Chapter 70

Matt

The clamor and chaos of the party had faded into a dull buzz in the back of my mind as I tried to process my conversation with Celeste. Her unexpected advance had shaken me, her lips so close to mine, the dim moonlight casting shadows over her confused, vulnerable eyes.

I always did find Celeste to be pretty. Under other circumstances, maybe I wouldn’t have refused the kiss.

Her scent still lingered around me, a mix of wildflowers and vanilla that seemed so different from the pine and earth of the woods surrounding the party. It was almost intoxicating.

Just moments before, she had been so close, the contours of her body pressed against mine as we hid in the shadows. My heart raced at the memory. Those eyes, those lips...

God, this shouldn't have happened. Celeste was Jack’s little sister, for crying out loud. She was strictly off-limits, an unspoken rule between friends. How had we even ended up in such a situation?

But then, more importantly, there was Rose. My Rose. The idea that I had allowed another woman to get so close, to almost kiss me, while I was with her... The guilt weighed me down. I needed to shake it off.

And yet, as I tried to clear my thoughts, a wild idea took root. Could Celeste possibly be Rose behind the mask?

They both had that same curvy frame, those same wide eyes. Maybe that was why Celeste’s curves felt so familiar. But it was an outlandish thought.

Rose had a fiery spirit and an exotic style that Celeste didn’t seem to possess. They moved differently, talked differently... No, it was ludicrous.

I shook my head, trying to chase away these spiraling thoughts.

“Get it together, Matt,” I muttered under my breath.

I cast a glance around, noting the flickering bonfire and groups of people chatting, laughing, enjoying the night. But Rose was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her in a while. She had mentioned something about a call she had to make, but that seemed like ages ago.

An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach.

I had to find her. If she somehow found out about my near slip with Celeste, I’d want to be the one to explain. Though, really, what was there to explain? Nothing happened. Celeste had caught me off guard, and I had pulled away. Right?

Pushing through the crowd, I made my way toward the edge of the clearing, near the dense woods where Rose had said she’d take her call.

The night air grew cooler as the sounds of the party dimmed. I called out softly, “Rose? You there?”

No answer. My apprehension grew. The path before me was illuminated only by the moon’s silvery glow, casting long, shifting shadows on the ground. I continued on, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

It wasn’t like Rose to be gone for so long, especially without a word. We were in this strange and uncertain world together, and she had been my rock, my anchor. The idea that something might have happened to her made my stomach churn.

“Rose?” I called out again, louder this time. “Where are you?”

The silence was deafening. Celeste, the party, everything seemed a world away now. All that mattered was finding Rose.

As I pushed further into the woods, every rustle, every whispered breeze had me on edge. The weight of the night pressed on me, and I was painfully aware of how alone I felt.

And then, piercing the silence, came Celeste’s scream.

“Wolf! There’s a huge wolf by the cabins!”

The sudden shift in atmosphere was palpable. Elation turned to panic, music to terrified screams. And amidst it all, I desperately sought one face. Or rather, one mask. Rose.

I pushed past party-goers, my eyes scanning for her familiar form, my heart pounding with dread. But Rose was nowhere to be found.

The world seemed to still for a moment when my gaze settled on a particular spot on the ground. There, lying amid the crushed grass, was Rose’s mask, its sleek black form contrasting sharply with the pale moonlight.

I rushed over, picking it up, the cool touch of the mask acting as a grim reminder of the gravity of the situation.

“Rose?” I called out, my voice shaky, yet desperate. “Rose, where are you?”

I heard a shuffle beside me and turned, hoping to see Rose—but it was Enzo and Nina, both with expressions of concern etched on their faces. Enzo, in particular, had an edge to his eyes, a hardness that I hadn’t seen in a while.

“We need to find that rogue,” Enzo murmured, his gaze darting around.

Nina nodded in agreement. “Before it causes more havoc.”

I clutched the mask tighter. “I need to find someone first. She... she might be in danger.”

Enzo placed a hand on my shoulder, his grip firm. “Matt, if the wolf got to her, there’d be evidence. But she probably fled with the others. Let’s subdue the rogue first.”

There wasn’t much of a choice. Nodding, I pocketed the mask and followed them as we cautiously made our way toward the cabins, away from the pandemonium of the party.

The trees loomed tall, their shadows cast longer and deeper as we ventured further into the woods. The only sound was the soft crunch of leaves beneath our shoes and the distant hum of panic from the party. I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease, the gnawing worry about ‘Rose’ in my gut.

It wasn’t long before we spotted the rogue. It was massive, bigger than any rogue I’d ever seen. Its fur was jet-black, eyes red and glowing, pacing restlessly near the treeline, snarling menacingly.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

Nina stepped forward, holding a syringe filled with a translucent liquid—the antidote. “We need to get close. Enzo, you know what to do.”

Enzo nodded, taking a deep breath as he began to move silently toward the creature, flanking it from the left. The wolf, sensing a presence, growled louder, but Enzo’s steady approach seemed to confuse it.

Seizing the moment, Nina lunged, plunging the syringe into the rogue’s flank. The creature let out a pained howl, turning to face its attacker, but its movements grew sluggish, its eyes less fiery.

Within moments, the colossal beast was no more; now, a single young woman lay on the ground, still as can be.

“Let’s move,” Enzo said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “We need to get her out of here before someone sees.”

“The infirmary,” Nina said. “I think it’s about time we question some of these people. See if they remember anything.”

Enzo nodded. But with the rogue taken care of, my mind was already racing back to Rose. I needed to check on her, to make sure that she was okay. To make sure that this mask I found… that it was just discarded on accident, and not out of fear or something else.

I quickly typed out a message. “Hey, Rose, it’s Matt. Are you okay? I found your mask.”

Moments turned to minutes, and there was no response.

The silence of the phone seemed to amplify my worry. What if she was hurt? What if the rogue had attacked her?

But then I remembered the lack of blood, the untouched mask, and hoped that she had just run away. Maybe she was scared, shaken by the sudden chaos.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. The night had taken an unexpected turn, unraveling into a cascade of unforeseen events.

And at the center of it all was the mysterious Rose, whose absence left me more confused and concerned than I would have ever admitted.

But it wasn’t just her in my mind. There was someone else there in my memories, close by, her mismatched eyes like a beacon in the night.

Celeste.

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10 chaps for this week have been released. Happy reading!