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Alarick is standing in front of me with a passive expression on his face. He is fully clothed while I'm clothed in just a towel wrapped around my body. He continues to look at me while I do the same. I thought that his eyes would wander down to stare at my towel-clad body considering the fact that I'm his mate but it doesn't. His eyes remain fixed on my face. I expect him to say something on the lines of "Don't you have some decency? Do you always change your clothes with the door open?" But he doesn't say anything. While his eyes remain on my face, I see his hand reaching for the door knob. And he closes the door for me.

I continue to look at the closed door for a few minutes. What did just happen? I quickly open the door and look around for Alarick but he is no where to be seen. I am just about to get back inside my room and close the door but Anne appears from no where. "You should've dropped your towel!" she says throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"What?" I don't understand...

"You should've dropped your towel in front of Alarick. Then, he would've come inside your room and claimed you then and there," she explains as if she's explaining to an eight year old kid.

"I highly doubt that. Even if I walk naked around Alarick, he won't claim me," I say.

"Why don't you tempt him into claiming you?" she asks. Her question instantly makes my eyebrows rise. She continues, "If he claims you then things would change between you two."

I give out a humorless chuckle. "Claiming me won't make him respect me and acknowledge me as his mate," I say. "I'll talk to you when I'm dressed," I conclude and close the door. After getting dressed, I open my bedroom door and find Anne standing in front of me. Was she waiting for me outside my room just so that she could continue the conversation that we were having earlier about her brother?

"If Alarick claims you then the bond between both of you will become more strong and so will your feelings for each other," Anne says as she enters my room. I close the door behind her.

"Anne, there is no bond between your brother and me. If there was a bond between us then he wouldn't have denied me as his mate. And Alarick doesn't have feelings for me. If he had feelings for me then he would've marked me, claimed me and would've said that he loves me," I put my points forward.

"Chriselda, you are wrong," Anne says. "Alarick has feelings for you. When you went missing, he was so worried. He would've gone crazy if you didn't return to the pack house tonight." The seriousness that weights her words tells me that she's telling the truth. It's almost unbelievable that Alarick would be worried about me considering the fact that he denies to be my mate. I thought that he was only capable of emotions of hatred but I didn't know that a person like him could be capable of worrying about someone else. "I know you're finding it hard to believe that Alarick was worried about you but trust me, he was," she says. And then, she starts telling me what happened in the pack house when I went missing.

Anne's Point Of View

I am alone in the pack house. Alarick, Charles, Daniel and Chriselda have gone for training practice. I wish I could go with them. I would prefer that over getting bored at the pack house. I am sitting on the couch watching shows which don't interest me at all. Suddenly, there is a knock at the front door. When I open the door, I am surprised to see Charles and Daniel in front of me. "You guys came back early," I say.

"Alarick ended the training early," Charles says and gets in. He looks around the living room. Then, he goes to the kitchen. It seems as if he's looking for something. When he returns to the living room, I ask him, "Who are you looking for?"

"Chriselda," he answers. "Where is she?"

"I thought she's with you guys," I reply. She went with them to the training practice.

"She was with us until Alarick told all of us to disperse so that he could talk to Chriselda alone," Charles tells me. "Everyone returned back to their houses except me and Daniel. We decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. We climbed up a tree which was at a reasonable distance from the training ground and were listening to Alarick and Chriselda. They were clearly having an argument. Alarick ordered Chriselda to leave the training ground but Chriselda didn't listen to him. Alarick was so angry that he himself left. Then, he caught us eavesdropping. He warned us not to disobey him again and went somewhere. Daniel and I went back to the training ground to get Chriselda but she wasn't there. We thought that she must've come here so we also came here," Charles finishes speaking.

After his words settle in, I start worrying about Chriselda. "What if something bad happened to her?" I ask, clearly panicking. Charles knows what I'm talking about.

"We should not assume the worst," Charles says, trying to calm me. After a moment of silence, he speaks, "I think Chriselda went back to her pack."

"Why would she?" I ask.

"Why wouldn't she? The way Alarick is treating her, I don't think she would want to stay with our pack," he says.

"I hope she's with her pack." Daniel speaks for the first time since he entered the pack house. I know what he means. He just wants Chriselda to be safe, just like we do. "We should find out whether she's with her pack or not," he suggests. Charles nods and then proceeds towards the front door. "Where are you going?" Daniel asks him.

"To Chriselda's pack," Charles answers.

"You just can't go there and ask whether Chriselda is with them or not. What if she's not with them? Her Alpha will get worried and would demand answers from you which you won't be able to give," Daniel reasons with him.

"Then what should we do?" Charles asks, feeling frustrated and helpless at the same time.

"We should inform Alarick," Daniel replies. Charles nods, agreeing with him. Charles has a look of concentration on his face which tells me that he's trying to mind-link my brother.

"I'm not able to reach him," Charles gives out a frustrated sigh after a few seconds of trying to mind-link Alarick.

"He must've blocked you from his mind," Daniel says.

"What should we do now?" I ask in a little voice. We are running out of options.

"We have to go to Chriselda's pack. That's the only option left," Charles says.

"I don't think she's with her pack," Daniel's says thoughtfully.

"What makes you think that?" Charles asks immediately.

"She sees you as a potential friend and so she would've informed you before going back to her pack." I can see Charles processing his words. After a few seconds, I find Charles agreeing with Daniel. "And also, if she wanted to go back to her pack then she would've informed Mr. West," Daniel later adds. Charles nods.

"We should tell Dad that Chriselda is missing," I say. We just can't sit in the pack house and feel helpless. Both Daniel and Charles nod at my suggestion. We exit the pack house and head towards my house. When Mom answers the door, she is surprised to see us. "What are you all doing here?" She asks with a smile on her face.

I speak up, "Chriselda is missing." Her smile vanishes and soon her face is full of worry for Chriselda. We all enter the house and are greeted with the sight of my father. Before he can ask us any questions, I tell him that Chriselda is missing. Charles tells him everything what happened in the practice training.

"Where is Alarick?" Dad asks.

"We don't know," Charles answers.

"Did you try to mind-link him?"

"Yes but I wasn't able to reach him. I think he has blocked me."

"We can't wait for him to return," Dad starts saying. "We have to take matters in our own hands. Daniel, tell the patrol team to assemble here within ten minutes." Daniel nods and gets to work.

● ● ● ● ●

Dad, Charles and Daniel along with the patrol team have gone in search of Chriselda while Mom and I are waiting in the pack house. As the minutes are passing, her state is becoming worse. She seems so fragile that I'm afraid that she will break. I'm afraid that she'll worry herself to death. She will only be at peace when she sees Chriselda safe. After three hours of sitting helplessly in the pack house, Mom gets a call. She answers it. After she ends the call, she tells me that Dad has found Alarick and now Alarick is also helping them to find Chriselda. I start to see a ray of hope thinking that Alarick will be able to find his mate.

● ● ● ● ●

It's evening and there's no news of Chriselda. I can see that Mom's worry is eating her up. I can tell what she is thinking just by looking at her face. She's hoping that history doesn't repeat itself. Even I'm hoping for the same. Mom has been keeping herself composed from the moment she came to know that Chriselda is missing. So now, when she starts crying, I don't stop her. I just sit beside her on the couch and let her cry on my shoulder. I let her cry thinking that she would somehow feel better after crying. Seeing her cry makes my eyes brim with tears. But I hold them back. I need to be strong for my mother. "I don't want anything to happen to Chriselda," she says against my shoulder as she continues to sob. I can't help but nod.

Minutes turn into hours and Mom hasn't stopped crying. Her soft cries have turned into loud wails. I try to stop her from shedding more tears but I'm not able to. My soothing words are getting buried under her loud cries. So, I'm forced to call Dad so that he can come here and calm my mother. Within minutes, Dad and Alarick barge into the pack house. Mom run towards Alarick, engulfs him in a hug and starts crying even harder. Alarick tries to soothe her. "Please don't let anything happen to Chriselda," she requests.

"I won't let anything happen to her," Alarick replies. The tone of his voice tells me he won't let even a strand of Chriselda's hair come to harm. He's trying so hard to maintain a passive expression on his face but I can see through his eyes that reflect his worries. Suddenly, Alarick pulls away from the hug and there's a concentrated look on his face. Someone is trying to mind-link him. He turns to Mom and tells her, "Charles has found Chriselda and they'll be here any moment." Mom visibly relaxes and stops crying. Everyone seems relieved.

Alarick takes Mom to the couch and makes her sit. Dad and I join her on the couch. Daniel also comes back to the pack house. Silence falls in the living room as we all wait for Chriselda and Charles to return back to the pack house and end all our miseries.

Chriselda's Point Of View

"We were all relieved when we saw you standing in the living room," Anne says as she finishes telling me. "And you know the rest."

I let her words sink in. Her words tell me that people were worried about me. It was justified on their part to worry about me since I happen to be their Luna. But when Anne was telling me everything, I felt as if she was speaking carefully like she didn't want me to know certain things that may slip out of her tongue. "You said something about History not repeating itself," I say to her. "What History were you talking about?"