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Emmalee

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I had hoped that my dad was right. That the man I had scented was in the pack somewhere. I had never smelled anything like him before. His scent was intoxicating, wonderful, amazing, and gone.

I looked around the pack for days and couldn't find him. I even stopped helping with the massive party as much. I just wanted to find the man who had gone missing. Why had he disappeared?

I was getting depressed, moping so much that my family was worried about me. I was on break from my classes until the next semester started in January, so all I did was mope around the house.

One day, my mom came to me to try and break me out of my funk.

"Emmalee!" She snapped at me as I was mechanically going through my day. "You need to stop this."

"What mom?" I asked her, confused about what I had done wrong just now.

"This incessant moping around." She glared at me.

"I'm sorry mom." I felt the tears sting again. Ever since my mate disappeared that day I have felt like the tears were closer than ever before.

"I don't want to see you crying anymore, sweetheart." She reached for me, placing her slender hand on my shoulder. Mom looked so much like me, or was it that I looked like her. We had the same hair and the same eyes. We both had slender frames and soft features, but where I always seemed to look young no matter what I did, my mom looked elegant and sophisticated at all times. She was the perfect Luna.

"Mom." I sobbed as I looked at her, she used her grip on my shoulder to pull me into her chest. She was just a couple inches taller than me and I fit against her perfectly. "Why did he run away from me?"

"Honey, you don't know that he ran away from you. Like your father told you, it could have been an old scent.

"I don't think it was, Momma. I think he was there. I heard him and his scent was so thick and strong."

"We will find him honey." She rubbed soothing circles into my back. "We'll find him, and you'll both be happy and everything will be just fine.

"How, Momma? How can we find him? I have been searching the pack. I have been looking for him and he's not here."

"You've hardly seen them all." She laughed. "That's why your father is going to hold a pack Christmas party this year. We will get all the men here together and you can scent them all at the same time."

"It won't work."

"Don't be so pessimistic." She scolded me. "Where did my bright, cheery daughter go?" She was leveling a steady, yet firm, look at me.

"How can it work?" I asked her this time, deciding to take a different approach.

"Because, you will walk around them and if you smell him you will catch him. Simple as that."

"What am I supposed to do Mom, tackle him?" I laughed at the thought.

"If that's what it takes to stop him from getting away then why not?" She didn't laugh, she just looked at me with her serene, regal eyes. She was serious?

"Sure Mom, if I ever meet him, I will tackle him to the ground." That actually made her laugh. I don't think she expected me to agree. Oh well. I'd prove her wrong.

I was starting to get excited. I'll admit it. I loved parties, and if there was a possibility that my mate would be at the party and I could finally find him, see what he looks like, know his name, then I would be so happy.

I worked hard with my family to prepare for the last minute party. It was going to be spectacular even though I didn't have much time to plan it. This meant that we would have three parties this month, if we counted the upcoming New Year's Eve party, but that was going to be on a smaller scale and just include people we were close to. There definitely wouldn't be anyone for me to mate with among them.

The party was to take place at the house. And the invitation was mandatory. Daddy didn't tell them why they had to be there, but he told them all that there was no skipping out on this event. I knew that every unmated pack male would be at the party. This was my chance to find him.

I arrived early to help finish setting up and to greet the guests. Why wait for my mate? Why spend all night figuring out which one was him when I could simply find him at the door? I stood there and greeted everyone as they arrived. Males and females, young and old. Not a single person entered the party that I didn't personally greet.

And he wasn't here. My mate wasn't at the party. Where on earth could he be? Wasn't he in the pack? Did he leave the pack because he couldn't stand the idea of being with me?

I could feel the tears beginning to return. My eyes were stinging and I knew they would be red. This was not good. I didn't want to cry at the party.

Without my parents seeing me I quickly made my escape. I ran from the room, hiding my wet eyes and blotchy cheeks as I went. I hoped no one saw what a mess I looked like.

It was official, my mate was gone. Whoever he was he had left. He never wanted to be my mate. He took one look at me and thought I wasn't good enough so he ran away from me. I felt my already broken heart shatter again. It felt like my heart would never be whole again.

As I laid there, crying into my pillow, I heard the sound of my door opening.

"Ems, sweety, what's wrong?" My dad had come to check on me. He must have noticed my absences.

"I don't want to talk about it." My broken heart didn't feel ready to tell him that it was over, truly over for me.

"Didn't you find him here tonight?" He asked me, knowing the only reason I would be crying.

I sat up then, glaring at him and not caring that I had tears and mascara running down my eyes.

"No, Dad, I didn't find him. He never came tonight."

"But every male in the pack is here." He assured me.

"Then he left the pack. He had to have left the pack because he didn't want me."

"Honey, no one has left the pack lately." He looked confused as he stared at me. "None of our pack members have deserted us in years, so that's not what happened."

"Then what is it Daddy? What happened?"

"Could you have imagined it? I know you think you smelled him but could it have been a trick of the wind and your nose playing tricks on you?"

"I know what I smelled Daddy." I snapped at him. "I know he was there. He was by the house that day, near the trees, and then he just ran away."

"But sweetheart, no one has left the-." He stopped short of finishing his words.

"I know, you said no one left the pack, but someone had to have."

"We'll see baby. Maybe the wind just carried a really strong scent from somewhere else. You never know."

"That sounds stupid Dad, you know that." I glared at him as I hugged my pillow to my chest. "You have to know how ridiculous it sounds to say the wind carried his scent from another pack. That would be miles and miles away."

"Who knows, it could have happened." He smirked at me. "Are you coming back down to the party? We all got you presents." He was trying to coax me, but I didn't feel up to it yet.

"Maybe later, Daddy." I grimaced at him.

"Ok, just come down when you're ready." He kissed me on my head and left the room.

I know what he is trying to say. That I imagined it. That it's not real. That it's all in my head. Then why did he pause when he was saying that no one has left the pack? Did someone leave and he's just not telling me? Is my mate lost to me forever? Will I ever find him?

I didn't know the answer to any of these questions, but I knew I was never going to give up. Not yet anyway. I was still determined. Dad's insistence that I had imagined the whole thing angered me so much that I could have just screamed. I would show him. I would show them all. I would scour the earth for my mate. And when I found him, and made him explain why he had left that day, I would drag him to my parents and prove to them that he was real. They probably thought I was insane, off my rocker, had a few screws loose, or whatever else it was they wanted to joke behind my back. I'd show them. I'd show all of them.