Chapter 18

Izabella’s POV

There were too many deaths in the past three days. First, Nathaniel was murdered, and then two men were found dead not far from the pack house yesterday, and today a woman was found near the fence bordering the pack. It did not seem that whoever was killing people was targeting just Inferno wolves because one of the men had been from Galaxy.

"Alright, kids." I looked up as Dad walked into the room, "You've all missed too much school, especially you, Izzy. Three weeks in your final year, so guess who has to go to school on Monday?" Dad said.

"Izzy has to go alone and the rest of us can miss another week?" I punched Jason's arm as the words left his mouth and he smirked at me.

"Ha-ha, no, Jason. All of you. And I've arranged for you all to stay in school later to catch up with the work and tests you've missed." Dad said.

"Seriously, Alpha? You're killing us!" Matt groaned from across the carpet where he was currently glued to the TV screen with Sean as they played.

"I know, and while I'm at it, Eric; you've fallen behind in your training, so –” He was saying.

"No!" Eric cut him off. We all laughed.

"You'll be spending an extra hour and a half in the gym every day," Dad said smiling.

"Can't I just stay at school an hour and a half longer? It's training my mind." Eric said.

"Yeah, but your biceps could use some work," Hayley smirked.

I laughed as Eric glared at her. "There's nothing wrong with my biceps." He mumbled flexing to show her.

"No disrespect, Alpha. But to avoid you giving me any work, is there a specific reason you came here?" Jason asked.

"To tell us we have school tomorrow, you idiot," Andrew chuckled and my father shook his head.

"Do I have to drive you?" Dad looked at me.

"I'll drive her," Sean said.

"I'll walk." I smiled at him. I wasn't completely used to not having the 'I hate you, stay the hell away from me' relationship with him, yet the answer had come automatically. I felt a little guilty when he looked away, a flash of hurt in his eyes.

"Whatever." He muttered.

"What are you doing?" Alexis asked looking across the room.

I looked at Corey as he lifted his nose and smelt the air.

"Do you guys smell that?" He mumbled.

"He who smelt it, dealt it! It wasn't me!" Matt yelled out.

"What?" We all looked at him confused but Sean and his close friends began laughing.

"I wasn't talking about the smell of feces. It smells... Good... Very good." Corey mumbled. "Whoever is wearing that, I need it." He said looking around at us.

"What are you talking about, man? All I smell is her –” Sean motioned to me seemingly annoyed. I rolled my eyes. Stupid. We could all track our mates by their scents so we could obviously smell our mates. Wait. Our mates!

"Oh my Gosh! It's your mate!" I yelled in excitement.

"My ears!" Sean hissed, I just stuck my tongue out at him and he narrowed his eyes back at me but I didn't miss how the edges of his lips stretched upwards as he turned back to the television. It made me unintentionally smile.

"In the Inferno pack?" Dad asked.

"Our pack? So you're switching packs?" Kaden asked Corey.

"Pfft, no. She's switching packs, he can't." Hayley said.

"You guys have begun arguing about who's switching packs and he hasn't even met her yet," Trent said.

"Oh, smell's gone. Guess I'll look for her later. I'm next on the loser's controller." Everyone except Hayley and I seemed shocked by Corey's nonchalance towards finding his mate. Hayley and I just laughed. Corey was a little like me when it came to mates, except he never really had a problem with not wanting to find his; he just figured he would find her when he found her, he was not in a rush.

-----

I walked around the backyard. There were so many people. We were having a barbecue, both packs together mingling. Sean had disappeared again. He had been doing that a lot in the past few days, and I was beginning to get curious. I looked around almost feeling sick at the number of mates I saw acting all lovey-dovey. I saw all of Sean's friends and I spotted all of my friends as well. Except one. Where was Trent?

I walked into the house taking Jason's bag of chips from his hands as he spoke to some other people. He growled at me but I just stuck my tongue out at him as I ate a chip. He rolled his eyes at me and got another bag so I smiled walking into the hall as I continued to eat. I walked down towards one of the entertainment rooms, the one we had all been in earlier, and once inside, I smiled spotting Trent on the carpet across the room. But my smile fell when I noticed the room was dark and he sat with his head hung low.

"Trent?" I spoke softly. I was relieved when he looked up and he didn't have tears staining his face. He gave me a small smile as I sat down beside him. "What are you doing in here alone when everyone else is outside?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Pack gatherings aren't really my thing, too many memories." He mumbled.

"Memories?" I asked. He nodded. I figured it was bad memories and he didn't want to talk about it, so I switched to the only other thing that popped into my mind because Hayley and I had been desperately trying to find out who Corey's mate was all day, "Excited about finding your mate?" I asked.

"Already found her." He said drinking some of his Coke. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"And I haven't met her? You jerk!" I punched his shoulder. He laughed.

"No, no. If you could have met her, believe me, I would have introduced her to you. She would have loved you." He said. I stared at him. Why was he speaking in the past-tense?

"Would have?" I asked. He licked his lips before biting his lower lip as he stared at the can in his hands.

"She... Uh... She died." He said, "One of the reasons I don't like these gatherings. She loved them. Dragged me around so we could prank the other kids, she was crazy." He chuckled.

"But... You're young." I whispered.

"Yeah. She died a while back when I was fifteen." He said. That was just three years ago.

"Trent, I'm so sorry," I whispered. I would never have thought he had lost his mate; he was always happy.

"It's alright. I've gotten used to not having her irritate me every day... It never quite feels the same though... All the things we used to do together. I had known her since birth, and I knew she was my mate from when we were little. I just knew; we both did. You know, it's true when they tell you that you literally feel empty when you lose them. That's another feeling that never goes away. Emptiness. And then when I do something she used to love, it just hurts so much more. So I don't. I just sit here, and drown my sorrows in Coke, because I don't drink alcohol." He gave a dry chuckle.

I bit my lip seeing his glossy eyes stare at the wall opposite us. I blinked to try to push my tears back. Dad and Cole must have felt like that too, but they got a chance to be with mom and Sean's mom for a long time. Trent never had that chance.

"Trent –” I began.

"I... I'd give almost anything to see her again. Even just for a second." He whispered as a tear fell from his eye. I turned so I was sitting faced to his side and hugged him leaning my head on his shoulder. "She was gone so suddenly. A hunter. He shot her, in her heart, and through her neck. She couldn't heal... She bled to death. The worst part is that I was supposed to meet her that night. But I was running late looking for the best gift for her, even though I knew she would be happy even if I got her nothing. She was never the type to want much..." He mumbled. I held him tighter feeling him shake as he began to sob softly.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

We stayed like that for a while until he sighed wiping his tears before looking at me smiling.

"It's cool." He said and then stared at me seriously. "You're lucky, Izzy. Your mate's still here, but he isn't always going to be. Especially given the fact that he's an Alpha, he's a target." He said. "You need to give the guy a break. You shoot him down every time he gets a glimmer of hope." He added chuckling.

"It's not my fault. I'm used to it. I mean, I can't just get over everything that happened before I found out he was my mate." I mumbled.

"I know, but try to. He has." He said.

"He has?" I asked.

"Izabella, everyone can see he's whipped. It's not even just the bond, it's almost sad." He said. We laughed. "Just give him a chance. He's a good person even though he can't beat me in a card game, he's still a good person... Somewhere... Deep... Inside. Very, very deep –” He joked.

I nodded laughing. I had seen Sean with other people. He could be mean sometimes but he always cared about his pack and everyone in it, I used to think that did not include me.

I moved to lay down and leaned my head on Trent's legs.

"Not going back to the barbecue?" He asked looking down at me.

"I'm tired. Besides, Sean's not there for me to pick a fight with." I said.

“You mean you miss him?”

“No!” I snapped. He chuckled.

"I'm beat too, but maybe that's because I had too much Coke." He said.

I laughed shutting my eyes. I should probably listen to him. Maybe I would invite Sean to swim or something tomorrow.