VACANT novel Chapter 5

"They've been gone for three days. Your daughter was gone for a week, but we waited. So we wait. "

"Would you like to share some of my spaghetti?"

"Why do you even ask such questions?" He grins as he slides the clear lunch box across the table and places it immediately in front of him. "You insult me horribly, crow," he pouts with his hand on his heart.

The lunch hall was large, with a bland white paint job on the walls and a grey tiled floor with picnic tables equally spaced across it. A distinct group classified itself according to the pack hierarchy at each table. The pack thought that everyone had a place, one selected for them by fate, and that fate could not be avoided.

A larger table was provided to the head children, who sat in the middle of the hall, to emphasise that this table is important, as if the aura emanating from it wasn't enough. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma children shared this table. While the sombre Beta son sat at the table and listened, Zachary and his younger brother Neill were laughing along to a joke Benjamin, the Gamma child, had told.

The hunter's table, five feet away to their left, was seen as a higher rank than a Gamma, but they knew they were below the title, while the Salutary, the pack's healers, were to the right of the ‘The Head' table. The Sentinel, the first line of defence between enemy and pack, were just after them.

Before ordinary pack members, omegas, and runts of the pack, these were the pack's elite. The Cruel-pelt Claws were firm believers in order, order that knew its place; without it, nothing would be possible. They were a well-known pack that hid in the Zairian Mountains to keep to themselves. Their white coats only served to highlight how much they belonged in the cold, away from prying eyes.

"Do you think he feels something when he does that?" Her head raised in response to his question, following his line of sight to the future alpha who tucked his head into his girlfriend's neck, nuzzling in her warmth.

"Yes, I mean, his wolf must despise him, because refusing the mate bond is frowned upon," she implied, recalling what she had learnt in fifth grade.

"Did he really care that his Beta practically used me as a punching bag?" he asks, shaking his head.

"Last time I checked, you brought it on yourself," she said, her gaze falling on the brooding lad at the table. Her gaze fell on a little bruise beneath his eyes that appeared to be healing quickly.

"But I think he does," she wonders as she glances toward Luca. "I absolutely know you can't hit that hard."

Nicco turned, his eyes analysing the beta's face only to be met with a growl, but knowing his mate had done it for him made his heart swell. Nicco's wolf finally let out a whimper, assuring him that he was fine.

And his heart clenches as he realises he's still been rejected. "Yeah, but that isn't enough," he said, turning away and staring at the spaghetti in front of him.

And there was his cue to change the subject, and he knew not to poke her because he already knew her attitude toward the idea of the yearly pack bonfire.

The modest house of Mr Edgar came into view, they walked in comfortable silence, and she remembered how he didn't greet her in the morning. She walked up the stairs with an uneasy feeling circling her as she disengaged from Nicco's arm.

Mr. Edgar's scent was light, not as strong as it had been when he had gone by earlier, indicating to her he had never returned home. The silence in the home just mirrored her thoughts, and her gaze went to the upstairs window, expecting the small orange light to switch on, but nothing happened after a few minutes, and she couldn't stop the thoughts from running through her head.

His remark, "Where do you think he went?" This jolted her out of her own sinking thoughts, and reasoning finally took over.

"I believe he neglected to tell me," she adds as she walks down Mr. Edgar's front steps, "but maybe to visit his daughter in another pack."

"He's getting old Crow," Nicco informs her, observing the worry etched on her face, an emotion she rarely displayed.