Page 63 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

Where was Channon?

The college was in an uproar, especially Phoenix House. Mrs. Adilla was racing up and down the hallways, a phone tucked under her ear, the walkie-talkie that was usually attached to her belt clutched in her hand.

Jack and I were with Bardoul who was almost catatonic, while the shifters with large animals were out scouring the grounds.

If it had been at night, I suspect everyone would have been confined to their rooms, but it was a beautiful spring day, and the students had been warned not to venture off campus and not to go into the woods. They had to stay in groups of three.

Everyone, that was, except the Big A. He insisted he didn’t need babysitters until both Mrs. Adilla and Coach yelled at him.

By six p.m. every inch of the campus had been searched.

Channon was not at Sombertooth. Students gathered in the dining room or in groups in a friend’s room, many of them too afraid to be alone or even in pairs or groups of three.

Everyone who played board games with us gravitated to Bardoul’s room.

Bardoul was supposed to be working, though he couldn’t get out of bed. But the kitchen was in chaos, and the head chef and a couple of kitchen hands made huge pots of soup and paired it with bread.

Penelope and I got soup for everyone and carried the trays to Bardoul’s room. Jack tried to tempt him to eat, but he took a bite of bread and couldn’t be coaxed to eat anything else.

Not wanting to terrorize Bardoul any more than he already was, we took it in turns to sit beside him and hold his hand, while the rest of us stood in the corridor outside the room and spoke of Channon, our voices subdued.

At one point, Jack and I were the only ones in the hallway.

“What do you think? Is it the same as what happened to Mika?” I asked.

She shrugged. “There’s no evidence that he’s come to any harm.”

Our gazes locked on one another, and I caught the lie in Jack’s eyes.

“Did he say anything to you the day he disappeared?” I asked.

“No, other than that he was going to phone his grandfather.” They chatted each week apparently, and Channon always kept him abreast of the current goings-on.

It sounded innocent enough. Maybe the older man was ill. The pair were close, so it was understandable if that’s what had happened.

I made to return to Bardoul’s room when Jack clutched my sleeve. “Wait. He mentioned something about confiding his fears to his grandfather about.. you know… Mika.”

Any warmth in my body was snuffed out, and I shivered.

I hadn’t told anyone about the incident near the woods with the creepy guy, not even Jack.

That combined with the nightmares which seemed more like premonitions, me being able to scent blood in the forecourt, that freaking voice, it pointed to me being a…

I choked off the thought, couldn’t even think it.

“Oh.” What else could I say? Jack didn’t expect anything more from me as she made her way inside to check on Bardoul.

I leaned my head on the wall outside the room, banging it softly and then harder. What if Channon had discovered information that certain people didn’t want him to have? If he’d encountered creepy guy, he might not have been as lucky as I was.

No!

I ignored the voice and stuffed it down deep inside me. Stay there , I told the damned voice.

Contemplating my friend dead in the forest, or worse, was crushingly sad.

Channon was a good guy, a friend, the best friend to Bardoul.

But what could be worse than death? If creepy guy got hold of him, he might be alive but being kept prisoner.

We’d all watched the news and read reports of bad guys kidnapping people and keeping them for weeks, months, or years.

I pushed hair off my face, wishing Phelan was here. Like everyone else, he wouldn’t have any answers, but his presence would be comforting.

But what if Channon had learned something about me? Not for the first time, I wondered how much Rawlins knew about my parents and who I was, who I really was. I wished I knew, but I was fumbling for answers.

Channon’s grandfather wouldn’t have been at Sombertooth with Rawlins, so they wouldn’t have known one another from college. My mind leaped from one question to another, and my nails were shredded by the time Jack poked her head out and asked if I was coming in.

Slapping a smile on my face, I joined the others as we tried and failed to make Bardoul feel better. I was so sick with possibilities that I wanted to crawl under the covers with him.

Our phones lit up with a text, and we all jumped. Bardoul howled, since it was an update to say Channon hadn’t been located.

No news is good news was a human saying, but it wasn’t helpful, not now, not ever, so I kept quiet. Bardoul alternately wailed about Channon being dead and that his body would be discovered any minute, to being upbeat, saying his phone battery had died and he’d turn up any minute.

One of those suggestions was far more likely, but I was pleased he had some hope.

I had none. Not only for Channon but for myself.

The only piece of good news was that I hadn’t harmed the guy. Not that it was actually good, because where was he? But at least I was innocent.

Bardoul

The phone should have woken me as it beeped, but I was wide awake, the door locked and barred while I held a baseball bat. Tonight was the first time I’d been alone without friends sleeping over since Channon disappeared. Either Rawling or Jack had stayed with me the previous nights.

When Channon first went missing, I checked the phone constantly, hoping for a message from him.

But as the days passed, I’d cringe when a text arrived, the stupid beeping making me want to hurl the device at the wall, thinking it was bad news.

If Channon was okay, he wouldn’t have left without telling me.

I ignored the phone, shoving it under my pillow, but it beeped again and a third time. Not going to answer it, I told myself.

My beast prodded me to check the text, and I got irritated at him and told him to shut it.

Meh , he yelled before going to sleep.

The hours crept on, and Phoenix House was quiet. At one point, I must have nodded off because a thump woke me. Gripping the bat and with adrenaline surging through my veins, I swung it in the darkness, hoping I’d hit whoever it was and I’d be able to escape.

But there was no sound other than my ragged breathing.

I fumbled for the lamp, but it wasn’t on the nightstand.

It’d fallen on the floor. That must have been what I’d heard.

Flicking it on, my head swiveled left and right, but I was alone.

I put my hand under the pillow, wanting to check the time, and when I pulled the phone out, there were three text previews on the screen.

“Channon!” I yelled.

The first text read, I’m all right. Sorry I gave you a scare .

I read the second message. I can’t really explain what happened. I’m staying with my grandfather .

And the third. But I’ll tell you this. Be careful, Bardoul. I’m scared to write too much, but remember when we decided not to out a certain person’s status because they were our friend? Stay away .

Oh my gods, what? My best friend was safe, so I should have been ecstatic, clicking my heels, telling everyone how much I loved them. But while one worry was eliminated, another took its place.

I messaged him, but he said we could meet up over the summer and he’d fill me in, but added I might not believe what he had to say. It’s like a fantasy , he wrote.

Gnawing my nails, I lay awake until the alarm went off. I’d missed shifts in the kitchen, but everyone had been so freaked out. Jack said the chef was understanding, especially when he discovered Channon and I were besties.

Everyone greeted me warily as I put on my apron, and I mumbled that Channon was okay.

They cheered and the mood lightened. But later when the students streamed in, I was picking up a tray, my mind on my friend and not what I was doing.

I fumbled it, and while my shifter reflexes should have righted it, it slid from my grasp and headed for the floor.

But another set of hands grabbed it, and when I looked up, a set of eyes were fixed on me. I knew who he was, of course I did. He was the TA in some of my classes. But I didn’t really know him.

“Thanks, Holden,” I mumbled as I took the tray. He responded with a huge grin and his hand grazed my skin.

“Any time.”