Chapter Six

My first solo performance goes well. I knew it would; I've never had any trouble putting my own worries aside when it comes to acting, and this is no different. It's easy to step into the role of a character and pretend that everything is fine, and I have to admit, the motorcycle helmet is a fucking good prop. When I wear it, I'm not Zak at all, just the man on stage, the fantasy for the crowd, and I'm fine with that.

"You gonna stay for a beer to celebrate?" Leigh asks as the final audience members make their way out the door, giggling over the photos on their phones that we posed for.

I shake my head. "Nah, I've gotta get back. I'm knackered. That was good, though."

She grins, her small tusks adorned with pink tips tonight, matching her neon-coloured outfit. "It really was. You were perfect. Now we just need you to work out what you want to do for your solo. Thank you for stepping in tonight, you're a life-saver."

"It's fine. I'm gonna grab my stuff. I'll see you tomorrow."

It feels weird being called a life-saver for a situation as simple as this when I know Rose is back home at her house, dead , being pulled somewhere that she doesn't know. It's her life that I want to save, and that's all I can think about as I drive home, skipping my usual Maccas meal in favour of getting back faster. I park in her driveway and jump out, my heart already in my throat at the lack of her green glow in the doorway.

"Rose?"

I jump up the stairs and onto the porch, stepping inside. I cleaned up last night after she disappeared but the faint smell of jizz still lingers in the room. "Rose?" I repeat, switching on my phone torch as I step further inside.

It's completely silent.

"Rose?!"

I stomp through the house, checking in every room, calling her name, louder and louder over the thunder of my heartbeat in my ears. " Rose! "

It's as if she was never here.

The back door swings open with a creak, and I walk through the weeds and overgrown grass, breathing heavily, tears burning at the back of my eyes. I'm here later tonight, yes , but she's still always here at this time. It's not even midnight yet.

"Rose?"

A light switches on next door — it's Josh's room — and I swear under my breath, running back inside, the sound of a window opening following me. There's no wind tonight, the moon bright in a cloudless sky, and Josh's muttered, " Fucking psycho, " carries in the still night air.

I know it must look bad. No one has said anything about me coming over here, but they're not idiots, either. Vellar is a moth, for fuck's sake; his kind are naturally up half the night, and I've bumped into him before, after visiting Rose.

It doesn't matter. I don't care, I just care about finding Rose, and saving her, because she's the only woman who has ever made me feel this way — I could see us together forever — and now she's not here and —

I sink to the floor, biting down on my fist, my tusks digging into my flesh as I try and fail not to cry because the woman I love is dead. She's dead , and I'm no wizard, but I know there's no magic in the world that can fix that.

"Rose?" I whisper into the empty house, but there's no reply, no cool breeze, no pretty smile and soft green glow. I wait, my head nodding every now and then, forcing myself to stay awake, to hold out hope for her.

She doesn't appear.

When the birds begin to sing and the world outside regains its colour, I rise, my limbs stiff, my body cold, feeling like a shell of a person.

The loud knock on my door wakes me, and I've barely managed to sit up when it swings open, Josh stepping through the doorway uninvited. The mid-afternoon sun streaming through my window is blinding.

"Hey, can you —" I start.

"I'm worried about you." His voice holds that tone that I've heard before, and I know he's doing his werecat alpha thing. It's not going to work on me.

I grunt, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Okay."

"You were next door at midnight calling some chick's name."

Fuck. "It's a cat," I lie smoothly. I've done plenty of improv practise in my life, and it serves me well now. "The old lady down the street, you know, with the little orange hatchback? I was driving back last night when I saw her outside, calling her cat's name. It's a Persian, one of those squish-faced fluffballs. It's not meant to be out. I'd said I'd help her look, figured if it was anywhere it would be in that fucking mess of a place."

Josh stares at me, unimpressed. "Do I need to remind you how good a werecat's nose is?"

Shit. So he did go in there and smell… me . I frown. I really don't like feeling like I'm being interrogated by a twenty-one-year-old who makes his girlfriend cook for the whole flat rather than learning how to assemble a lasagne himself. "Nah, you don't. I also don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

He clenches his jaw and I stare right back at him. I know I'm coming off as rude and defensive, but that's the thing, I am defensive. I know how this looks — bad — but right now I've got more important things to worry about, stress squeezing at my heart at the thought that Rose might not reappear tonight. That she might be gone for good.

I've already decided I'm not heading in to work tonight until after I've waited for Rose. She has to appear. She has to.

"Zak." Josh tries a gentler tone, but I can tell it's forced. "If you need help, you just need to ask, okay?"

I stare at him for a moment longer. "I don't need help. I'm fine. But thank you for your concern."

"Is my girlfriend safe around you?"

What the fuck kind of question is that? "Just because I'm a male entertainer doesn't mean —"

"You're going into random houses, yelling out names, and jacking off. It's fucking weird. So I'm just checking ," he says with that ever-present frown, and there's definitely some alpha posturing going on from him because even I can sense that magic. I'm fucking mortified at him calling me out.

"She's safe, everyone's safe. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah I really don't, and I don't wanna know. I'll see you later."

The door closes with a click, and I bury my head in my hands with a groan.

I've never been more thankful that it's winter and that the sun sets early. The wait until sunset is excruciating, and by five o'clock I'm pacing in my bedroom, glancing out the window every 3 seconds. My flatmates really are going to think I'm losing my mind.

As the sun dips below the horizon I stop and simply stand in front of the window, waiting. I let out a sigh of relief the moment I see that soft green glow, and in seconds I'm out the front door, sprinting down the drive barefoot, heedless of who might be watching. The one good step on the porch creaks under my weight as I bound up it, meeting Rose in the doorway, and my heart feels like it's lodged somewhere in my throat.

"Zak, what's wrong?"

I step inside, shutting the door behind me. It's not completely dark outside yet, but in here it's as dim as I can handle without starting to trip on things. I close the gap between us, until I can feel that cool sensation that is Rose on my fingertips as I cup her face with my hand as best as I can. "You weren't here last night. I got back straight after the show, and you never appeared."

Her mouth is open in a little ‘o' as she processes that. "It's not Friday today? What we did," she gestures to the floor behind us, "that wasn't last night?"

I shake my head. "It was the night before."

She blinks, peering into the dark. "I didn't appear at all?" she asks in a whisper.

"I waited up all night. I've been a wreck all afternoon, worried that you weren't coming back."

There's tears in her eyes when she next looks up at me, so small against my frame, and as she speaks the panic rises in her voice, mirroring my own. "I am so sorry. I have no memory of anything other than being with you! I don't know where I go!"

"I know."

"I'm so scared, Zak."

I wish I could brush the tears from her cheeks, kiss her face, and hold her. "So am I," I tell her instead, my heart beating fast in my chest. "Last night all I could think about was the fact that I hadn't yet told you that I love you, because I do. I love you, Rose. So much."

"Oh Zak." She lifts her hands to my face, more of her tears overflowing. "I love you too. We need a miracle."

"Yeah," I agree. "We do."