Chapter 24

He ran endlessly, his wolf bearing down through the ferns and trees. His breath heaving as his veins were popping. He was livid. Why couldn't the Alpha let him go home today?! Why?!

He crashed through the forest back to the beach. There were a few people around, but they couldn't see or hear him. He paced the sand he felt like he couldn't breathe, his anger and guilt were suffocating him. Anger at his Alpha and guilt from not protecting and comforting his mate. He growled at the thought that he wasn't there to hold her. His teeth were bared the anger rising. He ran back into the forest, not wanting to harm the humans.

He ran for who knows how long. He eventually circled back to his camp. His tent, the only one there, he trudged to it, and fell asleep in wolf form.

~~~~~~~~

He woke up to the sun and cold. He noticed he had shifted in his sleep and was lying on the ground of his tent. Naked. He groaned and sat up, checking his phone to see that the time was six-thirty in the morning. He put some clothes on then walked out.

He looked for his car, then remembered that he had left it at the mansion. He growled in irritation. He grabbed his chain and shifted, then ran to the mansion.

He arrived and shifted mid-run not even breaking stride. He walked right past Louis, again, and went straight for the dungeon. He got to the cheetah's door and opened it. His golden eyes glowing with anger, and his disheveled, dark, silver hair catching the light. His pale skin looked ghostly in the dark. He glared at the cheetah, "Get up. We're leaving."

The cheetah looked at him warily, "Oh, uh, okay." He scrambled to his feet and waited for Raphael to move. "W-what?" He asked, slightly frightened by Raphael's terrifying silhouette.

Raph turned and left. He was leaving early, Alpha wouldn't like that. But he could've left yesterday and he didn't. Alpha had said to come by in the afternoon, maybe he could stop and do a couple things once he got to Brooke's town.

They got upstairs and the Lycans on guard immediately turned to face the cheetah, teeth bared. The cheetah couldn't shift, they had given him a shift-lock. Raphael silenced the Lycans with a glare. They whimpered and hung their heads in shame.

Raphael continued walking, -Louis, you're coming too. Gather four Lycans but leave the rest here for James.-

-Yes, sir.-

The cheetah and Raphael got in a car other than Raph's previous one, the cheetah sat in the back. They waited for Louis. Raph was tapping his finger on the steering wheel and his foot on the floor.

"My name's Duma." The cheetah said out of nowhere.

"Okay." Raphael replied annoyed. His claws were extending, and were now piercing the steering wheel than tapping it.

"What's your name?" The cheetah, or Duma said after a couple seconds.

"Why?" Raph asked exasperated.

"Just wondering." Duma said, Raph glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Duma looking out the window, his cheetah eyes bored and lonely.

"Raphael."

"Huh?" Duma looked up confused.

"My name. It's Raphael."

"Oh, oh. Nice." Duma said, nodding his head.

Raphael rolled his eyes. This Shapeshifter was a little ridiculous.

Louis finally arrived and got into a separate car with his four Lycans. And they drove off. The drive was an annoying one. Duma kept whistling or humming or tapping his fingers. It took everything in Raph to not just pull over and throttle him. But he didn't he clenched the wheel, but he remembered what had happened to his last steering wheel so he just held it with one hand and clenched his free fist.

"Could you turn on the radio?" Duma asked for the hundredth time.

"No." Raphael answered, with the same murderous tone as he had the previous hundred times.

"How old are you?" Duma asked.

"Two hundred and forty-eight." He answered curtly, remembering that he still didn't know Brooke's age, his wolf whimpered at that.

"Wow. I'm eighteen." Duma said.

Raphael glanced at him through the mirror, "Eighteen? And they let you fight?" He was shocked. The Lycan's rule was twenty-five and up were able to fight.

"Yeah. I mean my sister was there to protect me but she fled." Raph looked at Duma again, he was looking at his feet with a dismal expression.

"I'm sorry." Raph didn't know what else to say.

"No, I mean, it's okay. She's safe and not being held prisoner." He looked like he was on the verge of crying so Raphael returned his focus to driving.

They finally neared the turn-off to the airport.

-Louis. You will turn off here and wait for me at the airport till I return.-

There was a long silence before Louis replied -Yes, Beta.-

His use of Beta did not go unnoticed by Raphael, 'Probably worried about the cheetah, but I'll be fine.'

"Uhh, where are they going?" Duma asked once he noticed Louis's car turn off.

"To the airport."

"Why aren't we going?" A note of panic in Duma's voice.

"I'm not going to leave you here." He reassured, "I just have to pick-up a few things."

"Oh, okay." Duma said, with a slight hint of distrust still in his voice.

Raphael followed the same route he had the night he tracked down Brooke's house. It looked different in the daytime, a little less run down.

"What're we doing here?" Duma asked.

"Stay here." Was Raph's reply.

"Wait. What?!" Duma asked. Then Raph shut the door.

He walked a little while then shifted so no one could see him, and came back to her house. Both of the cars were gone, which probably meant that no one was home. He circled twice just to make sure. His senses weren't as sharp as a hunter's, a hunter could probably tell how many people lived there, their gender, age and if they work at a fast food restaurant.

He walked into the backyard carefully and tried the bright, green door handle. It was locked. He tried a white door that seemed to lead to the basement. He tried it and it stuck and squeaked loudly, but opened.

When he'd opened the door he'd been met by a gust of his mate's scent. A sweet cinnamon with spicy notes. He smiled, but his heart pained at the thought of her and all of the pain she was in.

He went through the door and found Brooke's room again. He hadn't brought bags with him so he exited her room and searched for some. He found a large stack in a downstairs kitchen. He came back to her room and started packing her clothes and he saw some jewelry and more shoes. He packed a handful of books from her bookshelf. All the while he had a dazed smile on his face, her scent was calming.

In the end he had six bags filled with Brooke's belongings. He was about to walk out into the yard but stopped himself. 'If people saw me they would probably think I was a thief.'

He decided in the end to shift into a wolf and carry the bags out one at a time. He was relieved to see that Duma had stayed put. He gestured for him to open the door for him, so he could put the bags in the car.

"What is this stuff?" Duma asked as they were on their way back to the airport. Raphael growled when Duma touched one of her things.

Duma dropped it, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to."

Raph sighed, "It's my mate's." He said with a smile on his lips.