Gone

RORY

I continue tapping my feet nervously on the pavement in front of the auditorium as we wait for Chatsworth to show up.

My phone feels heavy as a brick in my pocket. I feel like I should call or text Mama to fess up and tell her where I am. But if she hasn’t called me yet, then maybe she hasn’t noticed that I’m gone.

“Why are you doing that?” Freya asks me, pointing at my restless legs. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I wish they would get here already,” I say, agitation in my voice. “~They~ should be disqualified for this.”

“Just try to chill,” Freya says. “Take a deep breath, okay?”

I do as she tells me, breathing in and out to try to calm my racing heart.

“I’m freaking out, too,” Freya says, placing a reassuring hand on my back. “I wish Jax was here. He’s always so confident under pressure.

“That’s probably why he gets so many girls. And why he got that big, fancy internship too.”

“What kind of internship is it, anyway?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” Freya says with a shrug. “He’s being totally secretive about everything these days. Not unlike someone I know.”

She gives me an accusatory, sideways glance.

“What?” I say. “I tell you things!”

“Best friends aren’t supposed to tell each other ~things~,” she says. “They’re supposed to tell each other ~everything~. That’s kinda the whole point.”

“My life’s not that interesting,” I say.

“Let me be the judge of that,” she says.

I’m desperate to tell her the truth, ditch this tournament, and hurry back to the pack before it’s too late.

But suddenly, a school bus pulls up to the curb and a throng of kids in light-blue blazers walk out, approaching the auditorium.

~It’s Chatsworth.~

~They’re here.~

~Finally.~

And just like that—suddenly, we’re off to the races.

Both teams file into the auditorium, which is already packed full of eager parents and a panel of judges.

We approach the judges’ bench, where we receive our prompts and surrender our phones into a designated box.

Any use of cellphones during the debate is perceived as cheating.

I check the clock. I should still be able to make it back with enough time to get ready for the mating ceremony, as long as there aren’t any more hiccups.

Reluctantly, I shut my phone off and slip it into the box, before being ushered into a separate room to prepare.

Taking a seat at a desk, I open up my prompt and read it:

^~Are zoos ethical?~^

^~Arguing on the side: AGAINST.~^

~Yes!~

~This prompt is perfect for me.~

As someone who was raised by werewolves, I am vehemently against animals of any kind being kept in captivity.

In fact, part of the reason that it’s so important for werewolves to keep their true nature a secret is out of fear that humans would force them into captivity for their own viewing pleasure.

I get to work on my case as swiftly as I can, confident that I’ll be able to knock this one out of the park.

Despite all the trouble that this debate tournament has caused me so far, I suddenly feel very glad that I came.

EVERETT

~“Where the hell is she?”~ Chaos demands as I tear through the packhouse, looking desperately for my mate.

I don’t see her anywhere, so I mindlink with Lucius and Ace.

“Have you guys seen Aurora?” I ask them.

“Has our future luna gotten cold feet?” Lucius retorts.

“Don’t piss me off,” I shoot back. “Just let me know if you find her.”

“Got it, Alpha,” Ace says. “We’re on the hunt.”

I keep walking as Chaos hurls accusations at me.

~“You should have never let her spend a night away from you. This is your fault.”~

~“Shut up!”~ I say to my wolf. ~“Just shut up for one fucking second.”~

My walk breaks into a run, but I’m stopped in my tracks when I round a corner and crash into someone on the other side.

~Amber.~

I accidentally knocked her onto the ground when we collided, so I help her up.

“Sorry about that,” I say gruffly.

“I’m sorry, too,” she says.

She looks up at me with searching eyes. “Is everything alright, Alpha?” she asks.

~“Nothing is alright!”~ Chaos screams inside my mind. But I force a smile on my face.

“Everything’s fine,” I say.

“Are you sure? Trouble in paradise?” she asks.

Her tone sounds concerned, but I can tell by her expression that she’s enjoying my discomfort.

“Of course not,” I say. “I will see you at the ceremony.”

I start back down the hall again, but after a moment, I turn back toward her.

“Amber, wait,” I say, approaching her.

She rests a slender hand on my chest. “What is it, Alpha?”

Instinct kicks in and I grab hold of her arm by the wrist and pry it off of me. But I don’t let go, instead squeezing it tightly between my fingers.

“I know that you think that you’re entitled to say anything you want, because you’ve been at this pack longer than Aurora has,” I say to her. “But I don’t want to hear a peep out of you about my luna…tonight or ever again. Understood?”

She looks down at the ground, and I can see that her body is trembling.

“Understood, Alpha,” she says. “I’m sorry if I—”

I drop her wrist suddenly and it falls to her side.

“You’re not fucking sorry,” I say. And then I storm past her down the hall, a fire blazing inside me.

I reach the door to my bedroom and throw it open. I was hoping maybe Aurora would have returned here by now to start getting ready, but it’s still empty.

I open my bedside table and fumble around for my cell phone.

With the power to mindlink, I hardly use this thing. But I need it now.

I dial Aurora’s number and wait as it rings once…and then goes straight to voicemail.

~Shit.~

~Why would she turn her phone off?~

~Where the fuck could she be?~

I look around the room for any evidence of where she could have gone. And then I spot her backpack lying open in the corner.

~“Look inside it,”~ Chaos growls.

~“It’s invasive,”~ I say to him.

~“It’s for her own protection,”~ he responds.

He’s right.

I start to rifle through her possessions and find nothing but some textbooks and notebooks filled with her small, scrawling handwriting.

But then, a slip of paper falls out of one of the notebooks. I pick it up off of the ground and read it.

It’s a flyer for a debate tournament.

The date:

~Today.~

~Oh Goddess, Aurora…~

~What the fuck have you done?~

RORY

The tournament is nearly over and ~my~ debate is going to be the tie breaker.

If I can out-argue Clarence McNeal of the Chatsworth team, then we win. And all I have left to do is deliver my closing argument before I can finally get the hell out of here.

But a coin flip decides that Clarence will go first.

~Lady Luck is not on my side today.~

As he gets up onto the stage to give his last words, I wave Mr. Malone over to my seat.

“Hey,” I whisper to him. “Can I see my phone? Just for a sec—”

“Sorry, Rory,” he says. “It would disqualify us. Keep your head in the game. This will all be over soon enough.”

Mr. Malone doesn’t realize that ~soon enough~ just isn’t soon enough.

I’m certain that Mama has noticed I’m missing by now. I just hope that she hasn’t told Everett.

~Goddess knows, he’d freak out.~

I try to pay attention to Clarence as he summarizes the ethical advantages of zoos. Something about research, education, and species preservation.

He’s a strong, confident speaker with shockingly good posture, and for a moment, he makes me doubt my own arguments.

When his time is up, the audience gives him a round of applause, signaling that it’s my turn.

I walk onto the stage, holding tight to the banister to prevent myself from tripping.

And then I reach the microphone, my final statement in hand. I clear my throat and begin to read.

“I would like to thank the judges for listening to our points thus far,” I begin. “While I respect Clarence’s points, I think he is arguing from a very human-centric lens.

“There is so much that we do not understand about the creatures of this world. It is arrogant to believe that we know how to care for them when they have every instinct they need to survive encoded in their DNA.”

I keep my gaze steady, looking at the audience, trying not to reveal all the stress that I am feeling as I continue my closing statement.

“We are causing these animals to suffer in boredom and stress for the sake of our own enjoyment. And we are teaching the children of the world that humans are somehow better than these ancient, majestic beings.”

Mr. Malone always says that we should try to end on a personal anecdote, so here I go…

“I was orphaned as a child and was raised in an environment that I didn’t belong in, strictly regulated by people who didn’t understand me,” I say. “I suffer the consequences of that kind of upbringing to this day.

“I wouldn’t wish that kind of treatment on any one of you,” I say. “And I wouldn’t wish it on any species that shares this world with us.”

There’s another round of applause as I finish my speech, but I don’t have time to enjoy it. I run off of the stage as fast as I can and dash toward the door while the judges deliberate.

I wish I could wait and hear the results, but there’s no time. The door slams shut behind me before the winner is announced.

My feet fly all the way to the bus stop, and thankfully, I arrive at the exact same time as the bus that I need to take.

I hop on, the doors sliding shut behind me as I sink down into the nearest seat.

I need to call Mama and tell her that I’m on my way.

If she can just stall for a little while longer, then Everett never has to know what I’ve done.

But when I reach my hand into my pocket to pull out my cell phone, my heart drops into my stomach.

It’s not there.

I left it in the judges’ box in the auditorium.

***

I run frantically through streets from the bus stop to the pack grounds. I don’t even bother going to the packhouse. I’m certain that everyone will be gathered in the secret garden by now.

But I don’t even care that they’ve been kept waiting. The only thing that matters at this moment is finding Everett.

I finally reach the edge of the woods that leads to the clearing where the ceremony will be held.

That’s where I find Mama, pacing frantically, looking like a nervous wreck.

“Mama,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “I’m here. I’m here.”

She rushes over to me and pulls me into a deep hug. “Thank Goddess,” she says. “I was worried sick about you.”

“Where’s Everett?” I ask her. “I need to talk to him.”

Her gaze falls to the floor.

“What is it, Mama?” I say.

She looks back up at me, darkness in her eyes.

“I don’t know where Everett is,” she says. “He’s gone.”