Chapter 17
*Samantha's POV*
I sat at my window every free chance I had. I waited for her. I couldn't ask Henry what happened. He would be furious that I even acknowledged them in the first place. 'Ryan' and 'Jupiter' were the only two guards I saw for weeks.
I named the guy Jupiter because of his hair. He had dyed it a deep purple and wore it slicked back into a clean bun. While he was less physically intimidating than Ryan, something about him was even more terrifying. I knew all the guards were armed but Jupiter carried his main gun then a strap around his thigh with a pistol. Once I had seen him pull a knife out of his boot to peel an apple that Ryan had brought him at shift change.
He sliced a piece off and offered it to Ryan, but Ryan crinkled his nose and shook his head. Jupiter just shrugged and walked back towards their house.
At 26 weeks the new guard arrived. She was different than Lucy and Ryan, but she gave off the same dark energy as Jupiter. I decided her name was Mars. Her hair was a deep red in contrast to Jupiter's purple. She wore cargo pants with weighed down pockets and form fitted crop tops that stopped at her ribcage. She was the only one that would look at me. Every time she circled the house her eyes would meet mine staring at her from my window bench.
I had made eye contact with Ryan and Lucy before, but nothing gave away their emotions. They would joke with each other and be normal people. It was almost like I didn't exist. But Mars knew I existed, and she hated me for it.
I found myself avoiding windows when it was her shift. Henry hardly came into the house anymore except to shower and sleep. Sometimes he would expect meals, but my stomach was growing large enough that with swollen ankles I was almost bed ridden. He didn't seem to mind one way or the other. As long as he had clean clothes in his drawer and the beer cans didn't overrun the room, he seemed relatively content.
Part of me was relieved. At first, I thought that I missed him. I was isolated with only the dirty looks from Mars to keep me company. But the more I sat alone, the more I thought about Lucy's warning. I wondered why she would say that. I wondered what she knew that I didn't.
By 30 weeks I didn't feel protected anymore. I felt like the prisoner.
*Josh's POV*
"Hey dude, coming to practice today?" I shook my head and pushed Wyatt's hand off my shoulder. I replaced the empty spot with my bag and began walking towards the door.
"Maybe I'll catch the next one."
"This is the last one Josh. Coach says you miss this one and you're done. Off the team." I shrugged just wanting the conversation to be over with.
"Guess I'm done then." I fished for my keys out of the side pocket of my bag when Wyatt grabbed my arm. Most humans wouldn't be strong enough to even budge a shifter or have the nerve to do it but growing up working out right beside each other had given Wyatt an edge. His face was only a few inches away. I could smell the cigarette he must have snuck during free period, and I fought the urge to gag.
"You've got to move on. You had a thing for her. I get it. She seemed pretty cool. But shit happens. She's gone and you're throwing a free ride out of this place down the toilet."
I didn't mean for it to happen, but a growl tore out from my chest. My teeth bared and I could feel my fingertips turning to claws. Wyatt released my shaking arm and took a few steps back, but I moved forward with my own. Now my whole-body shook, and my teeth were turning into canines. Before I knew what happened my arm was yanked backwards out the side door and Noah stood between me and the cowering kid on the other side.
"You need to calm down. That kid doesn't get it."
"He said I should give up on her." Noah's eyes softened and he stepped closer. His hands landed on my shoulders and even though he was barely pressing down my knees gave out. "He said 'shit happens.' My best friend is gone and 'shit happens." I shoved my hands into my eye sockets. You're not going to cry at school. Not here. Not in front of these people.
Kids were starting to file out of the building and to their cars. I could see them trying to sneak glances without fully looking. Even members of my own pack didn't know whether to stop and help. Here I was with the beta from the other pack. I practically lived at their compound lately. Was I a traitor too?
Noah sat on the sidewalk beside me and plopped his backpack onto the sidewalk in front of us. He didn't say anything. Just sat. After a few minutes most of the students had filed out of the door and we were only occasionally passed by a few stragglers.
"You know we look like idiots?" Noah shrugged and made no move to get up. He pulled his phone out and typed something then put it away. Probably letting Zoey know not to wait for him.
"Tell me about her."
I glanced over in shock. "The last thing I want to do is talk about her. Everyone thinks we were some sort of item. Your pack thinks I am pining over your alpha's mate and trying to invade your inner circle while my pack thinks your alpha stole my should be mate and I'm a traitor for being at your compound."
"Yet here we are. You love her. She's not your mate, but you have a bond that I don't know if anyone else would understand. So, tell me about her. Remember her as real and close. She will be back. I can't tell you how we know, but we do. Until then tell me about the unique life of my future Luna."
I sighed and picked at dried dirt on the sole of my shoe.
"When we were fifteen, we got roped into a triple date. I know what you're thinking, but this was back when we really thought there was a chance, we were mates and just didn't know what it felt like. Even tried kissing a few times just to see." I chuckled to myself at the awkwardness of the memory, but then kept going. "It was Harmony and Cane then Theodore and Karly. I don't think you've met them. They graduated last year. We were really just chaperones for the two hot and heavy, but there we were being forced to sit through a romantic comedy that both of us hated. About midway through the movie, she decided she was done, and we were going to spend an entire month's worth of allowance in the arcade.
'She won two stuffed animals and free popcorn for a week. I won nothing. We came back to the theater every day for the next week to get a bag of popcorn after school. No movie. Just a bag of buttery popcorn."
"Tell me another."
I scratched my head and stretched out my legs. "I was there the first time she shifted. You see sometimes shifters born with her power can't shift at all. We had all started shifting months before and she was so furious. Tried everything. She would stand in a field and get herself so worked up that it was almost like she was surrounded by a hurricane. Completely ruined Trinity's Garden a few times.
'You see she thought shifting was about not having a choice. She thought it was some extreme emotion or feeling that compelled her body to turn into a wolf. So, one day I showed up in wolf form. I walked through that damn hurricane and pressed my nose against her knee. She sat on the ground and stared at me until all the wind stopped. She took a few deep breaths and shifted. Then and there. She's the most beautiful wolf you'll ever see."
Noah furrowed his eyebrows. "You're sure you aren't mates?"
I looked up at the sky trying to find a cloud or bird or something to focus on. "We really thought we were. Who else has stories like that? But it never happened. I think if you guys had never come, we would have been okay. We would have eventually been content living together. It wouldn't have been everything we wanted or what everyone else around us had, but I think we had started to resign to the fact that we were going to be it for each other."
Noah shifted uncomfortably and tried not to look at me. "Hey, it's not like that. We wanted mates for each other. More than anything. I am happy for her not pining away. You just asked me about her. About the bond we do have. She is gone. I feel like I failed her."
He didn't say anything. Just stared ahead. I hoped he didn't get the wrong idea, but he asked. It wasn't anything anyone else didn't already know.
I pushed up off the ground and reached a handout to help Noah up as well.
"Um. thanks. I'm sorry I overreacted."
"No biggie. If you need someone, just let me know." He clapped a hard hand on my shoulder then turned around with a wave to walk to his car.
I pulled my keys out and unlocked my car from a few spaces up. There were only a few cars left in the lot. Noah parked in the other side of the building and was already out of sight. I walked a few spaces down and pulled the back door open to throw my bag in.
"Well, well...seems like you're taking your little pet's disappearance harder than most."