Ch. 86: Broken Down

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
Ally~
“Yeah, I guess I do,” Rachel responded.
We waited a moment but she didn’t explain, so I pushed, “Who, Rachel?”
She seemed to weigh her options before I reached across to grab her hand again.
“It’s me. It’s us,” I said, gesturing between Kyle and I. “You can tell us. I know we kept this secret from you. That I had kept this secret from you. But we love you and want to help.”
Rachel nodded and then said, “Sean. He told me he’s a warlock. Like the last day of school before the break. He showed me some of his powers. And then he said- he said that I was his soulmate?”
I exhaled and Kyle swore under his breath.
“Well, I guess that explains the weird vibes I’d been picking up from him… But I don’t know if I believe all of that…” I said, thinking aloud.
“I don’t,” Kyle said defunctly.
We looked up at him.
“Come on, like you don’t get some undercover Malfoy vibes from him?” he asked me, eyes bulging with meaning.
“I mean, yes, there’s something odd about his aura… But I don’t know anything for sure. We shouldn’t just jump to conclusions, Ky,” I swear the reprimand in my voice was my mother’s.
“There is something we should tell you though,” I began. She needed to know. “I don’t know who is responsible, or for what purpose they did this… But someone has messed with your memories.”
“Yeah, Rach. Ally told me you’d had this years-long crush on this guy from your middle school, and no you’ve forgotten all about him. I’m with Ally’s mom. I think it’s Sean. And I mean, he’s definitely capable if he’s a friggin warlock,” Kyle said all fired up.
“It could be someone else,” I pointed out. “I mean, take all this Vance stuff. I don’t know why, but for some reason, Rachel, you seem to be in the middle of a bunch of supernatural nonsense. The guy stalking you is some demon, your boyfriend is a warlock, your friends are a witchling and a fae - Jake’s a werewolf. I mean, usually these species go their whole lives without interacting with each other. Not to mention whatever you might have in your blood…”
I looked up to see Rachel’s face.
“Jake?” she asked. “The big tall latino guy?”
“You remember him?” I asked.
“I mean, yeah. But from the movies, he was with his friends, Evan and Nick at a cabin by ours in Tahoe…” she said, her mind wandering. “Wait. Was that the guy you’re talking about, Kyle?”
My phone rang and I felt like I needed to answer it. I fished it from my pocket and looked at the caller - Evan.
Excusing myself I walked a few paces away while Kyle and Raachel talked.
“Hey Evan,” I greeted.
“Ally,” he said heavily. There was a very long pause, and I knew something was wrong. “Uh, we - thank you for your help the other day…”
“Of course,” I said, waiting for him to continue.
I heard him take a big breath before saying, “I don’t even know where to start Ally. We were too late. They were gone.”
Now it was my turn to take a breath. Oh my god, poor Jake. Wait - we? Of course, the three of them being so close - they must all be werewolves.
“We found them in the basement of that address you gave us. The whole place had been torched. They were both down there, but - it didn’t just look like they were burned. They looked - they looked like they had been deflated. Like mummified,” he paused again. “Anyway, I’m calling because we need your help.”
“Of course Evan, what can I do?” I asked.
“Can you ask your Fae friend to connect with the Fae Investigators? Nick thinks they’ll be able to shed some light on how they - died. We had an ‘in’ with them but it seems like it’s no longer a good one” he explained.
“We’ll get right on that,” I assured him.
“Thanks,” he said. “And, Ally?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s good to know another good witch out there,” he said before we said our goodbyes.

Nick~
Jake was broken. We were all broken. After we found his parents, he had fully raged out. It had taken barreling down a few trees to even exhaust him long enough to talk with him. Evan was at a total loss for words, and I did what I did best. I went into my detailed, emotion-reading Gamma self. Lost myself in the skills.
I talked him down, I managed our next steps with Elise and the witches. I told Evan to lead the charge in scouring the house for more clues while the smoke faded away. I asked our Beta to call home and inform my parents, get their advice on what to do. And I watched as my best friend beat his hands into a bloody mess and sink to the floor in rage, in despair. In anguish. I held it together for us all, I had to.
Days later and we were home, but Jake had been mostly in his room. He made time once a day to meet with the leadership team and discuss updates and general pack business. He was still carrying the weight of responsibility. But the rest of the time he rotated between languishing on his bed and punching the daylights out of Evan and I in the gym. It was a battle of wills. Sadness and giving up, versus fury and action. Between Jake and Aamon (who had been making more frequent appearances through Jake).
In my down time between meeting Jake hit for hit, I made calls down the line again. To tell other packs what had happened, and to ask them to continue digging into their own histories for anything of use. The saddest call was to Gamma Wilmer. He was devastated to hear he had unfortunately been right to caution me like he did. He promised to be doing everything he could to help us and wished a blessing on my pack.
I finally asked Evan to call Ally and see if we could get her help since Lucien from Eastern Hills had hit a dead end with whatever pull he had with the fae investigation squadron he’d been collaborating with. At some point in the future I would like to meet her Fae friend and thank him for his help with all of this. It was rare to see the different species helping each other, let alone joining up to help another group altogether. He had to be a good guy.

Jake~
Aamon was driving me crazy. As if it wasn’t enough to be dealing with the death of my parents, or the mystery behind their murder - no, he had to keep reaching forward and freaking my whole pack out.
My mind was racing and my body antsy to move, so I decided to go outside for another run. Anything to keep from sitting here and spinning my wheels. Parents. Death. Murder. Who? How? Ally - a witch? Fae friend. Not to mention every part of me screamed out for Rachel.
Outside I took off and felt myself picking up speed when I felt something off.
Mate in trouble!, Aamon roared in my mind.
I stopped dead in my tracks then took off back to the packhouse.
“Evan!” I yelled as loud as I could. It came out with a growl, in a boom. Louder than life, it shook the house.
He came barreling out the door before I got there, Nick on his heels.
“Rachel’s in trouble,” I growled, heading toward the parking lot.
Neither one of them asked any questions, just ran with me to the nearest communal car and jumped in. Nick took the driver’s seat and we tore down the road. We kept the window down and I let Aamon’s senses tell us where to go.
We sped on the freeway and headed towards Melbourne.
“Right here,” Aamon’s voice said aloud.
Nick gassed it and made the turn, the wheels squealing.
“Further,” he said.
After we blew through two more stop signs we ended up on the top of the hill, just above the apartment complex Rachel lived in.
“Here,” he said, making Nick immediately pull over.
We jumped out of the car and breathed in deeply. I looked at Evan and his eyes turned black, Xavier waiting to bust through. Nick led our way, heading toward a bunch of trees and bushes at the top of the staircase that led to the complex.
“There,” Aamon said at the same time I saw someone shimmering ahead.
I ran.