Two days and still no word from Tobias.

I didn't want to take it personally, as I remembered his worried expression when he read the text message on his phone. Besides, I was busy with duties myself, but obviously not enough to keep my mind from constantly wandering to the man with the hickory eyes.

A patrol was waiting for me in the evening that day, which helped clear my head as I had to be on high alert, but when I went to bed later, my thoughts immediately turned to Tobias.

Our relationship was progressing faster than I had expected, and I had no idea what to make of it. From my perspective, our bond felt stronger, and besides, there were two of us who longed to be by our mate's side, my wolf constantly reminding him that he was missing. But from Tobias' perspective...

I honestly had no idea if he felt differently since he was a hunter, and I had no way of finding out. Our pack had a small library where we gathered information about the supernatural world, but I was sure that none of the books mentioned the relationship between wolf and hunter.

It was strange to even say it out loud, let alone write about it.

The running and all the thinking eventually exhausted my mind to the point where I dozed off before I could even begin to question our relationship. Not that it could even be called a relationship, although we were probably heading in that direction.

"Meet me in my office," Mason's words echoing in my head woke me up.

His order was directed at the next generation, and although I had no idea what it was about, I assumed Mason was trying to take advantage of the time Cobe was currently spending in the pack.

Although I didn't get enough sleep, and my body was showing it, I wasn't going to allow myself to argue against my future Alpha. I hurried through my morning hygiene, put on some clean clothes, and headed for Mason's office in the packhouse.

Cobe and I met just outside the door and entered the room together. Mason and Sam were already there, and my brother and I bowed to them before Mason motioned for us to sit down. The last person we waited for was Milo. He led training every morning, so it was to be expected that he would be a little late.

It didn't happen often, but when a new member who had just come of age joined the training, Milo sometimes had more work than usual and couldn't afford to let his guard down and left the training early, leaving one of his fellow warriors to cover for him.

Milo took his duties seriously, even though he was not yet officially a general.

"On my way," Milo's deep voice rang in my head.

"We'll be waiting for you," Mason assured him.

"Rhea joined the group today. I wonder how she's doing," Sam broke the silence in the room. Rhea was his second cousin who had celebrated her eighteenth birthday last week, and the first thing she had done after that was enlisting in the Pack Warriors. With her long blonde hair and large blue eyes, she looked fragile and perhaps even naive, but the opposite was true. She had a deep fondness for knives since she was little, and the moment someone upset her, they would feel the blade at their throats.

Like the other wolves in Milo's group, though, she also hadn't trained since she was a pup, so she had to go through training with non-warriors first before she could later become an official part of the Pack Warriors.

Normally this training lasted a year or two, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was only months in Rhea's case. She was already dangerous in her human form, it was just a matter of coordinating it with her wolf form.

"I'm sure she's doing great," Cobe told him. He and Rhea were almost peers, so he'd spent a lot of time with her from childhood until he started traveling.

"I bet she managed to scare them all off," Sam chuckled. He was still in a joking mood, which would change the moment the official business of the pack began to be dealt with. People who hadn't met Sam as a pack beta would never guess that this wild guy could be in charge of an entire community.

"I hope not," Mason interjected. "It doesn't really pay off to show anyone your tricks right away."

"I bet her mate will be a warrior too," Sam continued. Like everyone else in this room (except me, that is), Rhea hadn't found her mate yet. Sam had come up with the theory that her mate would be one of the wolves that were currently out of the pack on a mission, and honestly, it made sense. Rhea needed someone just as feisty as her by her side.

"I think so too," Cobe nodded. Fortunately, I'd expressed my opinion on the subject earlier, since having a conversation about mates was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I didn't want to lie to my friends, even though I was already deliberately doing it, and my wolf didn't like the idea of me loudly denying our mate either.

"I think you'll yet be surprised," Mason assessed, and Sam turned to him in surprise. Before they could continue this conversation, the door opened and the last member we had been waiting for joined us. Milo was wearing the tight clothes he wore to practice and a headband in his hair to keep his hair out of his eyes. His hands and face were glistening with sweat, and from the looks of him, he'd come straight after practice.

"Hey," he greeted briefly, taking his place at my side. All five of us had designated positions that were copies of the positions held by the current generation. Mason sat at the table, with Sam to his right. On the other side were me, Sam, and Milo, Milo being closest to Sam even though he was the brother of the future Alpha. His position was more important than his kinship.

"Since we're all here, I'll cut straight to the chase," Mason spoke, his tone changing from the previous conversation. It was more authoritative, and you could hear that his wolf, who had the same instinct to lead as he did, was behind his words. "Increased hunter activity."

Mason's words took me by surprise, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to show it.

"After the last attack on the edge of our territory, we know there are active hunters in our vicinity. But the question is why they have decided to attack now and what they are waiting for," he continued.

Until I heard it out loud like that, it hadn't even occurred to me to think about what Tobias and his hunters were actually planning when I wasn't talking to Tobias. His text conversation yesterday sounded urgent and probably related to his duties as a hunter, though I hated to admit it. He might even have been planning another attack on our pack while I foolishly waited to hear from him.

"Colby?" Sam's voice snapped me out of my reverie, and only now did I realize that they were obviously asking me something and I hadn't responded. All pairs of eyes were on me, and I was trying not to panic.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. What was the question?"

"I asked what you thought about it," Mason spoke up, and my attention automatically turned to him. It made sense, I was a future strategist after all, and my opinion carried weight in these cases, but it was really hard to tell the difference between my feelings and my judgement at the moment.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "We knew they were around somewhere, but they never came this close to our pack. Besides, they left the fight and never came back. It's suspicious, but rather than worry, I'd concentrate on what's changed. What happened to make them decide to show up now?"

Mason looked as if he was considering my words and nodded silently. The others also had serious expressions on their faces, but no one spoke yet. Perhaps because we didn't have an answer, which was rather ironic when I knew exactly who could provide it.

This was exactly the moment when I could have used my mate bond to help the pack instead of endangering them unnecessarily with my recklessness, but of course, I didn't do it.

"Maybe they're waiting for us to lower our defences," Sam suggested. We had doubled the number of guards on patrol since the last attack, but the borders of the territory were quiet.

"And then what? They haven't minded our pack until now, so why would they want to get rid of it?" Cobe asked.

"Do you think one of our own could have gone against the Alpha's orders and done something reckless?" I added another question, aimed directly at Mason. For some reason, I was convinced that Tobias wouldn't hurt anyone unless he had to.

"I hope not," Mason admitted, but it looked like he was considering the possibility as well.

"That's stupid," Sam protested immediately. "We don't even have any suspects. No one to keep an eye on just in case."

We went on like this for a while until we decided to install more cameras in places where they had not been before, without telling anyone. It was a measure to focus on internal rather than external influences, even though none of us wanted to believe that we had someone in our midst who was trying to harm our pack.

I, on the other hand, was beginning to have other concerns. I still hadn't heard from Tobias, and after this meeting with the rest of the little pack, I began to feel that these situations were connected.

I hoped not, but the longer I didn't hear from him, the more worried I grew.

I spent the rest of the day with Cobe, who helped to distract me, but of course, I always found a way to turn my thoughts to the black-haired man.

My brother probably knew me best, so I wasn't surprised that he immediately realised something was wrong, but thankfully he respected my boundaries and didn't ask.

The worst thing was that I thought Cobe was the one who could understand my situation, and so I was itching to confide in him. In the end, however, I didn’t, and we parted ways that evening when I went out on patrol.

Luckily, by dawn, I was exhausted enough to fall asleep again, despite my worries, which were only momentarily alleviated. When I woke up the next day and realised that I still hadn't had any word from Tobias, my spirits dropped again. I even started to think about calling Annie, but eventually dismissed the idea.

The first thing I did that day was check out the new cameras. I also installed a face detector on them, which did not register anyone who was not part of the pack, and I found nothing else suspicious either.

It looked like a boring day, but the most important aspect was that the pack was safe. No hunters and definitely no Tobias.

I got up from the computer with a sigh and decided it was time for lunch. Instead of cooking, however, I decided to visit my parents. I had no idea if they would be home, but I still had the keys, and if the worst came to the worst, I could at least surprise them with a cooked lunch or dinner.

A few metres from the house, I discovered that my worries were unfounded, for loud music was coming from the house, and I knew immediately that my mother had turned on the radio to cook.

Just what I needed for distraction.

"Hey, mom!" I shouted from the door, trying to yell over the loud music. Mom's face peeked out from behind the kitchen door, and the smile on her face got even bigger.

"Colby! Come here! You have to try this!"

I ended up helping my mom with lunch, and then we watched Gilmore Girls together. It was our guilty pleasure, something we always did together, especially when I was in high school, and it was just what I needed.

Cobe got home a little later and joined us right away. Cora, despite being an obnoxious teenager and debating whether to spend the afternoon with us for a while, ended up on the couch between mom and me, and dad joined us for our film marathon later that evening.

My family was there for me without my saying a word, and with that thought in my mind, I slept peacefully that night in my old bed.

However, my morning was even better, and one single message was responsible for that.