Ella’s POV
“Thank goodness.” I breathed as I watched the three men make their way out of the hut and restraining myself from running over to meet them as I sagged with relief.
They had been in there for ten minutes but it felt to me like they were there for years. They had dust on their skins and cobwebs tangled all around them but aside those, nothing else seemed to be wrong with them.
“Report.” Kevin said as they got closer to him. “Is there any sign of life?”
Liam shook his head. “The place is empty. It doesn’t seem like anyone has lived there in months.”
Kevin looked down, his expression sad. I sighed. He must have hoped that there was someone living here and we could wait for them to get back from wherever they went. Maybe he had told himself that they had gone to farm and we could meet them.
I let out another sigh. This was why I didn’t want expectations. It hurts like mad when you eventually realize the truth.
“Let’s go. There is nothing here for us.” Kevin said. “It’s not dark yet so we can still cover more ground.”
I couldn’t have agreed more with him. It wasn’t like we would get home tonight but there was no reason to keep standing by an abandoned hut when we could go on.
We saw more huts as we walked but didn’t stop. The huts looked like the one we had seen earlier from the outside and we didn’t have to go in to know that there would be no signs of life in there as well.
It was obvious from the huts around here that people once used to live here and I wondered what made them relocate. My heart started thudding with hope that we might probably be closer to home than we had thought. It was possible that the inhabitants here had discovered civilization where a lot of people were and moved closer to it.
I truly hoped that was the reason this place was deserted and not because of anything bad that had happened.
“Let’s rest here.” Kevin said as we got to another empty hut. “It’s dark and we can use some break.”
My legs cried out in relief as I stopped walking and sank to the floor. We could always continue tomorrow and hopefully, we would be home.
Kevin’s POV
She was gone. Ella’s was gone.
That was the first thought that popped into my head as I stretched as I woke up and couldn’t sense her beside me. I wasn’t talking of feeling her body beside me but sensing her aura. I couldn’t feel her wolf or sense her emotions. It was like she was gone, totally gone and out of my life.
Panic rose in my voice as I shouted, waking the others up. I scowled as I glanced up at the sky, realizing with a grimace at how bright it was. What had happened to us? We never woke up this late. Ella always woke up before it was daybreak and by the time the blue sky was as bright as this, we had walked a considerable part of the journey.
Liam was the first to rouse from his slumber, rubbing his fingers over his eyes. He gasped in shock at how bright the day was and blinked, probably wishing that he was seeing wrong.
“Liam.” I whispered, my voice tight with helplessness and weariness.
He turned to me and his eyes bulged with alarm and shock at how distressed I seemed. I must look like hell for his eyes to go wide that much. I didn’t doubt that I looked horrible because I felt horrible.
“I can’t find Ella.” I breathed.
The others were beginning to wake up as well and gasped as they heard what I said. They sat up, looking as if they wished I had said something else and they hadn’t heard me right the other time.
“What do you mean she is gone?”
I sighed, wondering how I was going to explain to them. “She is gone. I can’t find her. Can you see her?”
Damien sighed. “She might be somewhere around here. Maybe she took a walk or is on a tour hoping to find herbs that she could take home with her. You know how she is.”
I doubted what he said. I shook my head to show him that I disagreed. I didn’t think that Ella would do that and I knew her enough to be sure. She wouldn’t have left alone on a tour without telling me. She knew how worried I would be if I didn’t find her beside me. She wouldn’t have been that irresponsible. Even if she didn’t want me to leave with her, she would have at least notified me and told me to get back to sleep.
“Ella wouldn’t have done that.” I said.
“I don’t think she would have to.” Liam and Cephas said at the same time and I smiled at them.
“Doesn’t anyone think it’s odd that we woke up late?” Loki asked. “This place has a negative energy wrapped in it. Maybe that is why all those guys are lifeless and cold.”
The men murmured their agreement to what he said but I wasn’t in the mood for it. I wasn’t ready to listen to their views on if this place was haunted or if we had been tired and slept deeper than usual. This wasn’t the time for conspiracy theories.
“Let’s look for Ella, please.” I begged.
They snapped to attention at my voice and everyone jumped off the ground. I almost passed out when we walked for ten minutes and saw signs of struggle on the soil. I didn’t have to be a genius to know that it had been Ella. Despair crushed my heart but I was also relieved to be right that Ella wouldn’t have intentionally left to take a walk without telling anyone.
I had never hated myself so much as I did in that moment. I was burdened to know that while I was sleeping, my mate was struggling and fighting for her life at the hands of those I had no idea about.
Judging by the scents in the air, it didn’t seem like it belonged to the rogues. I turned to the men and they seemed to have come to the same conclusion that I had.
We had a new enemy.