Page 15

Chapter 15

Alex

H ours after Will and Donovan had rushed out of The Taphouse, I sat alone on my living room couch with my phone in my hands and Louis purring against my leg. The TV provided some background noise, but not enough to hold my attention. With absolutely no idea of what had happened, my imagination was left to run wild and if there was one thing my brain was good at doing, it was catastrophizing.

At this late hour, the rumor mill in town wouldn’t be awake to churn out any information, so all I could do was sit and wait to hear from Donovan. If it was particularly bad, though, there was a good chance he wouldn’t make it home until the wee hours of the morning.

“Louis, this sucks,” I said to the sleeping cat, who didn’t so much as twitch. Even on his best days, he wasn’t the best conversational partner.

Grief spiked through my chest as I looked around the empty house. What I wouldn’t give to have Charlie or Aunt Lizzie here to talk me out of the doom spiral in my mind. Lizzie would have held my hand and probably keep me distracted by attempting to bake. She always said cookies could solve most problems, which might have been true, except her attempts usually came out more like charcoal briquettes than anything resembling actual food. We’d laugh and clean up the mess while Uncle David took over and made something actually edible and for awhile, their love and laughter would make my problems disappear.

Charlie, on the other hand, took an entirely different approach. He’d tease and snark and sass me, probably call me a drama queen, then make me put on some trashy reality show and watch it with him. It was nearly impossible to remain sad or upset with Charlie Taggert around.

How much of that had really been him, though? He’d never even hinted at what his life had been like before he died, and if I hadn’t found that notebook, I never would have known.

Thinking about the notebook immediately lodged it front and center in my brain, tempting me to look at it again. I hadn’t touched it since the day I’d read that first entry, but every time I passed that closed door now, I thought about it. It just felt wrong to read more after remembering how Lizzie had promised she’d never read it. I hadn’t made that promise, but digging deeper still felt like I was violating Charlie’s trust.

An alert from my phone paused the war in my brain and I looked down to see a text from Donovan.

Are you still up?

Yes. Come over? I immediately responded. Donovan didn’t keep me waiting.

Be there in 5.

Anxiety and relief fluttering in my stomach, I hurriedly got up and unlocked the door, dislodging Louis in the process. He meowed in response and rolled over onto his other side, but didn’t actually get up. Clearly, that was too much effort.

I saw the headlights of Donovan’s car pull in just a few minutes later, and I had the front door open before he’d even parked. The frigid wind cut through my sweatpants and hoodie like they were nothing and my bare feet instantly tingled with the cold, but I waited for him anyway as he trudged up the driveway and straight into my arms.

“Hey,” I whispered in his ear, hugging him tight.

“Hey.” He sounded worn out, and he leaned against me as we stood in the open door.

“Do you want to go to bed?” I finally asked when the cold got to be too much for me. I kept hold of him, though, and we did an awkward shuffle inside. Donovan must have used his foot to shut the door, because I heard it close, but he never let go of me, either.

“Yeah. I probably should have gone back to my place, but I wanted to see you. Did I wake you up?”

“I’m glad you came. I was still awake. I wanted to make sure you were alright,” I said. We had to step away from each other to make it to the bedroom without breaking our necks, so I kept my hand in his, leading him through the darkness to the bedroom at the back of the house.

“It’s been a long night. I have to head back in first thing, but I just need to sleep for a bit first.” His words were heavy, thick with weariness and frustration.

“Can I ask what’s going on? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I said quickly, just in case it was a rough one. I worked as I talked, helping him out of his clothes and leaving them on the floor to deal with later.

“It’s nothing too bad yet, I hope. Landon DeVor disappeared this afternoon, and we haven’t been able to find him yet.”

“Wait, there’s another kid missing?” Everything else disappeared and it was all I could do not to stumble back as memories crashed over me. The police vans outside Nina Martingale’s house. The stories on the news about the search efforts and how quickly they turned into somber reports of her death. Finding her on the path, her tiny body tossed in the dirt and covered with leaves, like she was less than nothing.

“Alex. Alex, it’s okay.”

Warm hands cupped my face and I blinked through the memories to see Donovan still in front of me, watching me with concern.

“Sorry,” I breathed, and I hated how ragged it came out.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for. I should have realized how triggering that could be for you. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, careful not to dislodge his hands. His touch grounded me, giving me something to focus on besides those old memories. “I’m fine. Come on, let’s get you settled.” I took a second to kick off my sweats, then tugged him into bed, pulling the comforter up around us.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” he apologized again, and I shook my head.

“I promise I’m fine. It just shook me up for a second. I’m more worried about you right now.”

Donovan slid closer, wrapping his arms around me. “I’ll be okay. I still think we’ll find him.”

I caught a very slight hesitation in his voice, so tiny I wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t know him as well as I did. It didn’t take a genius to put the pieces together.

“He hasn’t come to me, so there’s a good chance he’s still alive,” I murmured and the way the tension eased from his shoulders told me I’d guessed right.

“I think the DeVor family might be part of that community Ori was talking about,” he murmured. “Jean really didn’t like that Will and I were there.”

“I can call Ori and find out,” I offered.

“I’d appreciate that, actually. Will and I are going to organize a search party early tomorrow morning and try to locate him. If Ori has any friends that would be willing to help, that could be really useful.”

From the bed, I could just make out the alarm clock on my dresser. It was already well after midnight and I had no idea what kind of hours Ori kept.

“I’ll call them first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Donovan said, lifting his head from the pillow just enough to kiss me. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting up.”

“You’re worth losing a little sleep,” I teased, and it got the little smile I’d been hoping for. “After the day you’ve had, the last thing you need is to sleep alone in an empty house.”

“I do like when I wake up and you’re the first thing I see.” He smiled, so soft and warm and genuine that it stole my breath.

“You know…” I hesitated for a moment, but this was something that had been simmering in the back of my mind for awhile now and for the first time, the moment actually felt right. “If that’s the case, I’ve been thinking that maybe, and you don’t have to, no pressure or anything, but I was thinking that it’d be a good idea and you could save some money and it’d be a lot easier and—”

Warm lips cut me off, Donovan’s kiss stealing the rambling words away and calming the cycle of anxiety before it could well and truly kick in.

“Do you want to move in?” I breathed out, breaking away just enough to speak while I still had the nerve.

“Yes.” Donovan didn’t hesitate, didn’t ask me if I was sure, which would just set off my anxiety all over again and make me second-guess myself. No, Donovan Parker knew me and knew I needed that certainty. I’d thought I couldn’t possibly love him more than I already did and in that moment, he proved me wrong.

“Great,” I said, then winced. That didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic. “You don’t feel like I’m pressuring you or anything?”

“Alex,” he murmured. He kissed me again, then another time, lingering a little longer and when he spoke again, his lips barely left mine. “I meant what I said. I love waking up to you every morning. I love falling asleep with you in my arms, even though you turn into an octopus in your sleep. Our nights here, just the two of us, are my favorite part of my day. There’s nothing I want more than to share a life with you here in this house.”

“I’ll learn to cook, so we can have dinner together more,” I blurted out. Groaning, I ducked my head, burying my face against his chest. “You gave this beautiful little speech that almost made me cry and I come back with ‘I’ll try to cook better’.”

Donovan’s chest stuttered beneath my cheek as he laughed and his warm arms wrapped around me. “I know what you meant. We’ll figure it out together. We probably shouldn’t be eating out as much as we do, anyway,” he teased.

“My uncle was a really great cook. He left his old recipe book here for me and I’ve never used it. Maybe we could try some together?” I wasn’t as close to Uncle David as I’d been to Aunt Lizzie, but he was a good man and he’d been there for me when I desperately needed someone to give a shit.

Donovan kissed me one more time, warm and sweet. “I’d like that a lot.” His lips brushed across my cheek, down my jaw, and to my throat. “I love you, Alex.” He whispered the words into my skin and stole my breath away, my chest tight with the force of my love for this man.

He slid lower, disappearing beneath the comforter, and when his mouth found me again I gasped, the sound seeming to echo in the silence. Pleasure shivered up my spine and I arched into his touch, worries and anxiety and fears slipping away as he touched me. The real world could wait until tomorrow.

***

Morning came far too quickly. Not even morning, actually, since the sun still hadn’t risen when the alarm on Donovan’s phone went off. I’d fallen asleep held securely in his arms and I woke up the same way, our legs tangled together and a bit of drool on his chest, which I quickly wiped away before he fully woke up.

“G’morning,” he rumbled, eyes at half-mast.

“It’s still night.”

“Yep. Time to get up, anyway.” He yawned so widely my jaw ached in sympathy.

I tried to kick my brain into gear, but the short rest and lack of caffeine made it difficult. “I’ll call Ori,” I said, reluctantly sliding out of our warm bed.

“I’ll call Will. I texted him and Chief Cornell last night. She’ll help coordinate the search party.” Donovan’s years of experience with screwed up police hours came in handy and he already looked energized. I, on the other hand, still stood in the middle of the room trying to remember what step came after ‘get out of bed’.

Luckily for me, Donovan steered me to the dresser and opened the drawer.

“It’s supposed to be cold today and that snowstorm isn’t swerving, so dress warm.”

“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod. Okay, I could handle getting dressed.

“Let me know what Ori says? I left my phone out in the living room, so I’ll plug it into the charger out there while I call the chief.”

Right. Get dressed, call Ori.

The first part went well enough. Living in the mountains meant keeping cold weather clothes on hand pretty much all year and learning how to layer properly for maximum warmth. I dressed on auto-pilot, focusing most of my attention on what to say to Ori if they answered the phone.

My phone lay on the nightstand, so I dialed Ori’s number and put it on speaker while I tugged on thick socks.

“Hi, Alex,” they said, answering on the third ring. It didn’t sound like I’d woken them, at least. “I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Hey, Ori. I’ll keep it quick,” I promised. “I just had a question. Is the DeVor family part of the… other community?”

There was a beat of silence before Ori replied. “Why are you asking?”

“Jean DeVor reported his son Landon missing last night. Donovan and Will are organizing a search party to go look for him, but I guess Jean wasn’t very helpful. I just wanted to know, so I have an idea of what we’re getting into with this.”

“Wait, what?” I heard some fumbling, then rustling, like Ori had put their hand over the microphone. They said something, too muffled for me to make out, and I realized they weren’t alone. I didn’t get a chance to linger on that realization before they were back on the line. “Landon is missing?”

“Yeah, they haven’t seen him since yesterday evening. You said that people like us don’t usually like police and it just made me wonder.”

“Fuck,” they hissed. “Yes, they’re part of our community. They’re shifters. Landon will stand a better chance out there than a human teenager, but if he hasn’t come home on his own by now, that’s not good. I’ll round up some volunteers and we’ll look, too.”

“Thank you, Ori.” Surely, even if humans couldn’t find him, a shifter could, right? I didn’t know how any of that worked, but animals had better senses than humans usually, so that meant one of them would find Landon. It made sense in my head, at least.

“Don’t thank me until we’ve found him,” they warned. “What about you?”

“What about me? I’m going with Donovan to search.”

Even through the phone, I could almost see Ori rolling their eyes. “I still say your power is finding the lost, something that would be really useful right about now, I’d imagine. Have you tried?”

“You might be right, but I still don’t know how it works and I don’t have time to waste figuring it out when I could be out helping in the search,” I protested, weak as it was.

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself. Whatever, do what you’d like. I’m going to make some calls.”

The line abruptly disconnected, leaving me standing in my living room even more confused than I’d already been and a little stung by Ori’s curt words.

“Was that Ori? What did they say?”

Donovan joined me in the bedroom, adjusting the sleeve of his sweater. Even under about a dozen layers, he was still unfairly attractive.

“They said they’d round up some volunteers to help look for Landon. I don’t think they wanted me to say anything, but you already know, so it’s fine, I guess. Landon and his family are… what word should I even use? ‘Paranormal’ sounds wrong, like just because they’re different, they’re not ‘normal’. I’ll have to ask Ori.”

Donovan held up a hand to stop me before I could start rambling again. “Let’s stick with ‘paranormal’ for now until we know, okay?”

“Right,” I said sheepishly. “Apparently they’re shifters? So Ori thinks Landon has a better chance out there alone than a regular human kid might, but they’re worried that he didn’t come home on his own.”

“Are Ori and their volunteers going to be working with the police search?”

“That’s not the impression I got, no.”

“Disappointing, but not surprising,” he shrugged. “I talked to the chief. She’s got every officer not on duty rounded up to help, plus most of the fire department. They’re working on spreading the word to get some more people before we head out.”

“Oh, I should call Raina and Camille, if Will hasn’t already. I bet they’ll want to come.”

“You do that. I’ll throw some supplies together.”

With a quick kiss, Donovan went back out to the living area to get ready. Raina answered when I called, and she and Camille agreed to join the search, along with recruiting a few others. At this rate, the whole town would be out searching for Landon.

There was a harsh bite to the pre-dawn chill when we stepped outside a few minutes later. Even bundled up, with a hat and scarf on, the air stung my bare face, and this was the warmest it’d been in days. I couldn’t imagine being lost outside in this kind of cold overnight. A human wouldn’t stand a chance, but I had to hold on to hope that Landon would be alright.

A small crowd waited at the old mercantile building when we arrived. I didn’t see Ori, but that didn’t surprise me. Given what they’d told me, I’d already assumed the non-human crowd would be organizing on their own.

“I need to talk to Will and coordinate this so we don’t get more people lost out there,” Donovan said, and I spotted Will at the front of the group with Chief Cornell and a few police officers. I recognized Ginny Lake and Casey Sheers, the officers who’d arrested me during the fiasco with Andre Marcel a few months ago. I made it a point to avoid the police station ever since, mostly because it was haunted, but partly because it was awkward as hell to make small talk with them after that.

“I’ll find you before we head out,” I nodded. “Go ahead.”

Left to my own devices and with Camille and Raina not here yet, I stepped to the side, out of the main group, and took a quick look at who all had volunteered. I spotted a few other small business owners I knew, along with a few neighbors and acquaintances. Even Mr. King, the town’s grumpy loner, was here, standing apart from everyone else with a scowl on his face that kept anyone from getting too close. A cluster of firefighters stood near the front, along with several paramedics in their gear. I vaguely recognized the medic who’d been at Silver Lake and taken me to the hospital.

I hadn’t realized seeing all of these people at once again would trigger so many memories. A little desperate now for a distraction, I latched onto the first familiar, safe face I saw and made my way over.

“Hi, Quinn.” He stood slightly apart from the group like I’d been, but where I’d done it to observe, I had a feeling he’d just been hoping no one would talk to him.

“Oh. Um, hi, Alex,” he mumbled.

“Did Raina call you? You got here pretty quickly.”

“N-no, she didn’t. My appointments this morning both called and canceled so they could search, so I thought I should help, too.” He shrugged, not meeting my eyes, but that wasn’t unusual from what I knew of Quinn. The few interactions I’d had with him had been pretty identical to this.

“Thank you for coming. With all of us looking, I bet we’ll find him in no time.”

Quinn just nodded, trying and failing to come up with a follow-up. As much as I needed a distraction, I didn’t want to make him even more uncomfortable. “I’ve got to go check in with Donovan, but be careful out there, okay?”

“I will. You, too,” he said with poorly disguised relief.

I went back to wandering the perimeter of the group, nodding to those I recognized as I went past, until I finally found another familiar face standing by himself. Unlike Quinn, who kept to the edges, Julian Delaney stood near the front, fully decked out in winter gear.

“Hey, Julian. I didn’t expect to see you out here,” I said in greeting.

“I’m friends with Khalil, one of the firefighters. He called me and I couldn’t not come,” he said, sounding almost offended that I’d implied he wouldn’t be here.

“I just thought you’d need to be home with the twins, is all,” I explained hurriedly, relief flooding me when he relaxed.

“They’re actually in Aurora for the week with their grandparents. This wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my first kid-free day in three years, but I’m glad I’m able to help.”

“I’ll bet if you let Camille know when they’re coming back, she’ll bake up something special for them. They’re her favorite customers in the whole town.”

“The feeling is very mutual,” Julian laughed. “If we don’t go at least twice a week, they raise absolute hell. Trust me when I say there is nothing worse than the wrath of grumpy three-year-olds.”

“Alright, folks, listen up!” Chief Cornell called, her voice easily carrying over the small crowd. Julian and I both fell silent along with everyone else, the moment of levity disappearing as the reality of the situation really sank in. “We’re looking for Landon DeVor. You’ll be split up into groups and assigned a search area. Each group will be led by either an officer or a firefighter, who will all be in contact via radio. We’re expecting the snow to pick up pretty fast in the next few hours. Our goal is to find him before it gets bad, but if for some reason that doesn’t happen, we will try again as soon as it’s safe. None of you are to go wandering around in the mountains on your own.”

Her gaze drifted in my direction for a split second, almost too quickly to catch, and it took real willpower to not step back into the group and try to hide. Some little part of me was still waiting for her to come question me about Andre even now. How I’d stayed off her radar this long was a mystery, one I hoped would continue forever.

She was nothing if not efficient, working with Will and Donovan to split everyone up into groups. Julian ended up in Will’s group, apparently to Will’s surprise, because he immediately went a little red when Julian greeted him. I ended up with Donovan and I only realized Camille and Raina had arrived when they joined us. I spotted Quinn with Officer Lake and the two women who ran the little bistro on Main Street before we all split up to begin searching our assigned block.

The first snowflakes began to fall as the group separated, swirling down from ominous gray clouds. With what I knew from years of living here, we only had a few hours at best before Chief Cornell called off the search, which meant we had to hurry.

It was going to be a long day.

***

Three hours of searching the old Silver Lake reservoir yielded no clues about Landon DeVor’s whereabouts. As expected, the snow started coming down hard, faster, reducing visibility to almost zero in just those few short hours.

Donovan, Raina, Camille, and I trudged back into town in silence, dejected and downtrodden. The other volunteers were the same, all of us waiting quietly for Chief Cornell to return. Despite the efforts of almost a hundred of us, no one had found so much as a hint of a clue. The radios stayed silent the entire time, crackling to life only to tell everyone to come back.

The chief waited until everyone was accounted for, standing straight with her shoulders squared despite the disappointment in her eyes.

“Thank you all again for coming out,” she said, her voice carrying easily across the small crowd. “I know we’re all disappointed, but I can’t risk more people getting lost out in this weather. As soon as it’s safe, we’ll go out again. Spread the word to your friends and neighbors, but under no circumstances is anyone to go out on their own. Now go home, get warm, and thank you for your help.”

“I really thought someone would find him,” Camille admitted softly. Her cheeks and nose were red from the cold, despite the pink scarf wrapped around her neck. “Do you think he’ll be okay, Donovan?”

“His dad says he’s a smart kid. Wherever he is, if he’s able to, hopefully he’ll have found some sort of shelter,” he assured her.

“What if someone took him?” Raina asked. “Has anyone even considered that?”

Donovan shook his head. “I know about as much as you do at the moment. If that’s a possibility, I’m sure the chief is working on it. If we don’t have any luck with tomorrow’s search, I’m assuming we’ll have to seriously consider that.”

“And he’s not..?” she glanced over at me with a tiny wince.

“Not that I know of. If anything happens, I’ll let you know. I promise.”

“My weather app said the snow should stop be evening, so maybe we can go out again tomorrow?” Camille suggested. “We’ll open up in the morning, then come search. Ashley and Rachel can handle the counter for one morning. Free coffee and breakfast for everyone out searching tomorrow.” She glanced at her girlfriend for confirmation, and Raina nodded.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Donovan agreed. “As soon as I get any updates from the chief, either Alex or I will text you.”

We exchanged hugs before they left, heading back to their apartment over Buns ‘n’ Roses. Donovan and I lingered until we saw them safely inside, then I slipped my hand into his.

“Let’s go home.”