Mya: Night Chaser

Thrilling: Patrick

Patrick paced back and forth with his phone in his hand. He juggled it up and down from one hand to the other while he waited for her call.

At first, Mya only called every couple of days. She sounded tired and confused, asking him questions about Edmond the Fearsome, his family, their lives before she was sent away, and then telling him not to tell anyone that she'd called.

"Why?" Patrick asked one afternoon when she'd reminded him to keep her calls a secret.

"Because," Mya was quiet for a precious second. "No one needs to know how I'm doing. If I'm alive or dead. Let them guess. It's better this way," she paused again. "Are you okay with that?"

"If it means you're safe and happy? Absolutely," Patrick instantly answered. And he meant it. "Is there anyone I can tell?"

Mya thought about it for a second and said, "If you trust him, you can tell Brody you've spoken to me. But don't give any specifics. As far as you know, I'm here struggling to keep up. And whatever you do, don't say anything to your Alpha, Luna, royal princess, my family. Not even your parents."

"You trust Brody?" Patrick peeked out his bedroom door to make sure no one was listening.

"Strangely enough, I do," Mya admitted. "He was the only one nice to me in that whole damn place."

"Yeah," Patrick shut the door firmly and asked softly, "What has your hacker friend found?"

 "Not much so far," Mya sounded frustrated. "No one can figure out why Edmond has such a hate boner for me. But it's not like Trent has all day to sit on a computer. They monitor everything we do. He can only log in and out for a few seconds," she let out a long breath. "When all of this is over, we'll do some deep diving. First things first, though."

"First thing first," Patrick agreed when the robotic voice terminated the call.

Mya read his letters. It took her months since she only got ten minutes a night to read them. It wasn't until she realized he was telling the truth in them that she started calling every day. And it was another three months before she explained their plan without so much as saying exactly what it was.

She was going to go after Edmond the Fearsome. Patrick didn't know how she was going to do it. But he was pretty certain his mate was going to kill the most feared Alpha known to wolves.

Patrick was certain it was because he'd told her the whole truth of things. How Edmond made it clear from the first day of kindergarten anyone playing with Mya would be banished. How Edmond made it clear in middle school anyone Mya's mate would have to reject her or they'd both be sentenced to death. How when Edmond found out Patrick was Mya's mate, he took him on a hunting trip. When they were deep in the woods, the Alpha heavily implied that if Patrick took Mya as a mate, he'd not only banish them but hunt them down as deserters and punish them with fifty lashes with a silver whip. Then he'd lock them up for the rest of their lives in cells across the room from each other so Mya and Patrick could watch each other slowly starve to death.

He told her about the night she left. That when he heard the door slam to that SUV he dropped Natalie from his arm and ran after her. He thought he could catch up with the man, convince him to let her go, and run away with her Edmond be damned. How he couldn't catch up to them and howled when he saw the Navigator disappear into the night.

"Hello?" Brody called out from the front door.

"Up here!" Patrick called out. 

Patrick's parents were out of town on some Beta Conference his father never missed. His mother finally allowed Patrick to stay at home without a babysitter watching his every move. Patrick was almost certain it was because Mya was gone and he wouldn't be sneaking any girl into the house anytime soon.

"Yo," Brody walked into the room and flopped on the bed. "Sorry. I had to lie to my dad about where I was going. He thinks I'm chilling at Vance's party tonight," he laid back with a flop and looked at Patrick. "I'm going to have to show my face there later to prove I was there. Want to come with me?"

"I'd rather cut off my arm," Patrick sat in his desk chair. "But I'll go just because you're my best friend."

"Aw! You're the Robin to my Batman," Brody made his voice high-pitched and clutched his heart with one hand. "We go for about an hour, pretend to drink, and then come back here and play Xbox. Deal?"

"Yeah," Patrick pulled out his phone and began tapping it against the desk chair. "There's something I need to tell you first, though."

Brody looked at him with a smirk, "I told you I love you like a brother. And there's nothing wrong with being gay. It's just not going to be with me."

"You know Mya's my mate," Patrick kicked the bed. "And this is serious."

Brody slowly sat up and said slowly, "Okay."

Patrick cleared his throat and said, "You know how I said Mya hasn't been calling me or writing back?"

"Yeah," Brody said even slower.

"Well, um," Patrick practically jumped out of his seat when his phone rang. He slid his thumb over the phone and put it on speaker. "Hey there," he felt his voice go soft and warned, "I'm here with Brody."

Patrick heard a feminine snort and say, "Hey, Brody."

Patrick watched as Brody's eyes went wide. He looked at the phone, to Patrick, and then back to the phone.

"Mya?" Brody was quiet.

"Surprise," Mya's voice was half-laughing and half-uncertain.

"How did you?" Brody started. "When did this?" he began again. Then he finished, "What the hell is going on?"

"Patrick and I have agreed," Mya answered. "He's a persistent mate and I decided to give him a chance."

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" Brody demanded.

"Because we want to keep it a secret," Patrick told him the lie he'd made up to placate his friend. "It's still new and who knows if I'll f**k it up in a month or two."

"Wouldn't doubt it," Brody chuckled.

The mechanical voice came on again.

"Sorry, Brody. We only have five minutes," Mya sighed. "But I wanted to say hello and tell you whatever Patrick is going to tell you is the truth. That we want to keep this a secret. The last thing I need is to try and balance the entire Pack, Patrick, my family," she sneered the word. "And not getting killed at the same time."

"Is it that dangerous?" Brody asked quietly.

Mya said, "Not so much. I think that it's all a secret that makes it so thrilling for other people. I mean, how exciting is it to tell you I do a hundred burpees every day? Or the fact that I run twenty miles after dinner?"

"Whoa. Bet you're stacked," Brody muttered and Patrick frowned at him.

"Like a brick house," Mya quipped. 

Brody looked up at Patrick and asked, "Is that why you're working out every day?"

Mya started laughing when Patrick hissed, "Shut up, Brody."

"No worries," Mya relaxed. "Word has it around here most mates do the same thing. A bunch of them are jealous. Which is hilarious since we're so sick of each other we could scream."

"Marcus and Trent treating you okay?" Patrick instantly asked and Brody looked at him in question.

"Always," Mya assured him. Then she complained, "We're good. It's the other teams who are annoying. No one is taking this seriously. They all think it's some sort of joke."

"You doing okay?" Patrick's voice went soft and low again. He ignored Brody rolling his eyes.

"I'm fine," Mya assured him. "Just tired. A year and a half and this stuff never get any easier. Only three and a half years to go."

"You think you'll make it to the Ceremony?" Brody piped up.

"It's a possibility," Mya carefully said. "But then again, it's also a very real possibility I won't make it out of there. I guess only time will tell."

The mechanical voice announced they had a minute left.

"I have to go. Brody, always good to talk to you. Please leave this between Patrick and me for now, okay?" Mya rushed.

"Not a problem," Brody assured her. "Although this is the most exciting thing that's happened around here in years."

"Poor you. That's got to be gods awful boring," Mya chuckled.

"Bye, baby," Patrick butted in. "Be safe. Call me tomorrow."

"Sir. Yes, sir!" Mya laughed. "Take care. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Patrick smiled at his phone as it hung up. He tucked it in his pocket and looked at his friend.

"So that was Mya," he said needlessly.

"Yeah," Brody grinned. "She sounds good. Healthy."

Patrick nodded, "The next three and a half years are going to be hell."

"You poor thing," Brody got up. "Mya is alive and well. Calling you every night. And you're still complaining. This time last year, you were a nervous wreck. Now you know she's okay and you're still complaining."

"Shut up," Patrick stood up. "Let's go to this crappy party filled with drunk wolves making out with each other."

"One hour and then we come home," Brody tugged down on his Mandalorian hoodie and pulled up his tight jeans. 

"Whatever," Patrick grabbed a jacket and followed his friend into the hallway.

Brody thumped on his stomach and asked, "You think I can join you in the gym? Maybe do some workouts Mya gives us?"

"Why? You want to work out?" Patrick opened the front door and waited for Brody to walk out.

Brody nodded, "My dad's getting on me about my weight. Mom, too. They're always on Madeline and me about our weight. She's not skinny enough and I shouldn't have a gut."

"You don't have a gut," Patrick pointed out as they walked to Brody's Land Rover.

"Not having a defined six-pack is the same as having a gut according to my mother," Brody shrugged. He got into his seat and Patrick jumped into the passenger side. "So? Working out?"

"Yeah. Sure," Patrick shrugged. "My goal is to do fifty burpees without puking."

"Thrilling," Brody deadpanned as he pulled onto the street.