Chloe was my best friend; my soul sister. I met her when I was in 10th grade. She had come from a surrounding town, and had moved to the city to go to high school here. She was excited, she had told me, because she had never been in a place as big as this and was excited to see what it's like. Too bad she didn't know that this city was boring.
Chloe was a beautiful person. She had long, thick red hair and every time I saw it, it was perfectly styled. She had blue eyes that were always changing shades. She had a full face with freckles and when she smiled, you could see two dimples on each cheek. She was 5'5" and she had a thinner figure. She would eat and eat and eat anything in sight, but never gained a pound.
"Morning." Chloe came sauntering over, coffee in hand, and her polite smile on her face. She was being her typical morning person, but judging from the look on her face, her parents had been fighting. Again.
"What is it this time?" I grabbed my books and slammed my locker. I was not a morning person and having classes in the morning didn't suit me. All my spares were in the afternoon and all my classes were in the morning. I'd rather have that switched.
"My mom called my dad. She wants more visitation. My dad said no. My mom blew up and drug my stepmom into this." She held the coffee out to me and I took a sip, feeling the hot beverage go down my throat. I needed this.
"Your mom is psycho." Chloe scoffed and shifted her bags on her shoulders. She had way too much going on to be worrying about her parents fighting. She didn't need to worry about that on top of dance, singing lessons, volunteering at the Vet clinic and then school and homework.
"My mom is being a bitch. Like always." She looped her arm through mine and we started walking together. We made our way down the hallway, avoiding as many people as we could. We made it to our class and she let go first and walked in. I followed her and set my books down on the desk before I sat down. I shoved my bag under the desk and behind my feet and then turned to look at Chloe.
She smiled at me and opened up her textbook and took out her late assignment. She gave it a once over before she stood up and handed it in at the front. She lingered there for a moment and then she came back and sat back down.
"Did you notice how many new students we have this year? I swear it seems like there are almost double." I looked up and over to the doorway. There were a few new students passing, all chattering together, looking over their schedules.
"I heard it's because one of the smaller schools burned down. But who knows." I shrugged and flipped open my textbook. We waited in silence for the teacher to come in and start teaching, and we didn't have to wait long.
The weeks passed, all the same, go to classes in the morning, have the afternoon off and work. Chloe and I had almost the same schedule, except that she had one class in the afternoon. After that class, she would come to work as well, and we would work until 6:30. Then whoever worked at night would come and take over.
Chloe and I were creatures of habit. Chloe and I would walk halfway home together. We would stop about 15 minutes in to our walk and then we would start to say goodbye to each other. We would gossip for a minute and then wave, and say that we would meet each other at school the next day.
It was always the same. There was a routine. We had a routine. Everything was fine, everything was the same.
Then it changed. Then everything changed.
We had a shift together, we were supposed to close. It was fine with us because it was Friday and we were not getting up early the next day. I had usually started before her, and sometimes there was an odd time when she was late, so when she didn't show up at time, I shrugged it off. I went to work and I did my job. I would occasionally check the time, but I still didn't worry when she didn't show up. I figured that maybe she had to call in, I didn't worry about it.
I finished, I closed the store, and I went home and went to bed. I woke up the next morning, did my normal routine and went to school. I waited by my locker until the last possible second but she didn't show. I started to get worried. I dug my cellphone out of my pocket and gave her a call. I expected it to go through but it went straight to voicemail.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and grabbed my books and made my way to class. I had this terrible nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I tried to shove that feeling off. I figured maybe Chloe was sick, or maybe she had a late night listening to her parents fighting.
The entire day went like this; me thinking she just needed a day to relax and take things easy. I never once thought the worst. I tried to see the positives in every situation.
Reality finally kicked in when I went home. I opened the door and was dragged to the TV. My father's eyes were glued to the TV and my mom had tears in her eyes. There it was, the truth was blaring from the TV. The missing teenager who didn't come home from school. The missing teenager who hadn't contacted her parents. The missing teenager whose phone was found crushed, destroyed. The missing teenager was Chloe.
Chloe was gone.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
I was pacing back and forth trying to keep my anger in check. My brother was not going to get away with this without some kind of punishment. He was really going to get what was coming to him. He not only endangered the girl's life, but he endangered the whole pack.
For 4 years I had made it my mission to keep our pack away from the sights of humans. I had laid strict rules in place to keep my pack from running wild in the human world. We had certain rules for a reason, and this was an example of why.
My brother, my Beta, had gone into the human world. He was supposed to see if there were any suspicions of us, of what we were, and he comes back with an unconscious human in his arms. He was possessive of her, and when anyone came too close to her, he would growl and snap. He would threaten their lives and I knew he would try and make good on this threats.
"Dammit!" I smacked my fist on the desk behind me and heard a loud crack. The wood was splitting from the amount of force in the punch. Better it, than my brother.
"Jesse…" Speaking of the devil, he appeared. He stood before me with no remorse for what he had done. He looked proud of what he did. He didn't understand. He didn't know what he had set into place and what risks he had taken. He had no idea what a stupid thing he did by taking her.
"What the hell were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all? Dammit Damien! That is a human girl! You took one of them! There are strict rules against doing this unless you come to me or the council!" I ran my fingers through my hair and started pacing again. My wolf was on edge and it was begging to come out and show Damien a lesson. Brother or not, he had done a very stupid thing.
"She's my mate, Jesse. I was not going to leave her and risk losing her in the city." I stopped pacing and dropped my hands. I stood rigid. I could feel my bones snapping and cracking. I was pissed off.
"You kidnapped a human girl! You took her! Do you have any idea how many people are going to be looking for her? You have no idea the risk you took! You not only risked your life but the packs! You didn't think!" I growled and leaned against the already cracking desk. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him. His eyes were turning from the chocolate brown to a golden yellow.
"She's my mate." He said that like it was supposed to change the situation. I scoffed and felt my temper rising. He needs to follow rules.
"We have rules for a reason Damien. You needed to have come to me or the council. That's how it works." His jaw clenched and I could see his form shaking. He was close to losing control as well.
"Screw the council. She's my fucking mate, Jesse. I needed to take her then, so I did. There's nothing we can do to change the situation now. She's here and she's here to stay." His golden eyes met mine and there was a stare down between us. If anyone else dared try and challenge me by staring right at me, I would've snapped their necks. But not my brothers. Blood is thicker than water, and in this pack, family was damn important.
"You will be punished." I stood up and walked over to him. I dropped my hands to my side and made sure he was listening very carefully.
"You will keep her in your sights at all times. She is not to go anywhere alone and if she does need to go somewhere and you are not there, she is to be escorted. Only when she is bonded to you, can she be trusted. Until then, she will stay in your room at all times except when it is time to eat." Damien nodded and stepped back. He dropped his gaze and returned it, his eyes were back to his normal colour. His eyes no longer held anger, they held relief.
"Thank you Alpha." I nodded and when he left, I slammed the door as hard as I could. The door cracked in two and slowly fell off its hinges.
"Now I need to fix your mistake." I sighed and at down at my cracking desk. I would have to work overtime to make sure that this girl's disappearance left no evidence. I would not let this come back to affect the pack.