Page 22 of Hadley's Heroes
When Jaim returned to get a blanket for Hadley, leaving Aalee to watch her, I got very excited. He was to watch my mate, maybe… maybe he would ask her to consider him again. I hadn’t spoken much to him since I mated with Hadley. But I knew deep inside he wanted this also for himself. And I wanted Hadley for him. I had spent all my life with Aalee. We were always together, that was how we were chosen for Brooklyn’s mates. The queen couldn’t part us, we had always been Adee and Aalee.
But when Jaim returned with a grim look on his face, without Hadley or Aalee, I was concerned. He couldn’t find them, he had looked and couldn’t even sense her in the area anymore. He came running back here to see if they had returned, but they hadn’t. I was here the whole time in the hut. I was cleaning and making room for where Hadley had wanted acrib.It was a sleeping place for kits from her home, and I wanted to make sure we included as much as we could from both our worlds.
“Where was she last seen?” Daku asked a worried Jaim after we searched him out. Jaka had gone to find Vetok, and we alerted our head warrior from Clan Wolf. He was still in charge of the warriors here, making sure there was always protection from the outside.
“In the fall of water. I looked for her and Aalee, I could not sense either of them.” Jaim repeated the same story he told me back to Daku. I could hear so many males now accusing my littermate of stealing her away.
“He was quiet and cunning, he has taken the female,” one called out for all to hear. I protested. He wouldn’t have done such a thing, we had been together always and I knew my litter brother. Something must have happened to both of them.
“Maybe they were swept down the river? The fall of water pushing them along?” I didn’t want to think of such a thing, but it was possible. I had heard of males drowning in the water, we didn’t know how to swim like I had seen the females do. Maybe Aalee fell in and Hadley was trying to help him and they were swept away.
“We have to consider that, yes. But we also have to consider the real possibility that he took her away. We will find their scents and track them,” Vallyn announced to everyone with Luna by his side. She was agreeing this was for the best. She didn’t know Aalee like me, she didn’t know he would never harm Hadley.
I had never run so fast in my life. The fall of water was where she had washed herself earlier and I wanted to get there before the others. I wanted to prove them wrong and show that Aalee hadn’t taken her. But when I arrived, I saw her cloths laying on the edge of the water. I was frozen in my shock. Others approached from behind until most of the clan was standing here now. I watched as the female with hair the color of the twin suns picked up my Hadley’s cloths, the ones she had worn earlier to come here.
“Oh my god, she’s naked. Hadley doesn’t just roam around naked,” Jessica called out, her voice cracked as she held the cloths to her chest. I knew now, something bad had happened to them both. Aalee would never hurt her, I was sure of it. But for Hadley to be naked…
“Everyone, gather round. Aalee has taken the female Hadley—” a large warrior started to announce. I interrupted him. I didn’t want others to think Aalee had taken her, there was no proof of this.
“Hadley wasn’t taken by Aalee,” I called out, angry at the accusation. “I know him, he wouldn’t do that. I think maybe others took her and he has followed.”
I could see Vetok pacing wildly beside me now. He eyed me, not believing my thoughts. I could see he believed that other male, that Aalee took her from me… us. He didn’t know Aalee like me, like Jaim. But when I looked at Jaim, he looked conflicted.
I needed to gather my thoughts as I moved to the water’s edge. I would find her scent, and his scent I knew well. But I couldn’t find anything else, everyone tried in the area but nothing. It was like they disappeared. Maybe my theory of them being swept downstream was right.
“We need to go across the water.” Elle pointed to the other side. She was a very strong female, Elle. And I knew she was Hadley’s closest friend.
All the males rushed away from us, towards the bridge that was located further down the river, but I wasn’t waiting. I rushed forward into the water. The fall of water was spraying water onto me, but I didn’t care. I needed to find her. She might be over the other side, maybe picking fruit, and everyone was overreacting to it all. I could see her laughing and Aalee being confused when we all appeared. But that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t sense either of them.
“I can smell her here, look.” Jaka rushed to the cliff. It was built from rocks and so tall. How could she have gone up there? Even Aalee wouldn’t have climbed that. This was the same place I had been found, but I knew I had never climbed the cliff. Everyone thought otherwise, but I wasn’t a stupid male.
“I smell Aalee also. And… his blood.” I looked down to all the rocks littered around the area. I didn’t know why there were so many here, maybe they did climb and they fell? But there were so many. Why was his blood streaked on this one? It wasn’t right, I felt sick thinking about what had happened.
“There are other males’ scents here also. Did your littermate have other male friends?” I looked to Vetok, who asked, and shook my head.
“No, he never spoke to anyone,” I replied. But the truth was, I didn’t know. He could have made friends while I had been busy trying to impress Hadley. But I knew in my heart he wouldn’t have taken her. He would have protected her.
“We must get to the top of the cliff.” Jaka started to climb. But Daku told him to stop, that they would go around the safe way.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Hadley and our kits. How could this have happened? We had all the protection, but it still wasn’t enough. The females needed to have more protection when they were far from camp.
“Let’s go.”
We had made it to the top of the cliff. We could sense someone here, but it wasn’t the same scents we were tracking. No, this was different. Not Aashi, but also not human. Behind some low bushes we found the pink Zalli warrior. He was bleeding and barely alive. Everyone knew then that Aalee hadn’t taken her, that this was the work of outcast males.
These outcast males must have worked in a large group to take down a Zalli warrior. I was grateful he wasn’t dead. Jaim worked on him with Axoh as the rest of the warriors spread out and searched for Hadley.
We spent all day searching and came up with nothing. They didn’t have that big of a lead on us, but they must know this area well to travel fast.
As night fell, I worried about Hadley. These males knew how to mask their scent, and every hour we seemed to lose Hadley’s scent also. I couldn’t sense her or smell her anymore. I felt like a terrible mate. I hadn’t even officially mated her yet. I had spilled seed before I could put it into her body.
“Stop,” Vetok said to me. I froze. Did he see her?
“You are not healed, Adee. You push yourself too much, you must rest.”
I didn’t disagree. I wished I could keep going, but I was slow, too slow, and I was making it hard for everyone in my group.
“I will rest here. The moon is high in the sky, I will catch up to you all in the morning.” I sat down against a tree. I would rest a few hours and follow their scents.
