This chapter is a jumbled mess...
The pack meeting came and went without the research Scott requested.
The young Alpha checked his phone every few minutes for notification about a new e-mail or a message, but it was stubbornly silent through the whole meeting. Finally he tossed the phone on the table and huffed out an angry breath. An hour. A whole hour and nothing.
"Maybe he really has something else to do, like Sheriff said," Kira ventured hesitantly from her position on the couch, watching as Scott paced in frustration.
"Like what?" Malia grumbled from where she was sprawled on the floor, completely bored with waiting. "He spends all his time in school or with us."
"Apparently not," Liam snorted, munching on chips. "When did you last see him anyway?"
"I–" Scott started and stopped, thinking. When was the last time he had seen Stiles?
He looked at the rest of the pack, noting they also had startled looks on their faces.
"He was at school on the last day to get his certificate, right?" the Alpha asked hopefully.
Lydia shook her head, pursuing her lips.
"I haven't seen him there," she stated.
"Me neither," Kira added.
"Actually," Liam said with a frown, thinking hard. "The last time I saw him was when I attacked him. No, wait! The next day, too. I wanted to apologize, again, but he was avoiding me."
"That was like what?" Lydia asked. "A week before the school ended?"
Liam shrugged.
"Something like that?"
"And no one saw him ever since?" Scott demanded in a worry.
They shook their heads. How they didn't notice that the usually loud and annoying teenager wasn't hanging out with them anymore?
Scott swore and dove for his phone. He shoot a text to his friend and waited. Two weeks. Nobody saw Stiles for two weeks.
"We can always ask the Sheriff," Malia reasoned.
"No," the Alpha decided. "I don't want to worry him. Besides he was acting kinda strange."
"He seemed normal to me," Kira frowned.
"Scott is right," Lydia said. "He just answered our questions, didn't add a comment or two as usual. There's something wrong. Was he even telling the truth about Stiles?"
"Yeah," Scott nodded.
He looked down at his phone. No reply. The Alpha sighed and dialed. And dialed again. And again.
"What?" he looked at his phone in disbelief.
"What's wrong?" Lydia immediately wanted to know.
"It goes straight to voice mail."
"Maybe he just doesn't want to be disturbed and switched it off," Kira tried to calm them down.
"No," Scott protested. "Stiles always keeps his phone on in case of an emergency. Something must have happened to him."
"We can ask the Sheriff," Malia repeated.
"I'll try to track his phone," Lydia decided, reaching for her laptop.
There was tense silence while she worked.
"Last known location..." the banshee frowned at the display. "Stiles' house, over a week ago."
"See?" Scott cried. "Something is not right! Even if he switched off his phone, he wouldn't leave it turned off for that long!"
"Well, maybe Malia is right," Kira piped in. "We should ask the Sheriff."
"But what if he's involved in all of this?" the Alpha countered.
"What do you mean?" Lydia snorted. "That the Sheriff kidnapped his own son and keeps him hostage?"
"Well, we did fought that shapeshifter a week ago," Scott pointed out. "And it knew some things about us, that no one knows besides the member of this pack. Maybe it wasn't the only one. Maybe there was a group of them and they got to Stiles and the Sheriff. Maybe they took Stiles for information on our pack and threatened the Sheriff to hurt him, if he say anything to someone. Or one of them impersonated the Sheriff."
"He seemed to be kind of shifty," Lydia conceded thoughtfully. "But what about his scent? Was it changed somehow?"
Scott shook his head.
"No, but you know I couldn't tell before either."
"Great," Liam complained. "More weird Voodoo to do."
"I'll go tomorrow and check the house," Scott decided. "You'll go to Deaton and tell him to prepare more of that potion."
"Now, that we have a plan," Malia said, "can we watch something?"
"Um," Scott hesitated, but Kira send him a shy smile and he shrugged. They couldn't do anything until the next day anyway. "Sure, pick something."
They all drifted closer during the movie, drawn together by the worry for their friend. They ended on the couch in a mess of limbs. Their anxiety soothed by the presence of the others and the knowledge, that they had a plan and start looking for Stiles tomorrow. The pack warm and content and whole fell asleep.