Anna busts in our front door, completely at ease with us. She has shown no fear since learning what we are. Her only focus has been helping us find Aly and I find myself grateful for her help.
“I have it!” She shouts.
“Have what?” Jay immediately asks, looking up from his book.
“A way to find Aly!”
We all jump up and meet her halfway. Every one of our expressions is expectant. I’m trying my best not to get my hopes up but at this point that’s impossible. Anna hasn’t been this excited about an idea yet.
“I have her mom’s phone number,” she says.
Disappointment settles in my gut. Has she not picked up anything we’ve told her? She can’t just call Aly’s mom and ask her where she is. I’m about to turn around and walk away, leaving the other guys to shoot the idea down softly. If I say something right now it’s going to come out harsh and maybe cruel.
I sneak a quick peek at the guys, Nic is patient, Kiran confused, Jay who still looks eager and Ajax is lost in thought. None of them are going to spit the truth out, leaving me to deal with it.
“Anna,” I start, but she completely ignores me.
She turns and focuses on Ajax. “You can track the call. It’s human and I doubt they’re defending against it.”
Can he really? Is that possible? We all turn our focus on Ajax who is completely lost in thought.
Anna is practically dancing with excitement, she really believes in this idea.
“If he can, what will you say to her mom? You can’t lead on that you know anything,” Nic points out.
“I’ve thought of that too! As far as I know, Aly has been missing for weeks. She missed Thanksgiving and hasn’t been in contact. I’ll call her mom distraught and worried, asking her for help.”
Thanksgiving passed? We’ve been completely consumed in this. I wonder what our parents are thinking right now? It’s a human holiday but still it’s a break from school.
“It’s genius, she might even be worried about humans getting more involved,” Jay says.
Ajax looks up at all of us. “Yes, I can do it. We should do it soon. I’ll need to get the program ready.”
At that, he turns and runs upstairs to his computer cave. He’s got everything set up in there. I turn to follow but Kiran cuts me off.
“I know we are all anxious to see if this works but Jax will work better if we give him space. We want him to get it right as fast as he can, he doesn’t need more pressure.”
He’s right, so I head to the couch instead. The rest of them join me. We sit there in awkward silence.
No one says anything or tries to break it. An hour later Jax comes downstairs.
“Come on up, let’s do it from my room,” he says, but he hesitates while contemplating Anna. He doesn’t want to have a girl besides his mate in his room. But just this once, it’s going to have to be okay because that’s where his complete set up is. And we need Anna for the call.
I mind link him.Aly won’t care if you have Anna in your room to help us find her.
He looks at me and nods before leading the way up. We follow him into his room and see his computer and two other screens all running.
“I had to hack into a program to use it,” he explains before reaching for Anna’s phone.
She hands it over, and he plugs it into his computer.
“Okay, Anna are you sure you can do this?” Nic asks, assessing her.
She’s nervous but determined as she stares at the phone. She takes a deep breath and nods. “Yes, let’s do it.”
“We need to keep her on the phone long enough for the program to run. So Anna don’t let her hang up until I tell you. Everyone else, no reacting to anything we might hear. This is our chance, let’s not screw it up,” Jax directs. He’s in his element here, and he’s confident. I have no doubt if Aly was here, she would be all over him. I push that thought aside with a pang in my chest.
Anna takes a deep breath and dials the phone. It rings all the way through to voicemail. Nic shakes his head no and Anna hangs up. Disappointment spreads like a disease through my chest.
