Chapter 229: Disappearance

Rhydor’s POV

I sprinted into the crowded pack house yard, the smell of burning wood and thick gray smoke choking my throat.

I skidded to a stop near the main steps, my eyes widening at the destruction.

Thick black soot covered the front doors, and small fires still flickered along the stone pillars.

"Rhydor!!"

My mother was frantic, running back and forth across the blood-stained grass, screaming my and Nicholas’s name until her voice rasped.

She kept looking under wreckage, grabbing passing servants by their shoulders, and searching every corner with terrified eyes.

My father was marching away toward the eastern tree line with a heavy squad of elite pack warriors, heading in a direction I could not see.

I rushed forward, intent on leaping past the stone steps and diving straight into the burning doorway.

A broad guard lunged forward and grabbed me by the shoulders, his rough hands clamping down hard enough to bruise.

He yanked me back with a violent jerk.

"You cannot go in there!" the guard yelled urgently, stepping in front of the doorway to block my path.

"There is fire everywhere! Stay back!"

"Let me go!" I shouted, thrashing against his firm grip as rage and fear surged through my veins.

"My brother is inside that building!"

"He is not in there," the guard insisted, holding his arms out wide to keep me from pushing past.

"We already swept the upper floors and the training rooms. We checked every single inch. If he was in there, we would have found his body or pulled him out by now."

"He is simply not there, Rhydor. Stay back and let us do our job. We will find him."

I gritted my teeth and threw my entire weight against his chest, trying to force my way past his arm.

"Rhydor!" a voice cried out.

I froze. My mother had turned around and spotted me standing near the edge of the courtyard steps.

A sudden wave of pure relief washed over her wild, pale face. She sprinted toward me, her skirts rustling loudly as her breathless gasps cut through the noisy crowd.

Her eyes looked wide, desperate, and frantic.

"Thank goodness!" she gasped, reaching out to grab both of my upper arms, her fingers digging deep into my clothes.

"You are here! Where is your brother? He is with you, right? He must be with you. You two are always together around this time. Tell me where he is!"

I lowered my head, staring down at my dirt-covered boots. I kept my jaw locked tight, unable to form a single word as my throat constricted.

My mother shook me hard, her voice rising to a frantic pitch.

"Where is your brother, Rhydor? Look at me! Do not tell me he is still in that burning building!"

"I left him," I said, my voice barely audible above the crackling fires.

She froze instantly.

Her frantic hands slipped off my arms, falling limply to her sides. She stood up straight, taking a slow step back from me.

She placed one hand flat on her hip, while her other hand reached up to cover her open mouth.

A quiet, sarcastic laugh bubbled up from her throat, short and hollow, as if she were desperately praying that this was all just a sick joke.

"Okay," she said with a forced, breathless laugh.

"Playtime is officially over now. Where is your younger brother, Rhydor?"

"I left him alone in the training yard," I whispered, keeping my eyes fixed on the dirt beneath my feet.

"I told him I would come back for him later."

The faint smile on her face vanished, her expression hardening into a look of pure, icy fury.

"You left your little brother alone?" she asked, her tone dropping into a dangerous quietness that made the hair on my arms stand up.

"You know how terrified he gets whenever he is left by himself. And yet you chose to walk away and abandon him. Where on earth did you go? Why did you not take him along with you?"

"Because..." I hesitated, swallowing the lump in my throat as I looked away toward the treeline.

"Because I am embarrassed of him."

She stared at me in total shock, her jaw dropping slightly as if I had just struck her across the face.

"You left your own younger brother to fend for himself simply because you felt embarrassed by how weak he is?" she asked, her voice trembling.

She took two large steps backward, shaking her head side to side in complete disbelief.

"Rhydor, your brother is missing," she said, her voice finally breaking as tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes.

"And it is entirely because you walked away and left him behind. If you had stayed by his side like you were supposed to, both of you would have escaped this explosion together."

"I know you would not have panicked. You would have grabbed his hand and pulled him out of danger. But you chose to leave him. You knew how easily he gets scared, and you left him anyway. Now we cannot find him anywhere."

Heavy footsteps echoed across the stone courtyard as my father walked back from the woods.

His face was set into a hard, grim line, his eyes dark with unexpressed tension.

He looked at my mother and gave a small, slow shake of his head.

My mother stared at him, watching that grim headshake, before turning her fiery gaze back onto me.

"Don’t even ask him!" she screamed at my father, pointing a shaking finger directly at my chest.

"Do not ask this heartless boy where his brother went! I honestly wonder how I ever gave birth to a child like you. Why are you so completely cold and heartless?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks, washing clean tracks through the soot on her skin.

My father quickly stepped beside her, pulling her shuddering frame against his broad chest.

"Calm down, Genevieve," my father said quietly, his voice low and measured despite the chaos.

"My baby boy is missing!" she sobbed against his shoulder, her knees giving out completely as she collapsed against his support.

My father turned his stern, heavy eyes toward me over her shoulder.

"Where is your brother, Rhydor?"

I could not take it anymore. The heavy weight in my chest snapped. I did not answer him.

I spun around on my heel and sprinted away from the pack house as fast as my legs could carry me.

"Get back here right now!" my father shouted after me, his powerful voice booming across the yard.

I ignored him and kept running, my boots tearing through the grass.

I sprinted straight down the path toward the training ground, my eyes scanning the empty ring, the wooden fences, and the discarded practice swords lying in the mud.

He was not there.

I turned around and ran through the dense woods toward his favorite secret hiding place beneath the large willow tree near the edge of the territory.

The leaves swayed quietly in the breeze, but the shaded dirt underneath was empty.

"Nicholas?" I called out, my voice coming out as a breathless whisper.

No answer came. Only the rustling of the wind through the high branches answered my call.

I leaned against the trunk of a tree, breathing heavily as my heart hammered violently against my ribs.

Sweating profusely, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the sharp panic rising in my throat.

"Rhydor!" a loud voice called out.

I opened my eyes and saw Silas running toward me through the thick trees, his face flushed red from exertion.

He reached me, stopping a few feet away as he rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"We cannot find him anywhere," Silas said, looking up at me with weary, troubled eyes.

"The warriors searched the entire eastern border and the lower village. Nobody has seen a trace of him."

A hot tear spilled over my eye, tracking down my nose and dropping onto the autumn leaves at my feet.

Silas looked at my tear-streaked face, his expression turning quiet and solemn.

"You left him alone again, didn’t you?"

I bit my lower lip, staring at the ground, unable to utter a single word of defense.

****

Two excruciating weeks passed by in a blur of painful silence.

Nicholas was still missing. The search parties had expanded their radius miles into the surrounding forests, but they returned empty-handed every single night.

My mother had stopped eating regular meals, barely touching the food the servants brought to her quarters.

She spent her days locked inside her dark room, refusing to venture out into the halls.

She would not even look in my direction whenever I passed her open door, turning her face away before our eyes could meet.

I locked myself inside my own room for days on end, staring silently at the wooden ceiling.

I did not set foot outside the main house, and I certainly did not walk down the hidden dirt trail toward the rushing riverbank.

I had not seen Mud in two whole weeks, and I had no idea if she was still sitting by the water, waiting for me to show up with a stick to write new words in the soft dirt.

Finally, after fourteen days of agonizing isolation, I could not stand sitting in that dark room any longer.

I snuck out of the side door and walked down the quiet path to the stream.

The riverbank was completely deserted. The flat skipping stones were still piled neatly near the water, but she was nowhere to be seen.

I sat on the large boulder and waited for hours as the sun moved across the sky, but the grass remained undisturbed.

She did not show up.

Determined to find her and check if she was safe, I turned around and headed straight into the lower village, making my way to the local orphanage.

The caregivers working inside the stone courtyard froze the moment I walked through the wooden gates, their eyes widening in shock.

They recognized my clothing and my face immediately.

"Alpha’s son!" the head female worker stammered, stepping forward with a nervous bow.

"What brings you to our courtyard today?"

"I am looking for a young girl who stays here," I said, my tone completely flat and direct.

I quickly described her appearance to the woman. I mentioned her dirty dresses, the dark mud always smeared across her cheeks, her messy black hair, and her bold, fearless attitude.

As I spoke, the caregiver’s nervous smile slowly faded, her face turning pale and quiet.

"She ran away," the worker said softly, looking down at her hands.

I instantly scowled, stepping closer to the woman.

"How could she just run away? Aren’t you people supposed to be watching over all the children in this place?"

"Yes, of course we are," the worker said, nodding quickly as she took a small step back.

"But she slipped out over a week ago, and we have not been able to track her down since."

"How can you people be so completely careless?" I asked, my voice rising in sharp anger.

"And why would she even want to run away from here in the first place?"

"We are doing everything we can to search for her," the woman said defensively, holding her hands up placatingly.

"We will find her eventually, young master."

I stood frozen in the middle of the dusty courtyard, my mind spinning into complete confusion.

My little brother was gone without a trace.

Now Mud was missing too.

What in the world was happening around me?

And why was I even standing here screaming at these poor workers, when I had let the same terrible thing happen to my own blood brother?

I turned my back on the trembling workers without saying another word, staring out at the empty dirt road leading out of the village.