Alpha's Curse

Chapter 5: Snowflakes and Snarling

I wake up when my phone rings. I grab it after a few seconds of blind searching and flip it open. "Hello?" I rasp, voice cracking. There's a metallic taste in my mouth, the cold makes my shoulders and neck stiff, and the air is crisp. I wonder why it's so cold--and then I look outside to see blinding white, polka-dotted with trees, lit eerily by moonlight. There's a blizzard so thick it's hard to see outside.

"Shylah? It's, uh...look, its one of Drew's friends. I know this is an odd question, but is there any chance that he's with you?"

My eyebrows pull together in a frown. "What?" I croak. I look at the time. "Look, I don't...it's ten o'clock at night. Why would he be with me?"

"He isn't...?" Worry has wiggled its way into her voice now and I rub one eye, trying to wake myself up. "Are you sure? I thought, maybe..."

"I haven't talked to Drew since I shifted," I tell her. "Who is this? I don't know this number. And if you know anything, then you should know that being around me isn't a great idea for Drew." It's been a few more days since I woke up on his couch and found out about the pain I caused him. Though Jared has been making regular attempts to try to get me to talk to him, I've ignored every wolf pack member that I know of.

"It's Calypso. I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was hoping you'd know where he was."

I reach over and turn on my light, grimacing at the bright light that spears itself into my pupils, and unbury myself from wrappers. "Yeah, pixie girl, right?? I remember. Is he okay?"

"Yeah," she says, but the response is too quick, too sharp, and she sighs into the line in a way that tells me that something is seriously wrong here. I wait, and she finally admits, "okay, no. But I can't talk on the phone, not about this...Can we talk in person?"

"It's ten o'clock at night, there's a blizzard raging outside my door, and you want to meet up somewhere?" I ask flatly. "I said I remember you, not that I know you. I don't think I can manage leaving the house this late at n--."

"W'ere outside. Can you open the door?" Jared asks, quick and cutting, and I look out my window groggily: sure enough, he and Calypso are there, coats quickly becoming camouflaged by snowflakes. Groaning, I toss my phone onto the pillow and open the door, but it takes me a minute to process, because she's not in wolf form when I see her next. She strides inside, along with Jared, without invitation, and my teeth clench in annoyance.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here, my mom is going to be here soon, you can't just--"

"Drew is gone, Shylah," Jared intercepts smoothly, and catalogs my reaction. I stop, cut short. Blink. Take a minute to process.

"What the fuck do you mean, gone?" I ask. "And what the hell does that have to do with me?"

*~*~*~*~*

"I mean gone, Shylah. Not here, vanished, absent, no longer present; gone. There was a pack meeting with the councilors, and he never showed. That was three days ago," Calypso answers, shifting from foot to foot nervously. My brain swims.

"Okay, you just--." I hold up a hand. "Just hang on a second. I need coffee before you guys get anything through to me better than he's not here." I pad into the kitchen and pour a quick cup of the old pot that I'd made earlier this morning, mixing in a good amount of sugar and creamer before nuking it into the microwave. "Alright," I say. "Now, what the hell did Drew do this time, exactly?"

"You know Alphas have responsibilities to their pack, I'm assuming," Jared asks, and I nod. "Drew takes them to heart, so it was concerning when he didn't come to the meeting."