Big Bad Academy

It brings me back to when I was a kid, and life was simpler.

“So you played hide-and-seek, and what, she just vanished?”

“Like that,” I snap my fingers. “The third time, it was the same story. By then I was suspicious of the full moon. I wondered if these disappearances weren’t accidental. I mean, we’re shifters. Sometimes things happen. People want to leave the clan or they wander off to be alone and just never return. That’s not unheard of, but this...something about this just felt different.”

The third time was the worst.

“We’d already honed in on your books. Lily’s a big fan, and she read a passage to Gaston one day that made him question you as a writer.”

“What do you mean?” She bristles, but she has no need to. She’s a wonderful writer.

“Easy love. He just said you seemed to know about our pack specifically. There was something in one of the stories about some teen wolves who go off into the woods and build a tree fort by a waterfall.”

“Yes.”

“Gaston and I did that when we were kids,” I tell her. “We never told anyone.”

That’s probably one of the biggest reasons I think she’s my mate. Before I met her, I just thought she was a spy. Now that she’s here and we’re close together, it’s different. Now I want to worship the ground she walks on because her fierceness and bravery constantly astounds me.

One of her cats gives a little meow.

“Shhh, Maple,” she says. “Let him speak.”

“Anyway, the last time someone disappeared, it was near the old fort that Gaston and I had built. Almost right next to it, actually. The other wolves have seen the fort now, but no one knows that Gaston and I were the ones who built it.” Our scents have faded over the years and other animals – birds and squirrels, most likely – have spent time in it. No one could ever know that we were the boys in the woods causing mischief.

“Someone else vanished by the fort.”

“Leah.”

“You were friends.”

“She was like an aunt to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We found a page from one of your books at the fort there, along with a note that said, YOU’LL NEVER FIND THEM.”

Heather looks like she’s going to be sick.

“That’s ominous,” she finally manages to say.

“Putting it lightly.”

“Flynn,” she sits down on the bed, suddenly looking defeated. “I’m sorry if my books are partially responsible for this. I didn’t mean to give away secrets of how the pack runs. I didn’t know that the dreams were to lead me to you.”

It’s the closest I’ve gotten from her accepting me as her mate, so I’ll take it.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I feel like it is.” She shakes her head and just looks at her hands. “I mean, I thought I was doing something therapeutic, you know, and if I could make money off of my art, then that was even better. I had no idea that your pack was a real pack. I always suspected there was more out there than just humans, you know, everyone kind of has an idea that shifters exist, but...”

“But it wasn’t until now that it really seemed real.”

“Pretty much.”

“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her, but I don’t know if it’s a true promise or not.

Heather nods and stands up. She reaches for my hand and tugs me to my feet, and then the sweet little writer wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. Unlike our kisses over the weekend, this kiss isn’t passionate or arousing. It’s just sweet.