Chapter 47

Matt

I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong, that I'd made a mistake somehow.

The mystery girl’s sudden change of mood had caught me off guard, and her silence during the drive back to town had been deafening. It was as if she had suddenly retreated into herself, and I was left trying to figure out what had happened.

“Do you live in the dorms?” I asked her, my voice filled with concern. Her refusal to share her address with me had only added to my anxiety. It was late, and it wasn’t safe for her to be walking alone at night.

She shook her head, her face impassive. “I won’t share my address. Just drop me off on campus. I’ll be fine.”

I frowned, not liking the idea at all. “If you don’t live on campus, it’s not safe for you to be walking alone. Let me drive you home.”

“I’ll be fine, Matt,” she insisted, her voice cold and distant. “Just drop me off on campus. Please.”

I wanted to argue, to insist on making sure she was safe, but something in her eyes told me not to push. I could see the determination, the resolve. She wasn’t going to budge.

“Okay,” I said, my voice filled with reluctance. “If you say so.”

I pulled up to the campus entrance and put the car in park, my heart heavy. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, to find out what had happened to cause her to pull away from me, but I knew that now was not the time.

“Take care of yourself,” I said, my voice filled with emotion.

She nodded and stepped out of the car, her face unreadable. But then, just as she went to shut the door, I remembered something.

“Wait!” I called out, rolling down the window. Rose turned, her eyes filled with confusion as I fished the necklace out of my pocket. At that moment, I almost considered keeping it—a guarantee of another date. But I held it out to her with a smile. “Almost forgot this.”

Rose took the necklace gingerly, her eyes flashing with appreciation.

“Thank you, Matt,” she murmured.

As I watched her walk away, I felt a mix of frustration and concern over how the night had ended. What had I done wrong? What had happened to cause her to shut down like that?

Just then, the pulsing red light of missed calls on my phone caught my attention and filled me with dread upon seeing that it had been Enzo, the leader of our de facto pack.

My heart was still caught in the heady aftermath of the night with Rose, but Enzo’s numerous attempts to reach me signaled something urgent. He rarely called this late, and when he did, it was on pack business. With my hands shaking, I called him back.

“Where the hell have you been?” Enzo’s voice was edged with anger, but his underlying concern was what made me sit up straighter in my car.

“I was busy,” I replied, my voice failing to hide my apprehension. “What’s up?”

“There’s a rogue lurking around campus,” he said curtly. “We need to find it. Now.”

The urgency in his voice brought me back to reality. This was serious. The rogue could be dangerous.

“Where are you?” I asked, starting the car once again.

“North side of the forest. Hurry, Matt,” he replied, his voice filled with tension.

As I sped towards the location, my mind was a whirl of thoughts, the images of Rose’s masked face mingling with the wild, unpredictable nature of a rogue wolf.

Upon reaching the meeting point, I found Enzo and Nina pacing, their faces twisted in anxiety. Without wasting time, all three of us shifted into our wolf forms, our enhanced senses now attuned to the rogue’s scent.

“We need to find it before it reaches the town,” Nina communicated through our Mindlink.

“I know,” I replied, my mind solely focused on the hunt.

We set off, our paws pounding against the earth as we followed the rogue’s faint trail. The scent was elusive, a ghostly fragrance carried by the wind, but it was enough. We were trained for this, ready to handle anything.

The forest around us was a blur as we ran, our powerful wolf bodies moving with grace and speed. The rogue’s scent was getting stronger, more distinct. It was close.

“There!” Enzo’s mental shout pierced my concentration. Ahead of us, the rogue’s form was faintly visible, its erratic movement betraying its confusion and fear.

We picked up speed, our bodies a symphony of power and determination. The rogue sensed us and started to run, its terror fueling its speed. But we were faster, more relentless.

The chase was on.

We weaved through the trees, our breath in sync with each other as we closed in on the rogue. It zigzagged, trying to lose us, but we were unyielding. Every turn it took, we matched. Every leap, every desperate attempt to evade us, we countered.

Finally, we were upon it.

With a coordinated leap, Enzo, Nina and I cornered the rogue, our snarls filling the night air. Its wild eyes met ours, and in that moment, I saw its fear, its vulnerability. But we had a job to do.

Enzo and I circled the rogue while Nina shifted back into her human form. She was holding a syringe, filled with the antidote she had made back when the Crescents were attacking our town.

The rogue’s eyes widened, its body tensed, ready to fight or flee. For a moment, I almost wondered if it recognized her and her antidote with its distinctive blue color, but I knew that rogues hardly had more mental capacity than that of a regular dog.

The rogue snarled. But Nina continued to approach, a reassuring presence, communicating calmness. “Shh,” she said, creeping closer while Enzo and I continued to circle the rogue, keeping it from escaping. “It’s alright. I’m helping you.”

For a moment, the rogue paused and cocked its head, intrigued by Nina’s calming voice.

And then, with a swift motion punctuated by the motion of her two braids flying through the air, she injected the rogue. It let out a yelp, but its body quickly succumbed to shuddering as the antidote took effect. It collapsed, its transformation back to human form a testament to our success.

We watched as the rogue’s human features emerged, his eyes closed and his face peaceful. Enzo and I exchanged a look of satisfaction, our mission accomplished, before we shifted back.

All three of us stared down at the rogue, taking in his features.

“A freshman, from the looks of it,” Nina said, crouching down to check the boy for injuries.

“There’s been an uptick in cases lately, hasn’t there?” Enzo asked.

Nina nodded. “We should keep an eye out. I wonder if the Crescents are up to something again.”

With the freshman’s disease cured, we carried him to the infirmary. In the morning, he would wake up and think that he fell and hit his head. He wouldn’t remember anything about being bitten and turned into a rogue, and we preferred to keep it that way.

But as I made my way home that night, my mind wasn’t on the rogue. My thoughts continually drifted to Rose, my heart still entangled with the night’s magic. I felt like an idiot for letting her walk home alone when it was so dangerous out there, and hoped she made it alright.

…

Thankfully, the next morning, my prayers were answered—because I awoke to a text with her name on it.

“Hey,” it said. “Sorry about last night… But I’d like to see you again. Care for a second date?”