging inside me whispered that it was right, that getting them safe was the most important thing. It whispered that Menza was a good female, a kind one, that she wouldn't do anything like the ranks said. But that insidious little thought in the back of my head that I almost wanted to claw out didn't agree. It said sure, she hadn't seemed like the type of female to be that vindictive but then again she had never been in that position before. That we had sex. I grimaced at the thought as the anger rose up inside me sharply. As much as I disliked even thinking about it, hated myself for it, we had. I had also told her there would be nothing between us but being friends. She hadn't said much but she had been upset, I knew she had been but Menza wasn't like that.

I shut the insidious little thought out. Menza wouldn't do that. She had been upset, more so at herself. She had been drunk, I had been drunk. We had made a drunk mistake. Besides, when I had stumbled back into the house, that damned quilt had been on the couch. Menza had finished it for me. A female who was vindictive, who was upset or angry, didn't finish a memorial quilt and bring it home. They didn't. She had finished the quilt, had brought it home, putting it where I would see it. I could see her putting it there so I would see if first thing so I would smile.

Vindictive females didn't do that.

The tugging inside of me agreed whole heartedly and I grimaced as I scanned the map on the table. Despite everything, I did know Menza. No amount of coercion or insidious little whispers were going to stop me from trusting my own eyes and experiences.

"Brochan?" Mike nudged me and I shook my head slightly, pushing the thoughts away. We needed to figure out where to search and how to get around the Command Stenton had set out about the neutral highways and telling neighbouring packs.

"We keep searching. As I said, if some patrols could check the river, that would work well because I can't. But we should check where the rogues were scented along the north western edge. I'll head out there right away, whoever wants to join me can." I nodded and pushed away from the table, heading for the door. They followed me, knowing I didn't want them in my home. I stepped outside and the damned whelp was pacing back and forth and I bared my teeth in agitation.

"Are you wanting to fucking listen now?" He snapped it out and I just narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn't going to say a damned word to him. I wanted to go check the north western edge of the territory and he could back the fuck off.

"I don't listen to you." I bit off each word as I said it and turned to the males. "We've searched this territory, top to bottom. It's time to face facts that she's off territory. They both are." It was the truth, there were no signs of her on the territory. We needed to do our best to expand the search area. "We have to-"

"Face facts?" His face twisted with distates as he spat the words out, taking an aggressive step towards me. "My sister is out there, lost, alone, and probably terrified. And you want me to face facts? What facts?" He threw his arm out, his eyes narrowed to slits and I narrowed my own at him.

"Can you let me get a word in edgewise before you jump down my fucking throat?" I snarled the words at him. The writing was on the proverbial wall but he was too blinded by misplaced anger to even bring himself to listen to my words. "She's off territory, we need to check where the rogues were last scented along the north western edge. She might be with them."

"This bullshit again?" The words were snapped off as if he bit each one as he took another step towards me, pointing at me. "That rogue was wanting to cause as much fucking chaos as he could and Getts fucking hates Menza! Why the fuck would you listen to either one of them? Why would you think she ran off with them" His face was turning red and I crossed my arms over my chest. He really wasn't listening to what I was saying.