Missing

RORY

“What do you mean...missing?”

I grip my phone harder as my heart starts racing.

“I’m really worried, Rory,” Freya’s mom says.

The bell rings and students rush by, hurrying to their next class.

Teresa sobs into my ear.

“Freya has been acting a little strangely since prom. She mentioned meeting some new people,” Teresa says.

~Does she mean my pack?~

“I thought maybe they might have something to do with this. Do you know anything about that, Rory?”

“No, sorry.” A boy runs past me, late for class, nudging my shoulder as he goes. “You said Freya went out last night. Do you know if she was meeting anyone?”

Teresa takes a few breaths, trying to compose herself.

“Yes, she said she was meeting a school friend. Someone called Jax.”

~Jax?~

~Why would he call asking to hang out?~

~Unless...~

I start to think back over the last few months and dread creeps up my body, like cold water rising.

Jax has been acting weird for weeks now, ever since he was possessed by Nemesis.

But the mind control was supposed to have ended when she died.

“Rory, are you there?”

“Yes, sorry Teresa. I was just thinking. Jax should be at school today. Let me find him and see what he has to say.”

“Okay, darling. Be careful and let me know the second you know anything.”

The second I’ve hung up I start to run through the corridors of the school looking for Jax.

Checking each classroom, I finally spot him. He’s sitting in the back row with his head drooping toward his desk.

Without thinking, I enter the room.

“Excuse me, miss,” the teacher says. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I ignore him and march to Jax’s desk.

“You need to come with me...now!”

I grab Jax by the arm and pull. He slumps out of his chair but doesn’t resist.

“What’s your name?” the teacher calls after me. “You’re going to be in detention until graduation!”

Once we’re out in the hall, I toss Jax across the corridor. He won’t make eye contact and his lip keeps twitching.

“Where is Freya?” I demand.

“Who?” he asks.

“You know who Freya is. Stop being a jerk and answer the question.”

“I don’t know. I have to go to class.”

He tries to walk past me, back inside the classroom, but I push him back against the lockers with all of my strength.

“I know you were with her last night,” I say, right in his face. “What happened?”

He struggles and groans. “Have to…go to…class…”

“Jax, stop messing around and talk to me.”

He keeps saying he needs to go to class as if that’s the only thing he can think about.

~Why is he acting like a zombie? It’s almost like he’s being mind-controlled.~

Pressing my forearm into his chest, I lift his face with my free hand and look into his eyes.

Tiny veins squiggle from the edges of his eyelids toward the socket.

And some of them are black.

I gasp.

He ~is~ being mind-controlled. Somehow, a piece of the dark magic Nemesis used is still present.

I know what I need to do.

I place both my hands on the sides of his head and focus.

Golden light glows where I’m touching him and I can feel the negative energy inside him. It feels toxic, like poison. I need to get it out.

Focusing even harder, I try to pull the negative energy out, drawing it toward the surface and into myself.

It makes me want to be sick.

For a second I hate everything.

I want to see the world destroyed.

I want to see it all burn…

But as quickly as the negative thoughts come, they leave.

My healing power kicks in, erasing any trace of the dark power. I feel normal again.

Jax slides down the lockers, crumpling into a pile on the floor. I kneel in front of him.

“Jax, are you okay?”

He looks up and the brightness has come back to his eyes. But he’s exhausted, barely able to hold his chin up.

“I’m…sorry.” His body begins shaking with sobs. “I tried to fight it.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?”

“They made me do it. They made me take her.”

“Who? Freya?”

I stare at Jax as he collapses in on himself, crying into his knees.

I feel awful for him. But if he knows something about Freya, then I need to know too.

“Jax, do you know where Freya is?”

Finally, gulping down a deep breath, he looks up and nods.

“I took her to him.”

“Who?”

He starts to shake his head—he’s freaking out.

“Please, she might be in danger. You need to tell me everything you know.”

“I don’t know how, but he’s been controlling me. For weeks! It was like I was trapped in my head. I could see everything that I was doing, but I couldn’t stop it.”

I had been right. Some part of Nemesis’s mind control had stayed in Jax. For a second, I wonder if Eddie and Oliver are the same. But they’ve been acting completely normal.

Right now, Freya is my top priority.

“Can you tell me the name of the person who’s been controlling you?”

“Yeah,” Jax says, his eyes wide with fear. “It was a guy called Stefan.”

~Stefan? The new alpha of the Red Moon Pack!~

“Okay, tell me more about the place you took her. What did it look like?”

EVERETT

“Alpha Stefan?” I ask Rory. “That’s impossible.”

“That’s what Jax said,” Rory says, red in the face. “He even described where he took her, and it sounded like the Red Moon Pack.”

“But you can’t be certain.”

I listened to Stefan talk about his respect for humans. He vowed to do right by them so that we could live in harmony. Rory has to be mistaken.

“I lived there my whole life, Everett. I know what it looks like.”

I step back and lean against my desk, rubbing my eyes.

“We can’t just charge in there and accuse another alpha of such things.”

“Why not?”

“It would be a great insult,” I say, my volume rising higher than I mean it to. “Accusing an alpha of any crime is a big deal.”

She huffs. “So is committing one!”

“If we’re wrong, the insult to Stefan’s honor will be immense.” I reach out to take Rory in my arms, but she pulls away.

“Freya is in danger,” she says. “My best friend.”

This morning, I was upset because I haven’t done more to accommodate Rory’s connection to her human life.

Now here I am telling her we can’t even investigate her friend’s potential kidnapper.

I’m supposed to protect her and that means her emotional well-being as well.

It might be a risk interrogating Alpha Stefan. But the risk if I don’t is far greater. I could lose my mate.

“Fine,” I say, sighing. “I will visit the Red Moon Pack and I will ask them if they know anything.”

“I’m coming with you,” Rory says.

“If what you’re saying is true then Stefan is not the ally to humans he says he is. It will be dangerous—”

“The world is dangerous, Everett! Especially for someone as clumsy as me. But if I’m going to be the leader of this pack I need to be able to protect my people.”

Rory takes one of my hands in both of hers.

“Freya is my people too,” she says. “You can’t protect me from everything.”

I look away. The thought of putting her at risk is still too painful.

“Please, Everett. Don’t fight me on this.” I turn my gaze back to her.

She isn’t asking if she can come. She’s telling me. And I need to be strong enough to accept that I can’t fight all of her battles.

And strong enough to face the pain of seeing her in danger.

“Fine. Ace and Lucius will accompany us. Let me find them and meet us out front.”

***

The four of us drive into the Red Moon Pack territory. Me and Rory in one truck while Ace and Lucius bring up the rear.

I notice Rory looking wistfully out the window as we cruise through the streets she used to call home.

I hadn’t realized until this moment what it must feel like for her to come back to this place.

My heart aches but I’ve made the right choice bringing her along.

An attendant is waiting outside the pack house to escort us into the main foyer.

Unlike my pack, everything here is a little smaller and a little more quaint. Instead of stone towers, their buildings look like oversized hunting lodges.

“Alpha Everett,” Stefan says, entering from a staircase in front of us. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“The pleasure is mine,” I respond, figuring it’s best to start as politely as possible.

Rory bristles beside me.

“What can we do for you?” Stefan asks.

~Here goes.~

I clear my throat. “We have reason to believe one of the girls from Rory’s school might be here in your pack. Would you happen to know anything about this?”

Stefan squints in my direction as if he’s studying me. Then he smiles.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” he says, feigning disappointment. “Oh well.”

He claps his hands together twice in quick succession, then calls out. “Freya! Could you come in here, please?”

Rory’s mouth drops as the side door opens once more and her friend walks through.

Freya is transformed.

Her face is pale and her eyes are completely black. Her head and shoulders are drooping like they weigh a ton.

“Freya!” Rory gasps.

I growl at Stefan.

“What the hell is going on here?!”