Taken

Chapter 20

Sighing, I stood and decided I would go see Ashen; maybe he could give me some info on what happened to him. I had gone to see him earlier that day, but he was still recovering from being in a coma that he wasn't totally there.

Kyle jumped to his feet as well, probably thinking I wasn't mad anymore; he didn't know how wrong he was. "Sit back down!" I snapped, containing a smirk when he did so immediately. "I'm going to visit with Ashen and you will stay here. By the time I return maybe I will know what to do with you." I said, hitting him with a hard glare. He looked away, ashamed, and lowered his eyes to the ground. With a sigh through my nose, I turned away and stomped to the door.

I decided to take Mallory along, knowing if I didn't she'd be even angrier; if that was even possible. I know all she wanted was to know what was going on, but I worried it would be too much for her and it would scare her. The last thing I needed was for her to go running off in fear. I debated on what I could tell her that would suffice without saying too much.

Telling her about Ray, Zacks red headed friend, couldn't hurt I guess. Apparently, he was the man Zack had made a deal with, although I highly doubted it. The man was mute, for one thing, and used his mate Darcy to explain everything. Also, he just didn't come off as a threatening bargaining man. Of course, like all werewolves, he was strong and fast, but cruel and malicious just didn't come to mind with him.

But what reason would Zack have for lying about him? It was all so confusing, and frankly, it was really starting to annoy me. Shaking my head as I stepped into the foyer, I looked around for Mallory. I did a double take when I noticed she was gone... again. I let out a frustrated groan; realizing keeping up with this girl was going to take all I had. As I opened my mouth to call for her-something I had found myself doing a lot lately-the front door slammed open.

Luke came rushing in, a panicked expression on his face. "Damien, Damien, Damien!" he chanted as he practically slid towards me in his hurry.

"Luke, what the hell-"I really didn't get a chance to finish the sentence before he started again.

"Mallory's shifting," That's all it took for my mind to go blank and my mouth to drop open. Mallory, my Mallory, was shifting? Already? But... but no, that wasn't right. I still had a few weeks, right?

"Damn, what's toady?" I insisted.

"Um, the last day of February." I gave him a wide eyed look. Time, I discovered at that moment, had completely slipped away from me. I stared at him for another moment or two before nodding.

"Show me," I demanded. I knew the immense pain Mallory would be going through and didn't have any more time to waste. He quickly jogged out the door and I followed. I was confused when he started towards the path that lead to the infirmary; what was Mallory doing down here? Did she go to Ashen? If she did, she would know that he was already awake.

No wonder she shifted. If Mary had told her about me stopping by that morning, Mallory would be more than angry knowing I didn't tell her. I almost ran into Lukes back as he came to a sudden halt, startling me. I stumbled past him before planting my feet.