Does she not want us?

Kenton

“Fuck,” I growl, my head throbbing as I try to pry my eyes open, the overhead sun too bright. “What the hell happened?” I mutter to myself, not expecting any sort of an answer in return.
“It feels like we fell off of a fucking cliff,” Asher groans from somewhere close by, prying my eyes open, I find that he’s laying on the ground a few feet away from me, with Boone not far from him on his other side.
I look around at our surroundings, not paying attention as Asher crawls over to Boone and tries to rouse him. A cool evening wind blows around us, kicking up fallen leaves along with the scent of something unmistakably familiar. Reaching out, I grasp ahold of a handful of leaves and bringing them to my face, inhaling deeply. The scent of earth is the first thing that I recognize, but underneath that is that familiar mouthwatering scent that I would recognize anywhere.
‘*Mate*’, my wolf growls, thrusting himself to the forefront just as I begin scenting the air around us more thoroughly, taking a closer inspection to all of the scents and smells not only on the air, but also on the grass, fallen leaves, and surrounding trees.
As I make my way around the small area, a few things become clear.
The first is that we did in fact drive over a cliff, judging by the broken guardrail and the damage above us.
The second is that my mate was most definitely here.
And the third, she wasn’t alone.
I’m picking up four distinct scents and only one of them belongs to my mate.
I release a low growl from deep within my throat at the thought of my mate having left me once more, but also at her being accompanied by what I’m pretty sure are at least two other male shifters, along with a female.
“Do you smell that?” Asher asks, coming up to stand next to me as he too scents the air.
“My mate was here,” I growl, by entire body tensing up at hearing him claiming to finds my mates scent appealing. ‘*She is mine,*’ my wolf growls in my mind. ‘*Tell him that she is ours,*’ he urges, feeling very territorial since we have yet to mark and claim her as our own.
“It smells amazing, like honey suckle and peaches, but I don’t think it’s that of Amaris,” he quickly says, picking up on the sudden nearly boiling tension in my body. “I’ve been around her before, I scented her when your father introduced her to the pack, this is different and my wolf is going nuts wanting to track it.”
“We should,” Boone says, slowly hobbling his way over to the two of us, his left arm folded across his stomach, cradling it as if in pain. “If she was in the area… we should follow it back… to her.” He says, his words coming out as more of a pant. “You’ve been… looking for her…for the last…week. We didn’t come… all this way… for nothing.”
*I want to, so damn badly. But, Boone is hurt and needs to be checked out by the pack doctor and my shoulder is fucked up and needs looked at too. If I shift and it isn’t set correctly, it could heal as it is and be permanently messed up, or have to be reinjured and then set.*
*I can see those wheels spinning,* Asher says through the mind link. *What are you thinking?*
*I know that we came all this way to find her, but we need to get Boone to the pack doctor,* I tell him honestly.
‘*And our mate left us, again. Does she not want us?*’ My wolf asks, sounding incredibly hurt at just the thought. ‘*Maybe we shouldn’t go after her.*’
*Yeah,* Asher says, looking our friend over. *He doesn’t look good at all, man.*
*Do you really feel that way?* I ask him, this is just as much his decision as what it is mine, she belongs to both of us.
‘*Yes,*” he says resolutely. But then adds, ‘*I don’t know that I can handle her rejection right now. It might be ugly and we have a pack to worry about.*’
And that I can understand all the way to my bones.
*As long as you are sure.*
‘*I am, let’s get our friend the help he needs before he gets worse. He doesn’t appear to be healing.*’
“No,” I say out loud to the both of them, my wolf and I both having come to an agreement that we can live with for the moment, and that doesn’t happen to be losing our friend. “You need to see the pack doctor. We’re turning back.”
“But we don’t have a car, your’s is fucked!” He argues, thrusting his hand out towards the heap of metal that used to be my car. But as soon as he does, he bends over, nearly folding in half, as he gasps in pain.
“I don’t give a shit, I’ll call a cab. Or, someone from one of the nearby packs, I don’t care but you’re hurt. We’re getting you help and I don’t want to hear another word otherwise!”
Without waiting for him to put up any more of an argument, I go over to my Rover in search of my phone. The driver’s side door is still open, glass is scattered everywhere and as I take in the damage while looking for my phone, I thank the moon Goddess that it wasn’t worse.
“Damnit,” I grumble, not finding my phone anywhere.
*Dad?* I say through the link, hoping that I’m not too far away. I’ve never tried to reach him from this far of a distance before.
*Son? What’s wrong?* He asks, his voice sounding concerned.
*We were in an accident. My car is destroyed and Boone is hurt. My—* he cuts me off before I get the chance to say anything more.
*Where are you? Are you boys okay? I will reach out to the nearby packs for help and I will head that way myself.*
*Dad, you can’t leave the pack vulnerable! With the rogue attacks, you need to stay there and make sure that everyone stays safe in case something happens,* I urge. I’m touched that he wants to come to us, knowing that we were in an accident, but he has responsibilies other than to the three of us. He has an entire pack to think about.
*Where are you?* He growls, clearly not liking that I’m right.
*I’m not entirely sure, but we were driving down highway two through the mountains, but I don’t think we’re far from Leavenworth.*
*Okay. How bad is he?* he asks, his voice sounding strained.
*I don’t know, Dad,* I tell him as I walk over to Boone and lift his shirt up only to find that the entire right half of his torso is a deep bruise. “Fuck, man!” I growl, now more sure than I was before that I’ve bade the right decision. *I’m pretty sure that he may have internal bleeding. God damnit, what do we do?* I ask, beginning to panic for my friend, worried that I may have risked his life for a mate that may or may not even want me.
*If you can make it back up to the main road, try to keep moving towards the Levenworth pack until I can get someone to you. I’m calling Alpha Richard now.*
*Thank you, Dad. I love you.*
*I love you too, Son. Now, let’s get both you and your friends back home safely,* he tells me, then cuts the link.
Guess he got ahold of Alpha Richard.
*We’re going to be okay,* I think as I glance up at the cliff side, not at all looking forward to trying to climb up there.
“Dad is reaching out to the Leavenworth Alpha to send someone to get us. Boone, do you think you can make it up to the road?” I ask, eyeing him skeptically. He doesn’t look good at all. He’s incredibly pale and sweating badly, Asher is having to help him stand up now.
“I can… try,” Boone pants, looking as if he may pass out at any moment. Asher looks over at me and I can see by the look on his face that he’s just as worried about our friend as what I am.
Walking over to his other side—his injured side—I gently lift his arm, then duck down so that I can wrap it around my shoulders. When I feel as though Asher and I both have him securely, I say, “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.” Then, we begin slowly walking up the side of the cliff.
*Look,* Asher says, then nods towards what looks like a trail leading up to the road.
*That’s our best option,* I tell him. Then we both turn, heading towards the small path, the scent of elk and deer strong.
By the time we finally make it up the cliffside to the road, the sun has already begun to make its descent in the sky and nightime is not far away. I’m not too keen on walking along the highway in the dark, so I can only hope that help gets here soon. Not only that, but Boone passed out on Asher and I about halfway up the cliff. I’m currently carrying him on my back, and my concern for him is the only thing that is currently keeping me going right now, because my entire body is begging me to take a break.
“Do you need me to take him?” Asher asks, as if he can read my mind. But, I can’t bring myself to hand him over. It’s my fault that he’s injured. If we hadn’t been out here searching for *my* mate then we wouldn’t have gone over the side of the cliff and he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
“No. I’m fine,” I tell him.
“Come on, stop being bullheaded and let me carry him for a little while,” Asher says, coming to stand in front of me with his feet planted, as if that will keep me from continuing on. When I move to walk around him, he growls and crouches down, “don’t make me fight you over this. You need the break. You won’t be any good to anyone, your mate included, if you keep pushing like this.”
“My mate is the whole damn reason that we’re in this fucking mess in the first place!” I shout, only just now realizing how angry I am at her for doing this to me, to us.
“Don’t do that, man,” he says, gentling his voice like you would a wild animal that you’re trying to not spook. “We both know that she was scared and that is why she took off.”
“But, then why did she leave me today?” I ask, my chest aching at the thought of her just leaving me there.
*How could she just walk away from us like that?* I can help but wonder.
“Maybe she didn’t have a choice.” As he says this, the look on his face says that he doesn’t really believe the words that he’s saying, but neither one of us know her reasoning for leaving, not this time.
“Yeah, maybe.” I snarl, not knowing what to think, only knowing how I feel. Which is like she’s rejected me not just once, but twice.
The sound of breaks pulls Asher and my attention to a switchback a little way up the road from us. When a bright red Jeep Wrangler comes around the corner, we both hug the side of the road, trying to get as far away from the oncoming car as possible.
But, when they begin to slow as they get closer to us, I realize that they must be the help that was sent from the Leavenworth pack. As the blonde guy, who isn’t much older than me rolls, his window down, the dark cloud that had been hovering over me since waking finally begins to lift.
“I hear you guys could use a lift,” Maverick, the Alpha’s son says as he puts the Jeep in park and then opens the drivers side door and rushes over to us, quickly pulling Boone from my back and then carrying him over to the passenger side. “Can one of you get the door and then climb in the back and I will lift him up to you.”
Asher beats me too it, casting me a look that says, *don’t you dare try to fight me on this*, then opens the door, jumps inside and holds his hands out for Maverick to lift Boone up to him.
As soon as the both of them are settled and Maverick and I are both in the front seats, he starts the Jeep and then turns back in the direction that he’d just come from. “So,” he says, looking over at me, then glancing in the rearview mirror at my two friends, “what brings you out this direction?”
“Kenton’s mate,” Asher quickly says, causing Maverick to shoot me a surprised look.
“Your mate?” He asks in disbelief.
“I found my fated mate, yeah.” I say, not really wanting to get into the entire ordeal, but knowing that I likely will have to.
“She didn’t know that she was a shifter and freaked out, running off,” I explain, giving him the extremely shortened version of what happened.
“And you were heading our direction to look for her?” He asks with wide eyes and both eyebrows raised.
“He’s going around everywhere looking for her,” Asher states from the backseat.
“Well, we haven’t gotten any new she-wolves in the area, but I’d be happy to help you look for her,” Maverick says with a shrug of his shoulders. “Anything to help out a friend.”
“I don’t think she’s far,” I say with a sigh.
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“I think she pulled us from the crash,” I tell him, with a disbeleving shake of my head. “I could smell her scent all around the area but I couldn’t follow it…”
“Because he was hurt,” he says nodding in Boone’s direction.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get him checked out and then we can come back and try to track her if you want to.”
“No,” I’m quick to say. When he gives me a what the hell look, I continue, “She left me twice. If she wants me, she can come find me.”
“Why the hell would you say that?” He asks, sounding even more shocked now than when I told him I’d found my mate. “If you can track her, why wouldn’t you?”
“Because,” I hesitate to finish the sentence, but then just force the words out. “I’m not ready to deal with her rejection.”