My first night as alpha proves to be a long one.
Unconsciously, Alicia's mind is the first one I seek. Since she is asleep, I appear in her dreams instead. But her dreams are abstract and formless, so my dreaming contents itself with her memories.
She is in Cade's arms, asleep like a child. And her recent memories are of him.
I seek Phil's mind next, then Willy's. I appear briefly in Troy's. He is not asleep but awake, immersing himself in a role-playing game to drown out the shame of his defeat.
But, 'Why did I lose like that!', his mind screams as he practically pounds a game console with his thumbs, taking out his frustration on other players in the game by soundly defeating every one.
Troy was first of Dean's newest pack: before me, before Alicia, before everyone else. He obviously thought being senior qualified him for alpha.
He clearly has seniority. But I clearly have superiority.
My dreaming takes me on a random tour of other people's minds. When I wake up from a pool of frozen drool, the night feels like it has lasted a lifetime.
I slam Alicia's car door over an hour later. She raises a scolding eyebrow at my behaviour. 'Sorry,' I grudgingly say.
Her expression suddenly switches like a channel flip, 'Is an alpha supposed to apologize to her beta?' she questions curiously.
'I don't know,' I sigh.
'Well, this new alpha business will take some adjusting to.
'What happened back there?' she asks, rolling her eyes towards my front door.
Besides the fact that I had slammed the front door of my house then her car door, Alicia must also have heard some of my verbal exchange with my mom.
'I am grounded somewhat.' When Alicia only responds with a blank stare, I add, 'I cannot be seen eating meat in the house or coming a foot close to the fridge.'
'Why?' Her question is incredulous.
'I ate all the meat in the fridge. Apparently, mom's still mad; it was two nights ago! She must have a fridge for her anger to keep it fresh or something,' I complain.
Alicia laughs, steering the vehicle towards school. We make more chitchat before she brings something up: 'I have something to ask, but, before that, I had the weirdest dream today. In my dream, you were with Cade and me at his house. Like you were really there.' She gives me an I-know-you-did-something look.
'I was,' I confess.
'That was a private moment, Claire!'
'Yeah, sorry?' I offer. My power has been waxing since Vanessa linked our minds, and made mine an amplifier for her telepathy.
But, like Alicia said, this alpha business will require some adjusting to; like there was a patch of freaking frost on my pillow this morning!
'You are really not that pretty,' Joana says abruptly to me during lunch break. 'Sebastian only wants to bed you.'
'What was that, Plain Jane?' Alicia swivels her neck around me to ask Joana.
Quite to be expected, Joana gasps and continues quickly towards her friends' table, looking embarrassed. The truth often has that effect. She sets down her food tray and fussily strokes a lock of hair behind her ear, a gesture she knows makes her look attractive.
The freckled Joana glances at me and I hold her eyes with a stern expression until she looks abashedly away. Maybe she will look pretty in years to come, but she will have to bloom first.
'I could read her mind, Alicia. Joana only wanted to be mean. She didn't really believe anything she was saying,' I laugh.
Cade glances at me, suddenly shocked and guilty at the news that I can now read minds.
'You heard right, cowboy,' I laugh despite myself.
'That is realistically unfair, Claire,' Cade whispers. 'If this were an anime or a manga, you would be an OP character.'
'Overpowered,' I smile pointedly. 'I see.'
Cade's look sharpens into a razor glare: 'You don't read manga or watch anime.'
'No, I don't,' I chuckle.
'You got that from my head, didn't you?'
'Ding, ding, ding.'
'Great,' Cade scoffs. 'I think I need some space.'
'Would you prefer Alicia in your head? To see all of your fantasies with her firsthand?' I tease, holding my belly.
Cade wrinkles his face and makes a rude hand gesture. Alicia stares at his exit, stunned.
'What fantasies?' She asks belatedly.
'Oh, you'll find out soon enough,' I say offhandedly. 'They're too wild—exactly as you'd like. And just so you know, for some of them, one of you may need to be close to immortal. That shouldn't be a problem for you.'
'That…sounds like fun,' Alicia nods a breath later.
'Yeah… Cade would really be perfect as a werewolf,' I comment after much later, pumping my milkshake dourly with a straw.
'I like him this way no less, Claire: I am supernatural enough for both of us, and he is human enough for two,' Alicia laughs, winking.
'Yeah, right.'
My mind is on Mason. There are physical limitations to Cade's fantasies—for the reason that he is human, albeit an attractive one. But Mason? Together, we'd be able to fulfill all of Cade's fantasies and any spot-of-the-moments we come up with.
But Mason has a mate already: Lauren Lucas, the last person any woman would wish to compete with.
'You remember I was gonna ask you something this morning?' Alicia asks. She has her serious face on.
'Yeah,' I say a little slowly, barely keeping my telepathic claws from sieving her mind. She is very adept at noticing my intrusion, it seems, even in her sleep.
'If you are really visiting people's minds in your dreams, why haven't you visited Dean's?'
Excellent.
'Why?' I echo. 'Because he can hide? I've tried, Alicia, but it doesn't seem like he exists most times. And I can only feel he's alive on exceptions. I have a better chance finding Olligrander than finding Dean.'
'Do you want to find Ollie?'
Last I checked, Olligrander was still in Europe. I hope he, specifically, can keep out of Lauren's claws. I couldn't care less about a vanishing vampire called Wilhelm.
'Sanity's sake, no,' I exhale. 'Olligrander is a pain in the rump.'
'Yeah, he is,' Alicia agrees. She extends an inch of silver claw and defaces the table with a mermaid sketch. The claw is so keen—to my marvel—that it scores the wood paneling soundlessly.
She flicks her chin towards the jocks' tables, where Sebastian and Seamus and the rest of the school athletes are roaring like young, hot-blooded lions. A ring of pining eyes surround them; and all of them know it; reveling in the female attention. 'Has Sebastian given you any trouble recently?' Alicia asks.
'Not yet,' I say. 'But he still has those pictures and Seamus has the films,' I add, 'and who knows what else.'
'But you are alpha now,' Alicia says. 'That should count for something. Don't be bossed around by anyone, Claire: not by Mason, not by Lauren, and especially not by Sebastian and his sidekick, Seamus.'
I smile. 'Thank you. Maybe, for starters, I'll see them tonight. While they sleep.'
Alicia laughs.
***
Later that evening, Alicia has a date planned with Cade, so she decides to leave school immediately after classes to prepare.
'No problem. You can leave without me. I'll take the bus,' I tell her.
'You're sure?' She asks.
I nod. 'I still have a couple of things that need to be sorted.'
'Do they involve trouble?' She asks.
I laugh, 'No.'
'Still, stay out of trouble, Claire Benning. I wouldn't want to half-transform in the middle of playing pool with Cade and his friends. You are alpha now,' she reminds.
'I'm not allowed to forget, am I?' I groan.
'Not a chance,' she responds immediately, starting her car. She pulls out of the parking lot.
I stare after the license plate of the car. Some of the plate's letters remind me of mom's first car: the letters were also on the car's license plate, before a mound of flames charred the plate and catabolized mom's car. She hasn't forgiven me since, and has been staunchly against my getting a car. Maybe she really has that fridge to keep her anger fine and fresh.
Alicia having disappeared, I sling my backpack across a shoulder. I leave the lot, walking the opposite direction than Alicia took.
An invisible bubble expands from me and collapses. It swells again, holds, and collapses. I grit my fangs and rein in my telepathy. It feels like a reflexive, automatic action of sorts—until I can learn to totally control it.
It takes a few minutes of leisurely walking, but I find myself at a tiny block of apartments. Since I don't really remember where I am going, I consult Vanessa's memories freely. The course I need to take is as ingrained in her memories as her telepathic powers.
I find Room 10. The door is a vibrant green. Not bad. The door is locked, but no problem. I pick the lock with a claw, and, rechecking the hallway again, let myself in.
I notice the security systems immediately, but they have been disabled.
My alarm rises a notch at that, but the apartment is empty. There is no sign of its occupant either: Dean.
Did he have the time to pack—seeing as the huntsmen were on his tail and all, and still are?
Or did Olligrander do this?
Even yet, could it be someone else, someone I don't know; or even the Imperials?
I run my hand across the barren brown walls where once there used to be beautiful pictures of Vanessa and Dean taken across decades, both happy and in love. Dean and Vanessa took special pride in those pictures, now gone from the walls.
At the centre of the living room, a piece of paper hangs from the ceiling, held by a thread. It beckons as the only thing left in the place.
It reads, CallMe. Followed by a contact.
My heart skips a beat: Dean didn't just vanish; he left me a means to reach him if I ever needed it.
With no further ado, I punch in the numbers and call the contact.
An unrecognizable female voice picks up on the first ring. 'Hello, Claire.'
'W-w-who are you?' I stutter, flustered.
'Not who you were expecting, unh? I am Dr Simone. I helped create you.'