Something Amiss (1)
1157 Words
Jacob POV
I lied.
I knew Zahraa’s file existed – Rowan was just like that. He had all kinds of organization and files, all kinds of systems. He had extensive files on all of the wards – we saw many of them during the interviews but never the complete versions.
I didn’t have the file.
I hadn’t even asked Rowan about the file – I had been too busy taking my anger out on her attackers. But I had a date with Zahraa tonight at 7pm to comb through them at a fancy restaurant, and I couldn’t disappoint her.
Not again.
So, I asked Rowan for a meeting, and he said I could join him for lunch in his office.
That was one hurdle down.
But today was odd.
My schedule was pretty concrete. At 6am, I woke up and ate breakfast – usually something light, like fruit, because I didn’t want anything heavy on my stomach before training. By 7am, I was already at the training grounds, warmed up and ready to lead my section.
I trained younger teen gammas that would work for the high alpha. Teens were the worst class to train because they were still at the age where they needed it to be fun and engaging, yet they were close enough to me in age that they really tried to push the bounds of my authority.
Case in point: today, only half of them showed up.
So, I made a game out of it.
“You have 20 minutes to choose a partner and warm yourselves up,” I declared loudly over the chatter. “Then, we’re going on a hunt.”
They cheered, and I walked among the pairs offering criticisms here and there. Get deeper into that stretch. Straighten your back. I can clearly see that you two are just sitting on the grass and chatting, so how about you do some push-ups?
When twenty minutes had passed, I sicced them on the absent members of our training group. “Your instructions are to run every step of the way – and have everyone back here by 8am.”
There was some groaning, sure, but they took off, and I got an easy day of solo training.
But 8am rolled around and every single attendee returned – with none of the absent members in tow.
“Where are they?” I growled, irritated that their insubordination knew no bounds.
Janis, the daughter of our current head gamma, stepped forward. “We couldn’t find any sign of any of them,” she was breathing hard, as if she had run the entire hour. “There’s no one at their houses, there’s no scent trail, nothing.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “I expect a certain degree of silliness out of this class, but I expected better out of you, Janis,” I sighed. “Alright – I want you doing the gladiator set until 8:30. Let’s go.”
The gladiator set was brutal – burpees, mountain climbers, lunge jumps, etc – and thirty minutes of it left the wolves glistening with sweat. They looked like a stiff breeze could knock them over when I got in front of them again, my own muscles burning from running the punishment with them. “Alright. Remember to drink a lot of water today – we had a great workout. And if any of you see the knuckleheads that skipped on training today, send them to my office.”
There was a muttering of ‘yes, sir’s as the group dispersed, leaving only Janis behind.
I noticed her as I was using my towel to sop up some sweat, and putting my shirt back on. “Can I help you?” I asked, a chill in my voice.
“I wasn’t lying, Jacob,” Janis said. She, like her father, had a very strong will, and nothing in her tone left room for me to doubt her. “I’m worried. Annabel skipped, and Bel never skips.”
Annabel was Janis’s girlfriend, from what I could tell. Either that, or they were remarkably and intimately close for friends. And Janis had a point – Annabel never missed a day of training. She was just as gung-ho and in the middle of things as Janis was.
I sighed. “What do you want me to believe, Janis?” I asked, “That half your class just up and vanished overnight?”
Janis held my stare. “I don’t know,” she admitted, “But I think it warrants looking into.”
I maintained eye contact a while longer, before I stuffed my towel in my bag, zipped and shouldered it. “Fine,” I conceded. “It is weird. I’ll take note of the absent wolves and contact their parents. In the meantime, if Annabel shows up, send her my way.”
“Yes, sir,” Janis relaxed a little and jogged off to catch the rest of her retreating classmates. How she had the energy to jog after an hour of running and 3 iterations of the gladiator set, I’ll never know.
After training, I went back to the pack house, showered, ate something a little heartier – this morning it was a bacon egg sandwich prepared by the omega that served my floor, Miss Chamis – and was in my office by 9:30. It was late for me, considering.
I expected to receive a line of pack mates here to protest Zahraa, but there was no one. I unlocked my office with a huff of relief, sure I was going to get a trickle of them throughout the day.
By 9:45, I was wondering if something was amiss. Everything on my desk was just as I’d left it; it was a little disorganized, but all there. I’d been working on a draft of a proposal father wanted me to write. It was important, as it would be presented to the Alpha Council, a small group of elite alphas from across the country, that governed all packs.
I continued checking my office for tampering, and when I found no evidence that anyone else had been here, I settled back in my seat and searched my memory. It all came back to my schedule.
6am – wake up, light snack, head to training to be warmed up by 7.
7am – train the teens for an hour.
8am – get home, eat a real breakfast with a protein shake, go to work.
9am – get to work, Lara brings coffee…
Lara.
Anytime I’d ever been late, Lara had linked me asking about my coffee, but she hadn’t today.
I reached out to her via link, and found silence where I usually found sarcasm. I closed my eyes and searched the cords upon cords of links that we had to each and every pack member of the Wilds Fangs pack.
I found nothing.
Lara was gone.
- Writer
