Blue could hardly believe his ears when Sig said he thought it best to heed Alaric's warning and simply stay put in the cabin. He stared at the small wolf, confused and hurt. Sig may have known Eivind for less time than anyone in that cabin, but he had seen him and Blue together more than anyone else. He<i>knew</i>Eivind didn't like to be separated from Blue. Eivind had told him it had been Sig to keep the larger wolf from beating in the face of one of the emergency room attendants when they had dared to say he wasn't allowed to see his pretty mate after his minor operation to drain the fluid from his lung cavity. Sig understood how protective Eivind was, how anxious and crazed he became when he wasn't allowed to touch Blue.<i>It doesn't make any sense why he would be gone this long</i>, Blue thought, staring hard into Sig's darting eyes.<br/><br/>By the time Alaric had decided Blue was going to stay put and take his leave, the young human had stomped off to the kitchen, moping at the simple wooden table and pondering how he was going to sneak out of the house that night once Sig had fallen asleep. If none of the wolves wanted to help him, fine. He'd do it himself. Blue wasn't a hunter, he certainly wasn't a tracker, but he'd wander the woods forever screaming his mate's name at the top of his lungs if he had to. No one was going to convince him his lover wasn't in need of serious help, and he'd never forgive himself if his inaction led to his mate's untimely demise.<br/><br/>The moment the front door closed with a slam, Sig rushed into the kitchen, pulling things from the cupboards. "Wha--" Blue began, but the little wolf was apologizing to him, explaining the reasoning why he had pretended to agree with Alaric. Blue wiped at the tears of frustration that had built up at the edges of his eyelids and nodded. No time to waste. They needed to get supplies and head out fast, while the rest of the pack wasn't paying attention to Blue's movements. He grabbed a bag, the same one he had used when he had Eivind had abandoned the cabin before, and filled it with some light foods he had purchased from the store. He got a large water bottle and filled it--not only would he and Sig need some for their hike to find Eivind, chances were high that the wolf would thirsty if he were really lying about somewhere hurt and incapacitated.<br/><br/>He shoved some bread and leftover meat into his mouth while he helped Sig gather supplies. Sig grabbed the hunting rifle and shrugged his shoulders. "Eivind prefers to hunt using his teeth. But he seemed really familiar with it when he was talking to Daniel. It couldn't hurt to bring it along."<br/><br/>They slipped out from the back of the cabin, Blue carrying the bag and rifle while Sig shifted. Unsurprisingly, he was small, only looking to be slightly bigger than a normal wolf, though he still maintained those imposing werewolf proportions that left one feeling slightly uneasy looking at him. Blue pointed in the direction Eivind had taken him before, explaining how his mate had directed him that way because of the large amount of game and places to hide from the pack. "He likes going this way. There are a lot of deer and elk for him run down."<br/><br/>The two males set off, but tracking with Sig was very different from tracking with Eivind, and Blue began to worry about the strain the small wolf seemed to be having. He was darting in multiple directions, seemingly smelling Eivind everywhere and having a hard time separating the new smells from the old. After many long, exhausting hours of briskly moving through the trees, Blue covered in sweat, he called to his friend, waving the wolf back to him and reaching out to stroke the beige beast's neck.<br/><br/>"Sig, you keep moving toward the mountains and doubling back. I can tell," he said gently, kneeling. It didn't make any sense for Eivind to be up there, but<i>something</i>had to be attracting Sig to that area, and Blue trusted the wolf's senses more than he did any logical reasoning. "If you think he's up there, we have to go look. Even if it doesn't add up. Do you smell anything else around here? Something that may explain why he may have gone that way? Maybe he was tracking something that tried to escape?"