Wysteria

Chapter 25

:/ Yes I take forever to update, no I'm not dead, yes I am sorry! Let me know how you like this chapter, though, and keep a look out for more! Please don't forget to vote, comment and follow. I really appreciate it!

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I had taken dozens of calls, checked every single remote email I could remember, even read the ads in the newspaper. I had hope, so much hope that something would fall from the sky and lead me directly to Amaris, only to have it crushed again and again. How do you cope? How do you deal? When the girl you are destined to be with was taken so violently?

"Destiny is never set in stone." Mom had once warned me. It had been just weeks after we lost Dad. The loose, upturned soil overtop his grave hadn't even settled yet. "Destiny can change, Rhylan, like the tide. A push and a pull."

"But Dad wasn't supposed to die!"

I think back on that day, imagining that the sky is gray and weeps for our loss, like Mom does behind closed doors, but the sky was clear. Beautiful, even, with wispy clouds stirring into shades of blue. Even the stars came out that night.

"Everyone has a timeline, but it's never certain." She had wrapped her arms around me, holding tight against the soft winds that would knock us over if not for the headstone against my back. We were weak and fragile, broken on the inside. I was sure that we had fixed each other, our pack, since then, but now? Now I was certain that pain is temporary, but certain. I had let them walk onto my pack, had let them steal Amaris right from under my nose. They had burned houses down, killed, beaten, raped. And they took my mate as their prize.

So when Vizen held up that paper, that white, small, faded paper, I had practically jumped for joy. A location?! How lucky could we be?

'Not very,' I think.

"Let me see that," I say, crossing the office. The stack of papers I had given her were strewn across the room. The whole place has a tornado effect, with the couch covered in blankets and papers and the floor, even worse. I didn't pay it any mind, stepping on them in a hurry.

"Here," She mumbles, hands shaking. I take the paper from her gently, as if any harsh movement would break it. Or her.

"Why don't you sit down?" I say, reading over the words scribbled onto the paper. It's a bunch of numbers, which confuses me for a moment, until I recognize the pattern. Latitude and longitude. But how does Vizen know that? I guess it could be considered common knowledge, but from what I know, Amaris and Vizen were common pack members, not officials. They wouldn't have to know.

"I can't, I'm too excited!" She says, smiling widely. "We should go, and I could sneak in?"

"No," I shake my head, grabbing Vizen's arm as she springs up. "That's a terrible plan. Just, let me handle this, okay?"

"Okay," She says, deflating. I pat her arm and rush over to my desk chair. I pick up the phone and press the number '2', holding it close to my ear.

"Who are you calling?" She asks, taking a seat on my desk. I frown, but don't say anything, because Vizen and I have sort of grown close these pass couple of hours. Bonding over the shared loss of Amaris, over missing Jackson (though not in the same way), and lots of medical sheets. I actually like her company. She tries her best to distract me from my daydreams of Amaris, and in turn, I let her ramble about Jackson. I had never taken eight whole minutes to describe the texture of someone's hair, not even Amaris, but I think I will when I get her back.

"Alpha," I hear his voice call over the phone. In the background, car horns and loud voices carry over. I pull the phone away from my ear and press the speaker button. Vizen leans over excitedly, so I press my finger to my lips.