Page 20 of Escaping Wildfire
I wanted to get Jasmine out of her head for a bit, so I begged my mom to let me drive us out for a spa day. She had denied me twice already when Mara, one of our female warriors, overheard me begging my mom in the dining hall and offered to drive us into the city.
By some miracle, my mom agreed to it, and now Jasmine and I were on our way into town with Mara. Jasmine looked happier today than she had all week, so I hoped this helped her get out of her head for at least today.
NOAH
Jordan had been channeling all his hurt and frustration into training this past week. I can’t even count how many times he knocked me and Cristian on our asses while sparring. We are usually pretty evenly matched, but Neo’s been on fire, putting his heartbreak to good use. Jordan said Aaliyah’s wolf was not on board with her rejecting him and Neo, so Neo went into a rage from being kept from her wolf.
We had talked about what happened at the bonfire the Sunday his parents went back home, but Jordan had refused to talk about it since. Other than his improved fighting, it was like it had never happened.
We’d made it through our third week here, which meant we were halfway through with the training program. I could already feel that I had gotten stronger while here, and my tracking skills had improved tremendously while working with some of the trackers here.
We usually don’t have a supervision meeting with Alpha Kedrick on Saturdays, but he would be heading out for council training early tomorrow and would be gone for a few days, so he wanted to check in with us before he left. He’d usually start by going around and telling us what we did well and where we could improve for the following day, and it was no different today. He was going over Cristian’s work with the virtual surveillance when I suddenly had a feeling of dread wash over me. Cosmo whined in my head but said nothing. I felt like a heavy weight had fallen on my shoulders. All of a sudden, Jordan slumped over and clutched his heart as if in pain, inhaling sharply.
Alpha Kedrick stopped talking and looked at Jordan. “Jordan? What’s wrong? Tell me what you’re feeling, is it just pain?”
Jordan had a hard time taking in another breath, and he clutched at his chest. “No, it feels like a giant weight on my chest…and my heart, it feels like something snapped …like something’s missing.”
“I feel the weight, too.” Cristian and I said in unison.
“Alright, boys.” Alpha Kedrick swiped at his face. “Jordan, I’m going to need you to dial your dad’s number. I hate to say this, but if the three of you are feeling something’s wrong, then there might be something wrong with your pack. You’ll need to call your parents.”
Jordan pulled out his phone to call his parents. A feeling of unease settled over the room.
“My dad’s not answering. I’ll try my mom.” He dialed her number with no response and shook his head as he hung up. Jordan looked pale and was clearly still in pain.
Alpha Kedrick picked up his office phone. “Let me try the main pack house line on my phone.” He dialed but the phone just kept ringing with no response.
Cristian and I pulled out our phones and dialed our parents with no response from them either.
We fell into silence as we all realized something was very wrong back home.
“Try your sisters.” Alpha Kedrick suggested.
Cristian called Gem with no luck, but Jordan tried Jasmine, and we heard her voice on the other end of the line. Jordan put the call on speaker for us to hear.
“Jasmine! Thank Goddess. Where are you?”
“Gema and I went for a spa day in the city. We’re on our way home right now, nearly to the border. Why?”
“Is it just the two of you?”
“No, Mara is with us. They let us go with her as our escort.”
“Have you talked to Mom or Dad lately?”
“Not since we left. Why? What’s going on Jordan?” We could hear worry in her voice.
“Look, Jas, don’t panic but we’ve been trying to get ahold of Mom and Dad and the Betas and Gammas too, but no one’s answering…not even the pack house phone.”
“What…you think something’s wrong at home? Mara, can you try the mind link, and see if my parents answer.”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Mara says no one’s answering the link…we’re pulling up at the gate now, we can ask the guard if anything’s up.”
“Okay, just stay on the line.” We all took a collective breath as we waited to see what the guard said, but instead, we heard a blood-curdling scream.
“Jasmine!”