Chapter 5
Heavy eyelids threaten to slip closed, but I blink away my exhaustion and refocus on the documents spread on the table before me. Other agents move around the room, whispering to each other as they work. There has to be some link we are missing. An avenue the agency hasn’t explored yet.
My task would be easier if Ridley hadn’t abandoned our mission.
I’m not pissed at him for listening to his Alpha needs, not really.
No, I’m fucking jealous. I want to drop everything and go back to New York to see my Omega with my own eyes, to smell her pineapple coconut scent floating on the breeze, but I can’t.
Partially because I believe Doctor Harrison poses a legitimate threat to her safety, and because my trauma is still too heavy a weight for her to share.
The nightmares of my past have grown in intensity over the past few weeks, returning almost every night.
If I were to slip and bond Bea, she would feel the aftermath of every one of them.
I am used to functioning on barely any sleep and running my body until exhaustion every morning; she doesn’t deserve to be saddled with the same side effects.
“You should get some rest,” Porter comments from the other end of the table.
Like the asshole I am, I ignore him. Unless he is ordering me to step away, I’ll decide when to take a break. Even if it means overworking myself.
“I’m serious, Ferguson.”
Glancing up, I hiss out a breath when pain pops through the tendon in my ankle.
Furrowing my brow, it takes my fatigued mind several seconds to understand where it is coming from.
Bea. Growling, I grip the table and fight back the urge to dig out my personal phone and call her.
The injury doesn’t feel life-threatening, and she isn’t alone in New York. Shiloh and her parents can-
Piercing pain along my neck has my spine snapping straight, my muscles tense enough that I know I will feel the ache of the strain later.
When it moves from one side to the next, I lose control.
My aura explodes out of me, sending growls rippling through the room as red descends, consuming my vision.
I stare up at the ceiling of an empty room, head groggy and thoughts too scattered to remember how I got here.
A key turns in the lock to the room, furthering my confusion.
When my temporary partner from the FCDA, Catalco, peeks through the crack, I raise a brow in question.
He’s cautious as he steps into the room, keeping one hand on the door frame like he’s afraid I will attack him.
Given the bruise blooming on his jaw and my muddled thoughts, I may already have.
“Okay, good. You’re conscious. I’m assuming that since you haven’t tried to beat the door down yet, you don’t remember what happened?”
“Correct.” I sit up, noting the increased throb through my skull and dismissing it immediately. Minor injuries and illnesses have never stopped me before, and they won’t now.
Catalco’s jaw twitches, his eyes flickering down the hallway before settling back on me. He sighs, the sound carrying the weight of a pain I rarely see from the level-headed Alpha.
“I’m just going to rapid-fire update you. Try not to blow your top, okay? I don’t want to knock your ass out again.”
Again?
“Two and a half hours ago, your Fated connection sparked to life, allowing you to feel Bea’s pain.”
I freeze halfway to standing, heart racing as his words repeat in my head.
“The severity of her injuries was enough to send you into an Alpha rage. You destroyed the front of the safe house and injured several of our team before we could subdue you.” I wince, mouth open to speak, but he continues. “Shortly after, we received word from New York…”
My eyes narrow as he trails off. A shaky hand runs through his short hair, and he takes a steady step back into the doorway.
My heart is beating so loud I can barely hear his words over the sound.
I’ve spent enough time in the military and the DAU to know when someone is nervously trying to decide how to deliver bad news, like the lack of eye contact and the waver in his voice.
“Spit it out,” I growl, pushing the rest of the way to my feet. Keeping my limbs loose takes a monumental effort when every muscle in my body wants to tense and ready for a fight.
“She’s missing, Lex.”
Missing.
Bea.
My mate.
Synapses fire in overdrive as memories crash into me. The torment of feeling her injuries and not being able to reach her.
Focusing on what I felt from her, not my out-of-control reactions, I note where she felt pain and the significance of each location. The time between the first pulse and the second. Her work and tour schedule. Slowly, the puzzle pieces click into place.
“He has her.”
“She was in Maine for a show. Porter can get you on a private flight there?—“
My head shakes as I shove my way past him. “She isn’t in Maine. She’s here. In whatever hellhole Doctor Harrison is hiding in.”
Catalco rushes to catch up to me, eyeing me skeptically as we make our way to the front of the building. Everyone is likely set up in the barn since the living room is in tatters.
Seeing the destruction I caused, I know I owe many people an apology. Losing control of your aura can be especially dangerous when you’re around other Alphas. It can cause a chain reaction, leading to havoc and bloodshed.
Dealing with all that shit can wait. Right now, we’re going to find the Doctor and rescue my Omega. No matter how many laws I have to break along the way.
The barn door creaks open, drawing the attention of the handful of agents scattered inside.
Porter watches me closely as I stalk to the table where they are reviewing documents.
Slamming my palms flat on its surface, I stare into the older Alpha’s eyes.
“I want every connection to Doctor Harrison explored. Now.”
His eyebrows shoot to his hairline, and someone to the side snorts, trying to cover the sound with an obviously fake cough. “We are doing as much as we can.“
“Exactly. You are doing as much as you can. I’m not an agent with the FCDA, so I don’t have the same constraints on my movements, so any ties you haven’t explored because of the red tape? I want them.”
He frowns, glancing at Catalco, who shrugs as if to say, ‘He’s your problem now’ and walks away.
“Ferguson, what are you doing? I can get you on a plane back to New York to track down?—“
“Bea isn’t in New York. She’s here. With him,” I growl, slapping the table in frustration. “The pain I felt from our connection, every spot it occurred, is where one of her scent glands is. Some random group did not kidnap her. The madman I failed to capture did!”
Porter raises his hands and takes a step back, eyes wary as everyone in the room freezes.
“Give me the leads,” I demand, only backing down when a car pulls down the gravel drive. I stand rigid while they investigate, relaxing when I hear Ridley’s voice. Good. We can track these leads together.
“You’re supposed to be in New York monitoring Creed,” Porter tells Peterson when he walks in.
“You try fighting against a nearly feral Alpha who just learned his Omega is missing,” Peterson grumbles before collapsing into a chair.
“Great, now there are two of you.” Porter rakes a hand through his short gray hair and shakes his head. “Fine. I’ll give you the leads we can’t follow, but if you two go in half-cocked and get someone innocent killed, I will throw you in prison for the rest of your lives.”
Nodding, I hold out one hand expectantly. “We’re going to find him. Whatever consequences await after, we will face them.”
Ridley paces behind me, letting off small waves of pissed-off Alpha pheromones that heighten the already sky-high tension in the room. “Well? The quicker you hand over the information he asked for, the quicker we can find our Omega. Why are you still standing there?”
Porter rolls his eyes and motions for an agent to do as we asked. He doesn’t take his eyes off the two of us until a hefty file folder lands in his hands. Flipping through the pages, he pulls a few out and places them on the table.
The small stack grows alongside my frustration. It could take us weeks to explore these, and my mate doesn’t have that kind of time!
“Here. Those are the connections we can’t get close to.” He holds the stack out, gripping it tight when I try to grab it. “Be careful, Ferguson. Hale. Your Omega is going to need you, so don’t get yourselves killed.”
Meeting his eyes, I let him see my resolve to do whatever it takes to rescue Bea. Even at the cost of my life. Any Alpha would do the same for their Fate-matched Omega, so there isn’t much he can say to stop me.
Crumpling the pages in my hand, I bump against Ridley and head to the door. We’re going to need more boots on the ground if we are going to find our girl, and I know just who to call.