Chapter 2
LANDON
I standat the edge of Skylar’s driveway, inhaling her sour scent as River walks off his anxiety attack.
I’ve only seen him this way one other time, and we haven’t talked about it since.
The devastation on his face reflects exactly how I feel.
We hurt Skylar.
It makes my stomach churn, but I do my best to stay calm.
Her safety comes first.
And not just because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s because I lo?—
“Yeah?” Vincent’s gruff voice answers after the first ring.
“What exactly did you say to her?” I ask, my voice low. I sound surprisingly calm for how livid I am. It took me about ten minutes to regain my composure before calling him, but my blood still boils as I struggle to not snarl at him through the phone.
“What?”
“Did you tell her that her friend was dead?” I pace on the sidewalk. “I don’t know what you thought you would achieve by doing that. You’ve only made things worse.”
“I told her the truth.” Vincent’s voice is devoid of emotion. “You and Cain were doing more damage by stringing this along. I thought you were smarter than that.”
The arrogant piece of shit. Maybe I should channel River more, because telling Vincent off right now would feel incredible.
“Well, if you want to talk about damage, more Omegas are going missing,” I snap. “And now, because of your ignorant, selfish words, Skylar doesn’t want our protection, much less anything to do with us.”
There’s a beat of silence on the other end of the line. “More missing Omegas?” Vincent finally asks, his voice less gruff. More curious.
“Yes. And I’m sure that number will increase,” I snap.
Another beat of silence. “Do you think it has to do with the O cases?”
I pause at his question. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he’s interested in our work?
“Yes,” I say slowly. “Even though the ingredients are synthetic Omega hormones, we’re thinking it makes users want Omegas for themselves and act irrational to get them.”
“Which is why you need to protect Skylar.”
I blink, surprised he’s open to the conversation. “Yes. Which is why I’m telling you that the consequences of your words have made her shut us out. It makes keeping her safe all that much harder.”
“I…” Vincent’s voice trails off. “I’m sorry.” The word sounds foreign, as if it’s something he’s never said before.
In my years of knowing him, I can’t recall him ever saying it.
“Then help us protect her. If you don’t want to assist us with finding April Waters, the least you can do is this,” I say.
It would be easy to blame everything on Vincent. But River and I were both careless in our own ways.
I made Skylar a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep, and we both tried to keep the truth from her.
The truth that we may never find her friend.
If we had told her, would she have wanted to be with us?
I was selfish.
I should have been upfront from the beginning, and that’s what Vincent was to her.
Colder than necessary, but just as we would have been with any other missing person’s case.
River may blame everything on Vincent, but I know the truth.
I fucked up, too.
A lot.
“Alright.”
Vincent’s voice startles me out of my train of thought. “What?”
“Tell me what I can do to help.”
Holy shit.
I quirk my lip and almost smile. Despite the fight with Skylar, knowing that I have someone else to support her lifts a weight off my chest.
“I need you to keep watch while River and I work. I’m sure more Omegas will go missing, and?—”
I stop mid-sentence as a scent wafts down the sidewalk. It’s Skylar’s aroma, but there’s a chemical bite to it.
It’s bitter. My heart pounds in my chest as I head up the driveway and to her front door, which is now open.
“Landon?” Vincent asks as I push open her door and storm through her front door, following the chemical scent throughout her home.
She’s not in the fucking house.
“Skylar?” I shout, panic constricting my chest as I recognize the chemical smell.
I’ve smelled it too many times at crime scenes.
“Fuck!” I yell, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. It hasn’t even been an hour since we’ve stepped outside her house, and now she’s gone.
The scent starts to taper past Skylar’s back door and into her backyard. I stand on her porch, clenching the phone tightly in my hand.
Sour fear. Spicy anger.
Bitter chloroform.
I barely register River calling my name as my ears ring and my head starts to buzz.
Skylar’s been taken.