Needle in a Haystack

In the Dark

Emily blinked and looked around, hoping the halls were still empty and was relieved when she was alone. She turned back towards her class. Ember pushed back, trying to get her to seek out that voice, but it was quiet now. It made it easier for Emily to resist a wild goose chase, especially when they were already in hot water with the powers that be. Ember wined in her head the entire way back to the classroom, and Emily spent the next fifteen minutes silently arguing with her wolf until people started filing in. Ember went silent and refused to talk to her. When Emily realized that Ember was sulking, she did her best to set it aside and focus on her classes.

At the end of English, her second period, Emily looked at her class list again, getting ready to find her next class, when something spicy and sweet tickled her nose. She sneezed, and when she opened her eyes, the boy from the office was filling the doorway staring at her. She blinked at him, hand still covering her face. He stepped into the room, clearing the doorway, and the few remaining students, and the teacher scurried out of the room, not wanting to get in the middle of whatever this was.

Emily didn't remember standing, but suddenly they were in the middle of the room staring up at him together. Ember howled and cajoled in her head crying, "Mate! Mate! Mate!" Emily saw his eyes flicker with ice blue fire, and her hand dropped away from her face.

"Mate," she whispered to him.

He suddenly paled and his shoulders slumped. He dropped into a seat, his small backpack sliding off his arm and hitting the ground. He scanned her face, committing it to memory or searching for something. Emily wasn't sure, but he didn't take his eyes off of her.

"Do me a favor," he said finally, and Emily realized it was his voice they had heard before.

"What's that?" Emily asked, her Texas drawl slipping out in her daze.

"Wait until dawn to reject me?" he asked, his voice breaking, choked with emotion, his eyes suddenly bright with unshed tears. "I have work after this, and I can't lose this job."

Emily got lost in the timbre of his voice, and it took her a moment to realize what he was asking.

"Hm, yeah sure. Wait, what?!"

But he was already up and headed out the door.

"Wait!" she shouted at his back, torn between getting her things or going after him. She decided to get her things, because she still had classes to attend, and didn't know if this one would be occupied again this evening. Ember argued with her the entire time. When her bag was packed, and she hoisted it onto her shoulders, Ember crowed in her head, "Charge!"

Emily couldn't help but roll her eyes at her wolf's antics. She did, in fact, charge out of the classroom, intent on tracking him down. Her next period was dinner break, and she was relieved not to have to skip class to go look for him. She followed his scent to the lunchroom. Her stomach growled when she walked in, reminding her that she had skipped 'breakfast', and she only hesitated a moment before grabbing a tray and going through the line. If there was one thing she and Ember always agreed on, it was food, but while she didn't protest, Emily could feel Ember's impatience about finding their mate. She got the easiest thing to wolf down, and stood over the trash can while she inhaled it, not really bothering to look at what she was eating. By the time anyone had a chance to say anything, she finished her tray and her scan of the room. Realizing he wasn't there, she returned her tray and walked outside, hoping he might be at one of the outside dining tables.

He was there. She could smell him.

The bright lights on the sides of the building cast stark shadows in the gloom of the sunset, the sky painted vibrant reds and yellows against a hazy darkening night. The glow never really left Phoenix, but even without the city lights, the sunset would take hours thanks to the mountains. She felt a fleeting pang of longing for the sunsets of North Texas, the way the light would fade for maybe five minutes before it went out, like someone flipped a switch. She smelled his spicy sweetness at a table just beyond the reach of the building lights, could see his silent silhouette lounging alone, and decided the direct approach was best. She marched up to him, coming up alongside the table and stopping an arms length away.

"What did you mean by that?" she asked without preamble.

"By what?" he asked, casually scanning their surroundings.

"By what you said in the classroom," she stated, wondering if he was trying to make her spell it out or get her to drop it entirely.

"What classroom?" he asked, not missing a beat, still scanning. He hadn't looked at her once since she found him. She huffed and sat down across from him at the table and stared at the back of his head for a moment before deciding to change tack.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" he countered, resolutely not looking at her, but rocking forward to put his elbows on his knees.

"It does to me."

"Why?" he scoffed, as though genuinely surprised by her answer.

"I want to get to know you," she answered simply.

He stood abruptly, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he walked towards the building, his long legs eating up ground quickly. As he walked away he spoke to her, but his volume never increased. He knew Ember could hear every word.

"Maybe I don't want to get to know you," he said and paused at the door. "My life is complicated enough without adding a dependant to the mix." Then he was gone, leaving Emily and Ember in the dark.