Chapter 12 #2
“Obviously, I know that,” I protest, but he cuts me off.
“ Obviously, you don’t. Otherwise, you’d be doing everything in your power to help her, not mope around your apartment letting past demons whisper painful fantasies in your head.”
My jaw drops open in shock. “I won’t survive-”
“There you go again, letting those demons win. You don’t know the outcome yet, so why are you assuming you’ve lost the race?”
Closing my mouth, I set aside my fear and hurt and consider his words. “I don’t know how to help.”
“Finding her isn’t something you can help with. You don’t have the skills or connections to pull something like that off, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something you can do. She’s an Omega. She’s hurt, and she was kidnapped. What is she going to need when they find her?”
“A doctor?”
Dad scowls at me, crossing his arms over his chest in the same menacing way he would when I was a kid and trying to get out of housework.
“Okay, right.” Thinking back on the Omega-centered classes we were required to take at the Alpha Academy, I try to remember what to do when dealing with trauma.
“The best thing would be her mates. Their scents, but also physical contact. Purring. Comfort too. Either in her nest, or as close as it can get if she is hospitalized.”
Dad pushes to his feet and nods. “You know where she lives?”
“Yeah, but I don’t have a key. I might know someone who does, though.”
“Alright, then it’s time for you to get to work. And Orion? If you feel like drinking, call me. Or stop by the house. You aren’t facing this alone.”
My shoulders sink. I offer him a tight smile as he opens the door.
“And please call your mother. She misses you something fierce.”
He leaves before I can reply. I feel bad about having avoided them for so long. It just felt like returning home would be like trying to go back to the way things were before Ren died. Life moves on, and that’s something I keep forgetting.
Grabbing my phone from where it slipped between the couch cushions, I dial Brady Moore’s number. He is the band manager of Primordial Covenant. A band that is mated to Bea’s former roommate and best friend, Omen.
After explaining what happened, he agrees to reach out to the band and ask for their help. I’m changing into clean clothes when my phone rings a few moments later. “Orion Walker.”
“This is Nebula Graves,” replies the voice on the other end. I haven’t met the men behind the masked band, only heard about them through working at the label, so we aren’t familiar with one another. “Brady said you needed our help with something?”
Frowning, I mentally curse the older Alpha for not telling them why I needed their help. I fucking hate delivering bad news. “Yeah. Uh, is your Omega around?”
“Why?”
“If she is, you’ll want to ask her to sit down.”
Voices murmur in the background seconds before I hear a door slick shut. “What’s going on?”
“Bea Powell mentioned Omen is her best friend. She spoke of her often, actually. The rest of your pack, too, but I won’t touch on what she had to say there.”
“Nothing good, I imagine. Not that I can blame her.” He doesn’t sound upset, which is good.
According to my mate, the Graves pack is a bunch of ‘unworthy assholes.’ A title she bestowed upon them after they caused Omen to experience a chemical rejection that nearly killed her.
When I first heard the story, I was as irate as Bea.
To know a pack had thrown away their Fate-matched Omega after I lost my mate… it didn’t sit right with me.
Like most things in life, though, there is always more to the story. I can’t truly judge them without hearing their reasons. And Omen felt their apologies were enough to forgive them. So they aren’t completely irredeemable.
“Bea is missing.”
He’s silent for several seconds before he lets out a sharp breath. “Shit. Hold on a second.”
I wait as he seems to return to the room he had just left. A woman’s voice fills the background, growing in pitch as he fills her in. The sound of her crying reaches my ears and makes my chest pang with guilt. This shouldn’t be my news to share, but there is no one else I can turn to for help.
“Orion? You’re on speaker with the entire pack now,” Nebula says after a few minutes.
“What happened to Bea?” Omen asks.
“She was kidnapped outside of her hotel in Portland.”
“Fates. Do they know who took her? Are there any leads in finding her? Has anyone called her parents?”
Omen rapid-fires questions as I dig through the bag I brought back from California.
I grab the worn hoodie from the bottom and the pillow off my bed, both thick with my scent, and shove them into an old gym bag.
It holds just enough of my scent to keep the others fresh until I can stop at a nesting store and buy a scent container.
“Local police alerted the FCDA. They’re looking into things in Portland, but her other mate, Rex?”
“Lex,” Omen corrects.
“Yeah, him. He thinks the breeding ring has captured her. He was following a lead down there.” I hold my phone between my shoulder and ear so I can grab my wallet and keys. “As for her family, I don’t know. I haven’t met them and have no way of contacting them. Shiloh may have, but I doubt he did.”
Closing the door to my apartment, I jog down the stairs. I live only on the second floor, so it’s quicker than waiting for an elevator.
“I’ll call them,” Omen says softly, a sadness in her voice that resonates with the ache in my chest.
“If the FCDA knows, then Donovan knows too, babygirl. He may not have told them for a reason,” Nebula tells her.
“They deserve to know!”
I drown them out, focusing on shoving everything in my car and backing out of my parking spot.
“Listen, I asked Brady to reach out to you because I was hoping you still had your key to Bea’s apartment. She’s going to need some of her blankets and things from her nest when they find her.” I cut in. They can decide what to do about Bea’s parents after we end the call.
“I still have my key,” Omen replies. “We can meet you there in an hour. I might know what she would want.”
Having agreed to the meet time, I drive toward Shiloh’s apartment building, a few blocks away from mine.
Security is quick to clear me to go up since I am on Shiloh’s list of approved visitors, and I have a spare key to his place.
They mention he isn’t here, meaning he is still at the office, so I let myself inside.
The pristine, clinical appearance of his place reminds me too much of the lifelessness of my own.
It’s apparent we both can benefit from Bea’s presence, shaking up our worlds.
His bedroom is just as neatly organized and scent-free. Thankfully, there is a small pile of laundry at the bottom of his basket. I grab all of it and toss it in a bag.
An hour later, I’m standing outside of Bea’s apartment when a tall Omega with long black and purple hair walks up the sidewalk. The large Alpha I’d run into when I went to meet with Mia earlier this evening has one arm wrapped around her shoulder. His eyes widen when he sees me.
“Orion?”
“That’s me. You must be Omen.”
“And this is my Alpha, Nebula.”
Shaking the other man’s hand, I step aside and allow them to open the apartment door. Outside of the time I picked Bea up for our date, I’ve never visited her place.
The interior is just as cozy and colorful as I imagined, with bright throw blankets on the couch and pictures on every wall.
I study each one as we pass it, heading to the first door outside of a short hallway.
I know it’s Bea’s as soon as Omen swings the door open.
A blast of her pineapple-coconut scent hits me, making my eyes roll from how delicious it is.
“Do you have a bag?” Omen asks.
Nodding, I hand her the scent container I’d stopped and bought. She eyes it and smiles. “Good choice.”
I stand awkwardly by the door, looking over my girl’s room as her best friend packs the container full.
When she zips it closed, she pulls a small suitcase from the bottom of the closet and stuffs several outfits inside.
I’m grateful for her help, because I admit I would have forgotten to grab anything for Bea to wear.
When Omen tries to lift both bags, I step over and take them from her hands. Nebula is still standing in the doorway, not wanting to step inside another Omega’s space. He takes her hand when she gets close, pulling her to his side.
“Thank you. I appreciate your help with this.”
Omen smiles sadly, eyes roaming around the apartment. “Bring her home, Orion. I don’t know what I will do without her.”
‘Me neither,’ I think, but I just respond with a sharp nod.
Back outside, I stop to consider what to do next.
Bea has three other mates. Lex, her bodyguard Ridley, and a mystery fifth mate we haven’t met.
I can’t do much about not having anything with the last one’s scent, but I can try to find Lex and Ridley’s apartments.
Anything to make things easier for Bea when they find her.
Because they will find her. They have to.