She's Mine

Chapter Twenty

Josie POV-

I roll over to find Hope when I am waking up, but I do not feel her next to me. I sit up rather quickly. Her phone is still on the table, so I reach over to check it. No messages from dad to train. Her shoes are still by the door. I try to talk to her in my head. "Hope? Where'd you go?" No response. I get dressed as quickly as I can, slipping Hope's hoodie over my head as I leave her room.

I walk straight to Dad's office, if anyone knows where she is, he does. Maybe she is running as her wolf, maybe we can't communicate when she is a wolf still? I need to calm down everything is fine. I knock on his door to hear, "Come in." "Hey Jo, I am surprised to see you up so early." I look at the clock on the wall to see it is about 8 am. "Dad, I can't find Hope. We finished the imprint, and she isn't responding in my head." That caught his attention. Dad stands up and walks around his deck before grabbing his crossbow. "Go get Lizzie, MG, Kaleb, Penelope, and Raf."

I am practically sprinting now as I run to each of their rooms to wake them. "Hope is missing, we need help." I am trying to keep my voice steady but my fear is slowly beginning to take control. As I finally make it back to my room, I know Lizzie is going to be able to see that I am freaking out. "Lizzie, Hope is missing please come help us find her." My voice cracks on the last word. Lizzie jumps out of bed and gets dressed. All three boys immediately get dressed after I leave their rooms and meet Lizzie and me downstairs. Raf grabbed Penelope for me. "Dad, I got them," I walk over to see Dad talking to Dorian and Emma.

"MG, Emma, and Lizzie, go check out by the garden. Kaleb, Penelope, and Dorian head towards the woods and the Old Mill. Raf, you come with me and Josie. Let's go now, look for any signs of where Hope went. Call me if you find anything." I can tell Dad is trying to be strong too but Hope is like a daughter to him.

Raf, Dad, and I head towards the back corner of the school plot of land. I reach up to see if I can feel the barrier anymore. I don't. "Dad, the barrier is down. I can't even feel a trace of it. What does that mean?" Dad really needs to learn to hide his feelings better on his face. "Means that it has probably been down at least a full day." We have been searching for probably an hour before we get a call from Emma.

Alaric POV-

"Rick, she's gone. I just found a ton of feathers which I suspect to be from the Peryton transforming from man to hybrid to carry Hope. And that spell we cast, was strong. He must have a powerful witch on his side who was able to take it down. I think we need to give Freya a call." I sigh. This is not the news I wanted. This is not the news I want to tell Josie. I still have Emma on the phone. "Alright, call Dorian and Kaleb and bring them back with you. Meet me in my office." The phone hangs up. Josie and Raf are still walking along where the barrier was so I pull out my phone. It picks up after two rings. "Freya, yeah it's Ric. We have a problem."

I get off the phone with Freya after a couple of minutes right as Raf and Josie walk back over to me. "Dad?" Josie looks up at me with tears in her eyes. "We are going to head back to my office. I just talked to Freya and she is getting on a plane right now." Josie nods her head to show she heard me but no words come out of her mouth.

Josie POV-

The three of us walk back in silence as we head towards Dad's office. I try to talk to Hope again in my head. No response. Why isn't she responding? I haven't felt any pain yet, so she at least isn't hurting right now. I need to remain helpful; I can't let myself get emotional if I want to save her.

The eight of us stand in Dad's office surrounding his desk staring at him. Looking for answers. "So, here is what we know. The barrier is down that Hope and Emma set up on Tuesday. Emma, Lizzie, and MG found feathers that we believe to be from the Peryton," my heart drops hearing this. The guy who took Lizzie and me took Hope? While we were sleeping? Why did it not wake me up? I curl my hands into fists at my side to try and prevent the imminent tears from starting. Dad's voice cuts back through my thoughts. "So right now, Freya is on her way here. Dorian and I are going to start research. We will keep everyone posted but for now, go get some food, probably pack a small overnight bag."

I can't believe this is happening. This can't be real. Our night was so magical last night. Now, she gets taken in her sleep. We all turn to leave the office to go get ready when I hear it flood my head, "Jo? Where am I?"