Chapter 3

Jenkin pov

I leaned back on my chair, eyes narrowed as I stared at the ceiling of the study. The memories of last night lingered in the back of my mind. Three months had passed since that night at the pub, and yet the image of her was still burning into my brain. The scent of her hair band that was found beside us still haunting me like a ghost I couldn't banish. 

Her. 

The woman who had slipped out before any of us could say a word. 

“Still thinking about her?” Jayden's voice cut through the silence, snapping me back to the present. He was standing by the window, his hand shoved to his pockets, his blue eyes unreadable as he stared out of the city below. 

I grunted, not bothering to answer, of course I was still thinking about her. “We all were. None of us have been able to get her off our mind since that night.”

“She was our mate,” I finally said, my voice low and almost a growl. 

Jayden turned to face me, his expression darkened. “I know, but what are we supposed to do about it now? She is gone.”

“Gone?” Jethro echoed from the corner of the room where he leaned, arms crossed over his chest. He hadn't said much since he realized she'd left that morning. 

“We don't even know her name.”

That doesn't change anything, I snapped, raising from my chair. She is still out there, and she's still ours. 

“And how do you propose we find her?” Jayden asked, his tone laced with frustration. “She is just some woman we met in the bar. We don't have any lead, no way to track her.”

I clenched my jaw, my hands curling into fists at the sides, “I don't care how impossible it seems. She was our mate, and we had to find her. I wasn't about to let this go.” 

“There's something you all are forgetting.” I said, my voice low and deliberate. 

Jethro raised an eyebrow. “And what's that?”

 I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small object I'd been holding onto for the past three months. I held it up,the light caught up the simple fabrics. 

“This,” I said, my voice tight. She left this behind. Her scent is all over it. It's enough to find her. 

Jayden's eyes flickered to the hair band, his expression hardened. “That's a long shot, jenkin, we don't even know where to start.”

“I didn't care how long the odds were, I wasn't about to let some random person dictate our lives. She wasn't just a person. She was our MATE. We all felt bound the moment we woke up and realized she was gone.”

“I'm not giving up,” I said firmly. 

We'll find her. 

Jethro uncrossed his arms and pushed off the wall, walking over to me. His face was unreadable, but there was fire in his eyes. He wasn't the kind you let emotion show, but even he couldn't deny the truth. 

“She left for a reason.” He said quietly, “maybe she didn't want to be found.”

“We don't know that,” I said, “she could have been scared. Confused, we owe it to her, and to ourselves to find out the truth.” 

Jayden let out a frustrating sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I hate to say it, but Jenkin's right. We can't just ignore this.”

“She is our mate whether she wants to be or not.”

Jethro was silent for a moment, his gaze locked unto the hairband in my hand. Finally he nodded, though his expression was still guarded. 

“Fine, we'll look for her. But if we find her and she doesn't want anything to do with us, we let her go, agreed?”

I hesitated for a second. The thought of letting her go was like a punch in the gut, all I wanted was to have her to myself. I only need their assistant to get her close but sharing her with them isn't my plan.

“If she doesn't want us, we couldn't force her. As long as the bond pulls at us, they will have to respect her decision because I won't respect such an awful decision. I must have her.”

“Agreed,” I said quietly, though the word tasted bitter in my mouth. 

Jayden nodded, though he didn't look any happier about it than I felt. 

“So, where do we start?”

I clenched the hairband in my fist, my resolve hardening. “We start by following her scent. It's faint, but it's still there. We'll track it and see where it leads.”

Helping me find this mate is the plan but having her to myself is another plan, how can anyone think of sharing a lady. 

I watched as Jayden exchanged glances with Jethro, then shrugged. “It's a good plan, I guess.”

I chuckled weakly. “It's t will surely be a good plan because it will surely be for my favor. It's better than sitting with her brothers.” I muttered. 

I couldn't help but smirk a little at them, Jethro had never been one for inaction, and the fact that he was so quiet about this whole thing has been getting on my nerves. But now with a plan in place, now there was a flicker of something in his eyes, determination. That's what I want them to feel.

Without another word, I turned toward the door with the hairband still clutched tightly in my fist. My heart was pounding in my chest, anticipation was mixing with something else, something called selfishness. I guess I had to be selfish because sharing a lady isn't advisable.

 We had a bond with her but they've to be one person having her, and that one person should be me. And now that we have a lead, I wasn't going to stop unti

l I lure them to help me find her, then plan b, I take possession of her.