Page 83 of Mated to the Mountain Bear

The alpha’s face contorts.

“Mine...” But when he inhales, he looks less convinced.

“No.” Ben is not backing down.

“Yes, at the coffee shop... at the university...” His words slur together, half-growl, half-speech.

I stiffen. “I’ve never... wait. Near the university?”

Hope brightens his manic eyes. “Yes... we had a moment... but then I lost you in the crowd... It took me so long to track you down. I wandered the streets for weeks.”

My stomach drops, and I shake my head.

“That wasn’t me.” The gun trembles for the first time. “It had to have been my sister. She goes there all the time. I hate that place.”

The clearing goes silent except for his laboured breathing.

“But...” He squeezes his eyes shut, breathes deeply. “You smell like her... or, at least, yousmelledlike her... now you reek of bear. It’s… messing with your scent.”

Rage flashes across his features as he fights the truth.

“Maybe I did smell like her then. We lived together. Shared clothes, perfume.” I look to Ben to see if that’s possible. Tears track down my cheeks, feeling sorry for the broken man in front of me, but I blink them away, trying to keep my aim steady. He’s still dangerous. He’s proven that.

“Then where is she?” He hisses, his face pale and sweaty. “You live alone now.”

Ben’s hand tightens on my hip, but he nods. It’s better the alpha knows the truth.

“Amber’s been missing for three weeks. If you met someone at the university cafe months ago... that was her. Not me.”

The alpha’s malformed features twist with confusion and denial.

“No... I found her scent... outside the apartment.”

One of his pack members steps forward cautiously, hands still raised. Blood runs from claw marks across his chest.

“Alpha, months of searching... your wolf would have been desperate. If he found a slight trace, from her clothes… could he have latched onto it? They’re sisters, they would smell alike.”

The truth starts to dawn. An obsession built on fragments, an alpha’s frantic need to find her clouding his judgment.

“But that night, she was there, in the street.” The alpha insists, uncertainty creeping into his voice. He squeezes his eyes shut. “She was definitely at the accident…”

My breath catches, and I lower the gun slightly. “The night she went missing, someone heard a crash. She went out to help and never made it back to bed.”

Maddox and Ben exchange a look as the alpha’s face drains of color.

“She’s still missing,” Maddox says slowly. “Everyone thought this was connected.”

The alpha’s body shudders violently. “No. You’re just trying to confuse me.”

His pack exchanges uneasy glances.

“Moon madness,” Ben says quietly to me, “a fracturing of the wolf’s mind that happens when mates are kept apart, or one gets killed.”

Oh.

“We need to get him help,” his apparent second in command says quietly. “Before he’s completely lost. Please... let us take him back to the pack.”

They’re asking for mercy. For understanding.