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"You're dismissed, Degar." Wolfaraine handed the pile of papers to him, "You can have your Alpha assistant, Dreco, take them now so they can arrive at Oklahoma before tomorrow's afternoon."

"I will do that, Alpha King." The leopard Alpha took the papers. "Anything else before I go?"

Wolfaraine looked up at him, thought about it for a minute before he nodded his head. Degar waited patiently.

"We have known each other for years, Degar.

The leopards became very close to my family during my father's reign.

Your father helped him serve Naturiah and NAALC better, and you have been doing the same for me for the past eighteen years and for that, I will forever be grateful to you, Alpha Degar. "

Degar was completely taken aback by the blatant show of gratitude and appreciate from the Alpha King.

Not the he was an ungrateful, unappreciative person, but Wolfaraine has never been a male of many words.

He communicated mostly with his eyes, face and body languages, and everyone that was close to him become a master at reading those languages eventually.

He was surprised to hear the verbal acknowledgement and it showed .

The always-confident and very powerful leopard Alpha found his cheeks getting flushed and at a loss of words. He cleared his throat, "You are welcome, Alpha King."

"I consider you one of my very few friends, Degar.

I might not be the most expressive about these things but I want you to know that.

You are one of the very few males I can wholeheartedly trust. Which is why I want to tell you this," Wolfaraine eyes held his, "I finally found something on the search for The Wild Psychopath. "

"What!?" Degar's eyes widened, "Really!? By the moon goddess, that's a great news!"

"It is. But, I want to keep it confidential for now. It's something small but we will start there." A shadow crossed over his eyes, "She was right when she said that the killer would grow more confident and then, he will slip."

"Who was right?" But even as Degar asked that, he already knows the answer to that by the flash of pain that filled their leader's eyes. But only for a second, before it disappeared and he was met with an unreadable expression.

"The killer did slip. I caught the scent of a scentless leaf at the scent of his last kill. That was the only thing that stood out in that crime scene and the whole of Naturiah itself.." Wolfaraine stated.

His last kill. It hurts Degar to remember the gruesome remains of the nine-year-old boy they found three days ago by the river. He forced himself to think past it.

That confusing statement coming from any other person would have been considered insane. "The scent of a scentless leaf?"

"Yeah. I know that doesn't sound right, but that is exactly what it is.

Whatever tree that leaf came from, isn't in Naturiah.

While you're in the human world, I want you to make research and ask questions.

Use whatever connections we have which is necessary to uncover whatever you can find on trees with scentless leaves, get me all those leaves if you can so that I can scent them to know if I can handpick the particular leaf I scented, three nights ago. Then, we go from there."

"I understand, Your Highness." Degar inclined his head, "I will do everything I can."

"This is a secret between just you and me. I want it to remain that way for now."

"I will guard it with my life."

Wolfaraine nodded before he reached for the neat pile of paperwork from the left corner of his work-table, which arrived in the morning, lifted the pile and brought them right in front of him. "That will be all. Thank you, Alpha."

It was barely five minutes later after Degar left, that the door opened again. Wolfariane’s first thoughts was that Degar has returned again, but the familiar scent of Eline crawled through his nose.

The day before, he'd promoted Eline to Elite Sentinel. That is the second highest level to be as a sentinel and it comes with great honors. Eline had more than deserved to be an Elite and she had been filled with so much joy when he'd made her one.

"You should be at the Jaguar Alpha's home today as it is your first day as an Elite. Is anything the matter, Eline?" He asked without lifting his head from the paper he was working on.

"Ismena is leaving Naturiah tonight. She is going back to her world and she wants me to help her cross the border." She blurted out, her breathing coming out fast...nervously. "And, I-I plan t-to do that."

Wolfariane’s pen froze on the paper. His head lifted and his brows furrowed .

"What!?" He asked, gravely.

Her eyes were on the floor. "I mean, I'm g-going to take her to c-cross the border, and I know you will p-punish me for it but I'm...uhm.

..I'm ready to take whatever punishment you give, because she is.

..erm...Ismena is my best friend and friends should be able to h-help each other out when needed.

Ismena has been so m-miserable at home and now she decides to go back to her home and I can't stop her if that is what. ..uhm...she truly wants."

His heart took a dive in his chest. Ismena will truly leave Naturiah?

Wasn't that what you wanted? A little voice inside him rose. You should be happy, after all, that was why you chased her away in the first place. You wanted her far, far away from you, didn't you? So, why is your hands fisted? Why is your heart beating like a drumsound used to summon a masquerade?

"That was...erm...what I came to tell you." Eline finished. His usually-composed sentinel was a nervous wreck as she bravely stood before him to inform him that she will choose to help her best friend, even if it meant her Alpha King would punish her.

The silence would be deafening to him if not for the sound from his own chest and his erratic breathing.

Pull yourself together, Wolfaraine. This was a different voice inside him. A much better one than the other cynical one.

"I have heard what you have to say, Eline. You are dismissed." His calm voice belied his inner turmoil.

"Huh?" She was clearly confused, but he saw when she decided not to look a gift-horse in the mouth, "Oh, o-of course, Alpha King. Uhhm, thank you. I will just leave and go get...erm...ready."

With that, she practically flew out of his office .

Thirty minutes after she left, he was still trying to get work done, but every good spirit that comes with working seems to have deserted him.

Ismena is leaving Naturiah. She is leaving...for good. The cynical voice was back again.

Wolfaraine got up from his chair and abandoned the pile of paperwork he'd been trying to work on. He made his way to his bedroom.

She'll find a perfectly good man, one that deserves her.

The voice did an evil laugh in his head.

She will live a normal life and be happy, and you?

You will be alone...always alone. Forever.

At least the human man she is gonna be with, wouldn't be a child abuser, instead, he would be so loving.

He will make love to her every night and she will moan his name when she comes—

A loud crash filled the air. Followed by a sting that shot through him from his right hand.

He'd punched the wall.

Not only was there a large hole in the hallway wall, his knuckles were bleeding. But, on the fortunate side, the voice has stopped too.

"Call Harhan! The Alpha King hurt his hand!" A loud voice of a sentinel pulled him back to reality.

"I am fine, Garni. I do not need herbal attention." He stated curtly, before walking past the guard straight to his chambers.

He went straight to the bathroom and took a very cold bath. His head was beginning to pound, so he made the decision to try and get some sleep.

What kind of sleep? You haven't had ANY kind of sleep in the past ten days. At this rate, you will go insane. If you aren't there, already .

He gritted his teeth at the annoying sound of that cynical voice again.

"It's for the best, Wolfaraine. She deserves better. Let her go." He muttered out loud, repeatedly.

Who knows, he might listen to himself if he says it long enough.

Maybe, you should shout it to your hand too because it's giving the walls here a whole new look.

And sure enough, he had punched the wall again.

This time around, there were three holes at the wall before his wardrobe.

Ismena stood at the Wild Forest, her eyes staring at the beautiful, half-moon that dominated the sky, with the sparkling, little stars that surrounded them.

"Are you ready to go?" Eline asked softly, touching her arm.

The touched brought her out of the dream-like state. She swiveled her head to Eline's direction and gave her a smile, "Yeah, I'm ready."

As she said that, she blinked hard to keep the overwhelming tears that threatened to fill her eyes at bay.

A sad look crossed Eline's face for a second before Ismena blinked and it was gone.

"Alright, I will make a half-shift and we will leave. But, where are the rest of the sentinels..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes widening as she fixed them behind Ismena.

Ismena followed her friend's gaze and turned...

Wolfaraine was standing behind her in his wolf half-shift. Judging from the look of him, he'd run all the way to this place. And the wild look on his face...

Jesus, it was flat-out terrifying, and more than intimidating.

Unbiddenly, Ismena took a step back.

Her head whipped around towards Eline, and she saw the move before Eline made them.

"Eline, don't you dare tug your tail and run out on me—" she began, hotly.

But, Eline cut in, "I wanna pee! I'll just go find a place and relief the pressure on my bladder!"

With that, her cougar friend turned and practically took off in a flash.

"Oh, you traitorous, cougar woman!" Ismena shrieked, but Eline was already nowhere to be found.

Alone with him, Ismena turned back but he has shifted back to his male form. And it wasn't anger on his face, but a soul-crushing sadness that tore her heart up just seeing it on this powerful man's face.

Slowly, he walked closer to her. Her feet felt rooted to a spot, so she stood watching him. Her neck craned when he stood so close to her that their bodies was almost touching, her eyes drowning in the oceans of his blue ones.

She opened her mouth, "Wolfaraine—"

Slowly, he went down on his knees. With his arms wrapped around her waist, he placed his head on her belly and whispered in a deep, sad, defeated voice, "Stay, please... I am sorry for letting you go in the first place. I am sorry for everything. Please, do not leave me, Ena."

As he said those words, the hazy memories of the words he said to her that night she almost died, three days ago, became clear to her. Maybe because, this was the same tone he'd used three nights ago.

Suddenly, she remembered every word he'd spoken when he thought she wouldn't hear. Every emotion that followed those words. Everything.