Chapter 3
Slamming my office door shut, I run a hand through my hair, messing the dark strands. They’re grayer than ever after the past few months of stressing over the connection between Bea and me.
I’ve been extremely irritable since she moved out.
Without her presence, there is a gaping hole in my apartment.
A space that screams it should be hers. Gone are the soft blankets soaked in coconut and pineapple that were haphazardly strewn over the back of the couch.
The counter looks empty without her dirty coffee mug sitting beside the sink, and the bathroom seems sterile and bland without her belongings strewn across it.
Without a piece of her to calm me down, I’m going to lose my mind.
Perhaps I should grab whatever sweater she has abandoned at her desk while she is away for the weekend. She didn’t notice the last time, although that may have been because she was gone for the Primordial Covenant tour.
Is it worth the risk? I think it might be.
My office line buzzes with an intercom alert from Jane, our secretary. “Yes?”
“Mr. Acherley, Orion Walker is here to see you.”
A sigh falls from my lips as I move to open my office door.
Orion has been in California for the past several weeks, assisting one of our West Coast bands after they lost their bonded Omega.
Having gone through the same horrific experience, we thought it best to send someone who could understand their pain.
Not that deciding to ask for his help wasn’t uncomplicated. I’ve been worried about the effect their grief would have on him. After losing his bonded mate Serenity a few years prior, he had spiraled into alcoholism and drugs to numb the pain their broken bond created.
Vices that nearly cost his life. If I hadn’t found him when I did, he wouldn’t be here today.
Years in a rehabilitation center—and distance from New York—helped him learn to cope with his loss. Looking at him now, you would never know the broken Alpha he used to be. Confidence shines bright in each of his steps, a sureness I wish I could replicate in myself.
“Welcome back,” I say as he joins me at my desk. I take a moment to look him over, noting the dark circles beneath his eyes and the brittle edge to his smile. “How are you?”
Orion tilts one shoulder up in a shrug. “I’ve been better. California was… tougher than I expected. Being there opened a lot of old wounds. When I first arrived and saw the members of Belemorph, it was like being thrown back onto the stage and feeling Ren’s bond rip from my chest all over again.”
I feared as much, but he doesn’t appear to be spiraling, which is good. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
He raises one eyebrow and looks at the towering stack of paperwork at the side of my desk. “Doesn’t look like you have much time to take on extra projects.”
“Work can wait,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.
Before he can respond, sharp pain spikes through my ankle.
My eyes snap down to the offending limb.
It takes several long seconds before I realize it isn’t my pain I’m feeling.
Concern for Bea floods my mind, but my thoughts stall when I hear Orion curse beneath his breath.
Confusion tilts my head as I watch him dig his phone from his pocket and start texting.
I’m reaching for my landline, prepared to call Bea and find out what happened when a new, agonizing pain cuts through the side of my neck.
I gasp, hand flying to the nonexistent wound.
My eyes grow wider when I meet Orion’s panicked gaze.
He’s nearly hyperventilating, knuckles white where they grip his phone and claw at his chest.
“Orion?”
“S-Shiloh,” he chokes, tears falling down his cheeks as the pain moves to the other side. “My mate—the Omega I met through heat helpers—she’s hurt. I can feel?—“
He hiccups a sob, head dropping between his knees. He can feel Bea’s pain, too?
Rounding my desk, I grip the back of his neck tight, putting pressure on the points I know will contain his Alpha if he loses control. With my free hand, I dial Bea’s number, but it goes unanswered. A furious growl rattles up my throat as I try again.
Slamming my foot into the corner of my desk, the wood cracks, but doesn’t fall apart. When the phone receiver creaks from my tight grip, I toss it to the desk and hit the intercom button.
“Yes, Mr. Acherley?”
“Get me in touch with someone at the Orbital Somatic show in Portland. Now!” My words bark from my throat, a sign of my impending loss of control. Feeling Bea’s pain, knowing she is out there somewhere suffering, cracks my carefully maintained facade of indifference.
I grit my teeth and catalog every ounce of her pain. Every point of pain embeds itself in my memory so I can ensure whoever is harming her experiences the same hurt, tenfold.
The phone rings, and I snatch it from my desk. “Speak.”
“Mr. Acherley? This is Caleb Michaels, from Orbital Somatic.”
“Where is your manager, Mr. Michaels?” I growl out the question through a clenched jaw, trying to hold back a bark to force his compliance.
“We don’t know,” he answers solemnly.
Releasing Orion’s neck, I pace across the room. My limbs are tense, fists clenched at my side. “What do you mean you don’t know? ”
Caleb’s voice is full of regret when he responds, causing nausea to churn violently in my stomach. “She wasn’t in her room when we went to check out, and no one has seen her since late last night. Hotel security said she never returned after our show.”
Anything else he has to say cuts off when the phone shatters in my grip, flinging pieces of plastic across the floor.
A roar tears from my throat, rattling the glasses at the bar behind my desk.
Distantly, I hear a squeak of alarm and panicked movements, but I’m too lost to my instincts to worry about anyone but my Omega.
Spinning on my heel, I cross to where Orion is still sobbing in his chair. I grip his arm and pull him to his feet. His eyes snap to mine when I shake his body roughly. “She?—“
“Bea is the Omega you’ve been seeing?”
Surprise fills his watery amber eyes, and he nods.
“She is my mate too,” I admit gruffly. His lips part, opening and closing several times. “We can discuss this more later. Right now, we need to find her.”
He sobers, getting a faraway look in his eyes that I recognize all too easily. “We will not assume the worst until we see her with our own eyes,” I demand, gripping his arms tighter. “She needs you focused on the here and now, Orion, not getting lost in what-ifs.”
“I won’t survive if she?—“
“Bea isn’t Ren. She’s still alive and hurting. We can still save her. ”
Not giving him time to reply, I drag him from my office.
The halls are empty, as is Jane’s desk. Unsurprising given the volatile pheromones clouding the air around me.
Everyone knows better than to impede an Alpha on a rampage.
I may be more in control than many other Alphas would be, but my restraint is threadbare and one inconvenience away from snapping.
“In the car,” I command. Leaving Orion behind is not an option, as frustrating as it is to have to handle him with kid gloves when my instincts are pushing me to act with urgency.
He will spiral if I leave him to face this alone, and I cannot let that happen.
Not only because he is like family to me, but because he is Bea’s mate.
I may not be able to share her, but I won’t stand by and allow one of her mates to wither when I can help.
We’re crossing into Massachusetts when my cell rings. An unknown number appears on the screen, and my stomach sinks. “Shiloh Acherley.”
“Where the fuck is my Omega?”
A growl rips from my chest, hearing the familiar voice screaming in my ear. Ridley Hale. Bea’s former bodyguard. The man who left her behind for work. Another Alpha undeserving of her.
“Watch your tone!”
“Like fuck I will! She was supposed to be safe in New York with you!”
His accusation cuts deeply, highlighting the feeling of failure already plaguing my thoughts. If I hadn’t rushed Bea to leave my place, if I had checked in with her more often instead of avoiding her to placate my own feelings, maybe she would still be safe.
“Where is she, Shiloh?” Ridley asks again, his words edged with a bark. It’s ineffective, but I answer him anyway.
“Yesterday, Orbital Somatic played a show in Portland, Maine. She joined the band at a local nightclub after but left early. The hotel they were staying at has no record of her returning.”
Things slam in the background on his end, accompanied by the muffled complaints of whoever he’s with.
“I am headed to Portland now and should be there within three hours. I’ll let you know what I find when I arrive.” Without waiting for his response, I hang up.
Dealing with the depressed, spiraling Alpha beside me is hard enough without adding Ridley’s misplaced anger onto my plate. If he can get control of himself long enough to contact the DAU and request their help, that would be more helpful to Bea than blaming me for her disappearance.
“The pain stopped,” Orion whispers, his head pressed to the window and eyes squeezed shut. “Do you think-”
“Without a bond connecting us to her, we won’t feel her unless she is hurting.” I cut him off, unwilling to entertain his worst-case scenarios. Until I have tangible proof that Bea is no longer in this world, I will not allow myself to believe she is gone. Not even for a moment.