When Harold and Virginia had first came out the back doors of the high school, they'd found that the group that had been leading Melissa along had already vanished from sight and into the woods behind the school, where Harold's rounded tiger ears could hear every cry of pleasure from those that were already out there. It left him looking around for any sign of movement in the bushes or among the trees and for any sign of his daughter. At the moment, he didn't see anything. About the only thing he did notice was the outline of the High School building in which the gym actually came off of the main part of the building, which if seen from above would make the Moon Lake High School building look like the letter P. To fill out the "rectangle" that marked the high school's place on Moon Lake's map was a full football field and track, which was fenced off from the woods. If the situation wasn't such that his daughter was possibly drugged by Alice Decrux's Love Potion Number Nine, he might have been willing to ask Virginia on what Moon Lake did regarding sports activities and so on, but there was no time for that at present.
"I don't see her," Harold said with worry and fear evident in his voice. He'd tried hard to prevent what had happened from happening, and now, for whatever reason, he'd apparently failed. He might tolerate Melissa consciously going out with Trevor, as he'd come to trust him in a way, but Trevor wasn't the one he'd seen leading Melissa out here. "And... I can't quite pick out her individual scent..."
"There is a lot of this sort of thing with many of the school's social functions," Virginia spoke, "weres that are romantically involved or simply good friends may come out here... And many adult weres are no different."
That partially made Harold feel a bit guilty personally. True, Virginia had explained that weres had a higher libido than normal humans, but she'd also stated that it wasn't such that they didn't have control over themselves. They might be more easily aroused, but they could still focus on other things. Yet, after his own transformation, about the only thing he'd REALLY been able to focus on, was mating with Virginia. It had been the thing he'd really looked forward to, and even with getting some work done, his focus and desire had been on Virginia. On some level, that wasn't a bad thing, as emotionally he was also finding that he did love Virginia, practically as much as he loved his deceased Eliza, but there was more to love than having sex and at the moment it seemed like that was all he'd been interested in.
"We've got to rescue her," Harold managed after a moment with some determination, "we can't let ANYTHING happen to her... if she's harmed... or raped... I..."
"We'll find her," Virginia said in an assuring manner, "just remember... that those leading her might have been drugged as well and that you will need to control your temper. Even if that group has done something... not right... mauling them is NOT justice, and will get you in trouble."
Harold nodded, remembering the instruction controlling the protective instincts he had as a weretiger. That drive to protect Melissa was strong, and in his mind, there weren't too many things that his instincts wouldn't accept as the proper means to protect his only daughter. It was something that both Dean Myers and Virginia had given him warnings on that weretigers could take "protection" to the point where they really weren't protecting but restricting the freedom of what they claimed to protect, and thus had the potential to drive a weretiger rogue. And in his present panicked state, Harold wasn't sure as to how well he could hold back.
"Now, we'll split up to find her," Virginia spoke, "I'll head to the southern edge of this part of the woods and you head to the north. In the process, we'll be sure to eventually come across Melissa's scent. When one of us finds her, we can let the other know with a roar of "I have her," got it?"
Harold nodded and the two then split up...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The search had ultimately proved a failure for Harold as his ears were assaulted by the cries of passion as he made his way through the woods, and while none of those cries sounded remotely close to Melissa's voice, the fact that he was losing time and that could well mean that his daughter was well on her way to becoming a were against her will because she'd been drugged. It frustrated him and put him on edge, particularly as he made his way through the trees looking for at least some sign of his daughter's scent. By dumb luck, he'd never come across that trail and that only further irritated him.
The only good news was when werewolf managed to track him down. He didn't know the werewolf, as they'd never formally met, and it did lead to his first assumption being that he was part of the group that he'd seen leading Melissa out behind the school, and he just barely managed to hold himself back from attacking him... though he admitted to himself that he probably did come off as threatening. However, this young werewolf, Roy Hooper, did manage to explain that he was a friend and that Melissa had already been rescued and rescued by Trevor. That put a lot of his worries to ease, as it meant that Melissa was safe, which was what he had set out to assure when he came out behind the school.
"Now... we need to get in contact with Virginia," Harold commented to Roy as they began to make their way back toward the school. By now some of the sounds of "romantic" activity had dwindled, likely due to Harold ultimately wandering through the woods shouting Melissa's name, as if that would bring her to him. He'd thought heard something that sounded like a fight earlier in his search, but since he didn't hear Melissa's voice in the same area, he wasn't drawn to it.
"She's probably still on chaperone duty in the gym," Roy commented and moved to head inside, and expecting Harold to follow him.
"No, she came out with me," Harold answered, "and went in a different direction from where I went... as we couldn't pick out Melissa's individual scent..."
"Yeah... some things can be mixed," Roy commented, "and cats generally aren't renowned for their tracking skills... though a lot of those misconceptions people have with whether or not cats, be they big or small, can track things or identify things by scent has more to do with the fact that man has yet to find a way to actually use cats for hunting the same way hunting dogs have been used... Though, I'll also tell you that at the moment the volume of scents would make tracking any one scent difficult. I only found you because I could hear you shouting Melissa's name and figured that that would have to be a worried parent."
Harold nodded, "Still... Virginia did come out to help search for Melissa. She's probably out there as well in looking for Melissa."
Roy didn't answer as Harold then turned to give out the contact call that Harold and Virginia had agreed to. It had enough volume that Roy backed off a bit and swiveled his hears back, though he figured that others probably heard plenty when his pack used howls to help coordinate hunting parties or were having a good time after a pack meeting. And since the roar given was a short one, it wasn't though Roy was exposed to it extensively. From there, the two of them simply stood by and waited for the sound of dried leaves and ground being rustled before a female weretiger, also wearing a makeshift toga emerged from the woods. Virginia took one look at Roy and then looked back to Harold.
"That's not Melissa," Virginia gave a small quip.
"Yes... but Megumi, Trevor, Jason, and I came looking for her too," Roy spoke up, "Trevor pretty much told off one of the werecows that had interest in him, practically screamed he loved Melissa and came running. We sorta followed..."
"And he and his friends did find and rescue Melissa," Harold said slowly, getting the sense that Roy was rambling in his answer to the High School's history teacher, "Trevor's taking her home... so... I gave our agreed contact call to let you know that the worst of things has been resolved."
"Well, that's good," Virginia gave sigh and moved to stand near Harold, seeing that he was a bit more relaxed. As she reached Harold's side, she looked over to Roy who stood by, "Thank you, young Mr. Hooper."
"It's no problem, Ms. McCoy," Roy answered, "Melissa is a friend to us too. We didn't want to see her harmed... Trevor ESPECIALLY didn't want to see her harmed."
That Virginia had already figured. From what she'd been able to see of how happy Trevor looked when he was with Melissa and how willing Trevor was to protect Melissa. Trevor had been a good and hardworking student, but outside of some rather platonic friendships, she'd never noticed any interaction between him and his classmates that she'd seen between him and Melissa. It was not any special ability but merely her own skills at observation to see how Trevor acted. Normally it was something to help her see what students picked up on in class, but it could be applied to just about anything.
"Well... again, it was good you were all paying attention," Virginia said to Roy and then looked back to Harold, "what will you want to do now? I may have to stay at the school in an official capacity as a chaperone... but if you want to go to your home and look after Melissa, I won't stop you."
"I'll go... but only AFTER we determine as to who spiked the punch," Harold gave a low growl and potential threat evident in his voice if it turned out to be Alice Decrux.
"Trevor said something about thinking Decrux doing it," Roy spoke before Virginia could warn Harold to let the law handle it, "And Megumi commented that the security cameras might have an image of what happened... though it could take a bit of time if the campus security officer isn't here..."
"I can wait," Harold answered.
"Okay then... I'd guess that Megumi is on her way to where the school's security office is," Virginia gave a sigh, "If you'll come with me."
With that, Virginia lead Harold and Roy back into the school.