called a ton of people to help me look for Stella. But we still couldn't find her. And Stella's parents didn't help that much.

I knocked on Matt Hudson's door, the last place I hadn't looked. The last place she'd be.

When my English teacher answered the door, he gave me an odd look, "Lia? What are you doing here?"

"It's about Stella. I assume you've heard that she's gone missing."

"Yeah, I just saw it on the news."

"Do you know where she is?" I tried to get a good whiff inside the house but all I could smell was the smoke in the fireplace.

"How would I know?"

I sighed and shifted my weight from my right foot to my left, "Because you're close with each other."

"Excuse me?"

"Cut the crap, I know about you two. She told me."

"Told you about what?" Again with the innocent act.

I dropped my voice below a whisper even though I knew no one was listening, "I know you hooked up before you knew you were her teacher."

He sighed and finally gave up.

"Okay," Matt Hudson nodded and met my eyes, "But I don't know where she is."

His heartbeat was steady. He wasn't lying.

"Great. Just fucking great." I muttered, trying to figure out where else she would run.

"But I'll help you look for her," He offered.

"I followed her scent. It stopped at the river behind her house. Do you know where she would go?" There was nothing out there. I didn't care how long it took, I just wanted to find her and make sure she was safe.

"No."

"Why would she run away? Was it school? Did something happen?" She wouldn't just run away like this.

Matt Hudson looked at me, suddenly very somber.

"She didn't tell you?"

I shook my head, now dying to know what she kept from me.

"Her parents just filed for divorce. And her dad's already remarrying in the spring."

"She never told me that," I said angrily, "When did this happen?"

We were supposed to be best friends, weren't we? Why didn't she tell me this?

"About a month ago. She hasn't really been the same since then."

A month ago. . . I'd just switched schools.

And Stella didn't take it well. Neither did Nicole and Taylor, but Stella was the most heart broken. She wanted to transfer with me but I told her Mystic High was only for people who were werewolves or were related to werewolves.

I had to tell her that she had to let me by my own person. That she had to let me go.

"I'm rounding some people up in an hour to go look for her in the woods behind her house. You coming?"

"I'll be there."

I didn't really need to ask.

An hour later, Taylor, Nicole, Matt Hudson and I were behind Stella's house, equipped with our best winter clothes to go look for her.

Luckily for us, there was a path for us to follow. But I'd search the entire damn woods to find her.

"Wait!" I heard someone call and I turned around, already knowing that it was Roan.

"Why did you invite him?" I whispered to Nicole.

"Because he's Stella's friend, too," She whispered back and I shut my mouth when he came closer.

"Hey, is this it?" Roan asked, looking at the four of us. His gaze stopped at me but then moved onto Matt Hudson.

"I only called the people who would really look for her." Nicole replied and I guess that was why Jesse wasn't here. We all had the feeling he didn't really care about her. It was cruel, but true.

"Are we ready?" Taylor asked and everyone nodded, "Then let's go,"

We set off into the woods, ready to search all night.

There were no signs of her; no broken branches or footprints in the mud. Besides, these woods were endless and led to nowhere.

I took a deep breath of the fresh, woodsy air but all of the scents just mingled together and I couldn't pinpoint a specific one.

Then the path split into two, creating a fork in the trail.

"Split up, we'll go this way, you and Roan go that way," Nicole commanded before taking off with Taylor and Matt Hudson since they were all in the front.

Just my luck, Roan and I were walking in the back.

Why did things never go my way?

It was dead silent.

It was kind of awkward. Until Roan made it even more awkward by talking.

"So. . . wasn't that your English teacher?"

"Yup."

"And he's here because?"

"Because he cares about Stella. We all do."

I could see the judgement in his eyes. But he didn't say anything else. We kept on walking.

I kind of missed this, being with him.

It made me painfully aware of his recent absence.

I stopped mid-step.

Roan turned his head but kept walking, "Are you coming?"

"Y-Yeah," I forced myself to walk and keep my mouth shut. Stella was out there, missing, this wasn't the time.

"Then let's go." His voice didn't have the same playful tone anymore.

He didn't look at me in the same way, he didn't even look at me in general.

I watched as the dead leaves fell from the barren branches, dancing freely in the wind. Touching the cold ground.

I stopped walking and Roan opened his mouth to yell at me again but I talked over him,

"I'm sorry," I blurted, "Roan, I'm sorry, I made a huge mistake. I wasn't thinking, I judged you too quickly without really thinking it over. I didn't give you a chance and I should have. I'm sorry I judged you. I'm sorry I left."

Roan looked at me with pained eyes. He dropped his head and I kept going.

"And I thought. . . that being away from you was the answer I was looking for. But I realize now that wasn't what I wanted. What I still don't want."

I waited patiently for his answer. He took a minute to formulate a response.

"Don't be sorry, I should be the one who's sorry. I didn't tell you the truth and honesty is an important factor in a relationship. It's my fault, not yours."

Then why wouldn't he look at me? He was avoiding my eyes.

When he didn't say anything else, I grew anxious.

"Is something wrong? I thought you'd be happy?" Was I wrong?

"I didn't really think about it until you switched schools," Roan said slowly and I hung onto every word, "But when you do find your mate, the mate bond is going to pull you to him, no matter how much you don't want it to. No matter how much I don't want it to."

"Then I'll reject him." I couldn't argue and say it wouldn't affect us, because it would.

"No," He pushed me away and I swallowed back the tears, "You deserve to be happy. You deserve to have the one thing I'll never have."

My heart yearned for him.

"But-"

"We should probably go back. It's getting pretty late." I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to set.

I'd have stayed all night just to argue with him.

But he was already heading back and I didn't know what else to say.

And I got the feeling that I couldn't fix this.

.•*•.

I spent all of my Sunday hanging up missing posters for Stella. Still no leads. After I drove to the mall, I drove to the main supermarket and started to tape posters in every inch of the store.

I was just taping up some in one of the aisles, the one with the ramen, when something fell on my head.

It hurt like a bitch, probably denting my skull.

"Motherfucker." I swore and looked down to see a huge, party-sized bottle of soda on the floor. What the hell?

Was my life getting so bad that God felt it was appropriate to drop huge, party-sized bottles of soda on my head?

"I'm sorry," Someone said on the other side but my anger was already triggered. I was ready to tape his mouth shut or throw the whole damn thing at him.

The stranger walked to the end of the aisle so I could see him and so he could see me. My eyes connected with the eyes of the stranger and I froze in place.

And I think my heart stopped. For, like, a second before it started to beat again.

Because this man was my mate.

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