The nightmare had jolted him awake, and he had quickly called the healer to confirm that I was still sleeping before his racing heart could calm.
But Dylan’s unease persisted, growing stronger as the hours passed, and his thoughts continued to drift to distant places.
When a pack elder asked when he planned to hold the marking ceremony with Mabel, he didn’t respond.
It took Mabel shaking his arm to bring him back to reality; when he looked into her adoring eyes, all he saw was my disappointed face staring back at him.
The realisation struck him like a physical blow, and he jerked his hand free of Mabel’s grasp and dashed towards the ceremonial hall’s entrance.
“Alpha Dylan, the celebration is not over! Where are you going?”A pack member called after him.
Only now did he realise how important I was to him; how could he have betrayed me by choosing another woman? Amelia, please wait for me.
Dylan dashed back to the healing den, his heart pounding furiously in his chest. After parking haphazardly outside, he sprinted through the corridors to my room.
Only when he looked through the doorway and saw the shape still lying in bed with the covers pulled up did his anxiety subside slightly.
He pushed open the door and walked in, a gentle smile on his face.
“Love, I am back!”He called softly.
Dylan carefully pulled back the blanket, his smile freezing instantly when he discovered it wasn’t me, but a collection of pillows arranged to resemble a sleeping form.
Where was his Amelia?
Dylan was falling apart just as I was settling into my new life at the Hunter Pack.
His heart raced as he searched the room for any sign of me.
“Amelia! Amelia, where are you? Amelia!”He cried out desperately, his voice breaking with each repetition of my name.
He flung open the bathroom door and threw the shower curtain aside, as if I was hiding there. It was empty.
His breathing became ragged as he stormed out to the nurses’ station, slamming his fist on the counter hard enough to crack the wood; the young doctor on duty jumped back, almost dropping her clipboard.
“Where is she?””Dylan demanded, eyes flashing gold with his wolf rising dangerously close to the surface.” Where is my mate?
“Alpha Dylan, please,” the Doctor said, pressing herself against the wall. “We thought she was sleeping. The monitors were rigged to show normal readings. You instructed us not to disturb her under any circumstances…”
Dylan’s roar interrupted her explanation. With a sweep of his arm, he knocked medical supplies to the floor.
“Useless! All of you!”
He charged through the healing den like a storm, flinging open doors, startling patients, and growing more desperate with each vacant room. As he passed, pack members flattened themselves against walls, the Alpha’s rage unleashing waves of dominance that made lesser wolves whimper.
Dylan fumbled with his phone as he returned to his car. He called my number six times in a row, each time receiving the same automated message: “The number you have dialled is no longer in service.”
“No, no, no,” he mumbled, his voice raw from emotion.
