Chapter 1 #2
Home? Home is where my alphas live, and I know Zack’s not there. “Zack,” I whisper, my throat raw. I gasp out dry sobs, the tears refusing to flow.
Callisto’s warm hand presses onto my back.
The elevator doors swing open, revealing the entrance to our once peaceful apartment.
Callisto tucks his arms under my knees and swings me up into his arms. I dive my nose into his neck, searching for relief from the hateful odor clinging to us.
As he carries me inside, my gaze catches on the section of fresh paint covering up my writing. Gone to see a man about an alpha.
It seems like a lifetime ago I wrote those words. But now I’m here without Zack, as if I imagined him.
Voices sound behind me. “I’ll come down to the precinct with you,” Agent Pierce says. “To find out what’s going on.”
I growl, Zack’s rage adding to my own. With a strangled shout, I ram through the icy confines of the ghost leaching my strength.
Struggling out of Callisto’s hold, I launch myself at the agent.
“If you’d done your job, he’d still be here!
” I hammer my fists into his broad chest. “What the fuck were you doing?”
He blinks down at me in shock, barely rocking from my attack.
Where’s my fucking fork when I need it?
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the agent says, expression twisting with sympathy.
“Sorry?” I shout. “How does sorry help? My alpha—”
Rickon throws himself between us, catching my flailing fists. “Biscuit! We got attacked.” He wraps his arms around me, even though I writhe from side to side. “It’s not their fault.”
A sob lodges in my throat. It is their fault; it has to be. Otherwise, the only person left to blame is me.
Callisto covers my back, holding me from behind and locking my wrists across my chest. The oily aroma on my hands rockets up my nose, making me gag.
“I gotta get rid of this smell,” I whimper.
“You and me both,” Rickon says. “I don’t know what hit us, but it was powerful.”
He’s right: something hit us. It was an attack of some kind, and I have shards in my legs to prove it. Which means the OCB agents were victims too. The fight drains out of me, and I slump.
Agent Josef clears his voice. “I hate to ask this now, but we need to get that evidence out of her skin.”
I’m done fighting. This pointless exercise only brings pain. Ghost Red creeps in with eerie stillness as I dangle in Callisto’s firm grip while the agents fetch kits with test tubes and pads to soak up the stinking oil and seal away brown ceramic shards.
When the agents leave to put their stuff in the car, my two alphas get me up the stairs and into the shower, and no one cares when Callisto supports me while Rickon gets my clothes off.
In our shock we’ve transcended to a level where those things become trivial.
All the former crises fade away in the face of Zack’s absence.
It’s not until the warm water runs over my skin that I recognize how cold I am inside. And no amount of scrubbing or steam can fix me. I’m still shivering when I’m out and dressed, and Rickon tugs me into his lap on the downstairs lounge while I cling to the cushion that smells like Zack.
Callisto brings me a steaming mug, but my hands quiver so much I can’t take it.
Rickon tucks my face into the curve of his neck. “What do we do, Callisto? She won’t stop shaking.”
I might shiver on the outside, but Rickon’s trembling just as much inside, the disturbance in our pack bond impossible to ignore. Zack’s furious. At this rate, he’ll kill someone and then never get released from prison.
I dig my fingers into Rickon’s shirt, a silent sob strangling my airways.
Callisto folds a blanket around my back and tucks the edges behind Rickon. “They say a knot’s the best comfort for an omega, but in this case . . .” He groans.
The part of me that’s not a frozen ghost loves how they take care of me, but another part rails in frustration that I can’t look after myself. I shouldn’t be falling apart like this, not when Zack needs me most.
But every omega has her limits, and I’ve reached mine.
“Oh.” Callisto’s tone brightens. “How about purring?”
Rickon twitches, and then his hands massage up my spine as a vibration in his chest translates through my skin.
Another dry sob escapes me. Zack was our purrer.
I first felt that delicious happy tremor while he had his teeth in my fresh bond mark in the back of the transport truck.
And then in his sleep after having his way with Rickon in the stable set, and during our frequent times in bed.
Rickon’s purr cancels out the shakes in my body, and I slump against him. He’s not doing it because he’s happy, but because I need it, and the selfless act makes me fall in love with him all over again. His big heartbeat thumps rhythmically near my ear. My eyelids droop.
Callisto rests a hand on my shoulder. “I’m going to go find Zack and post his bail. Stay here with Rickon. I’m so sorry, Red.”
I gaze up at him through my lashes. Why does he look so tortured? “It’s not your fault, Calli,” I murmur.
He winces like he’s in pain, striking a chord within my chest. Does he think it’s because he isn’t pack?
Or did he have his own concerns about Zack being in the courthouse?
Or could he have another motive . . . No, I can’t continue to doubt Callisto.
With all we’ve gone through, he’s been true to his word to take care of me without strings. He wouldn’t harm our lover.
“Find him,” I plead, my voice cracking, and Callisto nods firmly.
He lifts strands of my red hair away from my face, lingering with them hanging through his fingers. “I’ll make this right. I promise.”
A weak smile is the best I can muster. I want to believe him, but I’m not sure anything will ever be right again. My gaze falls on my phone, which someone dropped on the kitchen bench. Nothing’s ever okay when Ray gets involved.