“Yes, and Xinyi’s and the library and Kyren’s old room.” Tate stood, following me around the room. “Her bike is still in the parking lot, so she didn’t leave.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and started dialing. By the time I put the phone to my ear, the call had connected. “This is Hunter Fawley, I need GPS coordinates on Hunter Durand straight away.”
The person on the other line tapped away on their computer before telling the coordinates. She was still on campus.
“Thanks.”
Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I found my shirt and pulled it over my head. Tate walked up to me, and I held a hand up.
“You should... go back to your room or whereever it is you’re staying.”
“But I want to show Jack I’m okay.”
“I understand that, but she might not want to see you or seeing you could make her more upset.” When Tate tried to protest again, I quickly added, “I’ll tell her, alright. I know about her powers and can handle this. Please, don’t make this harder on her.”
That part finally made Tate back down. He nodded grimly before starting for the door. He paused, turning back to me.
“You’ll let her know I’m alright. That I’m not mad?”
“Yes, I promise.”
He lingered for a second longer before nodding again and leaving.
Blowing out a long breath, I plugged the coordinates into my phone’s map app.
I probably should call the president about this. It would be protocol as her team lead to do so. Even if she was just any other hunter, I would be expected to call it in. But since the presidents were her godparents, they would definitely want to know.
Except I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There’d be all kinds of questions I didn’t know the answer to. What if they tried to pull her out of the academy for her own protection? I knew Jack wouldn’t want that.
No, I could find her on my own. If she wants to tell the president or her family about this, she can do it herself. I had to put her well-being first, no matter how much it went against my own instincts.
I followed the map’s directions through the academy, bypassing students and other professors. Eyes lingered on me, no doubt because of my attire, but I couldn’t worry about that right now.
The directions led me into a part of the academy that wasn’t open to the public, a section I was told was under construction, preparing for more classrooms and more labs to be available next year.
Ducking under a plastic wall, I searched around, looking for clues as to where she might have hidden. The map told me she was in the area, but it couldn’t pinpoint exactly where she was hiding.
“Durand?” I called out, listening for something, the sound of her breathing or her heart beating. A good hunter knew how to slow down both so that we weren’t detected by our prey before we attacked. While we weren’t on a hunt, she could be implementing the same skills to hide from me.
I lifted my nose in the air and sniffed, searching for her delicate scent in the strong stench of paint and sheet rock mud as I went.
I called her name a few more times before ducking into another room, and there she was. Curled up on the windowsill ledge, her knees drawn up to her chest, staring out the window.
“Jack?” I said softly, approaching her as if she were a skittish animal rather than a fellow hunter.
Her head slowly turned toward me. Face blotchy and eyes red, it was clear she had been crying. She didn’t respond, pulling her arms tighter against her chest, her head down on her knees.
I knelt next to her, not touching her. “The wolf told me what happened.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then her head turned to look at me.
“Is Tate okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine.” I smiled slightly. “Came banging on my door, demanding I find you. I thought it was your dads again, wanting to threaten me some more.”
Her brow crinkled. “My dads came to see you?”
Slowly, I placed a hand on her leg. “They just wanted to make sure I was keeping you safe. They love you. Just like Tate does...” I dipped my eyes. “Like I do.”
