Chapter 17

Izabella’s POV

"A little more. More. Wait, wait – no! Stop! That's too much!" I yelled.

"You said more!" Trent yelled.

"I said a little more, not throw the entire bag in," I said waving the empty flour bag upside down to show him that he had emptied it.

"She did, Trent," Tyler said.

"Dude!" Trent frowned at Tyler.

"Oh my gosh! Both of you just get away from the ingredients before we all die of hunger!" Hayley shook her head at us.

"You say that like you can cook." I frowned at her. Our friends laughed.

"You know what, how about we just cook, and you kids can all go swim?" I smiled as Hayley's mom walked in with Gail.

"Thank you," Tyler smiled.

"Are you sure? Because we would be fine with just sandwiches –” Tyler shoved Kaden out of the kitchen muttering something about him being a goody-two-shoes, so Joe would think he was a responsible Alpha. I laughed following Tyler out of the kitchen.

"No, you would be fine with 'just sandwiches'. I want some real food." I heard Corey say. I smiled at his response as I shrugged at Kaden who rolled his eyes and followed us further into the hall.

"Last one into the pool is a leech!" Sean yelled causing everyone to dash up the stairs at once. No one wanted to be nicknamed a vampire.

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"Cannonball!" I swam over to the side of the pool as Trent splashed into the water.

"What the heck?!" We all looked to the side of the pool and began laughing seeing Jason standing at the side of the pool soaking wet.

"Oh my God!" Eric stared at his tablet shocked while water dripped from it.

"Hey, I yelled a warning." Trent shrugged.

Jason chuckled as he pulled off his shirt, "It's cool," he said before diving into the pool, "The thing's waterproof, Eric, stop being so dramatic." He added when he surfaced.

"Doesn't mean it's invincible... I'm not being dramatic.” Eric frowned as he sat down beside the pool on the grass and began wiping the water from his tablet.

"Aren't you going to swim?" Alexis asked Eric.

"Nah, he's afraid of water, girls, and sports," Jason said.

"Shut up! I am not! I play basketball." Eric threw a tennis ball at Jason as we laughed.

We all played around in the water playing tag and throwing the ball around until Kaden suddenly stopped as he caught the ball and looked around.

"Where's Sean?" He asked. I looked around.

"He was here a few minutes ago," Hayley said. He had been 'it' in our game of tag at one point. So where was he now?

Sean’s POV

I could see flashes of trees, I could hear leaves crunching, I could feel the ground beneath my bare feet. I was dreaming. I had to be. I must have been asleep because I didn't really feel like I was awake. It didn't seem like I was controlling my actions. I couldn't stop running even though I desperately wanted to because I was out of breath, and I had no idea where I was going. It's like someone else was forcing me to run like there was a part of me forcing me to keep moving.

'Sean, where are you?' Izabella's voice popped into my head. I tried to link back to her, but it felt as though I just blocked her out of my mind and blocked myself from answering her. I felt trapped in my own body.

"Sean?" I finally stopped running and my eyes fell on Nathaniel.

"Nate," I growled out, but it wasn't me. I had not spoken. I didn't understand what was happening to me. He furrowed his brows at me.

"Yeah, Nate. Are... Are you alright?" He asked. I didn't answer as I walked closer to him, "Sean, you're freaking me out.” He stepped back.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"Collecting herbs." He raised his bag.

"You shouldn't be out here by yourself, Nathaniel," I said. What? I tried to stop walking towards him, but I couldn't. My body, my mouth, they were completely out of my control. I felt paralyzed inside myself, and I had to watch someone or something else control me.

"Well, this is Inferno ground, Sean. I doubt anyone's going to come out and attack me. I would get a warning from my pack as soon as someone crosses the borders." He said.

"Funny you should say that," I said. What happened next, I couldn't bear to see myself doing.

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"Sean," I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and smiled seeing Izabella's worried face above me.

"Izabella," I said before confusion overtook me, "Why do you look so worried?" I asked. I moved my eyes hearing a scoff of disbelief.

"You disappear from the pool and we spend the next five hours searching just to find your dumb ass passed out in the forest and you're asking your mate why she's worried?" Corey asked frowning.

"I'm…" I drifted as I sat up and looked around. Sure enough, we were surrounded by trees that seemed never-ending. But how? "Why am I in a forest? I thought we were in the pool." I said slowly.

"You disappeared from the pool! You didn’t tell anyone you were leaving!" Alexis exclaimed.

I shook my head. "No, I remember... playing tag, I remember Hayley practically trying to drown me –” Hayley laughed, "I-I don't remember leaving, I don't remember coming out here."

"Are you sure? Because we didn't see anyone knock you out and drag you out here." Izabella said. I frowned at her, and she gave me a smile that was probably meant to tick me off, but I was too distracted.

I shut my eyes wrecking my brain. Why couldn't I remember anything?! What the hell was going on with me?! That guy... The one at the mall, in the bathroom. What had he done to me? I looked up at Jason when he linked to me.

'Is it him?' I nodded.

'I think... He must have done something to my head.' I replied.

"You know, linking while other people are around is very rude." I smiled up at Alexis as she glared from Jason to me.

"Sorry," I mumbled. I looked down and realized I looked the same way I did at the pool. That would mean I did not shift. Thank God. I didn't want my wolf getting into trouble for something neither of us could remember. I looked down at the pack mark that ran halfway across my chest and down just beneath my ribs before I looked up to see Izabella staring at the mark. She must really find it fascinating as she had been studying it last time too. I smirked winking at her again. I didn't miss the blush on her cheeks as she frowned turning from me and felt my heart pick up. God, she was adorable.

‘You can keep staring, I don’t mind, Mate.’ I linked to her.

"Let's leave him here and go eat." She said.

"Izzy, don't be mean." Trent held out his hand to me, and Jason did too. I grabbed their hands and let them pull me to my feet. Once up, I pretended to stumble and ended up 'falling' onto Izabella. She wasn't expecting it, and we both fell onto the ground.

'Stop pretending you don't like me.' I smirked staring into her dark brown eyes.

"Get off me! Gross! You’re naked!" She yelled.

Our friends laughed as I pushed off her chuckling at her reaction. I was not; I was wearing my swim shorts. I grabbed her hand, against her will, and pulled her to her feet but I didn't let go once she was up.

"I'm starving! Let's go home!" Kaden groaned loudly. No one objected, and we all made our way back to the house.

It was while we were eating supper in one of the dining rooms that Joe walked into the room.

"Is something wrong, Alpha?" Kaden asked.

"Have any of you seen Nate?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, this morning he said he would be in the forest, gathering some leaves or whatever," Tyler replied.

"Have any of you heard from him since?" Joe asked.

"No." We all said as we stopped eating.

"Oh, well Layla's going crazy because she can't link to him or feel him… and we can't find him," Joe said.

Nathaniel... I felt like I had seen him... Had I? I couldn't have. Or I didn't remember. Maybe I ran into him in the morning too.

"Joe, we found him." We all looked at Ian who had come in from the other entrance, "But... He’s dead."