Chapter 17 ASHINA IS MISSING

I've been pacing my office while my beta, Ashina's beta, lizard man, and my sister argue about what to do. I am trying to convince my wolf Jasper that we followed Ashina's scent to the road and now it has disappeared. My assumption is that someone hauled her away in a vehicle, probably rogues.

My wolf yelled at them in a guttural voice which was partly my wolf's. "Listen to me, you idiots! There have been several incidents in this kingdom where she-wolves have been kidnapped by rogues. She is in a vehicle somewhere and we have no idea where she is."

"We won't find anybody in here yelling at one another, dog breath. What are you doing, pacing the floor in here screaming at us? She (her mate) should be going insane without her, running through the forest in pursuit of her. I will not be sitting here any longer amongst you mutts. I will find her and be her prince in shining armor. I will prove my love and loyalty to her, which is more than you will ever do dog breath!" The lizard man yells at me as he marches to my balcony and lifts off into the air.

As I jump off the balcony, I transform into Jasper my wolf and head into the forest to protect what I own.

Trying not to bump into trees, I try following the lizard man as he flies. It's not the flying lizard that will save the day, it's me.

The beta was running in wolf form behind me; I guess I'd blocked my link, since I hadn't received any messages via mind link from him. When I opened the link between us, he bombarded me with questions.

"Man, you need to control your possessiveness!"

I just shook my wolf's head as I raced towards that lizard at maximum speed. "Do you have a mate?" I asked him adamantly.

Then he scoffs, "No man, but based on what I know about your mate, I suspect that she wouldn't appreciate your possessive behavior."

"I am a Royal Alpha!" I reply angrily.

As my beta scoffs, "Duh and guess what so is she. She'll make your life hell. What's sick, though, is that you'll enjoy it."

The dragon descends into a clearing in the forest and puts on clothes behind some trees. I push my way through the trees and my wolf growls at the lizard that would like to take our mate.

Laughing at us, the lizard man yells, "Calm down puppy dog." My wolf was not impressed. He began growling and snapping at the lizard man.

I huff and shift back into my human form as my beta asks me to calm down since we need all three of us to figure out where Ashina is. Both my beta and I are naked, and we look for clothes that are hidden behind many of the trees for such occasions.

As he stares at me, lizard man says, "You dogs have good sniffers, right?" I growl in my human form at him, and my beta grabs my arm. "Let me beat the crap out of him!" I shouted.

While answering Cadma, my beta growls, "We can smell many things better than a human, and some wolves are trackers because of their heightened sense of smell. We are wolves, and if you don't like us, quit calling us puppies and dogs. We would have killed you by now or called your father to retrieve you if you weren't his mate's friend. Now let's work together and respect one another."

It made me feel like a kid as I snickered at my beta's handling of that lizard man.

Then I watch Cadma stare at the road, "When you sniff, what side of the road do you smell recent activity on? Maybe Ashina's scent?"

The beta and I walked to the road and shifted back into our beasts as we smelled around. Eventually, we caught Ashina's scent on the side of the road heading east, past the castle. I won't admit that Lizard Man was right to come back here and check things out again when the rogues were driving from the west.

We had a scent of their tires now. We started running through the woods, following the road east out of sight.

As we get near the castle, my sister's mind links to me: "Brother, you and the guys come back to the castle, one of the women that were also kidnapped found her way here to get help for the other women as well as Akira, I guess she is a tracker in her own pack.

I had brought a flare for emergency purposes; I shift back into my human form and send the flare straight at the tail end of lizard man. He roars a loud roar and descends to the ground near my beta and me.

Despite my desire to call him lizard boy, my beta insisted he wouldn't call us puppies. So, I gave in and said, "Listen Cadma, a woman came to the castle seeking help. Let's talk to her and have her take us to the kidnapped she-wolves."

A wolf could reach the castle in ten minutes, and the showoff in the sky would reach the castle in a couple of minutes.

When I reached the castle, I could see Cadma snicker at being the first.

We were both punched in the arms by my sister for our attitude: "GUYS grow up! This isn't a testosterone contest."

Then I whine to my sister, "He started it when he tried to court my girlfriend.".

In an angry tone, Cadma says, "I get first dibs since she was my girlfriend first."

"You are both idiots, you haven't graduated from nursery yet. So, let's talk to the female and bring the she-wolves back here." She huffs angrily.

When I walk into the office of my sister's I stand there angry at who I see, it is none other than the daughter of my father's old beta that rejected me.