Chapter 29 First Disappearance.
Malia's POV
I notice Sara's absence in our morning classes.
She generally sits two rows ahead in Werewolf History—a reticent omega with dark hair who just stays out of everyone’s orbit but certainly fills her notebook with small writing.
Her chair was vacant.
I don't think much of it at first. People ditch class. Get sick. Sleep through alarms. But by lunch, the whispers start.
"Did you hear about Sara Hallow?"
"The omega from third floor?" she asked.
"Yeah, apparently she transferred."
"In the middle of the semester?"
"Family emergency or something.“
I freeze half a forkful of food away from my mouth.
July notices immediately. “What’s wrong?”
"Sara Hallow," I say quietly. "She lives on my floor. Were you aware that she was transferring?"
The license was duly inspected.
July frowns. "No. That's strange. I can usually get some warning, you know—"
“Not if it’s a family emergency,” Freddy says, but his voice is skeptical.
We look at each other.
The three of us thinking the same thing.
Another one.
—------
By evening, the school has made it official.
An announcement goes out via email:
We regret to inform you that “Sara Hallow owns with unprecedented family emergency to step down from the Mooncrest Academy. We wish her well in her future endeavors."
Generic. Sterile.
“Pretty much like all the other "transfer announcements" Freddy came across on his files.
“This is bad, this is bad,” July says, as she paces my dorm room. "This is really bad."
"We're not sure—" I tell her.
"Yes, we do." Freddy is typing away on his laptop. "Give me ten minutes."
He is typing with speed, with his fingers twinkling on the keyboard.
July and I are waiting nervously in silence.
At last, he looks up, his face white. "There’s no transfer paperwork. No withdrawal forms. No documentation whatsoever except for that email."
I feel like my stomach is falling out. "Nothing?"
“Nothing. It’s like she just... disappeared from the system."
"What about her room?" July asks. "Her belongings?"
We exchanged glances.
“We should check,” I say.
"That's technically trespassing—"
"Someone's making students disappear, Freddy. I think we can bend some rules.”
—-----
Sara's room is on the third floor two doors down from mine.
The door is unlocked—first red flag.
We slip inside quickly, closing the door behind us.
Everything is untouched in the room. Textbooks piled on the desk. Laptop dragged out and charging. Clothes hanging in the closet. Pictures pinned to a corkboard—Sara smiling with friends, family, a younger sibling.
All the stuff you’d take if you really were transferring.
All still here.
"This is wrong," July whispers, brushing the sweater draped over the desk chair. “If she went for a family emergency or something, she’d have at least taken necessities by now. Cell phone charger. Laptop. Something."
Freddy opens the closet. “All her clothes are here. The suitcase still on the top shelf.” He turns to us, his expression grim. "She didn’t leave willingly."
"Then where is she?" I ask, but I’m already thinking about the answer.
Gone. Like all the others.
Erased amid what will undoubtedly be recorded as 'relocation' in the official documents, while her possessions lie forgotten in an empty room.
“This has to be reported,” July says. “Campus security, the dean, somebody…”
“And say what to them?” Freddy interrupts. “That we went into a student’s room, and found her stuff? That she’s just coming back for it. They'll say we're Overreacting.”
“But we’re not—”
“We know that. But they will not listen. No hard evidence. Never mind that the school is busy pretending this whole thing isn’t happening.”
I stroll over to Sara’s desk, looking through the notes littering it.
Werewolf History homework. An incomplete essay, class schedule for today in Daylight with Today's Classes highlighted.
She was going to be there.
She didn’t know she was about to vanish.
“We have to keep records of everything,” I add softly. “Take pictures. Documented what we saw. Accumulate DNA evidence that they can not ignore.”
Pulling out her phone, July begins taking pictures of the room. Freddy follows suit, grabbing the unopened belongings, the laptop plugged in, the pictures of an interrupted life.
I snap photos of the homework—proof she was paying attention, looking toward the future, not getting ready to leave.
“We should go,” Freddy says after a few minutes. “Before someone sees us.”
We sneak out as quietly as we came, but my hands are trembling.
Because Sara was real.
A quiet omega who kept to herself, was an excellent note taker, and smiled in photos with her family.
And now she’s gone.
And no one cared but us.
—------
That night, I don’t sleep.
I’m frightened by every noise.
Every shadow looks menacing. I can’t stop thinking about Sara’s room. Her stuff waiting for someone who’s never coming back.
At around midnight, I give up on sleeping and head to my desk, trying to distract myself with homework.
That's when I see it.
A motion outside my window. A silhouette in the courtyard below, perfectly still, face obscured by darkness.
Watching, my blood turns to ice.
It is that figure again from before—tall, immobile, emitting menace. But closer this time.
Much closer.
As if they're getting bolder.
With trembling hands I grab my phone and text the group chat with July and Freddy:
Me: Someone’s outside my window. Same figure from before.
July: CALL CAMPUS SECURITY
Freddy: Or the Moonfalls. They'll get there faster.
My thumb is hovering over Aiden’s contact.
But before I know it, my door unlocks. I spin around, heart pounding—
Aiden walks in, Rowan and Cian right behind him.
“How did you—” I was going to ask.
“Cian felt something was wrong,” Aiden says briefly, already at the window.
He looks out, searching the courtyard beneath.
His whole body tenses up.
"There," he says quietly.
Rowan and Cian join him at the window. All three lean toward something I can no longer see from my vantage point.
"Is it—" I begin.
"Stay back from the window," Aiden demands, not even glancing at me.
Cian’s already on his phone. “Security. East courtyard. Possible intruder.”
But even as he is talking I can see the look on his face change.
"It's gone," says Rowan.
"Fast," Cian adds. "Too fast."
"What does that mean?" I inquire.
The two brothers exchange looks.
"Whoever is watching you is not human," says Aiden flatly. “And they are so fast, they can vanish before we can see who they are.”
"So what do we do?”
Aidan pivots sharply away from the window with a stony look.
“You’re moving. Tonight. Get your essentials. You’re in our suite, until we can find out who’s after you.”
“Aiden, I can’t just—”
“You can.” He’s already grabbing my bag from the closet, throwing it on my bed. “Pack. Now. We are not arguing about this.”
“But the school—”
“Will approve it,” says Cian quietly. “We’ll make sure of it.”
"What if they don't?" I say with challenge in my voice.
"We'll those ignore them", Rowan said plainly, "Listen your safety is far more important then some housing policy. "
I look from one to the other of them – unanimous in this she has made her mind up in this case too.
Part of me wants to argue.
To say I could manage. But a different part—The part that just saw a girl disappear, the part that’s been seeing shadowy figures, the part that’s Scared—
That’s part of wanting to be safe.
"Okay," I whisper.
Aiden's shoulders droop slightly. “Thank you.”
He moves to the window and locks it firmly, then pulls the curtains closed.
"Pack fast," he says. "We are not going to be here longer than we need to.”
Rowan helps me pack up clothes and necessities as Cian does a room sweep for anything unusual.
Within fifteen minutes, I’m packed.
“Ready?“ Aiden asks.
I nod.
He takes my bag—he doesn’t ask, just takes it—and walks ahead out the door. Rowan stays right by my side.
Cian is in the rear, his eyes continually sweeping our perimeter.
We go through the dorm like a phalanx, attracting attention from the few students who are still awake.
But no one questioned us. No one stops us.
Because when three Moonfall heirs really move, people just kind of get out of the way.
—----
The Alpha wing suite is bigger than my whole dorm floor.
Open living area with luxury furniture. Kitchen with real appliances. Three bedrooms, and a spare.
“This is yours,” Rowan says, revealing a door to a bedroom that’s bigger than the one I was just in.
There’s a real bed—queen sized, with a real headboard. A desk. A dresser. Windows look in on the interior courtyard rather than the outer campus.
Safer.
"Thank you," I whispered.
“The bathroom’s down that way,” he says, pointing. “You’ll be sharing with me — Aiden and Cian have the other one. Is that okay?”
"It's perfect."
Aiden places my bag on the bed. “Lock your door at night. Don’t open your window. If something isn’t right—if something at all—you go and get one of us right away. Get it?”
"I got it."
"I mean it, Malia. Do not try to handle this on your own.”
"I won’t."
He looks at me for a moment, then he nods.
"Sleep. We'll worry about the rest tomorrow."
The three of them left, leaving me to my lonesome in my new room. I drop down on the bed, exhausted but wired.
Sara is missing, someone was watching my window. So, right now I’m living with three alpha heirs who are maybe-probably-definitely tied to me in ways none of us really understand.
My phone buzzes.
July: Are you okay? Where are you?
Me: I’m safe. Staying with the Moonfalls for now.
July: ALL FOUR OF YOU???
Me: Long story. I'll tell you in the morning.
July: Oh you absolutely will. With details. ALL the details.
I smile anyways, for everything. I see another text.
Unknown number.
Unknown: We’re always watching.
My blood runs cold.
I immediately take a screenshot and send it to all three brothers. There's a knock on my door within seconds.
I open it to find all three of them standing there.
Aiden's expression is murderous.
"Pack a bag," he says. "You're sleeping in the living room tonight. Where we can all see you."
"Aiden—"
"Non-negotiable."
And for once, I don't argue.
Because someone out there is watching, threatening. And possibly responsible for Sara's disappearance.
And I don't want to face that alone.