The Missing Wolf: The Familiar Empire Series

by Bailey, G.

  “What were you planning on doing, anyway?” he asks with a grin.

  “That’s a secret,” I quietly say, not having a clue if I can trust Liam. Alexander said I should tell no one, but did he mean his friends in that? Can I trust them?

  “Well, I won’t ask; everyone deserves to have their own secrets and not feel bad about it. We all have prices to pay,” he murmurs to Silver, never once looking my way. Why do I feel like he is talking about himself instead of me? His tone changes so swiftly as he looks at me. “I have a new movie. Want to watch it with me?”

  “I’d love that. I’ve missed my usual movie nights and technology in general out here,” I say, standing up, and Shadow stands with me. He goes to Silver, rubbing his fur against her, and then he runs out of the room through the kitchen, with Silver right behind him.

  “You get used to it, but I have to admit I miss having a phone,” Liam says, nodding his head to the side. “Why don’t you take the movie and get settled in my room? I have a TV in there, and it’s warmer than the basement this time of year.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to invade your personal space,” I say as he steps closer, opening the rucksack on his back and pulling out a movie. He hands it to me, smiling softly.

  “You could never intrude, Ana.” I grip the movie, my fingers grazing his as he passes it to me before he heads into the kitchen to get popcorn if I’m lucky. I go up the stairs, walking past my room, then Alex’s and to Liam’s. I feel weird opening the door and turning on the light, which immediately bounces off the dozens, if not hundreds of shiny stones in one of the two cabinets in the room. I walk over by the bed, tracing my fingers across some of the blue stones on one of the levels before glancing around the room. It’s very…well, Liam. There is a bookcase filled to the brim with books and knickknacks, with a TV in the middle. There are two closed, dark wooden wardrobes that match the headboard of the double bed. At the end of the bed is a blue sofa with a fluffy white faux fur blanket draped over the arm.

  “You remember I said Silver likes to bring me shiny stones? Well, her obsession has become my collection over the years,” Liam’s voice carries to me as I carry on looking at the stones. Just as he speaks, I spot a stone which I’m certain is a diamond. I pick up the diamond which is the size of a small egg and turn to Liam with wide eyes.

  “Is this real?” I ask.

  “Yeah, but if you ask me how Silver found it, I don’t have a clue. It’s the most precious one she has given me though,” he tells me.

  “It must be worth a fortune,” I mutter.

  “Maybe, but I’d never sell any of them. Silver gave me them as gifts, and I know she trusts me to look after them,” he explains, and that is sweet. It just makes me like Liam more. Most people would sell these in the blink of an eye and not care that they are valuable to someone.

  “I understand that. Sometimes the value of something can’t be priced,” I reply.

  “Exactly. Come and sit. I have popcorn, cookies and Diet Cokes,” he says, and I finally notice what he has in his hands. I help him by holding the popcorn as he takes the movie and sorts out the TV to play it. It’s almost strange to watch a movie after not seeing any screen for a long time. I settle on the sofa next to Liam, who eats more popcorn than I thought he would and also steals my Diet Coke when he has drunk all his.

  Usually I’d find that annoying.

  But with Liam’s cheeky smile, messy freckles that I want to count on his cheeks, and bright green eyes that seem to blaze with an untold fire, I just don’t.

  I like it.

  After we finish our snacks, both of us are so locked into watching the movie that I don’t think either of us notices when our eyes drift our souls to sleep.

  * * *

  “Liam! Wake up, it’s happened again!” I hear Mason’s shout and his hand knocking harshly on the door as I blink my eyes open and freeze, realising that I’m lying on top of Liam on the sofa as he is fast asleep under me. The blanket is covering us, and our legs are intertwined, and something very hard is pressing into my thigh, which makes me blush. The door is pushed open as I scramble to get off Liam. “Sorry, mate, I just know how much of a deep sleeper you are—” Mason pauses as he sees me fall off the sofa and onto my ass while he turns on the light, which finally wakes up Liam.

  “Hey, you alright, Ana?” Liam asks me as he sits up, finally following my gaze to Mason who looks more than a little shocked.

  Then the shock turns to anger.

  And I’m just confused.

  “We don’t have time to talk about this. Anastasia, go back to bed. Liam, we have a problem,” he all but growls.

  “No, I’m not going back to bed. What is going on?” I demand.

  “It’s best if you—”

  “If you don’t tell me, I will take Shadow and walk to Raine’s house,” I say with crossed arms and a stern expression. Not that I know how to get to Raine’s house, and it’s the middle of the night, and it’s freezing. “Raine respects me enough to tell me the truth.”

  “Fine. Another wolf is missing, but the familiar is hurt and in the infirmary. We should go,” Mason says, looking at Liam and not me at all.

  “Let’s go then. I should be there; I can help Estelle or the other doctor, Greg,” I answer.

  “She is the nurse. I will keep Shadow close while she’s inside,” Liam answers, and I flash him a thankful look.

  “Whatever,” Mason grumbles, sounding very much like Alex.

  “Did he and Alex have a personality transplant I don’t know about?” I question.

  “You don’t get boys, do you, Ana?” Liam chuckles, taking my hand and leading me down the stairs.

  He is right, I don’t.

  Within seconds, we are all dressed and getting in the cars, heading straight to the infirmary with our familiars close behind us, or above us in the skies in Hex’s case. The second the car stops outside the infirmary, I head inside and straight into Hugh. He turns and looks down at me with disappointment, mixed with worry.

  “Why are you here?” he sternly asks.

  “I’m a nurse, and I heard what happened. I want to see if Estelle needs any help,” I answer, not sure why I’m feeling like he is accusing me of something. Hugh stares down at me, and he only seems to answer me when Alex and Mason come to my side. They are quick to ask Hugh about the familiar, but Hugh only answers my question.

  He is a strange man.

  “I imagine she will, considering the other nurse was killed saving this familiar’s life,” he tells me, and my heart catches. I only spoke to the other nurse, Lily, once when we changed shifts, and she was a lovely girl. Estelle told me she was a good person, and they were close.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

  “Keelan Rogers is still alive, so hopefully all this won’t be for nothing,” Hugh sighs. “We need to find a clue, or this is just becoming a body count.”

  “And his familiar is missing. He was a wolf, right?” Mason asks, getting to my side.

  “He was a wolf, and yes, he is gone. We are yet to understand what is happening and why wolf familiars are being targeted. But believe me, we will get to the bottom of this,” Hugh demands, his voice spitting with anger and grief. I can’t help but feel the same grief even when I didn’t know them that well.

  This place and its people are slowly creeping into my heart.

  The first kiss of death.

  “Can I come in?” I gently knock on the door to the surgery room after I changed into my nurse scrubs. The hospital is jam packed with people, and there is a older man outside the door who is in tears. I think he must be a close friend, possibly even a relative.

  “Come in, Anastasia,” Estelle replies, and I open the door, trying not to flinch at the shocking sight of blood covering the man on the table. His clothes are ripped open, and there are three large stitched up wounds on his chest that look like claw marks. Blood drips onto the floor, and it’s been mopped a few times by the looks of it.

 
; That much blood…this can’t be good.

  Why would his wolf do this? And if it wasn’t his wolf, why would another animal hurt him like this? I doubt they have wild wolves or bears out here, and I’m not sure what else could have done that to him. Estelle is scrubbing blood off her hands under the water, turning it bright red with every motion. The other doctor, Greg, is nowhere to be seen, and I thought he would be, under the circumstances.

  “Where is Greg?” I ask.

  “On call. One of the children has chicken pox and isn’t doing super well. We felt it would be better he was there to keep an eye on her,” Estelle explains with a shaky voice, still harshly scrubbing her hands to the point it must hurt. “I’ve done everything I can, but he has lost too much blood. He isn’t healing because his familiar isn’t close—or something worse than that. I just know something is stopping me from helping him.”

  I rush over and turn the water off, seeing her hands are clear anyway. I grab a few towels and start wiping her shaky hands until they are dry. “What should we do next, doctor?”

  “He doesn’t have any family, no one to call to be here with him except his boss, who is sitting outside and doesn’t want to come in,” she whispers. “But we can be here. Why don’t you clean him up the best you can, Anastasia, and I will tell Hugh the outcome before coming back. I need a minute.”

  “Then you take a minute, I got this,” I say, already filling a bowl up with warm water. Estelle pats my arm softly before she walks out. I rip open a new sponge and head over to the table. I first gently wash the blood from Keelan’s cheek, brushing his blond hair away from his forehead. I start cleaning his chest, carefully going around the wires pressed to him to track his heartbeat, which is steady for the moment. After I’m done, I cover him up with a white sheet, leaving the top of it just under his neck, when he pops his eyes open. The sponge drops from my hand onto the floor as Keelan turns his head, looking directly at me.

  “M-my w-ol-f is n-ot Shadow!” he pleads, and then his eyes fade as the heartbeat machine starts heavily beating and then goes flat. The room seems to explode around me as I try to process that I’ve just watched a man die, and his last words were something do with Shadow.

  Did the person who did this think his wolf was my Shadow?

  Does that mean they want Shadow for some reason? Without any logic, I push past Hugh and Mason who are trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear them. I rush outside, coming to a stop right in front of Shadow. I rest my forehead against his, and the world seems to come back into focus once again.

  “Ana, are you okay?” Liam asks me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

  “She clearly isn’t,” Alex drawls, and he must have run out after me. “Seeing someone die isn’t fun.”

  “I’m fine. I just need a minute,” I say, trying to calm myself down, and the guys let me.

  “You should take her home,” Mason says to Liam or Alex, which one I’m not sure. “There isn’t anything to be done here.”

  “Yeah, on it,” Liam replies, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me to the car. Shadow stays close, and I know he will do all the way home. I do my seatbelt up with shaky hands as Liam gets in the Jeep and starts it up. “Ana, did Keelan wake up or saying anything before he died? It could be important.”

  I look at Liam, the words feeling lost on my tongue. As Shadow howls in the distance, I feel like that’s a sign if nothing else is.

  Turning away, I stare at my reflection in the window. A reflection full of secrets. “He never woke up.”

  “Alright, that’s a shame. We all want answers, and I don’t know how we are going to get them anymore,” he tells me just as I see someone in the trees. The figure isn’t hidden at all, the moonlight illuminating his cloaked appearance like an old memory.

  “Stop the car!” I shout, and Liam does, braking harshly which jolts me. I crawl out of the Jeep, rushing down the road, hearing Liam right behind me. When I get to the trees where the moonlight shines down between them, there is no one here. Shadow runs to my side, and I search around, seeing no one as Liam gets to me.

  “What is it?” Liam demands.

  “I thought I saw someone, but there is no one here. I must be going mad.” I sigh, still searching the empty trees.

  “Not mad, just stressed and tired. Let’s go home, Ana,” he suggests, holding a hand out for me. I take his hand, letting Liam comfort me when I truly know it’s not my imagination.

  Someone is out there, and he is following me.

  And I want to know why.

  My slippers go “Quack Quack”. Faceplant.

  My hands are shaking as I stare at them, the pale skin only visible in parts under the thick blood that completely covers them and me. It drips from my hands onto the white tiles below me, every single drop I count.

  “I will find you,” a voice cuts into my counting, and I frown, remembering the voice somehow. I’ve never actually forgotten it, but I don’t know who it is. “You belong to me. You always have done and you forever will. Forever, Anastasia Noble. Forever. Forever.” I scream as the word forever is roared in my mind like a desperate plea, and the voice sounds anything but human.

  It sounds like a wolf.

  “Hey, hey, come on, I’m here,” a soft voice murmurs, and hands gently hold me to someone, pulling me out of the terrifying dream. I gasp, looking up and clashing with the soft pale celadon green eyes, so clear that they bring some clarity to the situation.

  For one, I’m in bed with Mason. His white hair is down and mixing with my own hair as we are so close. On the side of his head that is shaved, I finally notice some kind of pattern just under his hair. I wonder what it is, but right now, I’m focused on the fact Mason is in my bed. “You had a bad dream, and you were screaming. I couldn’t sleep, and I heard you when I went to get a drink. Are you okay? I worried I couldn’t wake you for a moment.”

  “I keep having bad dreams, it’s nothing,” I mutter.

  “When did they start?” he asks me, climbing off the bed, and I can’t help but notice that his thin white shirt and cross patterned pyjama bottoms do little to hide his ridiculously sexy body. I swear all the guys in this house have jumped out of a sexy guy magazine to torment my hormones. Until I see proof otherwise, I am certain of it. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I might be able to help, even if you don’t want to talk about it. Come up to my room, will you?”

  “I think I should just go back to sleep,” I gently reply. For some reason, I just want to cry and run away from this place, from the world. I don’t understand the dreams or what Shadow and I have to do with the missing wolves.

  I don’t understand any of it.

  “If that’s what you want, sure. I will wait for you in my room in case you change your mind,” he replies, leaving the door slightly open as he walks out. I lie back down in bed, trying to will my hormones to stop suggesting that I need to run my ass up the stairs to Mason’s room so I can get some sleep.

  But of course, that doesn’t happen. Between the nightmare and Mason’s invite, I know I’m not going to get back to sleep until I know what he wants to show me. I crawl out of bed, tugging on my purple dressing down, tying it up and slipping my duck covered slippers on. Totally sexy, Ana.

  I walk out my room, softly closing the door behind me before heading up the stairs to Mason’s room. He has left the door open for me, and I head inside, pulling the door shut behind me. Mason is sitting on his bed, a chessboard open on it with all the pieces positioned in such a way as to suggest he has been playing on his own.

  “Do you play chess then?” I ask and realise how silly that question is when he lifts his head and smirks at me, looking very amused.

  “Do you want me to answer that?” he asks, and I shake my head, both of us laughing. I walk over and hover near the bed before he pats the spot next to him. “Sit down. Want to play?”

  “Is chess good for nightmares?” I ask.

  “No, but I could use a gaming buddy. Can you play?”
he questions.

  “Yes. My foster Grandmother Pops taught us, along with many other board games. Secretly I loved chess the most as it takes ages to play and tests you. Plus, there are a million ways to win,” I answer.

  “Actually there are one hundred twenty-one million ways to play after three moves,” he tells me, and my eyes widen. “Don’t even ask me why I googled that years ago, but it stuck. Chess is my favourite too.”

  “Let’s play then,” I say with a big smile, and he moves the board so it’s in the middle of us. I cross my legs and look to see who should play first. “Who should go first?”

  “Ladies first, of course,” he suggests, and I grin. I move a pawn, and he goes next, moving his on the other side of the board. We effortlessly play, neither of us saying much as we focus on the game, and I realise Mason is very good. Maybe as good as Grandma Pops who always beat me.

  “Which is your favourite character?” Mason asks as he moves his queen. One more move and his queen will take my king. Checkmate. I search the board for a way out, and I know I’m trapped.

  “The knight. He is undervalued and overshadowed by the queen and king. I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved the underdog of the game,” I answer, and he watches me with an amused expression. “What about you?” I ask as I make a move, knowing I’m giving him the chance to win. He picks up his queen and moves her into position. “I like the queen. In the game, and usually in life, the woman has the most power. Just in this game, everyone knows it.”

  “You win,” I reply with a smile. “What happened to letting ladies win?”

  “I don’t know about that, and I’m a sucker for losing anything,” he chuckles. “I feel like I’m losing at a lot of shit in my life at the moment though.”

  “What do you mean?” I question, a bit confused.

  “Nothing.” He closes himself off to me almost instantly, climbing off the bed. I turn around as Mason goes into his walk-in closet. I walk to the balcony, looking out over the dark forest. The moonlight seems to hover over the trees, bouncing off the branches until the trees themselves look silver. As I watch, it starts to snow. Gently at first, but then the snow falls like a blanket, spinning through the trees until it lands. It’s like a carpet of white snow has been thrown on the world, and we are here to just watch.