Page 15 of Silent Noise

CHAPTER 11

CASSIUS

What had happened to Lily was unnatural. How her scent couldn’t simply vanish as though she'd never existed. Impossible, bizarre. And yet, it had happened. Without a scent to follow, we had no hope of finding her. There was nowhere to go, no place to start looking.

The day Lily disappeared was, by far, the worst day of my life. The pain, crushing guilt, confusion and anger were torturous. I’d lost myself in the madness and chaos. It was overwhelming. I should have protected her; been a better leader. I should have put my foot down and denied all of them to sneak out.

I’d been a failure of an Alpha, a lesson I paid for dearly. Lily’s memory now served as a constant reminder of how one stupid decision could affect your life forever. Not just my life, but everyone else's. The entire pack. Her disappearance had been a harsh lesson to prepare me for my future role as the Alpha of Hollow Stone. Never again would I put the safety of any pack member at risk for something so pointless. We had rules for a reason and breaking them only led to heartache and disorder. I would be strict, and I would enforce the pack’s rules with an iron fist. There would be no grey areas, only black and white. Only right and wrong.

Even though I had been furious with Raiden in the very beginning, I have come to realise that I could only blame myself for what had happened. I was supposed to be the one protecting her. I should never have left her there with Raiden or Axel for that matter. No. We should never have left Hollow Stone's border in the first place.

Six months. It had been six months since Lily’s disappearance, and I'd sometimes still wake to hear Raiden’s agonised howls echoing through the forest. It was one of those sounds you wished you'd never heard in the first place. It haunted my dreams and thoughts, constantly making me wonder if Lily had, in fact, been meant to be his.

Out of everyone, Raiden and Axel had suffered most. Everyday things had turned into obstacles for them. Having to get up in the morning, shave, train or even eat took immense effort. I couldn't remember Axel eating at all for the first week. Both men had been through hell. I didn't know about Ray, but Axel refused to talk about any of it.

He never spoke about Lily anymore; had closed her door after eleven days of fruitless searching and avoided moving past her bedroom in general, taking the longer route around each time. Axel didn't want anything to remind him of her and ended up pulling away from us more and more each day. Isolating himself. It was like he’d closed a book on a story he didn't want to finish. As though he knew what the end would bring, so instead of reading it, he decided to slam it shut and live in a state of limbo. A part of the story where he wouldn't have to deal with what came next.

Not a single trace of Lily had been found since that night. The rogue attacks didn't go away either. Killings along our borders left us with even more questions. Not a single survivor ever lived long enough to tell the tale. The absence of scents made the murders unsolvable. Could Lily have been just another one of these killings? And if so, why had her body never been found? Lately, the killings had begun moving further north, away from Hollow Stone, leaving a trail of dead bodies up the continent. Whatever or whoever it was, they must have grown tired of us and moved on. I sighed in relief as Chase relayed the latest crime statistics. After the initial shock of Lily’s disappearance, my father had handed over his Alpha title to me, giving him more freedom to search for Lily himself. Hence, Chase was immediately appointed my new Beta.

Within the last month, the murders had decreased drastically, enough so that we could finally breathe again after almost six months under border lockdown. The constant fear and uncertainty gripping the pack was gruelling. Exhausting. I’d stepped in as Alpha at a terrible time, but I knew my father had little choice in the matter. So, I did what I could, even though most days it felt like I couldn’t do remotely enough.

I lifted all curfews and restrictions the previous morning and so far, there had been no new incidents. Pack members were finally able to move around freely, visit friends and family and continue their daily activities.

My body felt as though I’d doubled in age in the last six months. The person looking back at me in the mirror certainly looked it. New creases had formed over my brow and under my eyes. My cheeks were gaunt, sunken. Not as bad as what Axel had gone through. He’d stopped shaving months ago. The normally lively eyes had become dull, constantly red. Dark circles had formed around them, his hair dirty and unruly at the best of times.

The blaring phone on my desk brought me back to the present. Time stood still for no man, and being a leader meant I couldn’t sit around and mope.

“Alpha Cassius Scott,” I answered with a sigh, no emotion lacing my voice.

“It’s me,” a deep male voice said. “Is she still alive?”

“Raiden, listen…” I began, running a hand over my face.

“I need to know,” he cut in before I could continue.

Because Lily hadn’t been mated yet, she was still connected to Hollow Stone’s pack link. We were able to tell if she was still alive or dead. Since we never felt the link between us and Lily break, we knew she had to be alive.

A moment of silence lingered between us.

“As far as I know,” I breathed.

Another moment of silence followed before he ended the call. I stared at the earpiece for what felt like ages, gripping it tightly in both hands. When I finally put it back in its place, my hands shook, my eyes burning.

Raiden had been searching for her relentlessly. He’d even postponed his Alpha training for eight months to continue his search. I pitied him. It was only a matter of time before he would be forced to take up his position as Shadow Creek’s new Alpha, whether he wanted to or not.

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