Chapter 22

Sean’s POV

My eyes were a blur before they cleared, and I stumbled back as the image of Izabella's tear-stained face appeared in front of me. What just happened? I could taste blood... Where –? My eyes fell onto her neck. Oh no.

"Izzy." I began to try to touch her neck but realized I was gripping her wrists incredibly tightly. I immediately let her go, “Iza –”

"Get away from me!" She yelled causing me to stumble back without her even having to push me. She did not try to though, and instead tried shrinking further away from me as tears ran down her face.

"I'm sorry –” I began feeling pained at the amount of pain, fear, and hatred on her face, in her eyes.

"I hate you! I'd rather die than be with you! And no matter what I say or feel because of this stupid bond and stupid mark, I will always hate you. Stay. Away. From. Me." She said just as the door opened.

"What's going on here? We heard screaming –” Ian stopped as he saw her and his eyes immediately darkened as they shifted to me. I looked back at her wishing I could comfort her, but I could not because it was my fault she was crying. "I'm so sorry..." I said softly. Her words hurt me, but knowing that I marked her, and she didn't want it, knowing that I can't even remember that I marked her or how, that hurt more, and I hated myself. "I'm so sorry, Izabella," I whispered before turning and pushing by Ian, Joe, and Izabella’s brothers as I walked out. No doubt they were all going to try to kill me later; they were more concerned about checking on her immediately though.

I stumbled down the stairs as my eyes began to blur. It was happening again, it was stronger and it was happening more frequently. I had to get out of there before I hurt anyone else.

Izabella’s POV

"Sorry, Cole. But when I find your son, I'm going to fucking kill him." My Dad didn't curse often, so when he did, he was either extremely happy, surprised, or very pissed off.

"I can't believe he would do this," Cole mumbled shaking his head.

"Yeah? Well, whether we would like to believe it or not, he did it, and I'm going to find him." Cohen said darkly.

"Let him go," I mumbled. They all looked at me. I was sitting on my bed between Hayley and Alexis.

"Let him go?" Corey echoed in disbelief.

"She's not thinking straight, it's the mark," Adan said.

"No," I shook my head, "I am... Just... let him go..." I said.

Despite what I said to Sean when I was consumed by my initial shock and anger, about me hating him, I still thought something was wrong with him. I really believed he wasn't okay. Maybe it was the terrified look on his face when he left, or the weird black-red flash his eyes have been doing lately as he had right after he bit me. Whatever it was, I felt like it was bad.

The bite marks on my neck had healed, but there was now a mark in its place. Maybe it was the mark, but I didn't hate him. I couldn't. I didn't want to either... I didn't understand why, but I was too tired to think about it, and I was too worried about him.

"This just doesn't seem like him, though. Sean wouldn't..." Dad drifted as he looked at the mark on my neck.

"It's not like him." I looked to see Sean’s best friends at my door.

"Maybe we should have told you this earlier, but Sean thought you all had too much to deal with already. He did not want to make a big deal out of… he thought it was nothing, Alpha," Matt said.

"Told me what?" Dad asked.

"When you guys went to the mall, and Sean went to the bathroom," Eric looked at me.

"The day we found him practically unconscious with his clothing burnt and ripped?" Trent asked, Eric nodded.

"He lied about what happened. He told us the guy he met in the bathroom touched him and it felt like he burnt into him, like he was ripping open his skin." Eric said slowly. A chorus of disbelieving chuckles broke out from my friends and brothers.

"You can't be serious. Is this you trying to cover for that piece of shit?" Gray asked, obviously not very happy with them.

"Wait, Gray. Burnt into him?" Dad asked.

"Yes," Matt confirmed.

"That sounds stupid," Hayley mumbled. I agreed.

"Maybe it isn't, though. Remember the Travellers, Cole?" Dad looked at Cole and his Beta’s jaw dropped a little before he nodded.

"Yes, but they've been extinct for over twenty thousand years; there's no way Sean could have met one," Cole said.

"Travellers?" Joe asked. Dad nodded.

"Maybe they aren't extinct. Was Sean acting weird?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, he would be himself one minute –” Andrew was saying.

"And in the next he would be a complete asshole who spoke to everyone rudely and walked weirdly," Hayley said.

"Yeah, and he would forget a lot of things, right after they happened," Andrew said.

"His eyes have red in them." I mumbled, "When they go black, there’s some red in them." I mumbled. I was sure of it now. I had seen it clearly after he marked me. “I thought it was something related to his wolf, but his eyes changed color even when he was not angry.”

"Yeah, that's when he would forget or suddenly become an asshole," Jason said.

"Why didn't you guys tell us this earlier? I know Sean asked you to keep quiet about it, but you should know better than to listen to him when he is clearly a mess." Cole said looking angry.

"We're sorry, Beta." Matt looked down ashamed.

"It's fine." Dad sighed, "Where is he now?" He asked.

"We don't know. That's why we're telling you about it because he's gone, and we can't find him or contact him. He has just disappeared." Eric said honestly.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We don't have time to explain this now. The longer he's gone the more chance that he'll hurt somebody – or himself," Cole said.

"The longer he's gone, the less chance we'll have to ever bring him back." Why did it sound like Dad's sentence had two meanings?

"Wait –” I began.

"You stay here," Cohen said to me.

"No, I –” I began.

"Stay, all of you. That's an order." Dad used his Alpha voice.

"You too," Joe used the same voice on Tyler, Trent, and Alexis.

"But, Alpha, he's our friend. We can help you find him; we know how he is, where he goes. You can't make us stay here, and Izzy could probably feel him right now. She could lead us straight to him." Jason said. I began to try to agree but my father spoke again.

"He is not your friend right now, Jason. He's a Traveller and in Sean’s body he’s too powerful for you guys, he’ll be dangerous. God knows what he's doing or who he's hurting right now and I'll be damned if another pack member of mine gets killed." Dad said, "You're all staying and that's final." He finished.

"Let's go –” Cole stopped when the door opened.

"Clara's gone. I-I checked her room, and I looked for her, and some of the others helped. We looked outside but-but we found her bunny by itself. Joe, we looked everywhere, and she – she's gone." I felt my heart stop. Gail was hysterical. She was on the brink of tears and she was practically shaking.

"Oh my God," Wayne said.

"We have to find him fast. He probably doesn't even know who she is." Dad said walking out. Wayne and Cole followed him.

"I'll find her, okay? She’ll be fine, I promise." Joe kissed Gail before following the others, she followed them out.

I clenched my fist. I was pretty sure if I focused on the mate pull, which was now a lot stronger, I would be able to find Sean quite fast, and if she was with him, Clara too.

"This is bullshit!" I was a little surprised to hear Eric swear, though given the situation it could have been expected...

"Yeah, but we're stuck here. They're our Alphas, and they ordered us to stay." Alexis said. She was right; there was no way we could disobey Joe and Ian when they had commanded us.

"Well... They're not the only Alphas here, are they?" I looked at Trent to see him looking at Kaden.

"No, no. I'm not Alpha yet and there is no way I could undo what Alpha Joe just did to us – and you guys, you're not even Inferno wolves." Kaden said motioning to us.

"It's worth a try, Kaden. He's not himself. They won't find him, not as quickly as we could. If he's currently blacked out, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Clara." Matt said.

"We don't need any more deaths, Kaden. Not in Inferno and not in Galaxy. Just try. That's all we're asking." Andrew said. Kaden bit his lip nervously. He probably did not want to disobey Joe by even trying.

"Kade, please," I said. He sighed deeply.

"Fine." Kaden mumbled, "But don't expect it to work." He added before straightening up. "Look for Sean, that's an order." He had a pretty impressive Alpha tone for a fifteen-year-old.

"That's it?" I shoved Corey for being an idiot.

"Hey! It's just so... Simple." Corey said.

"Yeah. Let's see if it worked. Let's go. Izabella, lead." Jason said.

I got up, but Alexis caught my hand.

"Be careful." She said. I nodded before making my way out of the room and downstairs. If we could get out of the door, we would know Kaden's Alpha act worked.

I let out a breath of relief as I stepped of the house without a problem. I turned to Jason smiling as he chuckled walking out.

"Well, what do you know," he mumbled, "Thanks, Kade! We owe you!" He called.

He chuckled as we heard Kaden grumble something about getting in trouble because he disobeyed his Alpha.

"Lead the way, Izzy." Matt smiled. I nodded before turning and running towards wherever the mate pull led me.