Page 8 of Pack Baines

Watching he swipe her hands against the cheek roughly, I can’t tear my eyes away as Juno takes a steadying breath, mutters something to herself, and rolls her shoulders back. She’s climbing outof the truck a moment later, hauling out several bags filled to almost bursting, before she’s heading into the dorm building. Longing tugs at my chest, and I can’t seem to drive away, even when she’s long out of sight. It’s like I’m paralyzed in my spot, terrified that she’ll disappear overnight again if I so much as take my eyes off the building she vanished into.

It takes me a while to finally bring myself to head home, the drive taking less than ten minutes. But during that time, I make a mental plan that will have me seeing Juno again. And again. And again, until she realizes that running from me will only make me chase her that much fucking harder.

Parking my car in the drive, the drive that includes two other cars, a Wrangler, and a killer motorbike, I head into the house our parents bought for our stay at North U. It’s over the top, stupid fancy, and isn’t lacking in all of the lavish amenities one would find is a rich kid’s house. I tried to argue with each pack that makes up all of our parents, but it’s like talking to a brick wall when they have more than enough money to spend, and they get a weird thrill spending it on their kids. So, the five of us were gifted a fancy house to live in while we go through a fancy college to get fancy degrees and all that shit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. More than grateful. I know I’m privileged, in more ways than one, and the guys all know it, too. But it all seems hollow, has felt hollow for eight years, since Juno disappeared from our lives. It’s as though all the money and pretty things seem worthless without her.

I’m lost in my head as I move to the open plan kitchen, ditching my keys on the counter, then I sit at the marble island that separates the huge living room from the kitchen and dining room. My hands are in my hair and I’m staring down at the lines of the dark marble, trying to figure out how I can see Juno again without her bolting to her car and gunning away from me as fast as she can. I do my best to scrub the fear I saw in her eyes after the shock wavered enough, try to bite back the low growl bubbling in my chest at the thought of her running from me. From us. Again.

“You look like you’re trying to plot ways to make that counter pay for whatever wrongdoings it’s done to you,” Geo notes as he steps into the kitchen, drawing me out of my thoughts with a jolt of my body.

Snorting, I nod slowly, thoughts still firmly on Juniper fucking Henley.

“Alright. What gives?” he presses, nudging me with a cold bottle clasped in his hand.

My jaw clenches and I wonder how the hell I’m supposed to break the news that Juno, the girl we all thought would be ours before she vanished on the night of our picnic eight years ago, has just reappeared. Pretty sure there’s no easy way to do it so, like an idiot, I blurt, “I found her.”

Geo’s happy expression freezes, already knowing exactly who I’m talking about without me having to utter her name, and he shakes his head. “What—? I don’t— How?”

Ending my staring competition with the countertop, I look up at the muscular beta, lips flattening when I find the same stunned expression plastered over his face that I’m sure was on mine the moment I realized just who it was that collided with me in the parking lot.

“She was—” I start, only to be interrupted by several other voices, the twins and Evron entering the kitchen a second later.

“Oh, hey, man. Did you manage to get that projector?” Ev wonders, heading straight to the fridge, pulling out a tub of strawberries before he goes hunting for the ice cream in the freezer.

I don’t answer, taking a deep breath as I eye them all, and I find myself subconsciously rubbing at the ache still plaguing my chest.

It’s Lowie that breaks the silence that stretches between us, the question left unanswered. “What’s wrong?”

When I can’t get my voice box to work normally again, that suppressed growl finally breaking through to the surface, Geo is forced to clear his throat and rasp, “Creek found Juniper.”

I feel their eyes fall on me the moment the words register, and I try to swallow the growl still rumbling in my chest, my alpha instincts riding my ass hard. I have to fight the urge to head straight back to the dorms, to scour each floor for the faint scent I’d recognize anywhere, looking for the room I’ll know is hers the moment I find it. But the battle rages on, the biggest war coming from the need to drag her away from the dorms and bring her here, with us, where she should have always fucking been from the start.

“Where is she?” Leylan wonders quietly, clasping the back of his brother's neck in an attempt to tamper the anger coiling through him. An anger I understand. An anger at everyone who failed Juno when she needed it, anger at the fucking pack that hurt her, and anger at Juno for just vanishing on us without so much as a heads up. Although, that anger might be a little misplaced, since the last we heard from her was through a phone call only twenty minutes after the twins’ dad dropped her off at that shit hole. A phone call where we heard her rasp Lowie’s name before wet coughs broke through the call and everything went quiet shortly after. That phone call has haunted me for the past eight fucking years.

Wiping my hands over my face, I hear Geo answer, “Dunno. I was about to find out before you guys came in.”

Then silence follows, and I know I have to tell them. So, dropping my hands to the counter, I look at each of my pack and tell them, “She’s here, at North Five. Followed her all the way from the city after she literally bumped into me in the parking lot of the mall. She’s staying at the dorms on campus.”

Evron blows out a shaky breath, shaking his head in disbelief. Geo reaches out for the counter, gripping it tight enough that I worry for its integrity, his head hanging while he tries to process my words. Leylan’s hand hides his mouth, shock plastered over his visible features, while his brother crosses his arms, his face turning blank and unreadable.

That is, before he nods once and walks away, heading for the front door. I watch as he picks his keys up, looks back to us allstill congregated in the kitchen, and asks, “What the fuck are we waiting for, then? Let’s go get her.”

I sigh, some of the tension leaving my shoulders, and explain, “I don’t know what room is hers, no matter how desperately I want to go in there and bring her home. You didn’t see her, man. She recognized me and ran. She looked terrified, Low. Scared shitless. She didn’t stick around for a conversation or anything. All I got out of her was a horrified whisper of my name before she bolted.”

Lowie frowns, a deep pinch of his brows, and he snaps, “We wouldn’t fucking hurt her.”

“I don’t think that’s why she was scared,” Leylan softly confirms, echoing my thoughts. Because he’s right. Juno knows we would never hurt her, not in a million years. So, why did she skitter like a terrified kitten, running before I could utter a single word? Who the fuck is she running from? “We should call Dad. Hear what happened that night again. Get some insight or something.”

Slowly, Lowie returns to the kitchen, keys still clutched tightly in his hand, and he nods jerkily before fishing his cell out and dialing Kaleb and placing the call on speakerphone.

“Eey, there’s my boy. Or one of ‘em, at least. I was just talking to your mother about how we haven’t heard from you guys all week. How’re you doing, kiddo?” Kaleb greets, causing my lips to twitch as he bypasses any kind of hello.

And bypassing any kind of answer, Lowie jumps straight into the hard shit without hesitation. “Dad, what happened with Juno after she ended up in the hospital when we were kids?”

Silence answers, and I almost wonder if Kaleb will answer, until he sighs heavily from the other end. “That’s not the conversation I was expecting, kiddo.”

“We need to know,” Lowie responds, staring at the phone like it holds all of the answers to the questions surrounding us.

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