3. Jorge
3
Jorge
My stomach won’t stop churning. I’m sure Vera notices how sweaty my palm is, how tightly I’m holding her. I wish I wasn’t so nervous, that I could be cool and collected like the others seem to be.
But she’s not complaining at all, keeping up a constant stream of light conversation as she comments on the stores we’re passing by, the people sitting in front of the cafes, anything and everything that pulls her attention.
Seeing Mathew and Riley all geared up made it much too real. I’ve never seen them like that before. Never.
I’ve seen Riley wash her gear and I’ve seen it in her apartment or in her suitcase, but I’ve never seen her wear it before. She looks so much more severe and it even seems to change how she carries herself, she starts moving like a…
Like a killer…
Which she is…
Which I prefer not to remember most of the time.
Mathew always made sure that he was never wearing his gear when we met. He was always in his ‘normal’ clothes —if you can call his expensive suits ‘normal’— or in some cases, waiting for me on his bed in just his underwear, or nothing at all. He always made sure that I never saw the darker side of his job, at least, not him in ‘work’ clothes.
The tight black clothes looked so good on him, but knowing why he was wearing them meant that I couldn’t enjoy it.
The car ride into the city was silent, uncomfortable. My thoughts were all over the place and that made it hard to focus on anything.
Miles is keeping an eye on us tonight. After trying a couple of different people, Miles seemed to work with us the best.
He’s been with Mathew for a long time and he’s been part of his primary security team for most of it. He’s around our age and without a mate or a pack. A rarity for the Alphas on the primary security team, as most of them have found mates by now. But he doesn’t show any signs of even looking for anything like that.
I’m glad that he’s now our main security guy when Derrick can’t be with us. Miles is funny and he’s good at going up into his surroundings, not standing out too much, so we can mostly ignore him, without feeling too awkward about it. Which is the whole purpose of what he does, keep an eye on us and our surroundings without us noticing it.
“When’s the last time you went to the movies on a date?” Vera stops as she adjusts her bag over her shoulder and takes a picture of some roses with her phone. She looks so cute and excited and I’m one lucky guy that I get to spend the whole evening with her alone, which is a rarity.
I think it over for a few moments, forcefully pushing everything else from my mind and focusing on our date. I’m on a date with Vera , that should be the only thing on my mind right now.
“A couple of years ago, I think…”
“With Mathew? Or Riley? Or someone else?” She looks at me, smiling softly.
“With Mathew.” I grin, leaning closer. “Though, it was not the type of movie we’re watching today. We went to see something much more adult .”
“Oh!” Her pheromones flare and she grins back. “Now I know what I want to do for our next date.”
“For our next date? That sounds good.” I give her a soft kiss and her body feels so good in my arms.
I could stand here, holding and kissing her, all evening, and this would be the best night ever. But after a few minutes, she wriggles free from my embrace, her breathing fast, her sweet honey pheromones heavy with desire.
“If we don’t hurry up, we’ll be late for the movie.” She looks at her phone and then points to the next crossing. “We turn right there and then it shouldn’t be too much further.”
“What other date plans do you have?” I glance at her, at the beautiful woman at my side, my mate, my sweet Omega.
Fuck, I’m such a lucky guy…
“Well, I was thinking of maybe going to the beach. Or maybe we can go somewhere none of us have been before?” She smiles at me, all bright and happy. “What about you?”
“I’m much more boring.” I think for a moment. “I like going out for dinner. There’s this place that opened a few months ago that I’ve still not been able to get a reservation at. They had a massive opening and Mathew was invited, but I was away on business, so I could go with him.”
We pass by some restaurants, one of them selling sundaes and other cold sweet treats, the scent light and sweet.
“Hmm, smells good.” Vera’s voice is filled with interest.
“We can eat here after the movie finishes, if they’re still open by then. I could be persuaded to eat ice cream most days of the week. What do you think?” I check my phone. “Would you like to eat here after? I can check if they’ll still be open.”
When I don’t get a reply, I stop walking, looking around, expecting that Vera’s gotten distracted by the menu or something like that.
But the space at my side is empty and I don’t catch sight of her anywhere nearby, even though the dress she’s wearing is hard to overlook.
Where is she?!
My heart feels like it stops for a moment, my breathing tight.
This can’t be happening.
It can’t.
I look around again. “Vera?!” She’s not here.
My chest hurts and I look back, finding Miles, motioning for him to come over. His eyes are as wild as mine by now.
Oh, fuck.
“Did you see where she went?” I try calling her phone, but don’t get a response. Double fuck.
“No. She was there one moment and gone the next. I have no idea where she went. There was no commotion. It’s like she just slipped away.”
Slipped away?
No, no, no.
If Mathew and Riley find out that I lost Vera, they’re going to kill me. I’m dead.
“What’s the protocol?” I can’t stop looking around, praying she’ll pop out of one of the restaurants or something like that. This is bad.
“Wait for a few minutes to see if she’ll come back. But with everything else going on right now. And tonight…”
If she’s kidnapped, those minutes mean that she’s that much further away from us.
Which we can’t risk.
Fuck.
If there’s one person who knows where she could be, it’s her first Alpha. And he’s the least likely to rip my head off my body the moment he sees me. I call Caleb, my fingers trembling.
He picks up in moments. “How is the movie? That boring?” He laughs as I hear noise on his side, he’s obviously making use of the house being empty right now.
I swallow hard. “Vera disappeared.”
The noise stops, and his voice is soft, reassuring. “She’ll be back in a moment. Miles must have seen where she went, right?”
I glance at our supposed bodyguard. “He has no idea either. Said she disappeared into nothing.”
“Oh.” His voice is more serious now. “Did she say anything?”
I try to think, which isn’t easy right now. “She said something about a nice scent. But we were walking past restaurants at that time. I thought she was simply interested in one of them.”
“Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “That means she didn’t notice any danger, or she’d have dragged you away with her.”
“Danger or not. If the others find out that I lost her, that will be the end of me.” And I wouldn’t even blame them.
How can I just ‘lose’ our Omega?!
“She can slip away without anyone noticing. She’ll be back. Just wait for her.”
“Caleb…” I try to keep my voice under control, but it’s not working. “We’re in the middle of the city. This place is crawling with people from all sorts of seedy organisations who will know about Vera being Mathew’s Omega by now. I’d prefer to find her right now and not wait.” My heart is racing.
I want her back in my arms. I don’t want her out there somewhere, potentially being in danger…
“Okay. Give me a couple of minutes. I’ll get a car from someone and I’ll help you look for her. Go back to where you lost her and wait for me there. We’ll find her. I promise.”
“Okay. Hurry, please.” I stare at my phone as he disconnects the call.
How can Caleb stay so calm?
I don’t care if she ‘slips away from time to time’.
None of those times were in a city where everyone who sees her will know that she’s the way to hurt Mathew, where there’s a massive target on her back.
It’s not the same as before. The danger doesn’t come from one asshole sending a few people after them. There are dozens, if not more, organisations who know who she is, who know what kind of pressure they can put on Mathew, on our whole pack, if they get their hands on her.
“Is he coming?” Miles comes back over from checking the area.
“Yeah. He said she does this sometimes. That we should just wait.” I keep looking around, really hoping that Caleb is right and she’ll simply appear again.
“What do you want me to tell Timothy? I can’t not tell him anything, that’s going to cost me my head and I prefer to keep it.”
“Wait until Caleb is here. He’s the one who said she’ll return on her own. So he’ll hopefully have a plan. They’re busy enough with the mission as it is. We don’t have to give them more problems until we’ve got a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”
“Okay.” Miles doesn’t look very happy, but I have no idea what else we should be doing.
This isn’t what I normally do. I don’t go out on missions.
Apart from what Derrick told me, I don’t actually know that much about what we’re supposed to do in these cases.
I know what we have to do if any of us get attacked, or kidnapped.
But there’s no protocol for ‘stealthy Omega sneaks off on her own without telling any of us’.
After tonight, I’m going to make sure that there is one. Because I don’t want to have to worry like this again.
Vera…
What are you getting up to now?
Where did you go?
Why did you suddenly disappear without telling me?