The Lone Wolf

Chapter 23: Peeta

"Alpha, there is no sign of her. Luna Everdeen's trail from the body led strait to the border and stopped. She's gone." I look up at My Beta, anger coursing through my veins and burning in my gaze.

"Check again," I order.

"Peeta," he says and I pin him to the wall.

"That was an order Beta Hawthorne!" I growl. "Do not disobey me!"

"Yes Alpha," he says bowing his head and I release him. He leaves and the room is silent until I hear crying and I turn as Sarah, one of the refugees from Snow's Capitol compound, carries in my daughter.

"I'm sorry Alpha Mellark," she says looking down, not meeting my eyes. "But we are having a lot of trouble trying to get your daughter to sleep." At the mention of Rain, the anger I had been feeling melts away into a sadness I've never felt before.

"I can take her," I say holding out my arms as she lays Rain in them. "Thank you." Sarah nods submissively and leaves the room, shutting the door tightly behind her. I look at my restless daughter and feel tears in my eyes. She looks so much like her mother, it's heartbreaking. "Where is she Rain?" I ask the infant in my arms. "Where's your Mommy?"

At the mention of Katniss, Rain starts to look around for her. I even swear I see her little nose twitch, as though searching for some trace of her mother's sweet scent. When she realizes she isn't there, she starts to cry again.

"Shhh," I hush her. "It will be okay. I'm here. Nothing will dare hurt you while I'm here. We'll get her back Darling. I promise. You'll see." She continues to wail softly. I hear a knock on the door and feel a growl rise in my chest as I catch the scent of my guest.

"Come in," I say as I lay Rain in her cradle and slide the curtain around her shut. The door opens and I fight back my anger. Although we ruled him not guilty of his crimes and he was permitted to go back to his mate, this is still the mongrel that attacked my mate on several occasions and took my leg.

"Cato," I say as calmly as I can. "State your business. In case you haven't heard, I'm a little too busy for your taunting." He hangs his head.

"Yes Alpha," he says and for once, I hear respect in his voice. "I have. And I came to you because I wanted to offer my help in the search for Katniss."

"Don't say her name," I growl. "You aren't worthy to say her name."

"I came to ask you to allow me to help you search for Luna Everdeen," he says correcting himself.

"Why would you possibly want to help?" I ask him.

"Because," he says looking down. "At one time, I went by the name Everdeen too. Your mate is my twin sister. And I want her to know the real me. Not the monster I turned into after I was kidnapped at three."

"She doesn't know?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"We were young," he says. "Too young to remember clearly in the first place. On top of that, our mother put a spell in her to make her forget."

"So she isn't the eldest?" I ask. "The throne of the Miner's Seam wasn't hers after all."

"No, he says. "It was hers. By five minutes, it was hers."

"So why did you attack her?" I ask. "Kill your father and the little girl she knew as her only sibling?"

"Snow had my mate," he says. "As you know already, that can drive a man to unthinkable actions. Like fighting with your Beta."

"I understand that you want to help her, but how could you possibly find her if all my best trackers can't?" I ask.

"How did I know she was carrying Rain before you did?" he asks. "She's my sister. I can pick her scent out of thousands just like you can being her mate. So my proposal is this. Since you and me have the best chance of finding her, we go across the border where her scent disappears and track Katniss down."

"I don't know," I say. "What if we do find her and she doesn't want to come home? What if she left because she doesn't want to be here anymore?"

"That's just a chance we will have to take," he says. "But in my opinion, something spooked her. She's a good mother. She wouldn't leave Rain behind unless she had to."

"You think someone took her?" I ask. "Because I can have them cheek again but they only had her scent and Snow's blood on the trail to the border. There were also only one set of tracks."

"No," he says. "I think she did the same thing she did after she killed Marvel. I think she freaked and that made her bolt."

"How do you know about that?" I ask.

"Because I did nearly the same thing after I killed our half sister," he says. "I could see it in her eyes while I taunted her. She doesn't like to kill. She didn't like killing Snow so she needed to leave. She needed to get out of here. That's why I think she left and why we need to get her back."

"When do you want to leave?" I ask.

"Moon high, when my mother's power thus my power is the strongest," he says.

"You've planned this all out already?" I ask him.

"The sooner we get her back," he says. "The sooner this is all over. We can't let Snow tear our families apart anymore. It's time for us to get her back. My son is gonna need an aunt and I think that Rain needs her mother." I look over at the cornflower blue curtain that hides my daughter from sight before looking back to Cato.

"It's settled then," I say. "We leave at moon high."