Ch. 35: The Boys Investigate

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:
I dreamt about a wolf, a big gray wolf, who was running at top speed through a forest. It was weaving skillfully around trees and rocks, and over a stream. It reached another stream and dipped its head to take a drink. When it looked up I saw its eyes, they were black with moving swirls of gold in them. It probably should have looked frightening but for some reason its eyes just drew me in further. I felt at ease and wanted to reach out and run my fingers through its fur. It turned and looked right at me and we stared at each other for a moment before we heard a howl far away and it took off running once more.
It was the first break in endless nightmares I’d had in a few nights, and the full amount of sleep I got this time made me feel better about my decision to go back to school today. Moving around on crutches took practice and I was still terrible at it. Taking a shower was a whole ordeal too, so I had needed to wake up even earlier than normal to give myself time to get ready.
My mom dropped me off after asking me, for the fifth time this morning, if I was sure I wanted to go back today. I made my way across to the park and joined the group waiting at the bus stop. Everyone looked at me and a few people wished me well. I knew they had all seen my embarrassing fall on Monday, and no one had to ask me what had happened. Sophie got dropped off and I couldn’t wait to hear what kind of crap she would try to come at me with this morning. I just hoped Jake would show up today. Time ticked on and I saw the bus coming around. Nothing. The crowd started to form a loose line and I stayed behind to not get rushed. Stairs were a pain.
I noticed Sophie standing off to the side too, and I was already irritated with it. The crowd moved forward and she didn’t say anything. Maybe she would let this one go. She was ahead of me, and we were the last two getting on, she stepped on the first stair and turned around. Great.
“Now, try not to fall flat on your a** again Rach,” she smiled, sweetly, then turned back on. Wow.
I used my crutches carefully to get onto the bus, and noticed the front right hand seat behind the bus driver was left open for me. That was nice at least.
I saw June and Angela in the seat behind me and I turned around to ask them, “Hey, have you guys seen Jake, Evan or Nick all week?”
They shook their heads.
“Do you know if they’ve been at school?” I asked again.
Angela held up a finger and turned to her side to where Melanie and her boyfriend were seated. It looked like she was asking my question to Melanie’s boyfriend who went to P.H. and he was shaking his head ‘no.’
Angela turned to me and shrugged.
“Maybe,” June suggested, “their families took a trip or something. Aren’t they all really close?”
“Yeah, that’s probably it.” I said back.
But it probably wasn’t.
I had never heard back from Evan after I told him it was me texting. Why the hell were they all ghosting me? And where in the world were they?

Jake ~
They were right. It had helped. But I couldn’t admit that to Nick, not yet anyway. Last night I finally was able to sleep without tossing and turning. I still felt off, but boxing had helped. Maybe I had just needed to take my sh*t out on someone, a person. Something I couldn’t quite get on my own. Whatever it was, it had helped me simmer down some and after only some fighting with myself I had been able to sleep. I woke up with an image of Rachel imprinted in my mind and I felt calm. For once, missing her didn’t feel so depressing. I had woken up at ease. Well more at ease. I would say I was about 80% myself. Something still tugged in me, made me still certain there was something going on, but it wasn’t so insurmountable.
“Well, would you look at that?” Evan noted, coming up to the table I sat at in the dining hall. “You are actually not looking like death anymore?”
I continued eating my breakfast, not going to respond.
“Oh come on, you can admit it. We were right,” he said.
“I didn’t realize you and Nick were the same person,” I replied.
“Yeah,” Nick said coming across the room, clapping his hand on Evan’s back. “Wonderful to have your support man, but not everyone is as insightful as the future Gamma of West Woods.” He finished, flexing.
“Oh dear Goddess, this place is in trouble if you two are going to lead it,” I retorted, chuckling.
Nick put his hand on his chest in mock offense, “Well I never… You know,” he paused, “I can always take my talents elsewhere, Alpha.”
The weight of that looming title would never suit me, or maybe I would never suit it.
“Yeah, yeah,” I grunted. “Look Nick, I’m going to say this once. Whatever you did helped. And that’s it. Now let’s move on, okay?”
Nick sat there grinning in pride.
“So are we finally ready to discuss this Rachel stuff?” Evan asked.
I snapped my head to Evan. I didn’t like it when he said her name.
Nick seemed to notice my body’s reaction but he didn’t say a word, for once.
I cleared my throat, “Yeah did you guys find anything? I haven’t really been able to focus these last few days.”
“Well I’ve been doing a ridiculous amount of reading in these ancient looking books, that smell terrible and are covered in dust… and nothing. I can’t seem to find anything in them about werewolves mating with humans. But…” he trailed off.
I gripped my plate, nearly cracking it in half, “Nick.” I said, an order.
“I did research on other things too. Related stuff. I did find a couple tales of a werewolf mating with a witch or with a vampire. They were pretty vague but it did mention that both sides felt the bond. I don’t know if a human could. I also looked into werewolves sensing their mates before their first shift and only found some references to an alpha decades ago who was enamored with his mate for years before their first shifts. He talked about feeling bits of electricity upon skin contact, and there was something about connecting emotionally through dreams. But that was pretty much it.” He finished.
“Pretty much?” I asked, feeling like there was something else he was leaving out.
“Well, yeah. That werewolf - his wolf - when he finally did turn, was actually part hellhound. A mutt, mix between a wolf and an actual hellhound. Dude was crazy strong, even before his first shift,” Nick further explained. He looked at me, pointedly.
We all took a moment to take in what he had said. I knew I was strong, stronger than other wolves my age, but how strong was demi-demon strong? Living where we did I didn’t encounter many other future Alphas and when I did we weren’t exactly battling it out or arm wrestling. It was all business and dinners.
“Well, I found out something too - well, maybe something,” Evan interrupted my thoughts.
I arched my brow in question.
“I found my grandma’s diary in our attic and did a little perusing. I found some mention of a witch who used to be part of our pack. She had left when my grandma was a girl, but she had been here for like a century before leaving us,” Evan went on. “My grandma wrote something about why she had left - I think she had a werewolf mate back when.”
We opened our eyes at this news.
“Now that definitely sounds like something,” I said, my mind spinning.
“I’ll look through our old records, see what I can find,” Nick said before pushing away from the table. He was definitely a man of action.
“Jake,” Evan looked gravely at me, “I just want to say - I don’t know exactly what Xavier’s deal with Rachel is, but I want to make sure you know, again, I don’t have, like, feelings for her. Not like that. You know I’m telling you the truth right?”
He seemed a little vulnerable. It was a weird look for him, I’d almost never seen him like this.
“Yeah, man,” I answered, patting his shoulder. “I know.”