The Exiled Alpha's Human Male Mate.[BL]

"The number tracking won’t work because I think he changed it, or did whatever he could to prevent it from being traced. It doesn’t even go through." The urge to try Bryce’s number again surged through Vincent as he spoke, his mind returning to the same unanswered call he had already made countless times.

"Can you charge my phone there?" Dave asked, stretching out his hand as he offered the device to Vincent.

Vincent hesitated before taking it, glancing at the dead phone before looking back at the road.

"I told you this is not going to work. Just think about anywhere you believe he could have decided to go. I need to find him before evening. I have to. And you’re not being very helpful right now, not the way I thought you would be."

"Even if I thought of places he liked, do you think he’s stupid enough to go somewhere I would know?"

Dave asked, his voice carrying a mixture of frustration and disbelief.

"Why do you keep insisting on finding him tonight anyway? I think we should leave him alone for some time. He must be really overwhelmed to decide to walk away like that."

He shifted carefully in the back seat, wincing as pain travelled through his injured body, but his expression remained focused on Vincent.

"I don’t want to bother him any more than I already have. I don’t want to force him to stay at a certain place when he doesn’t want to. I forced him to stay at the S residence, and if he hadn’t made a move to escape, something really terrible would have happened to him, just like what happened to my dad."

The last words carried more than ordinary regret, as though he still could not bring himself to imagine what would have happened to Bryce, or whether he could have endured it.

"Besides, why are you so persistent about finding him like this when you have a wife, Vincent?" Dave continued, his irritation returning. "Messing around with him? Because the reason why I won’t let you get close to him isn’t only because I love him, and still want to be with him. It’s also because I won’t let you mess around with him like that when you have no fucking intention of..."

"My business is none of your business," Vincent cut in, his voice suddenly hard enough to stop him. "I took you out of there so that you could help me find him, and if you prove yourself useless and keep talking about unnecessary things right now, I might as well drive you back to your prison."

Dave stared at the back of his head, visibly offended.

"Will you keep speaking like that just because you helped me out? Drag me back? What a pathetic threat."

The car came to an abrupt stop, throwing Dave slightly forward and making him catch himself against the seat.

"You think I won’t drive you back?" Vincent asked, turning toward him as his temper threatened to break through the restraint he had been forcing himself to maintain. "I’m telling you for the last time, I need to find him before evening. So do you have any means that can help?"

Dave frowned. "What does finding him have to do with before evening?"

Vincent looked back at him, irritation boiling plainly across his face.

"Because tonight he’s being awakened. He’s going to turn into an animal, and since he can’t control it, I have to be there to help him go through it. Now that you know, answer my question."

He said it plainly, already knowing that Dave would dismiss it as nonsense precisely because he knew nothing about Bryce’s true nature.

"You talk nonsense and expect me to take you seriously?" Dave dismissed Vincent’s words without giving them a second thought before abruptly changing the subject. "Can you get me to the hospital? I can’t take the pain anymore. I feel dizzy."

There was nothing false about what he was saying. He looked exactly as weak and disoriented as his words suggested.

Vincent simply stared at him, visibly struggling to keep his anger under control as Dave continued to speak.

"You’re the one who keeps telling me to leave him alone, that he’s not my property and that he can decide things for himself, while here you are, chasing after him when he clearly wants space, as long as those lunatics don’t have him, then let him be. By now, you should realize that forcing him to stay only makes him want to run."

He shifted against the seat, carefully adjusting himself despite the pain.

"I’m learning that now. Even after I’m healed and done dealing with those people who think they can just ruin my life and keep living as though nothing happened, I’m going to find him. But I won’t let him know that I did. I’ll keep my distance and let him have the space he needs, as long as he doesn’t try to..."

Vincent slammed his hand against the steering wheel, cutting him off instantly.

"I can’t believe I wasted my time with you."

"Can you please take me to the hospital?"

Dave’s request came again, quieter this time, but Vincent barely acknowledged it.

"Since the people you call lunatics are after you, don’t you think they could go after him too, perhaps to get to you?" Vincent asked, his voice tightening. "They could track him down before we do and use him to force you to surrender to whatever they want. I believe they have the means to do that, and you’re sitting here being delusional about him being safe from them."

Vincent knew perfectly well that what he was saying wasn’t possible, but he said it anyway, intent on pushing Dave into taking the search for Bryce that night seriously.

The tactic worked; a flash of panic crossed Dave’s face at the thought of what Vincent had just said.

"Are your men searching for him?" he asked.

"Yes."

Dave fell silent for a moment, thinking.

"He might not have gone far, especially since he knows we’ll search farther away, assuming he went as far as he could. Perhaps he’s still somewhere in the city."

"They’ve turned the city upside down. There’s no sign of him."

"Sometimes people disguise themselves when they want to get away. Have you or your men thought of that?"

Vincent went completely still.

The thought hadn’t occurred to him, he hadn’t considered the simplest possibility that Bryce could have made himself unrecognizable.

"But now it’ll be hard to find him if he’s disguised, who knows what he decided he wants to look like now?"

Dave muttered, more to himself than to Vincent.

"I would’ve given it a month and searched through every fabric design store that opened recently, because I know he’s going to do it. He’s passionate about it."

Vincent’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

"Can you take me to the hospital so the pain can be reduced?" Dave asked again. "Maybe then I’ll be able to think clearly.

If Bryce actually needs your help with whatever you say you need to help him with, he would come to you," Dave continued. "But since he’s still staying away, then that means he doesn’t actually need your help."

The words struck Vincent directly in the heart.

Bryce knew there was a full moon that night. He knew what was supposed to happen to him, and he knew Vincent was the one person who could help him through it. Despite knowing all of that, he had still chosen to disappear that very day.

Perhaps Dave was right.

Bryce might not have been waiting for Vincent at all. He might have already decided that, whatever happened tonight, he would face it without him.

The realization settled heavily over Vincent, leaving him staring ahead through the windshield while his hands tightened around the steering wheel.

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