Chapter 5
NovemberFranklin was slamming one of the plastic trays they used in the dishwasher against the conveyor belt before he reached for the next one with dirty glasses and pulled down the top of the dishwasher over it and got it started. It was the last thing he needed to do for the night.
All customers had left, and he'd sent the others on their way as well. His skin didn't fit, and it didn't help to shift. He'd gone on a run before he came in today, but nothing helped.
"I know it sounds crazy--"
He spun around with a snarl, only to still when he spotted Elvin leaning against the door frame. He'd been sure he'd left for the night. Forcing down a breath, he shook his limbs out. "What is?"
"Neoma."
Franklin frowned. "Who?"
"The kid said Neoma."
It was too late for his brain to form coherent thoughts. "Whose kid, and who is Neoma?"
Elvin grinned. "Your kid. The guy with the ghosts."
"Axar. He's not a kid." Younger than Franklin, but not a kid.
He rubbed a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from wincing.
If he were thirty, he was still fifteen years younger than Franklin.
It didn't matter. He was his mate, but he couldn't do anything about it until he was sure about Axar's situation.
And even then...It was Axar's right to reject him.
Having mates from a different species wasn't ideal; they didn't feel the same pull.
And he suspected psychics were the worst of all, since they technically were mortal enemies.
A chuckle wasn't the response he wanted. "Axar then. He said Neoma wanted him to come here."
"Yeah." Was it Neoma? He couldn't remember which name he'd said.
"Remember when we were kids. We came here from time to time, if Alpha Lenox--" Franklin flashed teeth.
He'd killed the bastard. Elvin nodded as if he could tell what Franklin was thinking.
The room Franklin had turned into an office had been used as a card room, and there had been all kinds of shitty deals going down there.
Lenox got all hot and bothered over extortion and did his best to force everyone into a position where they owed him something.
Franklin had put an end to it.
"The woman who served the drinks back then, her name was Neoma."
Cold fingers curled around his spine. He remembered her. A beaten-down little thing. "What happened to her?" She hadn't been here when Franklin took over the pack. She was a wolf; she'd been part of the pack before, and yet she wasn't there now. Her name wasn't listed anywhere.
"I think we should ask your boy." Elvin looked grim.
"How? It's been five weeks since he--"
"I have his address."
Franklin froze. "What?"
Rolling his eyes, Elvin took a step into the kitchen. "How many men called Axar do you think there are in Foolshope?"
"He never said he lived in Foolshope."
Elvin shrugged. "Fine, but I have an address to an Axar Dusan in Foolshope. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's him."
Franklin's heart was beating fast enough to hurt. "We can't...It's Averett's territory."
Elvin shrugged. "He's not unreasonable, and the psychic community isn't his territory."
He had a point, but they still had to drive through Averett's territory. "Okay, I still have to inform him."
"Call on the way." Elvin gestured for Franklin to follow him out of the kitchen.
"Now? Are you insane?" It was twenty past three in the morning.
"Why not? You're not sleeping, haven't in months, and as you said, it's been five weeks. I don't want you to lose your mind." He grimaced. "I don't know how long you can keep this up. You need to see him more often."
Franklin stared at him until he threw his hands in the air.
"I've known you since we were toddlers. Did you think I wouldn't notice?
He's your mate, right?" When Franklin didn't answer, he continued.
"The first time I believed it was a fluke, he happened to match his visit with the five minutes you were able to smile in months, but no.
It's been what? Eight months? And you're growing grouchier by the minute, to the point where no one dares approach you. "
Had it been eight months? He'd been floating around in a dark cloud.
Elvin clapped his shoulder. "You need to smell him more often.
I get what you're facing--or I don't. I don't have a clue what it's like to have a mate and not be able to be close to him, not knowing if being close to him is the right thing to do, but without his scent, you'll lose yourself.
You don't need to fuck him to smell him is all I'm saying. "
Franklin stared at him. "Excuse me?"
Elvin grunted and looked away. "I've heard two months is about what a normal person can take before it starts getting to you for real, and it's been weeks, between every time, I might add. So let's go ask him about Neoma. You get to smell him, hear his voice, and maybe we learn something."
Franklin ignored everything he'd said other than the go-see-him part. "Go to Foolshope at a quarter past three in the morning? He'll be sleeping."
"Or not. Didn't you see how exhausted he looked last time?"
"He'd been running."
"I meant the dark circles underneath his eyes."
Franklin hadn't noticed any dark circles last time, but he had noticed them before. Maybe Axar had insomnia.
"Let's go. I'm driving, you're calling Averett."
They locked up, and Franklin texted Averett--no need to wake him if they managed to pass through his territory without anyone noticing.
When the houses of Foolshope came into view, his entire body was straining. His wolf threatened to take over. It wanted to shift, wanted to track down their mate, but Franklin pushed it back. They would only ask a few questions.
"I think it's here." Elvin slowed to a crawl. The house looked sterile. Square, white, and apart from the lawn, nothing was growing in the garden. Depressing. Where there should've been a flowerbed by the house, they had sea stone.
"There are fucking bars over the window."
Franklin raised his gaze from the ground at Elvin's snarl and looked at the window. There were bars. Like a prison. What the hell?
There was motion behind them, a hand waving from behind the glass. "Look." Franklin pointed.
"You think he can talk through the window?"
Franklin's claws were threatening to push through. Was he a prisoner?
"Let's be quiet. Two wolves sneaking around in the dark in a psychic community isn't a good look for us."
Franklin snorted a laugh, feeling lighter than he had in ages despite the situation. Elvin gave him a soft look, which made Franklin groan. "Shut up."
"I didn't say anything." But he was grinning as he opened the car door.
Silently, they neared the window. It protested when Axar opened it, followed by a clank as it hit the bars. It wasn't safe. What if there were a fire? How would he get out?
"Axar?" Franklin leaned closer to the window and almost groaned as Axar's scent reached him.
"Hi." He smiled, and Franklin's heart melted. He wore pajama bottoms with a matching T-shirt in dark blue with silver snowflakes, and on the chest, it said: Up to snow good.
He almost groaned. What was up with the Christmas theme?
When Elvin spoke, Franklin jumped, having lost himself in his head.
"We were wondering if you could tell us more about Neoma?"
Axar looked to his right. "Yes?"
"Where is she?" Elvin kept his voice low.
Axar gestured to his right. "She's here." There was nothing but air where he gestured.
"Her...eh...ghost is there with you?" He'd said ghost last time, hadn't he? Franklin didn't want to use the wrong words.
"Yes." The smile was gorgeous.
"Where's her...eh...body?" He glanced at Elvin and got a small nod in reply.
Axar was quiet for a long time, then he scrunched his nose. "She's not sure. It's why she wants to go to the bar. It's the last thing she remembers."
A light switched on in a room at the other end of the house. Shit. "Someone woke up."
Axar's eyes widened, and when Franklin was this close without a lot of other scents around, he could smell the fear on him.
"Go. I'll come to the bar as soon as I can."
Franklin was about to protest, but Elvin grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the window right as Axar closed it and disappeared from view.
"Fuck."
"I think we need to go. Sorry." Elvin tugged at him. "Come on. We'll only make it worse for him if we're caught."
They jumped over the fence, not bothering to go on the walkway. "He was afraid."
"I know, I have a nose too."
"But--"
"Franklin." Elvin pulled at him again. "We need to leave. We'll get him out, okay? But not today, and I...Hell, I don't know, but I think it would be bad for him if his mother saw us there."
Franklin wasn't some kid who ran away in the face of danger.
"For his sake. Come on. Better we make a plan of how to help him when he comes next time."
"We don't know if--"
"As soon as he can. It was what he said. He's managed every other month so far."
Another month. Or would it be two. Dejection took over his soul.
Franklin dug his heels in, ready to turn back, when the lights in Axar's room switched on.
"No. Let's leave." Elvin more or less pushed him into the passenger seat. "I'm sorry, but I don't think storming in there right now is a good idea."
Franklin growled but allowed Elvin to take him away.
* * * *