Page 96 of Want It All

I glanced at the windows. Water streamed down them, so much of it that I couldn’t see the driveway beyond. ‘Outside?’

Chul shrugged. ‘He said he was getting some lemon myrtle for Sebastian.’

‘He’d be back inside by now,’ Pravin said reassuringly, when he saw my expression.

I made a non-committal sound, because I’d just searched Banksia House from its literal top to bottom. Tristan could have been in one of the areas off-limits to students – the clocktower, which was under repair; the staff wing, which we were banned from entering; or the chemicals rooms, which held the nastier cleaning products and the chlorine mix for the pool – but I doubted it. He had noreasonto be in any of those places.

I considered my choices. I either risked expulsion by going into the off-limit areas to look for him, or I got a little wet.

It wasn’t as if I could tell anyone I was looking for him urgently so he could help his unregistered male omega through a heat that was explicitly against university rules.

Wet it was.

‘Rose –’ Pravin started, but I just smiled at him and walked away.

The storm wasn’t easing; if anything, it was getting worse. Through the rain-slick windows, I could just make out the shadows of trees, thrashing in the gale. It was black but for the ghostly bones of eucalypt trunks; when lightning flashed, the garden lit up in shades of white and silver.

‘Fuck this,’ I muttered to myself, but I went outside anyway.

It wasn’t easy. The wind caught the door and I barely stopped it from slamming against the wall. I had to wrestle it closed behind me, using my full body weight. The gale whipped at my clothes and hair; I wasn’t dressed for a storm and I started to shiver. Rain drove sideways, dripping down my back and into my eyes, stinging my skin.

‘Tristan!’ I shouted, though I suspected it was useless; my voice would be stolen by the storm. ‘Tristan!’

Chul must have been wrong. I wiped the rain from my eyes, briefly lamenting what it would do to my mascara. There was no way Tristan would be outside in this.

I shouted for him one more time, because I was already dripping wet and thought I might as well. The sky thundered and I cowered in the doorway, my arms instinctively folding over my head.

I looked towards the maze. Even through the rain and the metallic scent of lightning, I could smell the lemon myrtle. When the sky lit again, I saw it – a shadow moving near the maze entrance.

‘Alpha!’ I shouted, desperate. I didn’t want to leave the relative shelter of the doorway, but I knew whoever it was couldn’t hear me.

I took a deep breath and strode out into the storm.

The rain hit me hard enough to bruise. The gale made me stagger to the side; I pushed against it, determined. I fought every step towards the maze, my clothes sticking to my skin.

‘Tristan!’ I screamed. ‘Tristan, please!’

Lightning lit the sky, and I realised the person near the maze was wearing a cloak, their face obscured by its hood.

What the f –

I tripped, fighting to steady myself.

A shadow loomed suddenly beside me, over me. I shrieked in surprise, losing my footing on the sodden ground.

A hand reached out to catch me, but it was too late; I was already falling.

Iwokeupindarkness.

‘What the f –’

I wrenched my eyes open, but that wasn’t the issue; something was covering them.

‘No, no,no,’ I snarled, realising my hands were bound. I swayed from the sudden sense of deja vu. ‘No, you assholes, I need to –’

Something – or someone– jabbed me ungently in the shoulder. ‘Be quiet,’ a voice hissed.

‘Absolutely fucking not,’ I growled back. ‘You need to let me go.Now.’