Lost in love and worry

The man had gone to her den and called in. He had gone to see if she would like to look for herbs with him, but she had not been there. The last time he had seen her was when she had left their last lesson and he returned to the depths of his den. He had known since they had gotten out of the cramped shelter she had been ready to get away from anyone so he had waited a few days to come ask her.

He would test the scent near the entrance of the den only to find that it was at the very least two or three days old. That worried him because it meant that the young black and grey wolf hadn't been there since the last time he had seen her. Moving a few feet away from the den he would find the newest trail he could. The staleness of the scent would match that of the scent within the dark, empty den.

Worry filled eyes would look in the direction the trail had gone. Oh please be at the end of this trail, he silently begged just before his nose would hover above the ground once more and his large paws and long legs would carry his large black form forward. His ears would perk forward and every sense he had was focused on finding his student and friend.

For every hour that past, the more Maximous' worry would grow. By the time he had gone several miles and reached the cave entrance to which Callisto's scent entered he had thought his worry couldn't get any higher. That was until he found the scent of another male that had come from another direction and also entered the den. The thing that made his worry much worse was that she had been in heat when she went into this cave and the males scent was just as old as hers was.

Without a second thought Max plunged forward into the darkness, not caring about his own safety, but that of the safety of a girl he was terrified to tell he loved. "Calllisto!" he would yell into the darkness of the cave tunnels. He could not see but the cave had amplified his voice and echoed it back to him. He knew that if she was still in here that she would have heard him...but he received no answer and he was at the end of the trail.

Backtracking he would burst back out into the light, or what was left of the light, of day. He had been looking for her almost all day and still he hadn't found her. He hadn't seen any signs of a fight or struggle but where the two scents had met at the end of Callisto's trail then again he couldn't see anything at the end of the trail but blackness and fear...his own fear for her.

"Callisto!" his voice would ring out but there was no tunnel to amplify his voice this time and he could here no answer but he would sit in silence until his mind started swirling with questions. Was she raped, dragged away and he was just too hysterical to see the evidence? Did he already scare her away from him and she seek out another male? Did this strange male kill her? Or did she simply leave Ebony to be with this other male?

He would search every inch of the ground for thirty yards until he was so filled of worry and exhaustion that he couldn't even pick up Callisto's scent anymore. And still he refused to leave the area just yet.