57. CALLUM
Chapter fifty-seven
CALLUM
I am reckless, driving too fast through the streets. I’m tempted to blare the siren, and force every car out of my way, but I don’t really want an official record of any of what’s happening tonight. I glance at my phone, the GPS coordinates telling me exactly where my Omega is.
A park. Why in Amaata would she drive out to a park alone in the middle of the night? The tracker hadn’t moved since Loren’s first frantic texts. She was here, or at least her phone was.
I shuffle through the last few days. Blowing Rock wasn’t known for its beauty, it didn't have a particularly active illegal drug scene, or even any major drop offs if she’d wanted to self harm. It was a relatively nondescript park in a series of small tucked away green spaces on the lip of the city. A good stop-over for people going between Halvassa and New Beloitte.
My thoughts snag on an image of Katie curled in an armchair, reading through Loren’s atlas. She’d had some kind of report on a Traveler excavation site at Blowing Rock. Was that why she’d come out here?
But why come alone?
None of it made sense.
The only thought that pounded like a steady beat at the back of my mind was chase .
Whether or not she understood it, Katie had run from her Alphas. Fuck, she had snuck out right from under our noses, stealing the town car and fleeing into the night. Every fiber of my Alpha being needs to hunt her down and teach her to submit.
To claim her in such a way that there is no doubt of who she belongs to.
Mine .
I swallow.
The purely Alpha part of me roars for Katie’s submission. My Omega. But I am not just the animal. I’m a man, and I know that Katie has been unhappy. She is independent and fierce. That her willing submission would be sweeter than anything I could coerce.
But my hindbrain does not want to wait for any of that right now. I bare my teeth, my incisors dropping, as though ready for a bonding bite.
Fuck, I’ll need to be careful. It won’t do us any good if I force the bond against her will.
The last thing I want is to be bound to a woman that doesn't want my pack. Doesn’t want me .
Bonds, once established, are nearly impossible to break without the death of one of the people involved. I roll my shoulders, trying to bring my own Alpha instincts to heel.
“You impossible woman,” I growl, turning onto the dirt road that leads to the excavation site. I spy the sleek town car parked next to a shed. But the car isn’t alone. Propped next to it is a motorcycle.
I growl again, every hair on my body bristling. Katie’s perfume is muted, covered by the antiseptic sting of a scent canceling spray. Though, not quite enough to fully negate her spicy sweetness.
Another scent in the air is unfamiliar, a thick musk of rotting flesh that sets my stomach roiling. There’s another Alpha here. Another Alpha who can smell Katie’s heady scent. Another Alpha that knows she’s unbonded.
Fuck .
I need to get to her. I need to get to my Omega to hunt her down and protect her from this threat. I growl in my throat, checking to ensure that my taser-gun is in my holster. I glance at my phone, catching the single message waiting for me. It’s from Aurelia.
Aurelia: One of her sisters told me she’s looking for a portal back to Earth. She’s at Blowing Rock, but plans to return. Don’t be too hard on her, Cal. This adjustment has been difficult.
I growl again, my need to own and my need to protect at war inside me. She ran from me. She knows that Alphas chase! Loren told me about their little adventure in his office. How can I do anything but chase her, and make her mine?
But there’s an Alpha here, and if he’s caught her slightly fearful scent, he’ll be on the edge of a rutting frenzy. If she runs from him , there’s no telling what will happen.
I open the car door just as a terrified scream slices through the night.