01 Have You Seen Jake?

Emily,

Had anyone told me I would be living a nightmare two days ago, I would have said it was a lie.

My pack had troubles, and my husband assured me he was on top of it. Little did I know he would go missing and become a part of our troubles.

A pack without an alpha was vulnerable, and that was where we were. 

With heartfelt care, David gently placed the pile of posters on the old wooden table. The posters looked haphazardly done.

As I touched the worn-out prints, a rush of emotions flooded me, and the weight of our situation pressed heavily on my heart. Tears filled my eyes, ready to escape, as I looked into my brother David's eyes. In that silent moment, we shared our unspoken fears and concerns.

Struggling to contain the flood of emotions, I felt a whirlwind of thoughts racing through my mind. Where was my husband?

Two agonising days had passed with no sign of him, leaving us in a state of desperate uncertainty. It seemed as though he had vanished from existence, leaving no trace behind.

The constant worry for his safety gnawed at my soul. I couldn't help but wonder where he could be, if he was safe and unharmed.

We had tirelessly searched within our settlement, tirelessly interrogating anyone who might have seen him, yet all our efforts had proven fruitless. The enigma surrounding his disappearance only grew, leaving us trapped in a sea of unanswered questions.

As I looked at the poorly printed posters, I felt a surge of emotions. The print on some of the posters was barely visible, and they were almost unusable.

I turned to my brother, Beta David, and couldn't hide my frustration. I asked him with a mix of desperation and hope, wanting an explanation for why the posters were so low in quality.

"Why are these posters so faded?" I asked, my voice trembling with a mixture of disappointment and hopelessness.

With a heavy sigh, David took a seat opposite me, joining me in the shadows of despair. Gamma Luis and Delta Claus, two loyal pack members, watched silently from the nearby sofa, their expressions mirroring our sombre mood.

"The printer broke down," David replied wearily. "Alpha Jake hadn't bothered to service it in a while."

I looked at the dull stack of posters in front of us, and it hit me hard that they wouldn't meet our needs. They couldn't spread the word well or help us find the important information we desperately wanted.

I felt desperate and sad.

I wanted to spread the posters everywhere, especially in the town. Maybe someone had seen Jake, heard something about him, or knew something that could help us find him. But Gamma Luis didn't agree and shook his head to say no.

"Bad idea, Luna," he said in a cold, uncaring voice, showing no concern for Jake's absence. I wanted to confront him, to call out his lack of compassion, but the desperate need to find Jake was more important than any disagreements within our group. Jake's safety was the top priority, overshadowing everything else. Nothing else mattered as much.

"Why do you say that, Gamma Luis?" I asked, mustering all the strength I had left to maintain a calm composure. Luis let out a weary sigh, burdened by the weight of our words.

"Sharing the posters in our community won't help us find Alpha Jake. If he were still here, we would have found him by now. And displaying those posters in town? Impossible. He has enemies among the neighbouring alphas, and they won't offer any assistance or allow his picture in their areas. Some people think he was a conman who took advantage of the Howlers and ran away. He wasn't well-liked, Luna," Luis explained, his words filled with a painful truth.

Deep inside, I knew Luis was telling the harsh reality. Jake's ambitious actions had caused resentment, but I couldn't just sit and hope for a miracle. Two days had already passed, and if I didn't act quickly, the fear of losing him forever threatened to overwhelm me.

Releasing a heavy sigh, I studied the faces of the men before me.

"I understand that this is an arduous journey for all of us, but we must unite and work together to find him. A pack without an alpha is vulnerable to attack and exploitation," I pleaded, the weight of responsibility heavy in my voice. A silence descended upon the room, the gravity of the situation hanging in the air.

Luis seemed like he had something to say, so I encouraged him to speak up.

"Please, Gamma Luis, share your thoughts. We need all the wisdom we can gather," I urged, granting him the freedom to express himself fully. Another sigh escaped Luis' lips, laden with trepidation.

"Honestly, I mean no disrespect, but perhaps we shouldn't worry about exploitation. There's nothing of significant value left in Howler's Pack to steal. I don't believe Alpha Jake is missing; I think he ran away," he stated, echoing his earlier theory from the night my husband vanished into thin air.

"Why would you say that, Luis? You heard what the bartender said at Jo's. Jake was acting normal. He did not seem like someone that would want to run away," I said, and David interrupted, pleading with Luis to explain. A thick silence filled the room as Luis wrestled with his emotions, desperately searching for the right words to say.

"If he didn't run away, then he must have been abducted. But why would anyone want to take him?" Delta Claus chimed in, prompting David to respond, his words resonating with chilling plausibility.

"He crossed paths with numerous individuals, leaving a trail of enemies in his wake. There might be those seeking revenge," David explained, a tinge of fear creeping into his voice.

As he uttered those words, a wave of dread washed over me. If Jake had indeed been abducted by an enemy, the chances of him returning home seemed dim and distant. I couldn't bear to entertain such a notion, for it would shatter the fragile thread of hope I clung to.

"David, we can't stop looking for him," I pleaded, my voice shaking with determination as I held onto the small glimmers of hope we had left. Claus and Luis rose from their seats, their eyes brimming with determination. Luis grabbed the pile of posters, gripping tightly onto our diminishing opportunities to uncover the truth. In that instant, I spotted the words written at the bottom of the posters, and a surge of anger coursed through me. Whose misguided idea was it to include such a misleading caption?

"If you have any information about the person mentioned above, please report to Beta David Nixon of Howler's Pack. Although we are experiencing some financial setbacks, we promise to reward you for the information."

"This is absolute nonsense!" I exclaimed, pointing angrily at the misleading caption. David glanced at it and sighed, a weariness etched on his face.

"Our financial struggles are no secret, Emily. Everyone knows we are facing hardship. Promising them a handsome reward would be a lie, a blatant lie. We all know Jake's reputation, and we don't need to tarnish ours. This way, anyone coming forward won't expect much," David explained, his words resonating with a painful truth. We were indeed grappling with financial distress, but we could still offer a substantial reward for valuable information unless I didn't have the full picture of our financial state.

With a heavy heart, I shook my head, unable to find any further objections.

"No, there is nothing else," I whispered, defeated, as Luis and Claus prepared to take the posters and venture into neighbouring towns. I expressed my gratitude to them, watching them leave with the last flicker of hope dancing on a precipice.

Once they stepped out of sight, my composure crumbled, and waves of despair crashed over me. Jake's actions and adventures had plunged us into a financial abyss, leaving us devoid of the necessary resources to search for him.

Confusion and uncertainty clouded my mind, paralysing me with indecision. I couldn't help but acknowledge that my father was right when he said Jake could not run the pack.

I honestly believed in him, and now, I was left with a mess with no clue of his whereabouts. It was normal for people to think he had run away. The Howlers Settlement was my pack and not Jake's. He had become the alpha by virtue of marriage. Now I had no clue where he was.

While people believed he went to dig for gold elsewhere, I hoped they were wrong and that something had gone wrong and he would find his way back to me.

"Emily, you must find strength within yourself. This pack needs your unwavering support and resilience. This is not the time to show weakness. This is our pack; our inheritance from our father. Now that Jake is not here, it's your turn to take the reins and fortify our pack until Jake is found. Howler's Pack is our legacy, and whether Jake returns or not, it is our responsibility to bear," David asserted, his voice filled with a blend of encouragement and firmness. I looked at him through tear-filled eyes and wiped away the tracks of anguish etched upon my face.

"He is missing, David. It's not the same as seeing a lifeless body. Knowing that he's out there, potentially suffering and in need of help, is excruciating. If I don't find him, I don't know if I can continue," I confessed, baring my soul before my brother, exposing the depths of my despair.

"You must," David whispered, his voice filled with a mix of compassion and determination.

"You have people relying on you, and a family legacy to uphold. I will help you find your husband, but you have to lead the pack, Emily. Life can't come to a standstill because Jake is missing. Please, you have over a thousand individuals counting on you, holding onto your hope. They have remained in our pack through thick and thin, refusing to abandon us. We must ensure they never regret their choice," he urged; his words wrapped around me like a fragile lifeline.

Nodding, I wiped away the remnants of tears, summoning strength from the depths of my being.

"We need to return to Jo's bar and question the bartender again. Perhaps we missed a crucial detail," I declared, a flicker of determination rekindling in my eyes.

David nodded in agreement, though I could sense a glimmer of doubt in his mind. Regardless, he intended to support me, to humour my desperate quest for answers.

I grabbed my jacket, and together we embarked on the journey, opting to walk instead of drive. In my heart, I held onto a shred of irrational hope that we might stumble upon Jake along the way. In times like these, hope was the fragile thread that held our sanity intact.

Finally, we arrived at Jo's, greeted by an eerie emptiness.

The only presence was that of the bartender, faithfully tending to her tasks. David went to fetch her, leading her to me outside the confines of the bar. I chose not to enter, fearing the temptation of seeking solace in a drink to numb my frayed nerves.

The woman approached, her demeanour reflecting worry and melancholy. I hurriedly reassured her, assuaging her fears that she had done nothing wrong. With bated breath, I implored her to recount her conversation with Jake and the events that unfolded when he left the bar.

She recited the details, and it all pointed to Jake's intended return home. Yet, we all knew he never made it back. With nothing new to glean from our interaction, I dismissed her with a heavy heart.

David and I retraced our steps back to my house, weary and burdened.

Upon entering, David decided to sleep on the couch, his presence serving as a comforting shield against the encroaching darkness of solitude. I settled into the room, the weight of my racing thoughts threatening to consume me entirely. Uncertainty and despair waged a relentless war within me, my mind yearning for the elusive peace that sleep could bring.

As I lay in bed, I closed my eyes, begging the universe to reveal some sign, some sliver of hope to cling to. In the depths of my weariness, the face of Jake lingered in my mind, his vibrant smile and unwavering determination etched into my memory. I vowed to him, to myself, and to our pack that I would not rest until he was found, until we unearthed the truth behind his disappearance.

With that solemn vow, I succumbed to the exhaustion that had plagued me, allowing the darkness to engulf me in its embrace. The road ahead was treacherous and uncertain, but I would face it head-on, for I was the Alpha now, and my resolve burned fiercely within me.