Chapter 67: It’s A Trap

Malric

Malric paced the length of the dorm’s lavish silk rug, his knuckles white where his fists clenched at his sides. He was slowly losing his mind and the worst part was that he wasn’t the only one.

In the heavy, suffocating quiet of the room, Theo sat slumped on the leather sofa, staring blankly at the dark fireplace, while Keali sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by scattered maps and useless notes. Every single one of them was exhausted. It was late into the night, the hour where desperation turned into a dull, throbbing headache.No one knew where the girl in the purple dress had vanished to. Every single lead had evaporated into thin air. It felt as if their Omega, their fated mate, had simply dissolved into the shadows of Moonside Academy.

"I’m sure Vance will find something," Theo muttered, though his raspy voice lacked any real conviction. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "He’s been working on the track hours. He seems determined."

Malric let out a harsh, bitter scoff, turning on his heel. "Come on, Theo. We both know our brother isn’t going to find anything. He’s just on a path of self-destruction right now. This is terrible. We’re running in circles."

From the floor, Keali, his eyes dark and hollow, finally spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper. "You’re looking for the girl in the purple dress?"

Malric snapped his gaze toward him, glaring. "Yeah, Sherlock. Of course we are." Keali didn’t even blink. "She’s our roommate. She came in the other day."

Theo let out a loud, miserable sigh, rolling his eyes back so far it looked painful. He slammed his hand against the sofa armrest, his patience snapped completely in half. "This is not funny, Keali! You need to stop with this! You can see how stressed we all are! First you tell us our roommate is a girl, and now you’re saying she’s the girl in the purple dress?! Come on! Give it a break! What is wrong with you?!"

"Theo, calm down," Malric interjected smoothly, though his own jaw was clenched tight. He sighed, placing a hand on Theo’s shoulder. "We both know Keali isn’t in his right mind right now. He’s just rambling."

Keali sat back, his dark hair falling into his face as he let out a low, weary breath. "Yeah... maybe I am. But... I’m sorry, okay? I really did see that girl in the purple dress. It was really hard to forget her because she was in... you know... that dress."

Malric and Theo both shook their heads in silent unison, utterly refusing to entertain the madness. Malric stepped over to Keali, looking down at his younger brother with genuine concern. "When was the last time you slept, Keali?"

Keali kept quiet, staring down at his bruised knuckles before letting out a soft sigh.

"Come on, little brother," Malric said gently, reaching down to take Keali by the arm and guiding him to his feet. "You need to get some sleep and lay off the moondew for a while. It’s clearly making you see things, and the last thing I need is a crazy Keali when I’m already losing my own mind. Please, work with me here."

Malric gently led Keali down the corridor toward his bedroom. But just as they reached the doorway, the front doors of the dorm door burst open.

Malric froze. He nudged Keali gently inside the bedroom door. "Get some rest. Now."

He snapped the door shut and whipped around, his heart leaping into his throat as he hurried back out to the main lounge. Theo was already on his feet, staring at the entryway.

Vance stood in the threshold, his breathing ragged, his face pale as ghost-wax. He looked entirely distressed. "I didn’t find the boy... but the forest is on fire."

"What?!" Malric and Theo barked in unison. Malric sprinted to the wide glass terrace doors, shoving them open to look out over the academy grounds. Far out in the dense, dark treeline of the Moonside forest, thick plumes of grey smoke were billowing up into the moonlit sky, illuminated by a faint, distant orange glow.

"Smoke..." Theo whispered, stepping out onto the balcony beside him, his eyes wide with hope. "If there’s smoke, it means someone is in that forest right now, starting a fire."

"Which means," Malric finished, the blood surging hot and electric through his veins, "our Omega could be in that forest right now... and Travis Whitelock wasn’t lying to us!"

Oh, please... please, Moon Goddess, let her be in that forest! Malric prayed frantically in his mind.

Without another second of hesitation, they threw themselves out of the dorms. Malric whipped out his phone as they sprinted down the grand marble staircases, hammering a call to Max. "Max! Take your friends and get to the forest right now!" Malric roared into the receiver. "We’ll meet there!"

They tore across the manicured academy lawns, diving headfirst into the pitch-black canopy of the Moonside woods. They pushed deep into the brush, following the dark trail of steam and drifting grey smoke rising above the treetops.

As they closed in on the clearing, a sudden, powerful scent washed over them on the night breeze.

Jasmine. It hit Malric hard. His head snapped up, his wolf roaring in his chest. "It’s her!"

Theo skidded to a halt, sniffing the air intensely, his brow furrowing in deep suspicion. "Wait... something in this scent doesn’t smell right. It doesn’t smell the exact same way it smelled back at the bash."

"Oh, come on!" Malric shouted, pushing past a tree branch. "You were completely drunk that night, Theo! None of us can remember how it smelled down to the exact note, but it’s jasmine!"

They burst into the scorched clearing, only to find the flames had already died out. A small pile of charred branches and damp brush was smoldering on the dirt, having scorched a small, contained circle of the forest floor before dying.

Malric dropped to his knees, staring at the ashes. "Oh gosh... who even started this fire?!"

"It has to be her," Theo insisted, leaning down to touch the warm earth. "You can smell the jasmine lingering right here on the ground." Vance stepped up to the edge of the ashes, his voice cold and flat. "It’s not her. This jasmine doesn’t smell like the jasmine."

"But it is jasmine, Vance!" Malric snapped, turning toward his brother, his eyes wild and desperate. "It’s something! We have something to work with here! We’ve been searching for weeks and we haven’t found a single trace! This is our closest bet! She was in this forest tonight! We have hope!"

Vance just grumbled, burying his hands deep into his pockets. "This is a trick. A trick by that Whitelock boy. I just feel it in my gut. I know it. This is just to get our eyes off him and buy himself time. It has to be. This isn’t her real scent."

Without waiting for a response, Vance turned on his heel and began walking back toward the academy alone, his shadow stretching long against the pines.

Malric stared after him, then turned back to Theo. "We need to search this entire forest again. This time, we don’t miss a single inch. And other than the woods... we need to go down to the surrounding mountain villages. We might even have to contact our sweet, stupid father to start checking the capital."

Theo grimaced. "The capital? Asking the King for help?"

"She could be anywhere, Theo! In the villages, in the capital... it kills me to ask him for anything, but we must!"

Theo sighed heavily. "Fine. I’ll write out a formal letter, since a letter is the only thing our father ever bothers to open and reply to."

Malric nodded, rubbing his temples. "We also shouldn’t completely throw aside what Vance said... this really could be a Whitelock trick."

"Yeah," Theo agreed, his eyes narrowing. "We shouldn’t call off the hunt on that Whitelock boy. He might be our only chance to ever get real information on who our fated mate is, especially with Headmaster Roiner gone on royal business."

Malric let out a long, exhausted breath. "I know. For the first time in my life... I actually wish Headmaster Roiner was here right now. He could just open his vault and hand us the official documents of every single Omega enrolled in this school. This would all be over. We’d could find out she’s right here under our noses."

Theo let out a dry, hollow laugh. "Who knows? We might even find out Keali was right and she’s been our roommate this whole time." They both let out a small, tired laugh, shaking their heads.

"Not possible," Malric muttered.

"Indeed," Theo agreed. "Not a chance."