“Speaking of Connor, do you know where he is?” I wanted to see him, just for a moment, to know that he was all right.
“He and Lucas are in the library talking with the elders again about this Bio-Chrome situation.”
“What about Brittany? Has she come back?” I asked.
Reaching out, Mom straightened the collar on my shirt, as though I needed to be sharply dressed to stand up to the news she was about to deliver. “No, no one’s heard from her.”
I felt a pain so sharp that Mom might as well have slapped me. “Have they sent out anyone to look for her?”
“They have no idea where to look.”
She sounded so damned calm—as though I’d simply asked her to change her blouse.
“That’s no excuse.” The idiocy of no one looking for her! Not even her mom? Then I remembered that her mom had gone to Europe. Bad timing on her part. How I refrained from shouting was beyond me; maybe the shift had caused me to mature. “She has to be in the forest. We start at one end and we sweep through to the other. She could be hurt, suffering because she went through the transformation alone. Or, God forbid, Bio-Chrome might have her.”
I didn’t want to say out loud that she might also be dead. I absolutely did not want to go there.
Rafe put his arm around me and drew me up against his side. There was strength and comfort in his gesture. “I’ll talk with Lucas, see what we can do about looking for her. We’ll find her.”
He briefly brushed his lips over mine in reassurance before saying good-bye to my parents and heading toward the library to find Lucas.
“He seems like a nice young man,” my mother said.
“He is,” I assured her. “He’s totally awesome. And I love him more than I thought it was possible to love someone.”
“We always thought you and Connor—”
“I know, Dad,” I said, cutting him off. “But see, it’s always been my decision, my choice. I chose Rafe.”
Dad gave me a warm smile. “Well, at least now I have someone who can keep my car running.”
“You have more than that, dear,” Mom said sternly. “You have someone who can make our daughter very happy.”
I couldn’t have been more stunned if she’d suddenly announced she wasn’t a Shifter.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked,” she said. “I was young once. Someday I’ll tell you about all the hoops your father jumped through to win me.”
“I can’t wait.” But I also couldn’t wait to see Kayla or Connor—or to figure out what we were going to do about Brittany.
After hugging my parents and making plans to have dinner with them, I took my backpack upstairs to the bedroom I was sharing with Kayla and Brittany. Kayla was sitting on the window seat when I walked in. She hopped up, ran across the room, and hugged me.
“I’ve been so worried about you.”
I smiled at her. “I’m fine.”
“So you chose Rafe.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but my grin grew. “Yeah. I love him so much, Kayla. If he doesn’t think I hang the moon and the stars, I don’t care, because I think he does.”
She squeezed my hands. “I’m so happy for you, Lindsey. I sorta always felt like he was the one for you.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because it had to be your choice, your decision.”
For someone who had just joined our pack, she was learning quickly.
My smile faded. “Have you seen Connor?”
She nodded. “He’s going to be okay. So tell me, was the transformation everything you thought it would be?”
I nodded. “And more.” I slung my backpack onto my bed. “I’m worried about Brittany, though.”
“Yeah, me, too. She just disappeared. No one knows where she went.”
“They’re not even trying to find her.”
Kayla grimaced. “Not exactly true. They’re just not announcing it because people are very tense right now with this whole Bio-Chrome mess. They sent a couple of Guardians out to search for her. But they’re leaving most of us here just in case we’re attacked.”
“We should all be looking for her.”
“And leave Wolford unprotected?”
She was right—the elders were here, our history was here—but I didn’t like it.
“Besides, it hasn’t really been that long. Maybe she’s just taking her time getting here.”
“Maybe.” But it didn’t feel right to me. Something was wrong. I just knew it.
I walked over to the window and glanced out. Connor was walking toward the forest. I wondered if Rafe’s presence had made him leave the library. “I need to go talk with Connor.”
I rushed out of the residence and into the forest. Strange, but I caught Connor’s scent even though I wasn’t in wolf form. I followed it until I came to a small stream. He was standing beside it.
“Hey,” I said quietly as I approached.
He glanced over his shoulder. “Hey, yourself. How does it feel to be a full-fledged Dark Guardian?”
“Amazing.” I stopped beside him. “Connor—”
“Please don’t apologize again,” he interrupted. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since the other night. You’ve been my friend forever. I just always thought we were destined to be together, but the truth is…what I felt for you—I’m not sure it was love. Not the kind that Lucas has with Kayla. And not what you have with Rafe. Believe it or not, I’m really happy for you. I’m glad you found that.”
Fighting back the tears, I hugged him tightly. I needed to do that in order to truly let him go. I leaned back and held his gaze. “I do love you, Connor.”
“And Rafe.”
“Absolutely, I love him, too. And differently. But you’re still my friend. You’ll always be my friend.”
“You’ll always be mine, too.”
We started walking back to the residence. “I’m worried about Brittany,” I told him.
“Don’t be. If there’s anyone who can survive going through the transformation alone, it’s her.”
“She likes you, you know.”
He shook his head. “Don’t even go there. I think I’m going to go girlfriend-less for a while.”