Baggage & Boarding

7- the little sister

There was something about having the authority figure in your life travel that screamed 'party time!'. Or at least it did for Anen. All the people who had accepted her invite seemed to agree, though. 

It's not like she was really breaking any laws, she was twenty-one and had as much stake in the house as Adam did. Half of the pack was there enjoying themselves, dancing, and just hanging out. Things had been too serious for too long; they hadn't had a proper party since the war ended, years ago. Even the Alpha and his shitty Beta-in-training had joined the fun. 

Her brother would probably hear about it all the next time he spoke to Des anyway, so no bother trying to hide it. Damn wolves.

Speak of the devil!  Adam's name appeared on Anen's phone above a cute picture of the two of them hugging. She ducked out of the crowded one-story house to find somewhere quiet to take the call.

"Heyo!"

Anen heard a deep sigh over the phone. Did he already know? "Hey, sis. How's everything?"

"Good, good, good, good, good," she said rapidly. "How's Russia?" 

"Freezing."

"And the summit? How's that going?"

"Wouldn't know," he sounded tired. Anen guessed that was the jetlag speaking. "I didn't attend."

"What?! It's been two days! How have you not attended the exact thing that you traveled five-thousand miles to be a part of?" She knew that he wasn't always keen on his Beta duties, but Adam was hardly irresponsible. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"An, I found my mate."

"Oh," she slowly processed the information. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Wow! That's lit! Have you been, like, getting to know her? Is it a 'her'? I've always sorta suspected that you might end up with a 'him'."

"Sorry to disappoint you Anen, but you're the only queerling in our family."

"And proudly so!" she quipped. "So, what's she like? What've you two been doing these past two days?"

"Nothing. I sorta lost her."

"Lost her? How do you lose your mate? What the hell, bro!"

So Adam told her the whole sad story. The seat change, the adapting, and the forgotten carry-on.  Just like her brother not to do things the easy way.

Now she, on the other hand, had met her mate at the grocery store. The moment she had walked past Whole Foods, she knew that her mate would be inside. It didn't take long for Anen to track her down and ask her out. The rest was history between her and Samantha.

Poor Adam, she couldn't imagine what she would do if he had met her mate only to have her disappear hours later. Let alone in the sixth most populated city in the world.

"Why did you even bother with the bag? You could always buy new shit. Can't cop a mate though."

"The instructions for how to get to the meeting place was inside the bag. Wouldn't have been able to find it here without that magicked paper."

"So what're you doing about it?"

"I don't know An, I don't know." She realized now that it was exhaustion and desperation and not jet lag that she heard in his voice. "I tried following her scent but she got in a car. I asked around the airport and no one would tell me anything. I even tried looking her up but I don't have her full name, just a nickname. I've been aimlessly walking around Moscow just waiting for her to pop up or for Fate to take pity on me  I honestly don't know what to fucking do."