Chapter Sixteen Dylan #2
"Curfews will now be after class. Everyone must report to their dorms immediately once classes have ended.
" There was an uproar, but Wilcox made them all silent again as she burst into the room with her power.
It trickled over me, but she didn't rival mine or my mates.
With our combined power right now, we could have walked out of the classroom if we wanted, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
But I liked Wilcox, and I wanted to hear what else she had to say.
"There are things happening around our school, and it is our duty to keep you all safe.
People are missing, and not just those from the school anymore.
In the neighboring towns, we are receiving reports of people going missing. "
Wilcox's voice sounded frazzled, and she couldn't stop herself from babbling. The murmurs in the room broke out again. This time she allowed them to go on for a few moments before pulling us back.
"I know you all like to release your tension in town, but that cannot happen any longer.
There will be a guard at the door of your dorms at all times.
You may not leave your dorm rooms. If you want to throw parties inside the building, we will allow it.
There is also talk of allowing the ball to happen at the end of term for those who graduate the etiquette class as well.
As long as the culprit is caught, we will plan for it. "
I never really cared for parties, but I still wanted to see Lupe's head on a spike. Others didn't know what was going on, but I did. Lupe was still abducting people for her experiment.
If she wanted me, I didn't know why she hadn't come for me yet. If I was the key to her plans, why was she attacking these other people?
More for the army she wants, I assume, Hunter answered my thoughts.
If Lupe was abducting people for an army, it meant she was close to the correct formula.
This wasn't good. If I wanted to bring Lupe down, I needed to figure out her new lair.
My discovery compromised her lair below the library.
Though it didn't look like that had been the lair she created her dark magic in.
Too many thoughts swirled around my head throughout the rest of the class that, when Wilcox called out for it to be done for the day, I almost missed it. If it weren't for my mates nudging me, I wouldn't have noticed at all.
"Wilcox wants to speak with us, Dyl," Jackson said as he held out his hand for me to take.
I didn't take his hand. Sometimes I needed to remind them I wasn't a fragile flower and could do things for myself occasionally. They both growled like I needed to be taken care of right now, but I ignored them.
You were hurt by Silas running off. Of course, we are going to want to take care of you, Jackson told me.
Mentally, I stuck my tongue out at them.
Wilcox didn't need to see a disturbance between us.
I may like her, but I didn't fully trust her not to go blabbing to Lupe.
The last thing I needed was for that horrid woman finding out that my mates and I have any kind of disagreement.
She would see it as a weakness and plan her attack. That's not what I needed right now.
Sera stayed behind with us, and Wilcox furrowed her eyebrows at her presence. "Miss Osmera, you are not needed for this discussion."
I growled. "Sera is my most trusted friend. Whatever you can say in front of me and my mates, you can in front of her."
"She is not part of your pack," Wilcox countered.
The boys joined in on my growls. They felt the same way about Sera as I did. Both of them spoke their liking of bringing Sera back to our pack when we went home. There was nothing for her in her previous pack, but she had us in ours.
"I'd watch your tongue when it comes to Serafine Osmera around us. She may not be our female, but she is like a sister to ours . We will be demanding her transfer to our pack once this is all over," Jackson sneered.
Wilcox's eyebrows raised at me, but I shrugged. "If you think I can control these men, you are very wrong. Jackson speaks the truth. Sera is mine in the sense of my pack once I return to my pack."
"Very well. This concerns your pack, so I didn't want to speak anything of it to those who weren't in it. I spoke poorly, so forgive me."
It took me a moment, but I realized what Wilcox meant. Hunter and Jackson were my pack, not the pack I left to come here. It was meant to be a compliment, not an insult. I smiled and gave her a curt nod.
“One name on the list of those taken last week has caught my attention; it would mean a great deal to you.”
Oh no. That can’t mean what I think it means. Please, I pray to you my goddess, don't let her say the name I think she is about to speak. This can't be happening.
"What name?" Hunter demanded.
Hunter's power swelled, filling the room immediately. Mine rose to the surface as my wolf surged forward. She already knew what the answer was, and her mournful howl rang through my mind.
"Silas Lynch was taken from the school grounds last night. A guard witnessed it but couldn't get to him in time. I'm so sorry."
It felt like the walls were closing in as she spoke the words.
That couldn't be.
I repeated the words that it couldn't be true, yet I could scent the truth in her words.
Someone had taken Silas. That's why he didn't help us with Noah or why he hadn't returned to the dorm last night.
Taken.
They had taken Silas.
That thought came to mind last night, but I didn't want to consider that to be an option. It felt truer to believe he had left me because, then, I wouldn't have to face the world without ever completing the bond with him. Lupe meant to turn him against me in her army.
Arms wrapped around me, bergamot and lemongrass filling my nose as Sera pulled me against her chest. I didn't know when, but I collapsed to the ground. My mates were there, too, but it was Sera's arms I was in while I howled Silas's name.
"Don't mourn for him, yet, Dylan. He isn't dead." Hunter's words were heard, but I don't know if I believed them.
How could I? Lupe wanted to weaken me. Killing my mates would be the best way for her to weaken me.
I reached out to Silas, which I knew was stupid of me to do. I fully expected the bond to be there, given my feelings, but I realized I severed it when I rejected him. It wasn't black like before, though. There was some color in it from my realization of how I felt toward Silas.
My jaw tightened from me thinking Silas had left me. I felt my whole body stiffen, knowing I had underestimated him and thought he was untouchable, that he was too powerful as an alpha to be captured and taken away by someone like Lupe or her minions. I was wrong.
They took Silas.
I was responsible for his capture. If I hadn’t brought him into my mess, had stuck to my guns and not told him anything about all this, he wouldn't have been part of the mission. Hunter wouldn’t have placed him away from us because he never would have been there.
He may have followed us to see what we were up to, but he wouldn't have been by the school where Lupe could get her claws into him.
If I would have allowed him to mark me, I would know where he was right now. The bond would allow for me to find him anywhere. Yet I was too proud to allow him to share a bond with me. He bruised my pride, so I broke his by rejecting him and sending him back here.
This was all my fault.
I was stupid enough to think me and my mates were untouchable because Lupe wouldn't risk angering me again after I blew up her plans and pissed on the ashes. If I was half as smart as I thought I was, I would have bonded to Silas to make me more powerful than she could have ever touched.
My fault. And I needed to make it right.
Sera let me go, and I looked up at my mates, hatred for Lupe burning inside me. "We need to find him. Find him and kill Lupe, along with every follower she has gained."