Chapter Eleven
Dex
When Corbin first suggested that I hide in a rental cabin to escape my Otto obsession, I thought I’d be alone with my depressing self-recriminations, binging bad television shows and scouring TikTok and YouTube for distractions.
Then I met Stan and I was fully on board with my mini-vacation. I was also even more convinced that Corbin was a genius.
“Are you sure this is part of your job? It feels like you’re going above and beyond.”
Stan just chuckled and set my breakfast plate down on the table in front of me the next morning. “Private chef wasn’t listed in the optional services on the website?” he teased, passing me the syrup to drown my fluffy pancakes before sitting down across from me.
“Oh, god, these are so good,” I sighed when the first bite melted in my mouth. “And we rented directly from the owner, so I have no idea.”
“That’s right, you mentioned that before,” Stan agreed, sliding the plate of crispy bacon closer to my side of the table. “They must have forgotten to mention it.” His eyes were twinkling with amusement.
“Mmhmm,” I quirked an eye at him. “I’m suspicious.”
Stan laughed out loud. “Really? What do you think my secret plan is?”
I swallowed another bite of the amazing pancakes and grinned. “Clearly this is an attempt to drive up the five-star reviews and then leverage them into a pay raise.”
“You’re on to me,” Stan said solemnly, passing me the cheesy scrambled eggs. “If you’re done with your morning sugar rush, have some protein?”
I laughed and stuck my tongue out but accepted the bowl of eggs. “It’s working,” I assured him after taking a big spoonful. “If I can figure out how, I’m leaving a twenty-star review!”
After a morning of lounging in my favorite spot in front of the picture window, staring out at the sparkling water of the lake, Stan caught me yawning and shooed me back into the guest wing for a nap.
“It’s not like I’ve done anything but veg out,” I protested. “How can I possibly be this tired? I should go out and get some exercise.”
“How about after your nap and lunch I show you my favorite hiking path?” Stan offered.
“We could go now?” I suggested even though the thought of sinking into the fluffy cloud of a bed in my room was very appealing.
“Nope,” Stan said firmly. “I have morning chores to do, and you are creating an entire baby in that tummy and you need your rest.” He aimed surprisingly effective puppy eyes at me. “You wouldn’t want me to get in trouble for not keeping the place clean, would you?”
“Of course not,” I agreed quickly, stifling another yawn. “That was selfish of me, I’m sorry.”
“That’s better,” Stan said with a grin that left me feeling vaguely like I just been played and offered a hand to pull me up from the sofa.
“Now, I made your bed and fluffed your pillows earlier, so you should be all set. If you’re not up by one, I’ll come and wake you up so we have time to hike, okay? ”
“Perfect,” I agreed with a laugh. “Anyone ever told you that you’re a little pushy?”
Sadness touched his eyes and then left again so quickly that I questioned if it happened when he shrugged and laughed. “Maybe once or twenty times.”
~*~
When I crawled out of my comfy bed at twelve-thirty thoroughly refreshed, the entire first floor was thick with delicious smells. I slipped into the kitchen to claim a stool at the counter and drew in a deep breath.
“That smells amazing. What is it?”
“If we’re going hiking, you’ll need energy so I whipped up a shepherd’s pie,” he said, tossing a friendly smile over his shoulder when he bent to pull the casserole out of the oven. “How was your nap?”
“Amazing.” I accepted the plate he handed me, piled high with the meat mixture topped with mounds of fluffy mashed potatoes. “If that bed is missing when I check out, I definitely didn’t steal it.”
Stan snorted and took his usual seat across from me. “I’ll be sure to note that in your file.”
Starving, I dug into my lunch, barely even breathing until the plate had been scraped clean. “That was amazing.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Stan stood and collected our dishes. “Now, if you finish your milk and put some shoes on, I’ll load the dishwasher and we can go on that hike.”
I drained the milk glass and set it on the counter with the other dirty dishes. “I’ll be right back.”
Shortly after we were strolling along a beautiful, well-maintained path around the lake I could see from the window, soaking in the warm sunshine and breathing in the fresh air when all Hell broke loose.
~*~
Otto
The three of us piled into Taylor’s sedan for the forty or so minute drive up to the small resort town further up the mountain.
With each mile, my mind raced with more and more scenarios for why my Omega was missing, the ball of dread in my chest expanding with each one.
As much as I wanted to believe it was nothing, I couldn’t convince myself that Dex would have willingly scared his friends and family by just taking off.
Would he do that to me? Pretty sure that was a yes and, given how I treated him, I couldn’t even blame him. But would he do that to everyone else? Never in a million years.
Taylor pulled up in front of a small log cabin and I was out of the car before he even put it in park.
I drew in a deep breath and held it, letting my bear sift through the intricacies of scent layered in the fresh mountain air.
Growling when I exhaled, I mounted the steps to the small front porch even though I already knew that wherever Dex was, he never made it to this cabin.
Pulling the key from under the planter that Taylor pointed to, I opened the front door. It was empty.
“He’s not here,” Taylor said unnecessarily. “Should we check for his stuff?”
“He was never here,” I huffed. “There isn’t even a trace of his scent. Whatever happened to him, it was before he arrived.”
“Fuck.” Corbin looked like he was about to be sick. “I shouldn’t have let him come alone.”
While I agreed -strongly- Taylor patted the other Omega on the shoulder comfortingly.
“Dex is an adult and he’s fully capable of taking care of himself. If you’d have been with him, it’s more likely that you’d be missing as well and, since your friend is the one who alerted you that Dex didn’t show up, we wouldn’t even know there is a problem.”
My brow raised skeptically but the scowl Taylor shot in my direction kept me from tossing in my two cents worth. I was glad I held back when he continued.
“Besides, we all know why Dex needed some time alone. Maybe if some fucking Alpha hadn’t been treating him like a god damned toy he wouldn’t have needed to hide in the first place.”
Ouch. I mean, fair but fucking ouch.
“What do we do now?” Corbin asked. “Go back and report him missing?”
Taylor looked at me expectantly. “Well? You said you had an Omega to find, didn’t you? How are we going to do that?”
I drew in another deep breath, scenting the air again. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t in this immediate area. Not only isn’t Dex’s scent here, there is no recent scent at all. It’s been unoccupied for a while.”
Corbin nodded. “Yeah, the gal who owns it only rents it out during the summer usually. She uses it herself the rest of the time and hasn’t been able to get away for a few months.”
“So, we know he made it to your apartment,” I said to Corbin, trying not to glare at him, “and we know he didn’t make it here, so we need to figure out if he left Unity or not before we know where to look.”
There was a long silence and then Taylor snapped his fingers. “His Uber account!”
Corbin and I stared at him and waited.
“His scooter isn’t reliable for longer distances.
If he left Unity, he would have needed an Uber,” Taylor explained, tapping away on his phone, “and I have access to his email account that the receipt would have gone to. It wouldn’t tell us where he ended up, but it would tell us if he caught a ride.
We should be able to guess an approximate distance by the charge. ”
“Good idea,” I said grudgingly. “How long will it take?”
“I’m already done,” he said shortly. “He did catch a ride yesterday morning. Cross referencing it with what a ride would cost from here to Corbin’s place, it’s pretty close.
His trip before tip was only six dollars more and he did tip the driver after dropping him off, so he was dropped off somewhere. ”
“And if he tipped after the ride, that would suggest the driver wasn’t involved, yeah?” Corbin suggested.
“So, for whatever reason, he was left off somewhere in the area instead of at his destination,” I muttered, making my way back out onto the small porch and looking around. “Logically, that means he’s either further West or North or Northwest,” I concluded.
“How do you figure?” Taylor questioned me.
“The last road fork was several miles back and it’s a dead-end.
If he been taken that way, the trip cost would have been much less.
I think our best bet is going to be to shift and then split up, each of us taking one of the three probable directions to see if we can find his scent.
” I paused for a second and sighed, “Actually, I guess the first thing I should do is ask what your sense of direction is like? It’s not going to help if one of you gets lost, too. ”
The twin scowls aimed at me almost made me laugh.
“You know damn well I was a boy scout and Corbin does those off-road mudder races. We’ll be fine.”
“Perfect,” I huffed back at him, “then we’ve got a plan. We should be able to cover a fair amount of distance in an hour. If you find something, send up a call showing your direction and the other two will head that way.”
“So, you want us to yell north or west?” Corbin clarified.
“Yeah. In this area the sound should travel well, and we should be able to keep to our directions pretty easily, I think. If we get separated or don’t find anything, we’ll meet back here and then figure out what to do.”
Being the largest of the bears once we shifted, I took the hardest path and headed due west, straight up the mountain. I lumbered slowly, checking the air carefully but found nothing.
Well, at least until I came out into a small valley with a beautiful lake and was slapped full on in the face with not only Dex’s scent but also that of an intruding Alpha.
It only took a moment of scanning the valley in front of me to find them at the bottom of a small incline, the Alpha holding Dex by his wrist. I charged toward them, snarling a challenge at the asshole who had the nerve to manhandle my Omega.
I took them by surprise and Dex barely had a chance to snatch his wrist away and jump out of the way before I was on the Alpha, snarling and snapping. Somewhere in the distance, there was the retort of a rifle firing but I was too engaged in the current situation to give it much thought.
The Alpha shifted under me, managing to throw my weight off before rolling to his feet and bracing his legs. His eyes glowed amber and his lips were drawn back to bare his teeth as he placed his body between me and Dex, the glare on his face leaving no doubt what he was thinking.
Bring it, asshole.