Page 60 of His Wild Mate

“But where's my mate? I have to find her.”

I ran from the house and jumped the fence that separated my yard from the open range.

“Paige!” I screamed so many times that I was starting to lose my voice before Clay and Wyatt dragged me back to the house.

Angel and Austin were straightening things up.

“James took all the pictures he needed. They dusted for prints too. We were given the okay to clean up.”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“No sign of her?” Angel asked sadly.

I shook my head.

She reached out and squeezed my arm. “I'm sure she's okay, Em. She's a tough woman and can take care of herself out there.”

“But she shouldn’t have to,” I whispered.

“Are you certain she didn't leave on her own?” Thomas asked. “There's nothing to suggest otherwise.”

“She wouldn't just leave me,” I insisted. “Look, we've been through this already. I caught her leaving last week. We talked about it thoroughly. She knows it would kill me if she disappeared without saying goodbye. She wouldn't do this. Something's wrong.”

“I can send out a search party, but the sun is going down. There isn't much hope of us finding anything that will lead us to her tonight. At first light I'll have a team ready to go.”

That was so long away. I wasn't sure I would survive the wait. The ache in my chest was unbearable.

Mate, my wolf whined.

Where are you Paige? Please come back to me.

I didn't sleep a wink and spent most of the night pacing the floor. My friends stayed over with me, taking shifts for sleeping and ensuring I ate. I felt like a zombie void of all emotions except the crushing hold on my heart.

When morning came and she hadn't returned, I nearly lost my shit and started to wolf-out again. Thomas forbid me from shifting.

“You’re in no condition to go track her. I have five teams already out there looking for her. If she's still in the area, they'll find her.”

“Besides, you're a shit tracker,” Austin reminded.

I growled at the both of them. Despite my insubordination, Thomas was remaining calm and not taking it personally. If I was anyone else, he'd have ripped my throat out for acting like that toward him.

The morning dragged by painfully slow. People came and went in a blur. I knew they all wanted to help, but it was hard to acknowledge anything going on when I felt so incredibly helpless. This was far worse than being unable to touch her. This was sheer torture.

She could be anywhere, and I continued to think of dozens of new, horrible situations she could be in. By the time lunch rolled around, James's deputies arrived to comb through the place again looking for anything that could help them find her or the intruder that had invaded my house.

While the scent and trashing of my place were key indicators of a trespasser, there had been no fingerprints to indicate who had been here. It appeared whoever he was had been very careful to conceal his tracks too. His scent was evident but also smelled like Pack, making it hard to decipher and he had been careful to cover his tracks. Even Thomas's best trackers had only been able to trace him back to Collier Farms, where he appeared to blend into the normal chaos of the ranch.

I just couldn't stomach the fact that he could be one of my guys. It was simply unfathomable.

“This place is such a wreck that we're struggling to find any signs of theft. You'd know best. Is there anything in particular we should be looking for?”

“The only thing I’ve noticed is the blanket in the closet that Paige is so fond of. It's become like a comfort blanket to her when she's scared, and it's gone.”

I didn't miss the glance Thomas and James gave each other.

“She didn't just leave me,” I growled.

“Are her clothes and things here?” he asked. “Did she leave anything behind that makes you think she's returning?”

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