Playing with Fire #1 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨

When I woke up, Ember was gone.

Rapidly, I sat up and searched around my room. Realising it was empty, I ran into my bathroom. She wasn't there either.

Fear and panic simultaneously flooded my system.

She can't be gone. I can't lose her too.

All her things were still there. The indentation of her body on my bed still faintly remained, her scent still lingered in the air... Her clothes strewn over my bathroom floor.

"Ember?" I shouted and searched quickly through all of the upstairs rooms, only to discover that she wasn't in any of them.

I raced downstairs, thankful of my heightened speed.

"Ember?" I shouted again, louder this time.

Could they have taken her as well?

In my panicked state, I wasn't fully harnessing all my senses as I should have done — if only I focused, I would've been able to hone in on her scent, listen for her heartbeat. But I didn't; the panic and confusion and dread were overwhelming me.

When I'd slept by her side the night before, I'd had no nightmares or night terrors whatsoever. It was like Ember's presence kept me sane overnight.

I ran into the kitchen after checking all the other rooms. And there she was, simply getting a glass of water.

"I thought you were gone," I whispered, before pulling her close to me.

"I just wanted a glass of water," she explained — leaning away from me and searching my panic-stricken face with her deep blue eyes glazed with concern. The sort of concern and care that I never thought I'd experience again after my pack left.

"I know, it's fine... I just—" I faltered, voice struggling, "I just thought that you might've been taken as well."

"Oh, Theo," she said softly and looped her arms around my neck. "I'd never leave you like that."

"You don't always get a choice," I spoke stonily, struggling to keep myself from shutting her off. I forced out a question as she stood there looking cute as hell in my hoodie. "Enjoying my clothes?"

"Yes." She smiled and snuggled into my hoodie; "They remind me of you."

"Do you wanna go back upstairs?" I asked.

"Sure." She grabbed her glass of water, and I followed her up the stairs, "When are your parents gonna be back?"

"Later this evening," I said absent-mindedly, remembering that they had told me to make sure I'd had something for dinner by the time they were back.

"So... I can stay for a bit?" She bit her lip and walked into my room.

"You can stay for as long as you want," I told her and collapsed on my bed again — emotionally exhausted from the prospect of her potentially being taken from me. From the prospect of being alone again.

"I better text my mum," she mumbled as she dug in her bag for her phone.

Leaning back against the headboard of my bed, I closed my eyes, relieved that I'd found her. I dreaded what would have happened if she was actually taken, and what the Alpha in town meant for me.

Eyeing the tattoo on my wrist after sitting next to me, Ember asked, "How do you actually get your tattoos to like, last and not heal?"

I grimaced, "By an extremely painful process. First, you get the tattoo done as you would normally, and then because it heals in about five minutes, you have to use a concentrated flame, like a blowtorch, over it... And you have to burn wolfsbane into it. It hurts like hell, but then the tattoo lasts."