CHAPTER 40: 40-NOT LEAVING MY MATE BEHIND.

Clementine:

After we arrived at the station again, the other crusaders started to show up one day later. That one day was difficult to get through. None of us spoke to each other. We all kept a good distance, sleeping on the benches for the rest of the day.

Yorick would pace around his area and occasionally punch the pillars or the walls. No one checked on him because we were all still angry with each other.

Ian was the messy one. He would hum a melody, almost like he was taunting us. Then he would wander off, go missing for a few hours, and return. He was a mess.

Eventually, the other crusaders began to arrive. The red ones came first, and I didn’t see the pregnant girl among them. That’s when I realized Haiden had also been missing for a while.

The white crusaders, along with the blue and green teams, all showed up. There were five teams in total.

Then they asked if anyone had slain the monster. Ian stepped forward and told them that we had, but we didn’t go into specifics. That would be discussed once we were back on the mainland.

Now the train was coming again.

During those few hours with the other crusaders present, I noticed Joshua and Suki being very intimate. I remembered she had cheated on him, so my eyes naturally wandered. I spotted one guy from their own squad watching them a little too closely. I also noticed Suki making eye contact with him.

I wondered if he was the guy. He had curly red hair and a lot of freckles. He was good-looking, with a fuller face, an innocent type, not someone you’d expect in the bad boy group. I felt bad for him. If he got dragged into this mess, I was sure others would turn on him just to stay in Joshua’s good books. Joshua had the typical appearance of a bully.

"Let’s board the train," said the Red Squad leader, who I assumed was the leader, to her crusaders, without mentioning anything about the missing girl.

I began to look into the distance, hoping Haiden would appear with his girl.

"Guys," I said, trying to get the attention of my crusaders and my squadmates.

But then I noticed Troy and Yorick were bumping shoulders as they tried to get in. They kept doing it, and the other squads started to notice.

"Hey, what’s going on?" one of the guys from the Blue Squad asked, as both Troy and Yorick started putting their hands on each other.

I guessed they were finally done with the silent treatment and had decided to take it too far again.

"Guys, we are missing Haiden!" I screamed. But they didn’t pay attention.

By now, all the other crusaders had begun gathering around them in a circle at the entrance of the train.

"No, you’re a fucking idiot, you know that?" I heard Yorick scream at Troy.

"Oh, really? Just because I exposed your truth?" Troy shot back.

I shook my head. This wasn’t going well. We needed to go and find Haiden, and here they were, fighting about something that didn’t even deserve attention.

There was nothing left to discuss. They both had lied. They both had played. So what were they even angry about? Just the fact that they exposed each other?

"Fuck it," I groaned, turning around and hastily walking away from the train.

"Where do you think you’re going?" I heard Ian yell. This was the first time he had actually intervened in anyone’s business. Usually, he didn’t care.

I turned to him and gave him a look.

"We’re missing Haiden," I said.

He shrugged. "So? If he doesn’t care, why should we care?"

So nonchalant. No care for anyone.

"I understand, Ian, that you don’t give a fuck about anyone, but I do. And I have to go and bring him back, so please don’t waste my time asking questions you already know the answers to," I said, looking him straight in the eye before turning around to sprint away.

I heard him groan, and then I heard footsteps behind me.

I wanted to stop for a minute and ask him what he was doing, but I figured he was coming after me to find Haiden. That was strange, just one sentence from me, and suddenly his emotions were stirred.

"Okay, Mint. Right now I need your help. Focus on the surroundings. Smell your mate’s scent. Find him."

I hated that I had to drag Mint into this because it meant acknowledging that Haiden and I were Mates, which we were.

"Got it," she said, taking a deep breath.

"What are you doing?" Ian continued to bother me.

I closed my eyes and got on my knees, touching the soil. I wanted Mint to be as close to it as possible so she could catch his scent.

"I think I smell him," she said, and I opened my eyes.

"He’s in this direction," I said to Ian.

I didn’t know why, but I wanted him to come with me. I knew I couldn’t do this alone.

Then I heard voices behind me.

"What’s going on? Why did you two leave?" It was Yorick.

I turned to give him a quick glance and noticed he had a split lip again. Troy was right beside him, his nose bleeding.

"Glad you two are done with your bickering, because we’re missing a crusader, and I don’t want to go back without him," I hissed at them. They looked like they couldn’t care less.

"He ran off into the wild after that pregnant girl. Why should we care? He wasn’t even there to help us," Troy hissed.

I gave him a look and he began to fix his attitude.

"Fine, fine, I’m just angry. Let’s go."

Thankfully, he didn’t waste any more time arguing, and we began to sprint again.

I didn’t let them know how I was able to locate his scent so quickly, because then they would start asking questions about my wolf and Haiden.

Mint was doing a great job, though, because we soon started to hear Haiden’s voice in the distance, and he didn’t sound like he was doing any better. He was frantic. He sounded like he had been through something, or at least was still going through it.

He was screaming someone’s name, and after a while, I began to make it out.

"Sadie!" he yelled again and again.

That’s when my wolf was the one who broke the news to me.

"He’s calling for his baby mama. That’s her name."

I was pretty sure she was right, because that was the girl who had gone missing.

So Sadie was her name.

I could see Haiden looking around, disheveled and broken, and it scared me for him.

Had he lost her?