Page 26

Selene

M y eyes crack open, squinting as the sun blasts into them.

What time is it? Reaching around my bed, I attempt and fail to find my cell phone.

I know I didn’t set an alarm, thank the Goddess, because I would probably throw my phone if it rang right now.

Between the pounding migraine and the magical hangover, I feel like I danced with Death last night and failed to keep up.

Lifting my sore body out of my casket, I mean bed, I rub my eyes trying to remember anything from last night. It’s all a blur of flames, fabric, and drum beats.

Except, I remember him.

My hands slam down onto the comforter as my head whips from side to side.

I’ve got to find my cell phone. Searching all over my bed, under my blankets and pillow, it’s clearly not here.

Panic sets in until I remember that I didn’t bring it with me and I left it on the nightstand, which is exactly where it’s sitting.

When I tap the screen bringing it to life, I see that I’m not the only one with questions. Odes has already called me three times and sent a dozen messages. Fuck, why can’t I even remember coming home last night. It’s so hazy.

Clicking her contact, the phone rings only one time before she’s answering.

“Girl, you gave me a heart attack. You just disappeared last night and I searched everywhere for you. If it wasn’t for your parents telling me you were alive and in bed, I might have started a whole ass search party last night.” She is damn near screaming in my ear.

I wince, holding my hand against my temple. “Shhhh, you’re killing me here. I feel like I might have been hit with a fallen tree between the sore body and this migraine. Is this what a magical hangover feels like, because if so, I don’t want to do it again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t feel like shit this morning?”

“Uh, no?”

“Oh, good. It’s just me then. I was going to call you this morning anyways. I need to talk to you about last night. Wanna come over?”

She hums into the phone. “Yeah, like telling me all about the mystery guy you danced with all night before disappearing?”

“That would be the one.”

“On my way.” She doesn’t even wait before hanging up the phone.

My phone drops onto my comforter as I rub my face.

Those eyes, crystalline blue and staring at me, appear behind my closed eyes.

The same eyes I saw through the wolf mask.

His gravelly voice that’s been haunting my dreams is the same one that whispered in my ear last night.

I know it’s him and now I know he’s part of our pack. How have I never seen him before?

It doesn’t take long for Odes’ voice to travel through the house as she greets Mom and Dad in the kitchen. Their muffled words travel down the hallway to my room. I don’t even bother trying to determine what they are saying, just plopping back down onto my four fluffy pillows instead.

I’m staring at the ceiling when my door cracks open and she shuffles in before closing it behind her. She’s quiet as she walks over to my bed and plops down on it.

“How’s my sly, not so shy, bestie doing today? Regretting our last night's decisions, hmm?”

My head barely lifts off the pillow as I cut my eyes to her. “I regret nothing.” Then my head slams down again, the migraine aching even more from the movement. My hands cup both sides of my forehead as I shield my eyes from the blaring sun coming through my bedroom window.

“Odes, why do I feel like shit and you’re fine? I think I want to start there before we dive into who that was.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I got nothing. Do you even remember coming home?”

Wincing, I shake my head.

“Weird. I remember the sun rising and the elders coming back to pour water over the bonfire. Then I searched for you before coming home. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“ Him .”

“Do we know who this ‘ him’ is? I mean besides the fact that we have masks, it’s not hard to figure out who everyone is, right?”

Sighing, I continue to rub my temples. Trying and failing to conjure more details from last night. It’s as though my brain is intentionally blocking what happened, or someone is. The same someone who clearly isn’t going to speak up this morning. Internally, I’m glaring at her and she knows it.

“That’s the problem. I don’t know who it is. What I do know? That is the same wolf that’s been haunting my dreams.”

She crawls up the bed until she is hovering over me. “What do you mean by haunting your dreams? You’ve been holding out on me?”

I cover my face with my hands, my cheeks warming with embarrassment.

“Yeah. It’s weird, you know? I’ve been having dreams about a shadowed figure with these piercing crystalline blue eyes and no matter how hard I chase after him, I can’t catch him.

Then gifts started showing up, all with meanings and reasons. Like clues to figure out who it is.”

“What have you done with said items?”

My hand plops down as I point to my desk on the opposite wall. Scattered on top of it are my two cameras, film rolls, polaroids, and every single piece he’s left me up to this point. She pushes off the bed and walks over to my desk. Picking up the twine and rolling it between her fingers.

“Isn’t this the twine from the booth?”

I nod my head as I push to sit up in bed. The comforter falls to my lap as I watch her examine each item.

“He left the twine and a box of film for my polaroid camera on the counter of Flash Me Studio with a note to Lou to give them to me. The twine had a note tied to it.” I point to where it’s sitting on the desk.

She looks between my finger and where I’m pointing. Picking up the piece of paper and reading the words written on it.

“Alright, it’s creepy and hella cool at the same time. So clearly this guy knows you well enough to know the things that you need and when you’ll need them?” she murmurs while reading the note that was left with the film. “What else did he leave?”

We go over each item as she gives her thoughts on them and I share my own. She is holding the sage stick between her fingers, twisting it around when she looks up to me.

“Do you think that he’s your mate by chance? Like maybe he knows and he’s waiting for you to find out? Can that be the reason for all the mystery? Surely, at least hopefully, it’s not some weirdo? What did he say last night when he found you at the party?”

I duck my head, too embarrassed to say out loud what I thought about last night. She scrambles over to the bed, plopping down in front of me.

“Oh, did someone have some naughty thoughts last night? Because if so, now I have to know. You’ve never even found a single guy attractive, let alone, someone you had thoughts about. Spill the tea.”

“Listen, nothing happened. There’s nothing to tell.”

“Liar,” she squeals as she throws one of my teddy bears at me.

“Fine…but don’t laugh.”

She makes the crossing motion over her heart, before pretending to zip her lips.

“When he walked up, I was watching you dance. I didn’t even hear him, Odes, until he whispered in my ear ‘Tell me little one, why aren’t you dancing like the others?

’ I knew right then that he was the man from my dreams. That voice has been haunting me every night.

I could easily find it with my eyes closed.

When I turned around—” I throw the comforter back, padding over to my desk to find the photo of Shadow.

Holding it up in the air between us, I point to his face.

“I found a guy wearing a mask that looked exactly like my wolf from the valley. Coincidence? Maybe. Could they know I talked to this wolf and wanted to show that they know me?” I pace the floor by the end of my bed as she follows me with her eyes.

“Or…or is it the wolf from the valley?” she quietly says as if she can hear the thought running through my mind.

“Or it’s the wolf from the valley and he’s been following me.”

“Okay, but what else happened because you were with him all night, right?”

I nod my head as I continue to pace.“Yeah, well I didn’t fully let Sora take over.

I don’t know why but I was determined to see what Bestiare was all about.

I might have messed it up. Sora was baring her neck to him, and I sort of refused to belly up that easily.

I mean come on hussy, one man shows her attention and she is rolling over? ”

Odessa snorts. “Can’t be having that now, can we?”

“No, we danced for hours, lost in the magic until all of a sudden he stepped back. Claiming he had to go. Then he just left, as in like the shadows of my dreams, he was gone. I don’t really remember anything from that.

I definitely don’t remember coming home, going to bed, nothing.

The next thing I remember is waking this morning feeling like I danced with Death and lost.”

She hmms as she scratches her head. “Did he leave you something this time?”

I stop abruptly and turn to her. “I don’t think so. Wouldn’t I have seen it?”

Her shoulders shrug. “You don’t even remember coming home so it would have been easy to have missed something. Wait…” She launches off the bed, searching for something.

She finds my dress in a heap on the floor and I wince. Could have at least hung that up, it’s too beautiful to be on the floor. She pulls the dress up into the air in front of her, running her hands down both sides, like something might pop out.

Rushing over to my bed, she throws it down on the bed and one side falls faster than the other.

“Bingo,” she whispers as she quickly searches that side of it.

Her eyes light up when she finds whatever it is. A leather thong is pulled from the right pocket of my dress and I don’t ever remember something going into that pocket. When did he have time to do that?

She flips it over and there is a compass on the other side. She rushes over to me.

“There’s something written on the back,” she whispers in excitement.

Grabbing it from between her fingers, my hands tremble as I bring it closer to me. There’s a stunning antique compass on the front, the spindle moving as I shift it around. Fumbling to flip it over, I read the words engraved on the back of the leather.

You know where to find me.

The infinity symbol is engraved above the words with the maker's stamp on the bottom.

I recognize the symbol…a bear in front of mountains.

The same bear that was next to me yesterday…Thorne.

My eyes widen as I look up at Odessa. Her face is scrunched in confusion.

“I know who made this,” I whisper. Thorne, the black bear shifter next to me during the vendor show. I know this is his maker stamp, surely he would know who bought it right?