Make A Wish (Dandelion #1)

by Jenna Lynn Hodge

  I handed the phone back to her and thanked her for her courage to get up in front of everyone and speak about her. I could see how painful it was to do and I appreciated it more than she could know. Though now I realize I should have probably asked her beforehand.

  As Saylor sat back down, Eve reached over and pulled her into a hug, reassuring her in the best way possible how sorry she was for what she was going through.

  I’d been right. I smiled to myself as I watched the two girls who I’d just introduced hug each other, as if the best of friends. I was happy that I could help give Say a little moment of joy, while struggling with the feelings of her friend being gone.

  “So with no definite evidence, where do you guys think we should start in our search?” I leaned back in my swivel chair, eyeing the bunch. I definitely didn’t want to think of this as a test, but I wanted to make sure that my boys were on their A-game.

  It wasn’t a surprise that my Beta, Griffin, was the first to talk. Determination dancing through his bright eyes, I could almost see his brain working a mile a minute as he tried his best to piece everything together, like a jigsaw puzzle.

  “Are we able to get copies of the reports from the police? The ones that contain information on the blood that was found on the scene?”

  “I can pull a few strings and see what I can do, but I can’t guarantee it. According to Saylor, they were pretty uncooperative the few times that she tried to get updates.”

  “When she went missing, they searched her apartment, but I suppose we can go back over it and see if they missed anything?” Saylor spoke calmly, her voice small and unusually insecure.

  “I think that’s a good idea. Eve and Griff, I’d like you to accompany her to Juliette’s apartment.”

  “Assuming that Juliette works, has anybody questioned her employees? According to statistics, kidnappers are usually people who know and see them on a regular basis, or have met the victim and become almost overly infatuated with them,” Jaxon—the man who’d reassured Saylor that we’d find Jules—spoke up.

  “I’m not certain, Jaxon. Considering what we know from the detectives that were in charge of her case, we can’t be sure that they did check out her fellow employees,” I replied, adding that to my list as a definite angle that needed to be thoroughly checked out.

  The meeting continued on for a couple hours longer before we agreed to check out the current leads and reconvene when everything had been checked properly.

  The team was divided up into a variety of tasks. Saylor, Eve, and Griffin were assigned Juliette’s apartment. They were to search every aspect and look for any possible clues that could have initially been overlooked by the forensic team.

  Jaxon, Alec, and Joffrey were assigned to searching and talking to the people who worked in the businesses surrounding Juliette’s apartment, in hopes that someone saw something the day she went missing. It was a long shot, but if it turned up something, it would surely be helpful.

  Shane and Vincent were sent to talk to the detective and try to gain copies of all the reports and evidence that had been investigated.

  Leo was to speak with Salvatore, the superintendent of Juliette’s apartment in hopes that he could provide insight into the other residents that lived in her building.

  Nick was to shadow me to Ziggy’s, questioning all the employees and going over the surveillance footage leading up to her disappearance.

  For a last minute brain-storming session, we were off to a great start and I had no doubt that we would find her within no time. I had a great team backing me up and I was ready to kick some ass.

  As everyone exited from the room, I pulled Saylor aside. Something that she had mentioned had been bothering me.

  “Why wasn’t I told that Juliette had no family?”

  “Seriously, Beau? You want to know why the girl with whom you had a one-night stand and ditched afterwards didn’t tell you she was an orphan?” Saylor asked me rhetorically, her eyebrows rising in question.

  “Okay.”

  “And second of all, you didn’t ask. I would have told you almost anything you wanted to hear, but not once did you ask anything about her life. So yeah, there’s that.” She rolled her eyes and rushed out of the room to meet Eve, who was leaned against the wall in the hallway waiting for her.

  I’m such a jackass, I thought to myself, Saylor’s every word ringing in my mind. She was right. I hadn’t asked, and even if I had, what right did I have to know anything about her? I chose to leave and it was very hypocritical to expect people to tell me things when I’m keeping secrets, too.

  JULIETTE

  Dear Baby,

  The world keeps going on outside of this building that we’re being kept in, just proving how small and unimportant we are. Out there, people are going to work, taking their kids to school, going on vacations, and yet we’re here, in a house, being held captive by two strange and dangerous men.

  I’m trying my hardest to stay strong and positive, but it’s been a long time that we’ve been waiting for anyone to come and save us, and every day no one ever does.

  The longer we’re in here, the more fearful I get of you coming before we’re able to find a way out. I beg of you to stay in there as long as you can, because right now it isn’t a safe environment for you to be born into.

  Growing up, I’ve come to realize that most of the world is pretty unsafe. People feel entitled and obligated to have things, without ever taking the proper time to work and earn what they’re wanting. Even worse, they disregard and take advantage of any person that may be in their way, despite what harm it will bring to them.

  It’s hard to think that this is the kind of world that you’re going to be brought into and I wish more than anything that that wasn’t the case. You don’t deserve to be surrounded with such ugliness. You’re such an innocent and perfect little thing. I don’t want the world around you to tarnish the person that you’ll grow up to be, and I’ll do my best to ensure that that doesn’t happen.

  On a much brighter side, I haven’t had morning sickness for weeks (I think?) and my belly has expanded a bit. Still not huge, thank goodness, but I have no doubt by the time you come, it’ll look as if I swallowed a watermelon or two.

  Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is— Beau. He still doesn’t know about you and I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to actually tell him. He deserves to know, even though he is one of the last people I want to talk to. I know he didn’t intend to hurt my feelings, but he did. To this day, my heart still hurts when I think about our beautiful moments together though I’ll have to get over it, because I’m only torturing myself reminiscing over something like that.

  The two men are coming. Talk soon, my little bug.

  Love you lots!

  Xoxo, Mommy

  GRIFFIN

  I sat in the back seat of Eve’s brand new black Range Rover, while she drove in the direction of Juliette’s apartment. I leaned my head against the headrest, listening to the girls chat in the front seat. I couldn’t help the growl and eye roll as I took in the pure absurdity of the situation.

  Me—beta of one of the best and strongest packs alive—was stuck supervising a couple talkative chicks, while all my buddies—less dominant wolves—got the more important tasks. Shocker. As ridiculous as I felt this job was, I refused to give less than a hundred and ten percent.

  “So you’re telling me that she stole all your pointe shoes and broke them?” Saylor’s sing song-y voice asked in utter shock.

  “Yup! Ironically enough, that day I had my contemporary solo not my pointe one, so she only ended up wasting her time. When they announced the scores, Stacia actually came in third.”

  “No!”

  “So serious. Even if I hadn’t competed, she still wouldn’t have won. I get a sick satisfaction from that. Petty girls don’t stand a chance with me.” Eve winked, always oozing confidence.

  “What a bitch.” Saylor giggled.

  “Classy,” I mutte
red under my breath, so low that I was sure it couldn’t be heard from anyone. But somehow it had. In an instant Saylor whipped her head around the seat to glare at me.

  “Bite me.”

  I sat there, surprised. Surprised that she had actually heard but even more surprised at her snappy response. Nobody besides Beau ever had the nerve to talk back to me like that, let alone put me in my place. It was a new feeling for me and I wasn’t sure whether I enjoyed it or whether it pissed me off. Probably a bit of both, if I was being honest with myself.

  It didn’t take long before we were pulling into a parking space of a very run-down apartment complex. No one deserved to live in such a decrepit place and that included the homeless, in my opinion.

  Eve and I were out of the car before Saylor had even managed to unbuckle her seat belt. We were getting ready to climb the stairs before I turned back and froze.

  Even if I hadn’t had wolf hearing, I would have still been able to hear the quick beating of Saylors heart and how in barely a moment’s notice, her breathing had shallowed. She was freaking out. “No,” was the only word that had managed to escape her lips and it repeated, over and over.

  My heart lurched at the sight of her panicking and my feet moved me into motion before I could think about what I was doing. With a few steps I was at her side. My left hand found her shoulder while my right cupped her cheek, bringing her eyes to meet mine.

  I could tell she didn’t want to go inside. I could tell—as if I’d known her forever—that she feared what she would see or worse—what would be found.

  I brushed the pad of my thumb over her cheek and this time when I muttered something, I knew that only her ears would pick it up.

  “Respirez, peu de beauté. Restez forts, je suis ici.” My voice was tender and small, trying to calm and relax the nerves racing around inside of her.

  “What does that mean?” she asked when she was no longer freaking out, a small tint of pink grazing her cheeks where my hand had lain.

  “Nothing,” I replied, dropping my hand and taking a step away from her, though my eyes never left hers, not even for a second. With a questioning look, she stepped towards Eve, who’d been standing off to the side watching the whole interaction between us take place.

  “Awk-ward!” she chimed cheerfully. “Time to get this over with. I have a sale at the mall to hit up!” With a pivot, she began climbing the stairs, Saylor and I treading closely behind her.

  Though I was by no means a mind reader, I could still sense the nervousness and worry within Saylor. Her body gave off a pheromone that had my wolf reacting. The wolf in me demanded and the man in me followed—no questions asked. I reached down and intertwined my fingers with hers, never taking my eyes from the stairs we were walking up.

  Once we reached the very top, Saylor pulled away from me and pulled out the keys to unlock the door. I felt like growling and yanking her hand back but I could only imagine the reaction that would ensue, so I tucked my hands into my pockets to keep myself from making any rash movements.

  Eve was the first to step through the threshold. If she was surprised at the sight before her, she didn’t show it. Her face was expressionless, not revealing a drop of emotion.

  Saylor and I stepped through the door together, sliding sideways so we could both fit in the small door frame.

  SAYLOR

  I imagined that what I’d see would be horrific, but much to my surprise, it wasn’t.

  While it wasn’t the organized mess that Juliette was accustomed to, it wasn’t as bad as it could be. The blood splatters that had sat in the entryway of her apartment had been cleaned up and most of the strewn about shopping bags had been tossed into one large pile.

  Eve got straight to business, Griffin right on her tail, as they split up and began perusing every inch of the place Juliette had called home, a place that I despised being at right now.

  I didn’t know what I was supposed to do and I definitely didn’t want to get in the way of the two working, so I made my way over to Jules’ make-shift bedroom and plopped down on her bed. I pulled the covers to my face, just inhaling the familiar scent that I’d known my entire whole life. The scent that belonged to the sweetest, most amazing girl in the world.

  I let my body fall back into the bed and that’s when I noticed there was a notebook tucked under the pillow, not unusual for any other twenty-two-year-old girl but it was for Jules. She hated writing; in fact, she found journals pointless since she could never keep up with them.

  I lifted the book into my hands as I sat up, leaning my back against the headboard while fingering the beautiful flower design on the front cover.

  I couldn’t help the tears that sprang to my eyes the second I opened the book and read the first couple words on the page.

  Dear Baby...

  “Saylor? What is it?” Eve asked, worry etched in every line on her face as she noticed how emotional that I was.

  “N-n-nothing,” I said, hating myself for lying but knowing that if Eve knew, there’s no doubt the info would find its way back to Beau.

  “Okay, if you say so.” She turned and headed back in the direction she’d come from.

  I sat there, drowning myself in the baby journal that Jules had started. Such raw emotion conveyed in the sweetest words. I suppressed the urge to cry and scream. To shout how unfair life was. Beautiful souls suffered, while the damnable one’s waltzed through life unscathed.

  I craved hurting the person who dared to take her away from me and that fact scared me. I wanted revenge and justice. Most importantly, I needed Juliette to be here, to balance out my craziness. It’d always been that way, even as children. We needed each other in ways that most people did not.

  GRIFFIN

  I stood in the kitchen acting as if I was searching for clues or evidence. And while I was, I was also paying close attention to Saylor, who was curled up on Juliette’s bed with a book of some sort, streaks of makeup flowing down her cheeks. At moments she looked as if she was going to smile, but she always stopped herself before she could.

  I told myself that these gestures were being made out of necessity, that they meant absolutely nothing. It was only my job, after all. But I’d be lying to myself if I said she wasn’t attractive.

  I found Saylor’s spunky attitude frustrating yet enticing. She wasn’t girlfriend material, but if she flirted, I would flirt back. I amounted her to a brief moment of felicity. I was startled out of my introspection when a loud slam came from the bathroom—the place Eve was searching.

  “Anything, Evie?” I spoke loudly, just short of a yell.

  “Nothing. You?”

  “Nada,” I said as I walked from the kitchen to the front door, leaning back against it. My arms crossed over my chest as Eve made her appearance from the bathroom.

  “Now what?”

  “We leave.”

  “Oh thank God. This place is giving me the creeps.” One glare at Eve and it took her no time to realize her mistake. “I mean, I’m used to this. So, whatever,” she responded, no doubt trying to cover her tracks.

  “It’s okay,” Saylor said as she stood from the bed, stuffing the notebook into her purse. She wiped the tears that had fallen and focused on trying to put on a brave face, that much was clear. “It creeps me out being here too. After knowing what she went through here— Well, lets just go.” Her shoulders back and her head held high, Saylor walked to the door and opened it, stepping into the sunlight and fresh air outside.

  JULIETTE

  You’d have thought that with everything I’d been enduring, I’d grow used to the pain. I didn’t.

  Every time Miles entered the room and tried to take my blood or my hair, I fought—like any other person would do in my position but even more so because I was fighting against all my memories and demons.

  Over the past weeks, his partner Miguel had began to take over “detaining” me, as if holding me down and attacking me was below him. Almost as if he was too good for it but I knew that Miles
wasn’t—he’d been the one to start the beatings in the first place.

  The only upsides to Miguel were that he wasn’t as rough with me and at least when it was him, it kept me from looking into those black evil eyes who destroyed the child that I used to be.

  Every few days the pain would become unbearable and if I wasn’t knocked unconscious, the large amount of pain caused me to take solace in the darkness.

  I was sure that I had countless bruises across my face and I even sometimes made it a game to count the ones that sprung up on my arms, legs, and chest. It seemed the one decent thing they did was avoid hitting my belly. I knew that if they ever did, I would go bat-shit crazy on their ugly asses.

  My hair sat in a scraggly tangled mess at the base of my neck and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been able to brush it or run my fingers smoothly through it. My lips were beyond chapped and to the point of peeling, the corners of my mouth extremely sore.

  As I lay on the floor, I heard the door creak open. I closed my eyes instantaneously in hopes that I could pretend to be asleep and whoever was there would go away, but that notion flew out the window when the steps grew louder, making it quite clear that whoever was there wasn’t leaving but was coming towards me instead.

  “Wake-y wake-y, eggs and bake-y.” The words washed over me with an oily feeling to it. I winced in pain at the kick to my shoulder.

  “Asshole,” I spewed as I opened my eyes and sat up, glaring at the grinning man.

  Miles bent down beside me, ignoring the daggers that I was gladly throwing his way. He held a syringe in his hand that had an abnormally long needle, one that was much longer than any of the others that had been used on me before. With a small shift of my body, his hand had collided with the side of my face.

  “Don’t you dare think about it. The more you struggle, the harder this will be,” he hissed through his teeth.