Worried

Chapter Hundred and Fifty-Six – Worried.
Jaden’s POV
What was Ralph doing to me? To his mate? To everyone at Black Rose?
Why did he disappear like that!
Jake rushed into my room to inform me the letter to Black Hills had been sent.
“You mean the letter you falsified under my name? How would they help if Ralph is missing?” I sighed.
They were all the way at Black Hills and my Beta went missing around Silver Pack. What could they do to help?
Jake shrugged, wearing the pouty expression he had had since Ralph’s mate reported to us. She had looked more angry than worried.
I tried to stay calm since Ralph had told a Silver Pack warrior what to say to me.
My only hesitation was that he didn’t say where or how long he’d be gone.
“Jake, sit!” I told my brother. He had been pacing around but was now kicking things.
“Do you think it’s Logan?” he asked for the hundredth time.
Logan has no business with my Beta, he had with me. And he had never openly attack us, unless he planned to now.
“Then he’d have written to us to tell us. Don’t worry Ralph will come back.” And receive a hell of a scolding.
Jake groaned loudly, spreading his leg away from him.
His whole weight on the chair which was about snapping as it was made from twine. He was infuriating me so I left my bed, getting dressed.
He stood up from the chair. “Are you going to look for him? Should I come with you?”
I gave no reply and walked out of the room. He knew better than to tag along.
I searched for Jonah on mind link before remembering I had forced him to take Vanessa on a walk around Rose Valley.
It was in a bid to not let her see the tension around the palace over Ralph’s disappearance.
Jonah willing agreed because he wanted to calm himself while protecting the dignity of our pack.
But Jake had ruined that by asking Black Hills for help, not that asking for help was wrong.
“Where are you off to?” my wolf asked me as I took strong steps out of the courtroom and outside the main house.
“Don’t ask.” I said lowly. “For I don’t know.”
I wasn’t just worrying but in turmoil.
One of Ralph’s last words to me that day was his desire to be a dad, and he’d have to be that dad. Nothing was stopping it.
He was an introvert and stayed at home a lot. And he’d never just stroll out without telling anyone, especially not as Logan was around.
But I didn’t want to overthink.
Just as I headed to the border, a guard came running towards me with a letter. I slowed down.
A frowned came to my face when I thought of the possibility that it was a reply from Black Hills. What would they say?
“This is from Silver Pack, Alpha.” The guard bowed, handing the letter to me.
My frown faded and I hurriedly opened the letter to read it’s contents.
But it was just Dara saying Ralph didn’t return to Silver Pack after that day. I had asked her to keep watch.
I resisted the urge to shred the letter as it wasn’t what I wanted. “Thank you.” I told the guard.
He could already sense my frustration so backed away.
I folded the letter into my pocket and continued towards the border. Ralph’s brother was no longer stationed there.
He and his team had been on break since Ralph’s disappearance, I hoped they returned with him.
“Where are you going to again?” My wolf repeated when I crossed the border with no where in mind.
“I can’t stand Jake being like that. And I just want to clear my head, okay?” I huffed.
To manage my strength, I didn’t use my energy to speed to anywhere. Just made fast walks around the forest, taking in the peace.
“It’s not really ideal walking around with that injured arm. What if you meet a rogue or something?” my wolf spoke again.
“Then I kill it. Actually right now, I want to vent on something.” I confessed.
My wolf scoffed. “I’m not transferring aggression to you now. This is all you.”
“I am aware!” I yelled. “Let me be.”
At that point, I paused as an idea came to mind. “Ralph knew about my injury, could he had gone looking for a solution?”
My wolf questioned. “Where’ll that be? There’s no solution apart from a Lycan’s energy.”
“Yes, but Ralph didn’t know that.” I snapped my fingers. “He might have gone to, perhaps, Boots and Rivers market looking for a cure.”
“You know he’d have returned by now if he went to that market.” My wolf added again.
He wasn’t helping me being hopeful. “Well, I’d ask if he dropped by. Then know if he went further, like to the rude old man’s place?”
Not everything made sense but at least I had a direction to where I was to go. Without thinking, I used my energy and sped off.
I’d probably slow down the healing process by a good amount but it’s wasn’t healing anyway.
After a while, I was at the market.
It was bustling and bubbling like usual. The stall I was looking for came to sight and I smiled.
“Hello.” I beamed at the small lady. She was the one I bought the cure from earlier.
She rushed to me, ignoring a customer she was with, her cheeks reddened. “Oh hello, handsome sir? How have you been doing?”
Thankfully, another seller with her, spoke with the customer or I’d have felt guilty. “Thank you, I’m quite fine. I’m looking for my friend.”
“Friend? Oh, the one you came with the other day?” her eyes expanded.
They had a bit of fear in them.
I nodded. “Yeah, he’s missing and I thought maybe he had stopped by here.”
She glanced at her right and left, then shook her head. “I have no idea. All I know, he might not be the only one missing.”
What did she mean? I looked around the stalls in the market and despite how filled everywhere was, some stalls had actually not opened.
“Some sellers got missing?”
The girl nodded. “I’m not in a sellers group but my father is.” She pointed at a man talking to the customer. “He said some sellers were missing.”
If that was true then Ralph could be missing along with them. “But you don’t know if my friend came here?”
“No, I would have remembered. I have a good memory.” She grinned, patting her head.
She made me smile, even if I was worried at heart. “Any whisper on who is taking them?”
“Well, recently there was a ship from Sun Burn Kingdom that dropped a young prince here.”
Sun Burn Kingdom? Young prince?