Chapter Thirty-One
When two days passed with no word from Hunter, Cade used Hunter’s phone which he’d left behind. He called the number under ‘home’ in his phone book. Angus answered and when Cade asked to speak to Hunter, the reply was terse. “Don’t call this number again.”
He waited another day before scrolling through Hunter’s phone looking for another number he could try. He settled on Seth’s but when the wolf answered, Cade found himself tongue-tied. What if Hunter had decided to stay? What if he wasn’t coming back?
“Hello?” Seth's voice said again. There was a pause, some shuffling, and a whisper. “Is this Cade?”
“Yeah,” he finally managed to say. “I’m looking for Hunter.”
“Can’t talk now, too many ears about. I’ll call you back later, okay?”
The call cut off.
Cade tried to distract himself with work, helping to organize some of the events for the next month, but his heart wasn’t in it. He felt very much alone, which was stupid because he was home and surrounded by family.
It was a relief when his phone rang and he stepped outside to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Cade. It’s Seth.”
“Is Hunter with you? I haven’t heard from him since he left for the Cove.”
There was a pause. “No, he’s not here.”
A dozen scenarios ran through Cade’s mind, each worse than the last. What if Zane had caught him on the road?
“So he never made it back?”
“No, he did. He was here. Three days ago. He told us about your mating and about his shifting. He came clean about… about being a bear and that’s when things went off the rails.”
“Off the rails how?”
“Angus kicked him out, exiled him. Disowned him, I guess. Hunter left.”
“He gave me his phone, so I could contact him at the pack. But now I’ve no way to reach him. Do you know where he might have gone?”
Seth's voice was heavy with regret. “No. I mean, he’s lived here almost his whole life. Before that, they moved around a lot. He’s never mentioned anywhere else special. The Cove has always been his home. I thought my Dad might come around, but he’s still furious.”
“Do you think Red Fang might have got him, on the road?”
“We haven’t heard anything from them since the day you left. But I’ll drive out and take a look around, okay?”
“Thanks, Seth. I just… I’m scared for him. And for me.”
“You’re somewhere safe, right? You’re home.”
“I’m safe,” he agreed. “But Hunter’s my mate and I need him.”
Cade had daily contact with Seth over the next week. There was no sign that Hunter had got into difficulty on the roads outside the Cove. There were no accident reports in the area and Seth even checked hospitals. Hunter was just gone.
Cade went to sit with Eamon by the river early one morning, watching the sunrise in heavy silence.
“He’s gone.”
“He’s on a journey,” Eamon said. “I told him if he didn’t know the truth about himself, he wouldn’t reach his destination. He thought he knew; the wolves, the Cove. Family and home. All that’s been torn away and he’s drifting.”
“But I need him, Eamon. And he needs me.”
Eamon reached out and patted Cade’s shoulder, giving him a faint smile.
“You’re his home now. He’ll find his way back to you. In time.”
Seth called every day, when he could get a moment to himself. Cade started to get the sense that the wolf was just as anxiously waiting for news from him as Cade was from Seth. But there was no news.
Cade threw himself into work, giving himself over to Eve’s ability to taskmaster. It was better than sitting there dwelling on things he couldn’t change. If Eamon was right, Hunter could have been anywhere; looking for his father, his mother, looking for meaning in a world of noise. Days turned into weeks, weeks became a month, and already his pregnancy was very noticeable. It was a sign he was carrying a litter.
“How many do you think are in there?” Ollie asked him one day, giving Cade’s belly a long glance.
Cade was finding it a struggle not to hide it from people. It felt awkward without Hunter there, without something that made sense.
“Three, at least.”
“Why three?”
“They move at different times, in different ways. This guy here-” He pointed. “-is really active, usually at three am which is when I start craving ice-cream. This guy is the early bird, awake at the crack of dawn. And I’m not sure what’s going on over here.” He gestured to the area around his belly button. “Seems to be an all-day party there.”
Ollie giggled. “Well, we haven’t had a litter in a few years. Everyone’s excited.” They were carefully reining in that excitement when Cade was around. Probably a good thing too, he didn’t think he could handle that.
Ollie’s arms were suddenly around him, engulfing him in a hug. “We’re all here for you, Cade. You’re not alone in this.”
But that was how he felt. So very alone.
He took a walk that evening, gazing up at the stars and chatting to the pups. It calmed him to speak to them, tell them stories, make them promises. Before he knew it, he’d walked right to the river that bordered the den, stopping just short of stepping off the bank. He heard a sound on the other side and looked across. Hunter stood there, staring back at him.
Before Cade could say anything, the alpha dived into the water and swam across, Cade watching every powerful stroke of his arms. He surfaced and climbed up the bank, until he was standing right in front of Cade, drenched to the skin.
“I’m so sorry.”
“You came back.”
Cade was torn between yelling and crying but did neither.
“I’ll always come back to you, I promise.”
And then Hunter was hugging him and Cade was hugging him back. They sank to their knees on the grass, neither of them caring that they were soaking wet. They clung to each other like they were the last people on earth. In a way, it felt like they were.