Chapter 41 - Where’s she?

Jude

I jogged out of the locker room after taking a quick shower, my hair still damp and my body buzzing with adrenaline and anticipation. I couldn’t wait to see Rosie, to hold her, to finally have her all to myself after watching her cheer for me, after seeing her she looked satisfied when Josh was wheeled out and grinned at me.

Mine. She was mine.

I dropped the white towel I’d used to dry my hair on the bench outside the locker room, scanning the area with a grin already forming on my face. Any second now I’d see her standing there waiting for me, probably blushing and clutching my jersey to her chest.

But when I looked around, I found nothing.

The space where she should have been was empty.

She was supposed to be here. Rosie wouldn’t have gone back inside, right? Maybe she got cold waiting and went to Maya’s car?

Was that possible?

I raised my head and sniffed the air, searching for her scent. I caught it—vanilla and something uniquely hers—but it was faint which showed she’d been here but left a while ago.

Has she left already?

Maybe she went home and was waiting for me there. I could feel a smile tugging at my lips as I imagined what she might have planned. I wouldn’t mind whatever it was, but I really wanted to show her my wolf tonight. I wanted to finally tell her the truth about what I was, what we were to each other.

I removed my phone from the armband strapped to my bicep and speed-dialed her number.

The first ring echoed in the quiet parking lot, then I heard her ringing tone.

I walked toward where the noise was coming from, following the sound, and my heart started to pound for entirely different reasons than before.

I saw her phone on the ground, screen lit up with my name flashing across it. One of her slippers lay a few feet away. Her scarf—the one I’d watched her wrap around her neck earlier—was discarded on the cold pavement.

But there was no sight of her.

“Rosie?” I called softly, my voice cracking on her name.

I could already feel my heart beating tremendously, slamming against my ribs so hard it hurt. I didn’t want to believe whatever my head was trying to tell me.

That couldn’t happen right?

I grabbed her scarf with shaking hands and brought it to my nose, inhaling deeply. Her scent hit me tinged with distress and fear and an unfamiliar awful chemical smell that made my stomach coil with dread.

MATE. FIND MATE.

My wolf, who had been silent and satisfied after beating Josh, suddenly roared to life inside me. The force of it made my head feel like it wanted to split open. My fangs ached, pushing against my gums, my nails elongating.

I didn’t even think about the fact that I was outside where both humans and wolves could see me, where I could be caught mid-shift. I didn’t care about exposure or consequences or anything else.

My mate had been taken.

Nothing else mattered.

A loud howl tore from my throat before I could stop it, ringing through the night air—raw and anguished and full of rage and grief and desperate panic. The sound echoed off the buildings, primal and terrifying.

She’s gone. Someone took her. Find her. FIND HER.

My heart was pounding with panic, blood raging through my veins and anxiety rushed over me in waves.

Maya, Coach, and River came rushing out of the arena, their faces pale with alarm from the howl earlier. Maya’s hands flew to her mouth when she saw me standing there, halfway shifted, holding Rosie’s scarf. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“What’s wrong?” Maya’s voice was shaking. “Jude, what happened?” her brow furrowed in worry.

“My mate...” The words came out strangled. “She’s been taken.”

Coach’s eyes went wide, Maya used her hands to cover her mouth while River stood still.

I jumped to my feet and ran toward the clinic where I knew Josh had been wheeled after I broke his bone. My mind was a mess of fury and fear, wolf and human both screaming for blood and reasons.

I burst through the clinic doors, ignoring the startled nurse who tried to stop me. I could smell him—that inferior wolf scent that made my skin crawl. I followed it down the hallway and kicked open the door to his room.

Josh was lying in the hospital bed, his leg strapped up and his shoulder bandaged. When he saw me, his eyes went wide with fear.

“What are you doing?” Josh asked, trying to sit up, trying to look brave even though I could smell his terror.

I crossed the room in three strides and grabbed his jaw, my fingers digging into his skin hard enough to bruise. My claws pricked against his throat. “Where is she?” I snarled, and my voice came out more wolf than human.

“Where’s who?” He asked his face scrunched in pain

I clenched my hands tighter on his jaw.

“Where’s my mate?” I roared, and he flinched.

“Man, I didn’t—I don’t know anything—”

He was unable to finish his sentence as I started pummeling Josh’s face through the red haze of rage consuming me. My fists connected with his nose, his cheek, his jaw, over and over. Blood splattered across the white hospital sheets.

Josh tried to shift into his wolf form, probably thinking he could fight back, could defend himself. His bones started to crack and his face began to elongate. But my wolf felt threatened and challenged by the partial shift.

Big mistake.

I grabbed his half-shifted jaw and forced it open, ignoring his screams and struggles. Then I reached into his mouth and yanked out his two developing fangs—ripped them straight from his gums with my bare hands.

Even for an alpha’s son, Josh was pathetic.

Blood poured from his mouth as he screamed, the sound garbled and wet. Removing a wolf’s fangs was the ultimate humiliation in our world—a mark of shame that would follow him forever. It meant he was less than omega, less than nothing.

I dropped the bloody fangs on the floor and leaned close to his ruined face. “If anything happens to her,” I whispered, my voice deadly calm despite the rage burning through me, “I will come back and finish what I started. I will rip out your throat and leave you bleeding in the snow. Do you understand me?”

Josh could only whimper, choking on his own blood.

I turned and walked out of the room, leaving him broken and bleeding. But it didn’t make me feel better. Didn’t ease the panic clawing at my chest.

Because Rosie was still gone. And every second I wasted was a second she was in danger.

I’m coming, sweetheart. I’m coming. Just hold on.