Chapter 3
ADAM
Stressed was an understatement.
I paced back and forth through the kitchen, stirring this and plating that, tossing out dinner rush orders as fast as they were coming in.
Because, of course, we were busy. It was a Friday night and everyone and their mother came to Bixby’s to eat on Friday nights.
Normally, I’d welcome the business. Bixby’s was our heart and soul, our bread and butter—practically the child we couldn’t have.
But tonight, my head wasn’t in the game. Instead, it was miles away, with my mate. Fletcher had gone out in this shitty weather to search for Sky after we’d gotten a rather ominous text from the Omega.
It’d been over an hour and I still hadn’t heard a thing. Not a text. Not a phone call. Nothing. I was getting worried. Worried that Sky really had offed himself and my poor mate was picking up the bloody pieces, in shock and horror.
Wouldn’t he have called me, though? If I stumbled upon a dead body, calling my Omega would be the first thing I’d do—well, after calling the police, that is.
As if summoned, my phone vibrated so hard that I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Shit,” I uttered, fumbling to get the hot pads off my hands so I could fish the cell out of my pocket before the call could end.
My stomach sinking, I snatched it up, but it wasn’t Fletcher’s number that popped up on the screen. In fact, I wasn’t sure whose number it was.
Immediately, worries blossomed like flowers in my mind.
Fletcher was dead. He’d gotten into an accident on the way there. He’d never made it to Sky.
Fuck. Don’t think like that.
I swallowed hard. Looking at Janee, I gestured to my station. “I need to take this. Can you cover me for a minute?”
“Sure thing, boss.” She gave me a two-fingered salute and stepped in to take over. I swiped my finger over the phone screen to accept the call, then slipped out the back, into the frosty night air.
“Hello?” I rumbled out, anxiety gripping me by the throat. It could’ve been any number of people—pack mates, telemarketers—but my fear was that it was the police, bearing bad news.
“Adam?” The voice on the other end of the line was soft, deep, and a little panicked. It took me a moment to place it. Jem Murphy, Sky’s guardian.
Relief flooded me. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“Please, please tell me Sky’s at work,” he uttered, as if his world had come crashing down around him.
I straightened up. “He’s not. He never came in today. Why? What’s going on?”
“Oh god…” Jem’s voice took on a wounded tone.
“He left me a letter, saying that hopes my life gets better now that he’s gone, and a bunch of my alcohol is missing.
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where he went.
His depression has been getting worse lately, and I’m not sure if he’s been taking his meds, but damn it! I should’ve been more present!”
I took a deep breath and spoke in a calm, Alpha tone, hoping to reassure the frazzled Omega.
“I know. Fletcher and I became concerned when he never showed up for work. I won’t lie to you.
We received some concerning texts, but Fletcher is out there right now, searching for him.
I can’t promise you we’ll find him, but I will reach out the minute I hear from my mate, alright? ”
Jem let out a shaky exhale. “Okay. Thank you, Adam.”
“Take care,” I said, and the phone line went dead.
Something inside my chest twisted, like a piece of barbed wire piercing my heart. Did Sky not care who he hurt? Was he that selfish? Or was he just suffering that badly?
I went back into the kitchen and tried to focus on work, but all I could see in my mind’s eye was Sky’s body rag-dolling off the side of the water tower. Falling to his death, over and over again.
I hissed as pain licked up my finger, singeing my skin where it touched against the too-hot burner.
“Shit!” I hurriedly ran it under some cool water, frustrated with myself and the situation.
“Why don’t you go take a break, boss?” Janee said, patting me lightly on the shoulder. “We can handle it from here. Things are winding down out there, anyway.”
I frowned and looked around the kitchen, at the tired-but-determined faces of my employees who always seemed to have my back.
“Are you certain?” I asked, hesitating.
“We are,” Sam said, giving me a big thumb’s up. “Go on.”
“Thanks, guys. I owe you one,” I told them.
“We expect a big bonus,” Corey tittered after me, but I just shook my head and strolled out of the kitchen.
Once I was inside the office, I sat down at the desk and pulled out my phone. No word from Fletcher. I sent a text. Nothing. My stomach knotting only tighter, I set my cell down and started working on paperwork from the day before. Might as well get something done.
An hour later, my phone finally pinged. Half-afraid to pick it up, I held my breath and clicked on Fletcher’s text.
Immediate relief. Sky was safe. They were at home. Thank god…
After squaring things away with Fletcher, I texted Jem to tell him that Sky was alive and safe.
Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. Sky might be rough around the edges, but he’s not a bad person. He’s just gone through a lot of trauma in his lifetime.
I believe you, I replied.
“I’m going to head home,” I announced to my crew a little while later. “I have some personal matters to attend to. You guys are rockstars. Keep it up.”
“Whoop!” came from somewhere the kitchen, and I couldn’t help but smile. We had a good team of dependable, trustworthy people. I was proud to call them family.
I didn’t bother asking anyone for a ride. Why bother when I had four legs and a heavy fur coat? I needed a good, hard run to burn the edge off. My wolf was agitated, pacing and grinding his fangs at the back of my mind. He needed this just as much as I did.
My paws flew over the snow, eating up the miles as I ran along back roads and into the woods that led straight to my backdoor.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see when I walked in, but Sky passed out sprawled over my mate’s lap, in my robe, the room smelling of a cheap bar, was definitely not it.
I wrinkled my nose and cursed. “God, how much did he drink?”
“A lot…” Fletcher admitted softly. “All the bottles were empty.”
But the expression he wore was grim, and the way that he looked at me? It sent a chill running down my spine, like drinking himself to death wasn’t even the worst of it.
“Adam?” Fletcher’s voice dropped to a hush. “He claims he killed Gracie’s son. That’s why he wanted to die. He says he’s a monster who deserves death.”
I froze in place. My blood felt like ice. “He killed Xan?” I repeated, the words turning my tongue numb. “Jesus Christ. Fuck…”
Fletcher grimaced. “Yeah.”
A sudden anger burned inside of me, chasing away the chill and turning me red-hot. “Gracie said he was unstable. She said he was going to snap. She warned us.”
“Adam, I—”
“Damn it, Fletcher, this is exactly what I was worried about,” I hissed.
His expression contorted, half-grief and half-frustration. “He needs our help, Adam. He’s broken, and he’s scared, and he’s lost. He needs therapy, a good psychiatrist, probably medication.”
“No.” The word thrummed out of me in a low, guttural growl.
“Adam!” He squirmed out from beneath the drunken Omega, who moaned and curled up in a ball. Fletcher crossed the hardwood to reach me, but I held up my hand to stop him.
“No, Fletcher,” I repeated, sharper now.
“We can help him,” he insisted, his own fingers curling into fists.
“Please, think about it. We have the means to. He doesn’t have anything!
I know you don’t know what that feels like, but I do, and it’s the worst feeling in the world, knowing you have no one to turn to.
Knowing you’re trapped in this world, alone, unsheltered, unwanted and unloved. ”
I stared into his green eyes, my chest aching and my heart racing at the same damn time. “It doesn’t have to be you who loves him,” I muttered.
“I want to help him, Adam. Is that so wrong?” His beautiful face crumpled, brows falling over his eyes.
Sky moaned in his sleep. Fletcher turned from me to go to him. He sat beside him on the couch and rubbed his back in gentle circles, and damn it all, if I didn’t feel that prickle of jealousy once more.
Then Sky lurched upright with a soft cry and heaved violently into the trash can. The stench of wet sick filled the room as he clung to the plastic rim and puked his guts out.
Fletcher held his hair back, whispering to him, so damn gently that it hurt. Tears streamed down Sky’s cheeks as he gagged and sobbed at the same time. Fletcher used a tissue to wipe the slime away.
And then, when he’d finished, my mate cradled the Omega close and hushed his cries. Sky hiccuped and buried his face in Fletcher’s stomach, while Fletcher stroked a hand through his hair.
I gritted my teeth. Fuck. Turning on my heel, I strode out of the living room and went outside, where the cold bite of winter nipped at me once more.
I needed to make a phone call.