Wild and Free

(Mason’s POV)

I think that it’s funny how twenty-four hours can change so much.

The day before out encounter with the grey wolves, there were so many things that I thought were true and just weren’t. I had thought that we were the only pack in the area. I thought that it was never possible for me to trust a human. I thought that living in White Chapel was going to be simple. I thought that I would never speak about my pack to anyone. I thought that Auden hated my guts.

Never did I think that in the next twenty-four hours almost all of those things would be proven wrong.

We weren’t alone. I could trust a human. It sure as hell was not simple in that town. I did speak about the pack. And maybe she didn’t hate me.

For starters, there was nothing I could do about the grey wolf pack. I knew that the leader’s words were true. There was no doubt that he would follow through on his promise if I didn’t keep my mouth shut.

Secondly, I guess you just had to find the right people to trust. And lord help me if these weren’t the right people. I would just have to believe that they would be true to their word about not telling.

Thirdly, that town was just a whirlwind of issues on it’s own, I would never know where to start.

Next, telling about the pack, especially to humans who I hardly knew, was not an easy task. But what kind of Alpha would I be if I did everything the safe way. Sure it was a risk but I trusted my sister. She was my twin after all and if she said that Cassie and Auden and even that kid Holden were good people, then I had to make myself believe it too.

And finally, Auden. God that girl.

I had so many questions that I was sure would never be answered. But most of all I think I wanted to know how she did it. How could she be so okay with not having a family, because it sure as hell didn’t seem to affect her. Or at least not from what I could tell. She did everything with such grace and calculation, as if she thought that taking one wrong step would cause her whole facade to come crumbling down. Sure it was incredible how well she handled her situation, but I had to wonder what it had really done to her emotionally.

Auden had her moments, like when she stopped me from ripping the head off of Jaspar and what she said the other day at lunch after she spaced out. They were moments where I marveled at the way she seemed to know so much more about life than a normal girl her age should.

She was insanely smart, beautiful, a great artist, and knew how to tell the idiots in the world from the human beings. Why didn’t she have a boyfriend? It was weird to me. In my pack, that list of things would be like a flyer for free food or something. It would make all the guys come running. Bad analogy but still, I couldn’t help but ask myself why it wasn’t like that for the guys at WCHS.

There were other things that didn’t really add up about her too. I still couldn’t figure out why we were unable to hear her heartbeat or why Kenz couldn’t see her future. It was like there was something blocking it. I knew I would have to ask her about it at some point, I just hoped it wouldn’t make her withdraw again. She seemed to do that a lot when things got personal, especially about herself or her past.

A part of me was curious to see if my father could read her mind, but when the thought crossed my mind, I cursed myself. No one could know that we had told Auden, Cassie, and Holden about ourselves. As far as any of my family or pack knew, the three of them were just some humans that we had befriended because of school. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Even though I would probably never admit it, I was kind of grateful that Auden knew now. Despite the fact that telling her about us was out of an act of blackmail, there were certain benefits that came from it that I guess I hadn’t considered before. If we hadn’t told her I probably would’ve exposed myself in front of the entire student body, just because I was angry that some kind shoved me. Thankfully she was there to drag me away before anything happened. Part of me felt a little guilty because I was fuming so much that I hardly said a word to her when we got outside, instead just shooting off into the forest before Bentley clawed his way out.

It was also nice having other people to talk to. Sure Amelia and her group were okay but their conversations were so robotic and careful, like everything they said was thought over so they wouldn’t insult their ‘leader’. Whereas with Auden and Cassie, and Holden we could share stories and laugh. Sometimes they talked about some pretty weird things but it was always entertaining if nothing else.

There was also the fact that, Holden and Cassie both sort of had to know about our kind seeing as, to everyone’s complete shock, they were mates to our kind.

Holden was almost exactly like Riley in a lot of ways, which was why he and the guys and I clicked so well. And it was also how I knew that he would never hurt my sister. However that did not stop me from cornering him in the diner bathroom and threatening to play his bones like a xylophone if something happened to her.

The whole mate thing had thrown me off. It was the main reason I was so on edge that day with Jaspar. Bentley was driving me nuts about how stupid it was that we had to be in school instead of scouring the entire town for our mate. Sometimes our inner wolves don’t understand that we have other things to do. That day he was going off so much that my head just wasn’t clear. A part of my mind wondered if he was going crazy because perhaps he sensed that our mate was near. It was not like indicated anything but maybe he could just feel it.

Mate or not, he had been acting off lately, and that seemed to be where we both just cracked. His odd move since the day with the grey wolves, had been affecting my training in the weeks that followed.

“You’re losing focus!” Julian, my instructor, shouted across the practice arena. He made his way over to me, a frustrated look on his face and his robes billowing behind him as he walked.

“Where the hell is your head at kid?” he asked, setting his hands on his hips. “It’s like you’re not even trying.”

I was bent over, leaning on my knees, breathing heavily after attempting to use my ability to mold a hunk of plexiglass to shield me from gunfire. The whole exercise confused me because rarely did the enemies that we came across use guns, but apparently it was important to know what to do in the event they did.

“I am trying,” I claimed, getting my heart back down to a steady rate. “You’re asking me to rip the plexiglass walls off the arena and make them into a shield. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but they are welded to the metal! Getting them apart is a job on it’s own, let alone trying to mold the hardly bulletproof material into something new entirely.”

“Well you didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it last week,” he shot back. “What’s gotten into you? Your concentration is out the window, you’re sluggish and hardly put in the effort in training. I’m sure you father would be disappointed to know your condition the past few days.”

I dragged my hand down my sweaty face, “I’m sorry, school has been stressful lately.”

He shook his head, “I don’t know. I think that you might be spending too much time with those humans that you go to school with. Have they gotten you into drugs or something? I swear to god–”

“You’re kidding right? No, I’m not using drugs! I never have and probably never will. I’m pretty sure that Auden and Cassie and Holden have never either so,” I rambled, wondering why drugs was the first thing he assumed just because I was tired. Adults.

“This isn’t about your mate is it?” he asked, looking at me skeptically.

I sighed, “And if it is?”

“Then I understand but you just have to wait. You’ll find her sooner or later,” he said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sick of waiting!”

“But are you really so anxious to find her because you want to be the your true love or because you want to be taken seriously as an Alpha?” he fired back with a stern look.

“I-I don’t know. Why does it matter?”

“Wow, you think that it doesn’t matter?” he asked, a little shocked. “Mason, your mate isn’t just going to be a girl that sits next to you looking pretty with the title of a luna. You’re going to be with her for life, don’t you get that? She’s someone that you’ll learn to love you can’t just forget that so simply because you’d like to take over as Alpha.”

“I understand that, I do,” I said, covering my eyes with the backs of my hands. “Why does that waiting have to be so painful? It’s like she’s right there but I can’t get to her. It’s like the universe just doesn’t want me to find her. Why is that?”

He shrugged, “I don’t have an answer for that,” He stepped forward and rested his hands on my shoulders. “But I can promise you that the waiting, will be the worst part.”

Julian, called the practice for the day and dismissed me, “Why do I find that hard to believe…” I muttered as I walked back to the pack house.

~*~

“So how did your jedi mind training go today?” Greyson asked, popping a grape into his mouth. We were sitting in the courtyard of the common area on our grounds, after I finished with Julian and they finished their combat training for the day.

I picked a piece of the small fruit off the chain and threw it at his head for referring to it with the vulgar term.

“Hey! Don’t assault me with fruit, you know deep down that you are using the force,” he protested.

Riley and I rolled our eyes.

“Whatever. It was shit, absolute shit,” I spat, tearing at a few pieces of the grass at my feet.

“What happened?” Riley asked. It was one of the rare times then that he wasn’t seen with Cassie on his arm. She wasn’t clingy, if anything it was him that was like a lovesick puppy, but she still liked him just as much. Often we had to remind him that no one from the pack could know anything until we were ready to tell them, because he wanted to bring Cassie and show her the pack house.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, “Julian was just on my ass the entire time about focusing. But I swear that they keep giving me dumber and harder tasks every time.”

“What was it today?”

“Bulletproof plexiglass shield,” I stated

Riley furrowed his brows, “What the hell would you need that for?”

“My sentiments exactly,” I drawled, picking at the grass again.

“Where would you even get plexiglass in the middle of a fight?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea but he made me rip the windows off the training room walls to use because we didn’t have any lying around. Do you have any idea how hard that is? It’s fucking welded to the metal!”

“I’m sorry man,” Riley apologized.

Greyson laid on his back and looked up at the cloudy, grey sky, “Maybe they should start a suggestion box of tasks for you to do. Like pack members could give ideas on how to exercise your ability. It could turn into like a show.”

“Why would anyone come to that show?” Riley asked him.

He shrugged, “To see their future leader in action.”

“Yeah like me sweating my ass off in a box while trying to make a car door into a dining table is so entertaining,” I drawled.

“You actually do that?” He perked up at the dumb idea.

Riley and I just stared at him in response and he shrunk back down, realizing his stupidity.

Thunder rumbled over our heads, turning our attention to the sky.

“Looks nasty,” Greyson commented.

“Good thing we got finished with training before it started,” Said Riley, leaning back on his hands. “Shame though the the bonfire was moved.”

It was Sunday and the Session had been canceled for the night. There was going to be a big bonfire and cookout for the entire pack in its place but we had gotten a pack wide mindlink a few minutes before that said because of the storm, it would be put that off for another day.

“Did you guy wanna see what the girls are doing? Maybe go see a movie or something in town to escape the storm?” Riley suggested.

I gave him a sly look, “Do you just want a chance to go see your beloved mate?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes, “Maybe, but they’re our friends too. We’re in high school we shouldn’t just be stuck at home on a weekend.”

I felt a big, wet drop of rain hit my cheek, rolling down to my chin before falling onto the grass. It was slowly followed by more.

“I guess you’re right. Call Cassie, Holden, and Auden. I’m going to change out of these sweaty clothes and I’ll stop by Kenz’s room and ask her if she wants to come along,” I told them. “We’ll meet in the house lobby in fifteen?”

They nodded and the three of us headed off toward the pack house, as the rain grew harder and harder. We were all soaked by the time we got under cover, but it felt refreshing after training for hours in the humidity.

We pushed through the doors to find a frenzy of our pack members. They were all frantic, worried looks on their faces, pacing back and forth, and talking panickedly.

I spotted the auburn head of my father’s assistant trying to speak to a man who didn’t seem to be listening to her. The three of us went over to her, my friends making sure to stay behind me but not out of earshot.

“Olivia,” I said getting her attention. The man saw who I was and i his eyes widened into saucers. He immediately stepped back to give us some space. “What the hell is going on here? Why is everyone freaking out?”

Her eyes darted around the room packed with people, “They haven’t sent out a link to everyone yet?” she asked.

Riley, Greyson, and I shook our heads, “Not since we learned of the bonfire being cancelled,” I answered, still confused.

She shook her head and cursed,“T-two kids have gone missing,” she informed me solemnly, her voice shaking slightly.

“What?” I said, eyes wide in shock.

She nodded, “They were with t-the second boys school group. I guess they wandered off. We have trackers looking everywhere but they can’t seem to catch their scents.”

“Was there no on watching this group?” I asked, my worry for the boys turning into anger. I was going to be Alpha, anything bad happening to my pack, especially to young pups made me furious.

“The group attendant said that one of the kids got sick and she was taking care of her. She did a head count and had everyone b-but the next time that she came back f-from the infirmary with the sick girl, the boys were missing,” she stuttered again. Olivia wasn’t usually this nervous, especially around me or my father or Kenzie. I could tell that this was freaking her out too.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Have they searched outside the borders?”

She shook her head, “Not yet. The boys may be young but they should have been taught where the borders are. The trackers don’t think they would’ve left our territory. They aren’t even sure where they were last seen.”

Riley took at small, wary step forward and I knew what he was going to ask.

“Who were the boys,” he demanded.

Olivia looked down at the floor.

“Answer the question,” I calmly instructed her.

“It was Beta Donnely’s son Christopher,” she said, not looking up.

“And the other?”

She squeezed her eyes shut but raised her head, “Benjamin Anderson.”

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

I know I tend to avoid writing the so called “fluff” chapters but I swear that this situation will be of the last before a big plot event later.

Hope you enjoyed!

As always, comment, don’t hate, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend