Henry stood outside the King's quarters, guarding as he had done for almost a year. Although, he no longer felt the strain of boredom, but an itching tension that left his Wolf on edge. The entire guard and Council felt this same strain, recognising that their leader was vulnerable and their Luna was missing.

"Henry!" called the sharp voice from inside. Steeling himself, the demoted gamma moved inside to see what the King wanted now.

King Hadrian had barely slept for the last five days. His quarters were messy, for the first time ever, as he refused to allow anyone in to clean them and thus eradicate the remains of his mate's partial scent. A scent, even with the mating pheromones removed, that had made him feel soothed and calm for many months previous.

Henry found the King at his desk, pouring over the latest reports to be sent by the Royal Runners. Shifters trained specially to run with a courier tube to deliver official documents across territories, where the mindlink would not stretch far enough. The King's hair was messy and the skin around his eyes were bruised from a lack of sleep. Running one hand down the back of his head and neck, the King furrowed his brow at what he read.

The reports contained every scrap of detail his investigators could find out about Rose Tyler. Already, imperial guards in the Bane Territories had taken in her parents for questioning, although they were under the strictest orders to treat them with the utmost civility. Not that her parents were resisting, in fact they seemed delighted the truth was out.

So far, enquiries with Rose's parents had revealed that she had known the King was her mate since his arrival in her hometown over a year ago. That her parents had encouraged her to move to the capital to get to know more about Werefolk and mates, and to be close to him. But, beyond that their knowledge of Rose's recent goings on were hazy. It was clear that she was a very dutiful and loving daughter, as she had written to them faithfully every week. But, she'd apparently grown increasingly paranoid, not directly writing about her feelings towards the King (if there were any, Hades thought bitterly). Her parents had only just received the news that she was planning to come home, which wasn't what they had wanted at all. This was made evident by their reply, which was intercepted and delivered into the king's hands.

"Rose, you must not return here. Please, we could not bear to see you this way." The King read out loud from the parents' letter, written in a frantic hand with sharp, jagged lettering. The rest of the letter was of a similar message, begging their daughter to stay where she is. "What do you make of that?"

Henry listened attentively, eyeing the heavy droop of his Alpha's frame. The reasoning of his Luna's actions was a total mystery, especially of her months of close proximity without revealing herself. According to the physician and the companion who outed her, she was just allowing herself to weaken. What was it all for? Henry had been grilled several times the last few days on every conversation he had had with Rose, but they were no closer to understanding her. Nor, were the Guard any closer to finding her.

"I don't know Alpha" Henry eventually uttered.

King Hadrian sighed, placing the letter on his desk and stared at the corkboard across the room. A huge map covered the wall, with pins of everywhere he had looked to find his mate. Ironic that she was tidying this very room every day.

The moment of fragility passed and the King grew cold: the Hades of battle and political diplomacy surfaced, demanding: "Where is the specialist? He should be here by now."

"He will be here any minute Alpha" Henry bowed his head, not daring to make eye contact; the brief time with his friend was gone. The Alpha King had taken his place. Fortunately, the moment was interrupted by the Lower Guard mind linking Henry that Dr Leif had arrived.

Henry excused himself to usher in the specialist Doctor, sent for from Lychaster, uniquely knowledgeable in Mate Withdrawal Sickness: an anthropology and biology lecturer at the Healer's University. The Wolfman was old, certainly well over a hundred. He moved slowly and was taken into the Alpha King's study. White, spindly hair was combed dutifully over his egg-shaped head and he wore a tidy looking waistcoat with an old fashioned pocket watch. Dr Leif was fiddling with it nervously – not expecting to be summoned two days previous to appear before the legendary monarch himself.

King Hadrian had moved to stand behind his desk, his arms folded and his seven foot frame was particularly imposing. No smile of welcome graced his lips, although he did offer one of the chairs for the aged Wolf to sit down. Dr Leif, after bowing and introducing himself, sat in one of the offered leather armchairs.

Not wasting time, the King began: "You would have been briefed on why you have been brought here Dr Leif. I need to know everything I can about this... Sickness."

The Doctor, in a brisk and methodical fashion, explained most of what the King and all wolf-folk knew from an early age: If mates are separated before they can seal the bond, both will sicken and die.

"How long" the Doctor paused, blinking heavy-hooded eyes, "How long ago did your mate discover you?

"As far as we can tell, since I visited her hometown a year and three months ago."

The elderly man blinked in shock hearing this, "Impressive that she should have survived so long. Clever to take a job cleaning your rooms; it was probably what kept her alive."

King Hadrian's lips pursed; uncomfortable hearing of his mate's close brush with death. He asked a few more questions and received answers on how Withdrawal effected the immune system and what the healing influence of his pheromones had been.

"How long can we be separated before she gets ill?" The King did not think to ask for himself, the thought of them being separate long enough to effect him had yet to cross his mind.

Dr Leif blinked slowly again, thinking carefully how to phrase his knowledge, "Not a lot is truly known about the long-term effects of Mate Withdrawal... it's difficult to predict with so little data. In fact, with the Bane scandal we are actually able to understand –" The impatient growl of the King paused Dr Leif's nervous rambling.

"How long?" The King pressed.

"Maybe... erm... two or three weeks."

This was bad news, but it did give his trackers and himself some time to hunt her down. So far, all leads had led nowhere. The girl had vanished from the city completely, despite scrupulous checks at the borders and gates. If only it hadn't rained so thoroughly on the night of her escape. Hadrian scowled, no doubt the poor weather had not helped his mate's health any further.

"After that, how will the sickness develop?"

"No... you misunderstand me." Here the Doctor paused, scared to correct him, "She has two or three weeks until her body shuts down completely."

King Hadrian stared at the man. His lips giving nothing away. But, his eyes shifted amber and his pupils widened.

Henry, who had been stood outside the door shamelessly eavesdropping, ran in to sweep the Doctor out just as the King's hands shifted into ferocious claws and ran their way down his own desk. A horrific snarl reverberated around the room.

Outside in the hall, the two of them heard the sound of wood cracking and breaking. Ornaments clattering to the floor. Then silence. Horrible silence.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then, suddenly, their hands raised automatically over their ears to try to block out the forced mental communication. Every Wolfman, woman and child for twenty miles around stopped whatever they were doing, forced to hear the enraged roar of their leader crying out:

"Find her. Find Rose Tyler."