Xavier's POV
"Derek, have the soldiers search this area now. I want them to cover every inch of this forest. Now!" I roared, my voice fracturing under the weight of a raw, suffocating panic.
I looked around frantically, the massive trees of the northern forest suddenly feeling like the bars of a cage. I had traced her scent this far, right to the blood-chilling clearing where the broken branches and the chemical stench of wolfsbane told the story of her struggle. But after that? Nothing.
I had spent the last hour circling the area like a madman, my snout ploughing into the dirt, desperate for even a single trace of her Rose scent. But whatever they had drugged her with hadn't just suppressed her wolf; it had entirely dulled her scent trail.
"You heard the Alpha!" Derek yelled at the soldiers, his voice echoing through the now dark forest. "Form a grid! Nobody misses a single footprint!"
