Chapter 6 Amari
AMARI
Three Days Later
Three days later, I stand at the new technology center, looking over the equipment one final time before the doors open. The virtual reality stations are pristine and ready, each one a portal to worlds these children have never imagined.
Headmistress Ebony enters and looks around, marveling at the space. “It looks amazing in here, Amari.”
I feign a smile while looking over it. Carla’s been gone three days.
Three days without a word, without feeling her through our bond.
It’s driving me insane, not knowing when she’s going to come back.
I can’t even feel her. It feels like a physical loss, and I should have told her that.
Like the mate bond has been severed from me.
The emptiness weighs on me, constant and suffocating.
I know she’ll come back for him. That’s the only thing keeping me anchored.
But even Tofi has left me, along with Moria and Kemnebi.
When I went into the forest to check on the other children, they were gone as well.
They’ve never all left at once. Something is wrong.
Nothing has terrified me quite like this silence. The not knowing. The waiting.
“The center looks amazing.” Ebony pulls me from my thoughts. “The children are excited to see it. I’m so impressed with the work you’ve put into this.”
I finish up the inspection. “Thank you, Headmistress.”
“Is everything ready?”
I nod. I’m screaming inside, not wanting to be present for this.
I want to go home to my coven and wait for Carla and the spider children to return.
I feel so empty without them. They don’t all disappear at once like this.
Something is wrong. I’m also thinking about reaching out to Angie or Queen Anora.
They’re tethered to Carla’s bloodline. Maybe they can help me at least locate them. But for now, I’m just going to wait.
“Everything is ready. We can start whenever you’d like.”
Ebony looks around. “Where’s Carla? She’s not joining us today?”
I suck in a sharp breath. I want to have a full breakdown, really let out my frustrations, but I don’t. Instead, I keep quiet and maintain a fake smile on my face. I’m honest with her. “She’s busy in limbo right now.”
“Oh...” Ebony looks at me. She can see right through my fake stance. “Tell her I said hi when she returns. I’m getting together with some of the women this weekend for a ladies night at the spa. Carla’s welcome to join us if she’d like.”
I bow my head to her. “I’ll relay the message.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. She’ll be back later tonight.”
Ebony gives me a quiet look like she doesn’t believe me, but she also feigns a smile. “Okay. I’ll go collect the first round of children.”
She leaves. I feel myself stretching thin.
I’m going to hold off panicking, giving Carla one more day before I officially lose my shit.
I try to stay positive. I’m going to try to find a way to keep Carla with me for at least a month after this.
Her distance is literally shredding me. Every hour without her feels like someone’s slowly pulling my heart from my chest. The mate bond pulses with emptiness.
I get a beep on my phone. I’m thankful for the distraction. I dig into my pocket and pull it out, tapping on the screen to open it.
It’s a notification from my remote software program. Success. Finally.
I’ve managed to keep myself busy with hacking Brookstone and Blackburn’s new security system.
It was heavily secure, more sophisticated than anything I’ve encountered in decades.
Multiple layers of encryption, biometric authentication, quantum key distribution.
Whoever designed this system knew what they were doing.
But any built program can be broken. It simply took me some time to find the holes in the coding.
I found them in the human element, the places where programmers got lazy or arrogant.
A backdoor left open for maintenance. A password reset function that didn’t quite validate properly.
Small cracks in the foundation that I could exploit.
I’m thankful for that work. If I didn’t have this to keep me busy and grounded, I would have really lost it and gone stark crazy. The code gave me something to focus on besides the gnawing fear in my gut.
I place my phone in my pocket. I’m going to dig through the files once the opening is finished. Whatever they’re hiding in those servers, I’ll find it. Verde and Petra deserve that much.
I adjust my tie and feign a smile when Damon quietly enters. I know he can see right through my facade. He furrows his brow, approaching me.
“What’s troubling you, Amari?”
“Carla...” I can’t hold back, but I maintain my posture. “She’s in limbo.”
“Well, isn’t that a good thing? She’s maintaining the balance.”
“She didn’t go there on her own. She was pulled in by her magic, and she’s been there for three days.”
Damon stares at me. “Yes, that does sound odd. Can’t you get information on how she’s doing from Moria and Kemnebi? Even Tofi?”
“They’ve gone after her.”
“All of them?”
“Wintermoon is completely free of her spider children.”
Damon pauses. Even he knows something is off about this. “If all of her children left to join her in limbo, then...”
I give him a knowing look. “Yes. They are protecting her from something.”
Damon even has a small look of concern, but he pushes it back. “Do you think it’s something we should alert the King and Queen about?”
The shifter children and little witches enter, their faces alight with wonder, ending our conversation.
“I’m giving it one more day before I start to panic. Please hold off worrying the King.”
“Alright, but I’m going to check in on you tomorrow.”
Damon and I light up our faces, greeting the children. “Hello! Welcome, welcome!”
I walk over to a little shifter I’m familiar with. His name is Torin, an orphan shifter who lives at the academy. I approach him as he examines one of the many desktops.
I greet him with a hello, extending my hand.
Torin stares at my hand like I’ve lost my mind. “That is not how you greet a shifter.”
I chuckle and pull my hand back.
Torin demonstrates, his sandy locs swaying over his shoulders as he takes a hand to his fist and bows his head. It looks ridiculous, and I know that’s the greeting way of the shifter.
“Ah, the young alpha.”
I give him the same gesture, just in a more gentle way.
“What do you think about the new technology?”
Torin shrugs. “I’m not much of a lover for this stuff.”
I furrow my brow at that.
“How can it help me?”
I lean against the desk, looking at this young shifter who represents everything I’m trying to protect. “The world is changing, Torin. Faster than it ever has before. When I was turned, knowledge traveled at the speed of a horse. Now it travels at the speed of light.”
I gesture to the computers around us. “These tools can help you in ways you can’t imagine yet.
Databases that can track pack lineages going back centuries, so you never lose your history.
Communication systems that allow packs to connect across continents instantly.
Security measures that can protect your territories better than any physical fence. ”
Torin listens, his young face serious.
“But more than that,” I continue, “the world outside Wintermoon is becoming more digital every day. Radicals use technology to organize, to spread propaganda, to track supernatural movements. If you don’t understand these systems, you can’t protect yourself from them.
You can’t fight an enemy whose weapons you don’t understand. ”
I pull up a chair and sit at eye level with him.
“The virtual reality stations over there? They can simulate hunts, teach you tracking in environments you’ve never seen.
The coding programs can help you build apps for your pack, secure communication channels that humans can’t intercept.
The 3D printers can help you design better structures, test architectural plans before you break ground. ”
I soften my voice. “You’re going to be an alpha someday, Torin. You’re going to have wolves depending on you for protection, for guidance. The world they’ll grow up in will be even more technological than this one. Don’t you want to be ready for that?”
Torin smiles at my enthusiasm and listens intently. I notice his canines, slightly elongated even in human form.
After I finish telling him the wonders of technology, He just shrugs again. “I’m more interested in learning how to build pack homes, building fires, learning how to stock pantries.”
I just smile at him.
Torin pulls a piece of wood out of his pocket along with a small carving knife. It looks like he’s carving a small wolf. “I like carving a lot.”
“You can build three-dimensional prototypes with the 3D printer.” I point at the large device at the window.
“What’s the fun in that?”
I just smile again. Well, he’ll just need some time to grow into the technology. The primal call of his wolf nature is still too strong. That’s not a bad thing. He needs both.
Damon approaches us. Torin greets him with a fist to his chest and bowing his head.
Damon just bows his head at him. “Hello, young alpha.”
“I’m going to go find my Nala now.”
I smile as I watch him walk off.
“Don’t worry about it, Amari. These shifters are young and they are very primal, so he’s more focused on building community. But over time, he’ll grow to learn the necessities of the technology you’ve brought him.”
“I know.”
Damon’s expression shifts, concern replacing the pleasant mask. “I don’t like this. Carla and all of her children gone in limbo without a word.”
"Look, don't scare me." My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to. "It's already bad enough that I miss her like hell."
And I do. God, I miss her like I’m missing a limb. Every moment without her is agony. I keep reaching for her through the bond and finding nothing but emptiness. It’s like trying to breathe underwater, drowning slowly in her absence.
Damon nods and falls quiet, then goes back to helping the other shifters.
I finish up at the Academy, going through the motions, smiling when I’m supposed to, answering questions, demonstrating equipment. But my mind is elsewhere. With her. Wondering if she’s safe. Wondering if she’s thinking of me. Wondering if she knows how much I need her.
Then I leave and hop into my vehicle. I race through the town as fast as I can. My hands grip the steering wheel tight enough to leave impressions. I pull into my coven, tires squealing.
I stop immediately, shifting my car into park, not bothering to cut the engine. I jump out, running up the stairs. The doors magically open before I reach them. My guards immediately go down the stairs to park the car for me.
I can feel them. I can feel her.
Carla and our children. They’re back. They’ve returned to me.
Relief floods through me so intensely I nearly stagger. She’s here. She’s safe. She’s home.
I see Carla in the hall, still in her nightgown, pouting about something.
I flash to her with my vampire speed and pick her up, not even giving her a chance to speak.
My arms wrap around her, crushing her against my chest. I kiss her dizzy, like a man starving, desperate for her.
I pour three days of fear and longing into that kiss.
My tongue sweeps into her mouth, tasting her, claiming her, reassuring myself that she’s real.
Her curls tangle in my fingers. Her heart beats against my chest. Her warmth seeps into my cold skin. She’s here. She’s alive. She’s mine.
I notice Tofi standing nearby, but I just hold Carla. I can deal with our daughter in a moment. Right now, I need this. I need her.
I finally break the kiss, both of us gasping for air.
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. All of you.”
Carla gives me a nervous smile, but she doesn’t speak. There’s something in her eyes, something she needs to tell me, but I don’t care right now.
I kiss her again, softer this time but no less intense. I trail kisses along her jaw, down her neck, finding the claim mark and pressing my lips there. Mine. She’s mine.
“Amari...”
“Please, Carla, just let me hold you for a little while.”
And she does. She melts into my embrace, her arms wrapping around my neck. I bury my face in her hair, breathing in her scent. Peaches and magic and home. I miss the smell of her, the beat of her heart, the warmth of her body against mine.
My hands roam her back, her sides, reassuring myself that she’s whole and unharmed. I press kisses to her temple, her cheek, her lips. I can’t stop touching her, can’t stop kissing her. Three days felt like three centuries.
I don’t know if I can take her leaving me again. The thought of going through this torture another time makes me hold her tighter, as if I can keep her here through sheer force of will.
She’s home. That’s all that matters. Whatever happened in limbo, whatever she needs to tell me, we’ll deal with it together. But right now, in this moment, I just need to hold her and remember how to breathe.