Chapter 8
8
LIAM
Something is wrong.
Something is very, very wrong, because April doesn’t answer our texts.
“Where the fuck is she?” Hunter mutters, pacing around the hotel lobby. “I’m going to lose my shit.”
It’s been two hours since we last saw her. Two hours since she smiled, carefree for once, and danced with Hunter and me.
Two hours since I seriously considered pulling her into a banquet room and feasting on her on one of the tables.
Maybe Hunter is a bad influence on me.
It’s not a big deal that she’s not answering texts—it’s that Donovan is missing, too. If their relationship wasn’t…complicated, I would assume he’s somewhere taking care of her. But I can’t shake the feeling that something bad happened.
I’m pissed at Donovan already, and if he did anything to upset her…
My chest tightens, and I try not to panic.
“We’ll find her,” Hunter says, catching my expression. “She’s around here somewhere.”
But that doesn’t rid my uneasiness.
I’ve been able to scent her all night—delicious vanilla with the slightest hint of cinnamon.
But as I pass the bar out into the front of the lobby, there’s a new note to it.
A citrusy sour note.
Something happened.
Something happened, and I wasn’t there for her…
I walk outside and am hit with a gust of wind and a pelting of rain, but also with the faint scent of lemony vanilla.
She was out here.
There’s a lone figure standing in the rain, his suit jacket soaked, and his dark hair drenched. He’s staring off into a distance, his lips pursed into a thin line.
Melodramatic and ridiculous.
I walk up to Donovan, fury in my veins.
“What did you do?” I demand, knowing my pack leader is responsible for April’s hurt. My anxiety turns into rage, ready to defend her to the death.
Whatever he said to her, whatever he did…
“She’s gone,” he says simply, turning to me. “She went back to the packhouse.”
He stares me down, as if daring me to say something.
“And why is she gone, Donovan?”
He blinks. “I told her the truth. I told her what she is to us.”
I stare at him, dumbfounded, until Steven, an executive at a tech company, claps me on the shoulder. “What are you two doing out here in the rain?” he asks, amused. “Shouldn’t you be with your plaything?”
I turn to him, disbelief and anger coursing through me. “What did you just say?”
He laughs. “Donovan told me everything. And Liam, let me tell you,” he continues, leaning in closer to me, “after this one, I have some great girls for you, my friend. Brilliant girls.”
It suddenly clicks. I turn to Donovan, who looks between me and Steven, unamused. “We’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” he says cooly.
Steven’s grin only grows, and he claps me on the shoulder again.
I yank his hand off me as a growl sounds in my chest, and Steven steps back, confused.
“I suggest,” I say softly, “that you never talk about my mate like that. And be grateful that Hunter wasn’t out here to hear you, Steven.”
Then I turn back to Donovan, who has the audacity to look shocked.
He’s an emotionally braindead idiot.
He’s the smartest guy I know, yet when it comes to April…
“You’re a piece of shit,” I spit at him, and Steven laughs awkwardly.
It hurts to call my best friend that, but there are no other words for what he’s done.
I don’t know exactly what he said to April, but if he called her our plaything …
I want to vomit. I want to punch something.
I want to burn the studio down.
None of this means anything without her, without my friend, without the Omega I adore.
My chest seizes up, and suddenly Hunter is outside with us too, shouting. Steven has his hands up in surrender, a bewildered expression on his face as Hunter gets into Donovan’s face.
I can’t do this.
I can’t watch them fight.
I can’t breathe…
Where is April?
I need to get to her.
Then I can breathe again.
She’s my mate, even if I haven’t made that bite yet.
She’s the only one for me, regardless of what Donovan or anyone else may think.
What did he say to her?
I press a hand to my chest and lean against a wall, fucking horrified that someone will see my panic attack.
April, I’m sorry, what did he say to you?
My chest hurts.
Fuck, what did he say to her?
I bang the back of my head against the wall, willing the pain in my chest to stop.
I hear my parents’ voices in my head.
Men don’t have panic attacks.
Alphas don’t get this emotional.
Breathe. I need to fucking breathe.
My vision blurs, and there’s still shouting, but now the voices are shouting my name.
“Liam. Come on, brother, you have to breathe.” Hunter’s voice.
I grit my teeth. I can’t fucking breathe.
I hit my head against the wall again, hoping it distracts me from the pain in my chest.
It doesn’t.
My thoughts race, and I hope that no one else sees how pathetic I look. I hope I’m far enough away from the hotel that they don’t see that one of the founders of Axton is having a mental breakdown because they think their Omega is upset.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?” Steven. That idiot that talked about April.
Shame and embarrassment course through me. I don’t need an ambulance. Not because of a fucking panic attack.
“That won’t be necessary,” another voice snaps.
Donovan.
Donovan, my friend, my packmate, responsible for hurting April?—
“Get the fuck away from us,” Hunter snarls. “Or I swear I’ll fucking kill you right here, Donovan. I swear .”
I choke out a laugh and gasp for breath. “Don’t… fight ,” I grit out. “Just give me a minute.”
Slowly, the pain in my chest dissipates, and I can see clearly again.
I count my breaths, shutting out every external stimuli until all I focus on is the expanding of my lungs and the sensation of air leaving my body.
Everything fades away until I’m nothing but my breaths.
Once I’m back to myself, I meet Hunter’s concerned face.
“We need to get to home,” I say. “ Now .”
He nods.
April is gone.
The only remnant is her scent, soured with lemon.
She left.
You did something. You did something to make her hate you.
Hunter is shouting and Donovan is snarling back at him.
I could have prevented this, somehow.
Maybe I could have done more for her, let her know how important she is to me.
I do my best to not catastrophize, but until I know what was said to her, my mind will keep running away with itself.
I fucking hate when Donovan and Hunter fight.
It’s always made me uncomfortable to watch my two best friends argue and throw words around.
I hate it so fucking much.
“What did you say to her?” Hunter’s voice echoes from the kitchen as I pull out my phone.
April hasn’t even read my message.
Whatever happened between her and Donovan must have been awful.
“I reminded her of the contract,” Donovan replies coldly. “And that nothing else is expected from her.”
I blink.
“And how the fuck did you say that to her?” Hunter demands. “Just how badly did you fuck up?”
Silence.
I storm into the kitchen, ready to confront Donovan as well.
Even though Hunter looks nanoseconds away from punching my best friend in his stupid, emotionally clueless face, I don’t try to break it up.
“What did you say to her, Donovan?” I ask quietly. A growl builds in my chest, primal and furious.
He hurt her.
He hurt my Omega.
Both Hunter and Donovan pause, with Hunter looking at me with raised eyebrows, while Donovan frowns deeply.
They never see me growl like this.
“It’s not what I said to her, it’s what I said to Steven. She happened to hear it,” Donovan explains. “It was not intentional.”
And that’s when I remember…
“Is that why he clapped me on the shoulder and said there were other women after I was done with our plaything ?”
Holy fuck.
If Donovan called her that…
I advance on him, moving past Hunter and shoving Donovan with my full strength. He stumbles back, then catches himself.
I don’t get violent, ever.
“Liam. Liam. ” Hunter pulls me back as Donovan squares up to me, fury etched into his face.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” he snarls. “Of course, I didn’t call her a plaything. Act like an adult. ”
I snap. I lose it, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I verbally explode.
“Act like an adult ? Does an adult push away the one person that makes them happy?” I yell. Donovan scoffs and leaves the kitchen, and I follow. “Does a grown adult, a whole thirty-year-old man, refuse to acknowledge what’s best for him and his packmates? Is that what a pack leader does?”
He continues into the foyer, his back to me, and I follow.
“You’re not a pack leader, Donovan. You’re a coward.”
He stops.
I sense Hunter behind me and hear a low oh shit come from him.
I crossed a line. A huge one.
I’ve always respected Donovan and his decisions for us. I’ve trusted him since high school, and I would take a fucking bullet for him.
But I won’t let him take April from us.
When he turns back to me, his scent is dark and bitter. A coldness is behind his eyes, the anger from before replaced with icy indifference.
“She’s not good for the pack,” he says. “And that’s final.”
“Like hell it is,” Hunter snarls from behind me. “You stupid fucking?—”
“Is that what you said to her?” I demand, interrupting him. “Is that what you told her? That she wasn’t good for us?”
Donovan nods slowly. “She’s not,” he says matter-of-factly. “She’s a temporary distraction at best.”
I freeze. Time slows and my ears ring.
There is so much anger in me, horror, and betrayal in me that I can’t process it all at once. I’m back in my parent’s house, ten years old, and listening to their poisonous words.
“You’re not good for us, Liam. You make it very difficult to be your parents.”
“You’re not good for us.”
“You’re not good.”
Which is the exact same thing he said to April.
Something awful and heavy pulls on my chest, and I’m terrified at the tears that spring to the corners of my eyes.
My throat closes up, but I’m not about to cry like a child.
No, I’m about to swing on Donovan, the person that betrayed me and the woman I love.
I love her.
I love April.
The realization hits me just as Hunter punches Donovan.
I don’t bother to intervene. Let them fight.
I walk away from their brawl, ignoring the sounds of shattering glass and the snarls that fill the air.
I head into the backyard, walking past the furniture and fire pit, and all the way to the greenhouse.
My ears ring.
Someone calls my name.
April and I talked here. She told me about her past, and I held on to every word she said.
I love her.
She thought I wouldn’t want her after she opened up to me, but she was wrong.
I took her hand, knelt before her in the dirt, and told her I chose her.
But she’s not here now.
And after what Donovan said, I’m not sure if she would ever want to come back.
Knowing April, she won’t abandon the contract, but that doesn’t mean she won’t abandon us.
Does she believe Donovan?
Does she think she’s not good for us?
I know it’s pointless, but pacing in the greenhouse, I call her.
She doesn’t answer.
I should go to her.
She can’t truly believe she’s not good for us.
She has to know I choose her. I will always choose her, no matter what.
No matter what Donovan says.
My ears continue to ring, and my chest is still tight.
I can’t go back inside, even though the fighting has stopped, and all is quiet.
Instead, I kneel in the dirt, desperate to catch my breath and slow my rapid heart.
I wait for April to return.
I wait for Donovan to get it together.
I wait.
And wait.