Alpha Jasper

Thea

I’m standing with my back to the forest, facing my best friend.

“Stop joking around,” she pleads, her eyes darting over my shoulder, trying to convince me that the safety of the house is more important than my sense of humor.

“I’m having fun.” I flash her a grin, pretending to peer into the darkness. The light from the house doesn’t help much.

June, my best friend, is hopping from one foot to the other, eager to save me from whatever danger she imagines is lurking out here. But she can’t bring herself to step outside.

“Thea, I’m serious. Get inside,” she says, her voice trembling, and it’s not because of the chilly wind.

I start to dance around, the crunch of autumn leaves under my feet.

“There’s no such thing as Phantom Wolves,” I sing out, my voice carried away by the wind.

June shakes her head, rubbing her arms nervously.

“I swear to the Goddess, I’m not coming to save you when a Phantom Wolf drags you off to its lair,” she warns me. She’s not kidding.

I stop dancing and slowly turn to face the forest. It’s vast, cold, dark, and I’m not even sure anything lives in there. But I can’t resist.

“June, we need to go inside.”

“Why?” She asks, her eyes wide as she watches me back up the porch steps.

I let out a scream, so loud I’m sure the neighboring Pack can hear. June joins in, shrieking as I tumble past her, into the house, landing on the furry rug.

She slams the door shut, leaning against it.

I roll over to face her. June looks terrified, her eyes reflecting all the stories she’s read about Phantom Wolves. I start to laugh.

“Gotcha!”

Her fear turns to anger as she realizes I’ve tricked her.

“I didn’t see a Phantom, but I did see your face turn white.” I can’t keep the laughter out of my voice. I get up, facing an angry June.

“You idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? Phantom Wolves aren’t a joke,” she snaps, rubbing her forehead as she tries to calm down.

I smile. “Lighten up, June.”

She sighs deeply, trying to collect herself. Ever since we were kids, June has believed in the myths the older kids at school used to scare us.

And most of those myths were about Phantom Wolves.

“Lighten up? Do you want to end up like Alpha Jasper?” She challenges me.

I roll my eyes. Here we go.

Alpha Jasper vanished one night and was never seen again. The story goes that he was taken by Phantom Wolves and killed, just like his father. But that was ages ago.

Others believe he killed himself, and no one wanted to take his place as Alpha.

“Jasper wasn’t killed by Phantom Wolves, silly...” I tell her.

June narrows her eyes at me. “You’re right, because he’s one of them.”

***

I’m swinging the dog’s leash as I walk, watching the faux leather shine in the dim light. Dark clouds are gathering overhead, casting ominous shadows.

It makes me sigh, annoyed.

The Devotion Pack is located in the center of the Pack Quarter. It can get warm here, but the weather is usually gloomy and dull.

It’s not exactly uplifting to look up and see a dark cloud that never brings any rain.

I’ve decided to return June’s annoying dog today. She’s my best friend, the one I visited last night. She wouldn’t let me walk home alone, along the path that borders the infamous Phantom Forest.

She was so convinced that the mythical Phantom Wolves would kidnap me and kill me, I had no choice but to take her Jack Russell with me.

Might as well do it today and walk home in daylight. After last night, I decide to take the longer route through town, instead of going through the forest.

I almost lost Squiggles (or whatever she calls it).

The village is small. There are other towns within the Pack, but they’re all miles away and just as isolated as ours. It’s so close-knit, no one leaves, and no one comes in.

At least, not since people started believing in Phantoms again.

Too scared to leave the village, most people have settled for a simple life away from the rest of the world.

Many people, including me, have also accepted that we might never find our mates. It’s disappointing. But some people think it’s safer to stay away from where Phantom Wolves are rumored to be.

I smile to myself, thinking about the myths.

Jasper. He was the Alpha’s son. Centuries ago, he disappeared, and his father died soon after. Everyone thought it was Phantom Wolves, so they left the Pack.

They just packed up and moved, reducing the population significantly.

Now there are ridiculous rumors that he’s still alive, leading a Pack of night-prowling beasts, killing innocents in the night.

I chuckle.

When the older kids at school told June and me these stories to scare us, I always believed he had either simply left—since his body was never found—or killed himself somewhere else.

My simple explanations helped me sleep at night.

I just won’t leave because my dad won’t. And as a nineteen-year-old living with her father, working part-time at the local diner, I don’t see myself doing anything else anyway …

June’s little Jack Russell, her so-called guard dog, trots ahead on its short legs. I’m not sure if dogs are allowed on the streets near the stores, but there’s no one around to ask.

It’s a Monday, so the few children in the area are at school, and everyone else is at work.

“Maybe it’ll actually rain one day,” I say out loud, though I’m not sure if the dog even hears me. He cocks an ear, but that’s about it.

I listen to the click of his claws against the concrete, wishing my life was as simple as his.

Maybe it is that simple. I don’t go anywhere. My boyfriend will probably have to claim me because neither of us are likely to find our own mates. My dad works most days.

My friend is a bit of a nutcase sometimes. And I don’t have enough money to move out...

Okay, maybe it’s not that simple.

I gaze into the store windows as I pass by, wishing I could afford some of the nice clothes and stuff. Instead, I’m left looking at my own hazel eyes, and frumpy clothes. I need a miracle…

Suddenly, my eyes catch something taped to the window of a second-hand clothing shop.

It stops me in my tracks, my eyebrows raising past the line of messy brown hair that falls over my forehead.

A piece of paper, freshly printed with bold text, with a photo that’s surprisingly eye-catching. But not as eye-catching as the words.

Missing Person

My heart jumps into my throat, as I recognize the name under the familiar photo. Jessica Holmes.

I went to school with her. She was the definition of an introvert—always kept to herself, always drawing in her notepad or reading some high fantasy novel.

I think she was better friends with the town librarian than anyone in our grade.

I stare at the mass of curly auburn hair that tumbles down her shoulders. She’s quite pretty, if you look past her thick-rimmed glasses, and her eyes as cold as ice.

The traits she has, she shares with most of us in this Pack. Dark hair, hazel eyes. Average.

But she’s gone missing. Missing? No one ever leaves this town.

I’m a very curious person. I can’t ignore it. I used to read thriller novels before I got a job, and ever since, the slightest hint of a mystery gets my heart racing.

And since nothing ever happens here, I’m instantly intrigued.

With a jingle of the bell above the door, I walk into the store, poster in hand, having left the dog tied to a pole outside.

The clerk at the desk looks up as I walk in, probably not expecting someone to visit at this time of the day.

Since everyone knows everyone here, I don’t have any trouble recognizing her as Ms. Morris. Elderly, cheerful, but the biggest gossip in town.

And her partner in crime is shifting clothes around on a nearby rack. That’s Ms. Slater. Both mateless. Both probably the biggest entertainment in this town.

“Thea dear! What a lovely surprise!” Ms. Morris chirps, clapping her hands together at the sight of me. I force a smile onto my face, wishing I was as optimistic about life as these two.

I can’t imagine how they’ve lived so long all on their own... No mate, nothing.

“I saw this in the window,” I tell her, getting straight to the point so I don’t have to be stuck with them, talking about how boring my life is.

I slide the piece of paper across the countertop, giving Ms. Morris a perfect view of the missing person poster.

The moment her gaze lands on the paper, her face pales, and her mouth forms a tight line. I’ve never seen her without a smile.

“Ah yes. Poor Jessica,” she says solemnly. I feel Ms. Slater walk up behind me, her thick heels clicking against the linoleum floor.

She leans over the counter as well, taking in the sight of the young girl.

“The poor family,” Ms. Slater muses, smacking her pink-tinted lips together. “I can’t believe she would do that to herself.”

My heart stops. “Do what?”

The two ladies exchange glances. They look so similar, I realize, as they contemplate whether or not to tell me about Jessica. Both have the same fluffy white hair and sun-damaged eyes.

They dress the same, and even put on the same makeup every day. I don’t judge though, because it’s familiar. I grew up thinking they were sisters.

“She killed herself. She walked straight into the Phantom Forest and those wolves killed her,” Ms. Morris exclaims. My jaw clenches.

Just like the rest of this town, these women are a few sandwiches short of a picnic. No one has ever seen a Phantom Wolf, and here they are convincing themselves that they do actually exist.

“Did they find the body?” I ask, wondering why there would be a poster up otherwise. The women shrug in unison.

“No... but she was a bit strange. So we don’t doubt it was a suicide…”

I want to roll my eyes.

“And we think the wolves are getting closer to town. Maybe she got scared and gave up. It would make sense, since her mother said Jessica was a bit worried about Phantoms,” Ms. Slater assumes.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard their ridiculous assumptions.

“Do the police know about this?” I ask, my index finger tapping impatiently against the countertop.

Glances are exchanged again. I mean, our police force consists of two men. A father and a son. The son, my boyfriend. Their job is hardly necessary in this town… Well, until now I suppose.

“No... But we can't think of any other way,” Ms. Morris says. It takes all of me not to sigh at the batty old women.

I could have gone anywhere in town and found reliable evidence, but instead I made the mistake of coming in here.

“She might have just left home. She was old enough,” I suggest.

“Can't be. The librarian saw her leave, and her parents never saw her come back. She was either taken, or she killed herself,” Ms. Slater states, trying to confirm the lack of information.

I take a few steps backward, leaving the poster. This is stupid …

People don’t leave. Ever. And if people don’t leave, then people don’t mysteriously go missing. My guess is that she left home, simple as that.

Leaving the shop, I grab the dog and start on my way again. My detective work for the day is over. I decide as I walk, I’ll keep it to myself.

Because I know exactly what June will think …