42. Harrison

42

Harrison

E veryone is waiting in the kitchen. But not Meggie. She should have been down by now. I'm eager to get this over with and see how it'll all work out. I honestly still don't know how I'm going to vote. But I can't put it off any longer.

"Go get her," I tell Ellis.

He disappears upstairs, but only moments later, I hear him calling her name. No answer. Nils knits his eyebrows together as we share a look. He gets up and goes to the front window.

"Her car's gone," he calls back to us.

We're all on our feet in seconds.

"Why the fuck would she leave?" McQuinn says, going to check for himself.

"Call Emily," I say to no one in particular.

"Already dialing." Dante puts the phone on speaker and the ringing fills the kitchen.

We all hold our breath when Emily picks up, and Dante asks about Meggie.

"I haven't seen her. Is everything okay? I'm kind of in the middle of a swim team meeting. We're trying to finalize plans, matching outfits, who's packing the good snacks… you know?" She lets out a little sigh. "It's a lot easier to do when Daniel isn't here. Wish he'd be a no show for all our team meetings."

Nils tosses me my car keys, and we're all already grabbing shoes as Dante says a quick goodbye.

"Is there anywhere else she might have gone?" I ask Ellis, since he's the one who's spent the most time with her.

He rubs his face, clearly worried. "Maybe the pool at the rec center."

My alpha senses are in overdrive, and I have to keep reminding myself we don't know anything yet. She's probably fine. Maybe she just went for a drive to clear her head, but my instinct says differently. She knew we were meeting, knew that she was supposed to be here. So why the hell did she leave?

"Oz, Nils, and McQuinn, check the community pool we've been practicing at."

Control is the only thing that keeps me from tearing this house apart in my need to get to my girl.

"You think she'd go there when she's not on blockers?" Dante asks.

"Fuck, you're right." She won't go anywhere public.

"Maybe the beach? There's a private one not too far," Ellis volunteers. "She told me once that she liked how our scents made her think of summers at the beach. Maybe she went there to think? She seemed pretty worried about the vote."

"Didn't she know she was supposed to be here for it?"

Ellis shrugs. "Yeah, she said she was coming."

"Okay." Wondering why she left won't get us anywhere, and every cell in my body is screaming at me that something is wrong.

"You three go to the beach." Taking action helps settle something feral in me. "Oz and Dante, you're with me. We'll go to Emily's, since it's still the most likely place for her to run."

I just hope, wherever she is, we can find her soon and convince her to come back.