2. Maddox
Maddox
Iempty the contents of my stomach right beside where I’m hunched over on Cherry’s bedroom floor.
Cherry.
She’s dead. The mate bond, severed. Another bout of nausea hits me, but the only thing left to come up is stomach bile. I hear my retching mirrored in Bain and Gage around the room.
My heart clenches so painfully it’s hard to breathe. I place a hand on the bed to steady myself as I try to push myself to stand.
Chase is trying to stop Bain from toppling into his own vomit while Hunter is helping Gage stand.
Hunter’s eyes find me as he whispers, “She can’t be gone.” His eyes are filled with the same desperation I feel. “She’ll come back again, right, Mad?”
“Of course she will,” I answer automatically, even though I’m not sure I believe it.
We’ve seen it happen many times, but I’ve never quite felt it like I did this time.
Of course, every supernatural knows the rumors of what it feels like to lose a bonded mate.
Akin to losing a limb. And they say fated mates are far worse.
And now that I’ve experienced it, I’d have to agree. I’d far sooner give my right arm than to lose Cherry. It’s as if a part of me has literally died.
Because it has.
“Her phone,” Gage groans out, pointing to the bed beside me as he leans against the wall, panting like it’s taking everything in him to stand.
I know the feeling.
I let myself sit on the edge of the bed, grabbing her phone and looking at Gage. He clearly has a plan, and just because our mate has literally just died is no reason to lose our shit.
She will resurrect. And soon. We need to get there as soon as possible before she’s killed again. One death is far too many.
“Call Erica. She might have something to help with the pain,” he grits out.
I nod as I open the contacts up on her phone and click Erica’s name.
We know barely anyone in town, but Erica was kind to Cherry, and one of the few people we’ve met.
We met her and her warlock mates at the bakery they run when Cherry was stuck as a wolf, and they not only didn’t bat an eye at that, but they are the ones who led us to the books on omegas in the library.
The only problem is that nobody but us knows that Cherry has the power to resurrect. But if we are going after her, and we are, then we need help.
“Cherry, hi!”
“It’s Maddox,” I grit out, the pain inside making my words come out harsher than I intended.
“Maddox? What’s happened? Is Cherry okay?” she asks, immediately knowing from my tone that something is wrong.
“Put it on speakerphone,” one of her mates, Philip, I think, says from the background. “Maddox?” he asks, his voice louder now.
“Yeah, I need your help.”
“What’s happened?”
“Cherry, she’s been taken.”
I hear Erica gasp as Philip, all business, asks, “Taken? By who?”
“We think they’ve taken her back to the facility.”
“The facilities that kidnap supes? Fuck,” he curses. “How can we help?”
“It’s… complicated,” I grit out right before I hear Bain heaving up more bile.
“Tell us. We want to help, Maddox.”
I glance at Hunter and Gage, who both nod before turning to Chase and Bain.
“Tell them,” Chase says with an angry nod. Bain nods before dropping his head.
“Cherry. If she dies, she can come back to life. We don’t know why. But needless to say, the three of us who had bonded with her just felt our mate bond sever.”
“Holy shit,” another one of Erica’s mates hisses through the phone, Jon, I think.
“Oh my god, you three must be in agony,” Erica says, sounding genuinely concerned.
“Agony would be putting it lightly,” I grit out as I try to keep myself sitting upright on the bed. “Can you help with the pain?”
“Yes. It won’t erase it, but it will make you mobile.”
“That’s all we ask.”
“You’re going after her then,” Philip says. I know it’s not a question, but I still feel the need to clarify.
“Of course we are.”
“I’m coming.”
“Philip!” Erica gasps.
“I can help. Who knows what sort of security they have there.” There are some murmured words, like they’ve covered the phone with their hand before Philip comes back on. “I’ll be there in ten. Hang in there.”
“Thanks.”
I place the phone on the bed as I try to breathe. I manage to lift my head to see Chase helping Bain sit back on his ass, leaning against the wall a few feet from Juliet’s severed head.
Hunter helps Gage sit on the other side of the bed as Chase stands and looks around at the three of us. Then he turns and punches a hole in the drywall.
“Feel better?” Hunter asks and he shakes his head. His brows have been in a permanent pinch since we first went down.
“Not even slightly.” He glances at me again. “We need help.”
“Philip’s coming.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “We need help from someone who’s been in a facility before.”
I open my mouth to ask as another spasm of pain hits me, and I just end up groaning as I try not to stay upright.
“I’m calling Finn.”