Nuka’s POV

I feel like I’ve been punched.

No one knows where Iago is. This is bad.

“Could he have shifted and gone off to settle down?” Archer looked between Indy and me. We both shake our heads.

“Iago rarely needs to shift.”

Gabe was near frantic, trying to get our attention, he finally grabbed a hold of Archer’s pant leg and tugged.

“He has a trail to follow. He wants us go with him.”

Indy looked at Archer, his eyes not the same cold and calculating as before, “What kind of trail, just his scent or….”

“He’s following the smell of his blood.”

None of us spoke after that. We just follow Gabe, to a classroom door. Indy doesn’t even bother to knock; he just throws open the door in the middle of class. He follows the determined retriever to a petite girl with a slightly round face and curly blonde hair and the bag over the back of her chair while Archer stops to hurriedly explain to the teacher what is going on.

She looked slightly familiar. Maybe she dates one of the hockey guys. I’m think her name is Veronica something. Something about her presses on the back of my brain but I’m too worked up to figure out what it is.

She ignores Indy and looks straight at me.

“Nuka! What’s up? Everything ok?” She uses that sickly sweet voice that girls use when they want to flirt with me. I can see her attraction rolling off her in waves. It’s a hot, stifling pink that borders on obsession.

Gabe grabs at the bag, obviously something that smells like Iago’s blood is in it.

“Hey, watch it Mutt!” Her voice is sharp and aggressive, no longer a fake bubble gum impression.

“Looks like you have something in your bag. Let’s take a look.” Indy doesn’t even hesitate, just reaches out, grabs the bag and dumps the contents on the floor.

The first thing to draw my eye is an old, vintage looking book. It had that classic feel to it, like the cover was handmade and not mass produced. You could see a few of the pages had been soaked along the edges with what could only be blood.

Indy and I move at the same time. He grabs for her at the same time I grab him.

“Indy, she can’t tell us what happened if you attack her.”

Her expression darkens and she sneers at Indy. “You’re freak of a brother got exactly what he deserves. Maybe know he’ll know not to touch what doesn’t belong to him and that he’s too much of a freakish loser to change his social status.”

Fuck, Indy was right.

Everything starts happening so fast after finding Iago’s blood-soaked book in Veronica’s bag.

Gabe shifts back to his human form and goes to get the principal. Archer texts Jordan, Ollie and few other members of the hockey team we were close to and trusted.

Me. Well I try to stay calm and not rush into anything and make this worse.

We are waiting outside the classroom the principal was keeping Veronica. The tension was high.

“INDY”

We all turn to see two huge men come storming down the hallway. Both were wearing black chef jackets and jeans.

Now when I say huge, even I’m intimidated by them. They are both slightly taller and broader than me. They both had the same hair color as Indy, but one was long and pulled back into a bun and the others was clearing starting to grey. Both had a five o’clock shadow and very unhappy expressions on their faces.

“Dad, Merc. Where are the others?” Indy walks over to them and is quickly pulled into a tight embrace by the older of the two, his father.

I don’t even want to think about that fact that I’m meeting my Mate’s father before Iago even knows we’re Mates.

Before either man can answer three more men come down the hall. I recognize Barnaby and Brutus. The third is almost identical to the man I think Indy called Merc but this one had shorter hair, tattoos up and down his arms and was in gym clothes. He looked like one of the men Iago had brought to his first hockey game.

“What the FUCK Indy? Iago’s missing?” The shorter haired twin I didn’t know said, his voice a low growl.

“This is why the werido needs a phone. I’ve said it a billion times, but no one listens to me. He probably just got lost because he can’t get his nose out of a book, and he wandered off. It doesn’t mean we all need to be here.”

“Brutus.” Their Dad growls, “Shut the fuck up. That’s not what’s happening, and you know it. We need to know what you know Indy. Cecilia and Oscar are right behind us. They will be able to track him.”

Cecilia and Oscar. The leaders of the wolf pack.

Indy visibly relaxed.

“Alpha Cecilia is coming?”

“I’m already here cub.”

Alpha Cecilia was beautiful. Long dark hair tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head, and despite being the shortest person in the room, she some how had the most powerful aura. She was in charge, and we all knew it.

Her Beta Oscar stood behind her, a giant mountain of silence. As large as Iago’s father and older brothers, he had long blonde hair and looked like he was about to send his motorcycle gang off to do some very questionable jobs.

There were several other wolves behind her, already in wolf form.

Cecilia’s eyes took in everyone who was gathered, clearly assessing the situation. They landed on the brother who’s name I wasn’t sure of, the one with tattoos.

“Is Jing coming. We might need him to keep things calm.”

“Yeah, he had a patient, but he’ll be here afterwards.”

“Good, thanks Mags. Alright. Let’s figure this out. Oscar and I will figure out what happened. The others are going to start trying to track Iago.” She sighed and looked at Iago’s father. “I have to warn you. It’s been snowing for hours now, if he’s outside, the fresh snow is going to cover any tracks and obscure his scent. It’ll make finding him difficult. You can stay here or join the search, but I warn you if you stay here you have to keep control of yourselves, no matter what might have happened.”

“Indy and Mercutio stay here with me. Magnus, Barnaby and Brutus, go with the wolves.” Mr. Bruin’s voice was stern and left no room for arguments.

“Good, we need something Iago has worn recently for our wolves to scent.” Indy held out a familiar black hoodie. It was the one Iago had been wearing when he got to school this morning.

“His coat was in his locker too….” Indy spoke quietly, the implications hitting all of us hard. If Iago was out in this weather with nothing but a t-shirt.

Oh my Little Genius.

Alpha Cecilia led us to an empty classroom and I’m feeling overwhelmed. It’s been over an hour since I walked into the library and couldn’t find Iago.

“Alright. I need the information, which means, if you weren’t in this school before 30 minutes ago you will shut the fuck up until I tell you to talk. Everyone understand? Good. Now who first noticed Iago was missing?”

Fuck she’s intimidating. I’m nearly twice her size and I have no intention of pissing her off cause she would probably kick my ass. So, I speak up.

“I did. We’ve been meeting in the library for the past 6 weeks or so during this period. Iago has the one before this open too, so he is usually already in the library in his chair reading by the time I get there. But when I got there today, he wasn’t in the library. So, I left the library and on the way to the computer lab to see if he was with Indy I ran into Gabe and Archer.” I gesture to my two friends who were back in the corner. Gabe was very quiet. Wolves make him nervous, something about dogs and wolves and some sort of hierarchy. The last Alpha had made it clear what he thought of dog shifters. “We met up with Indy and once we realized Indy didn’t know where Iago was, Gabe shifted and led us to Iago’s locker where we realized there were spots of blood there. That’s when we realized Iago is missing.”

I stop, getting overwhelmed with emotion and I look towards Archer and Gabe for help. I can feel the eyes of Iago’s father on me.

The Alpha’s eyes shifted over to my good friend who visibly wilted under her eyes.

“Gabriel Colt, right?” Gabe just nods, pressing closer into Archer. I didn’t like seeing him like this, like a kicked puppy. Alpha Cecilia smiled, startling us all. “Good thinking.”

Gabe visibly brightened, nodding vigorously.

“What happened next?”

Gabe took over for me.

“Well, I followed the scent of Iago’s blood from his locker to one of the classrooms and to Veronica’s backpack. She wasn’t exactly happy when Indy started to go through her bag but then we found the book. It’s obviously Iago’s and covered in his blood.”

Alpha Cecilia nodded and looked back at her Beta.

“Oscar, get me the girls school file. We need to know what we are going into.” She walked to the door and looked over her shoulder at us. “You have to wait here. I’ll let you know what we find out.”

With that she left the room.

I can’t hold it in anymore. I have to say something.

“I’m sorry.”

Three sets of Dark Mahogany eyes look at me. They were the same color as my Iago’s, but Iago’s were some how warmer.

“What are you sorry for son? You didn’t do anything to him.” Iago’s father asks me, and I wait for Indy to launch into how this is my fault and the I told you so’s but he doesn’t.

“This happened because I put myself into Iago’s life, gave him my jersey, took him to a party. It made him a target for that girl. I should have protected him better.”

I refuse to apologize for being in Iago’s life but not realizing what dangers could come for him, that is on me.

“This isn’t your fault.” Archer’s voice comes from behind me. “You did nothing wrong. We couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“That’s because you have no concept of what the high school hierarchy is like because you’re at the top of it.” Indy’s sharp tongue seems to have come back.

“So what? He shouldn’t talk to someone he genuinely likes. Iago is our friend.” Archer seems to have reached his limit with holding in his irritation at Indy’s attitude.

“Indy, settle.” Mercutio says, putting a hand on Indy’s shoulder, “they are not responsible for the actions of others.”

The door bangs open suddenly, and we all turn to see Alpha Cecilia storming back in shaking her head.

“Fuck a duck. What a piece of work.” Putting her hands on her hips, the Alpha takes a deep breath and looks at Mr. Bruin. “Horatio, its not good. Apparently, she confronted Iago about the fact that he was spending time with some of the hockey team. She got a bit physical and then warned him off.”

“That doesn’t explain why we can’t find him.” I could hear the growl in the older man’s voice.

“Horatio she’s siren. She told him to “get lost”. I think she used her powers on him. It would explain why he didn’t say anything, didn’t take a coat or a jacket.”  

The reaction to this was slow. Sirens have powers of manipulation, like Succubi/Incubi but instead of touch it’s through their words. This is bad. If he is under the influence of a power like that, he wouldn’t even have the presence of mind to shift. It’s been snowing for hours. He could freeze to death.

We need to find him.

My Little Genius.

My Iago.