35. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“She says she’s not feeling well and is going to sleep at her place alone tonight,” Wiz said, reading the text message out loud to us as we all stood in the kitchen of the apartment.
“What do you think is going on?” Artie was pacing back and forth, his agitation almost sour on my tongue as he worried for the female alpha that had gone MIA in the last couple of hours. “She was fine earlier and then it felt awful.”
We’d just stepped inside of the apartment when the most revolting emotions came from Ciara’s end of the bond. Nausea, misery, and another emotion I couldn’t quite place. Then she’d abruptly cut us off, leaving nothing but a dark connection for us to commiserate over.
“She was looking rather pale this morning before leaving the apartment—maybe all of the extra practice made her body break down?” Leith was trying to be the voice of reason amongst our panic, but even I could tell that Ciara’s shift had thrown the massive man off.
“This is ridiculous,” I growled and crossed to the front door. “We should check on her rather than sitting here and waffling like a bunch of assholes.”
“Enzo…” Leith’s warning followed me as I went over to Ciara’s apartment door and started to bang on it. It was so similar to the first time that I’d done it that I was overwhelmed by déjà vu.
But unlike that time, Ciara wasn’t the one who answered the door.
“Why are you trying to tear my door down?” Penelope asked, her face irritated as she yanked the door open to glare at me.
“Where’s Ciara?” I asked, moving to step inside of the apartment.
“She’s not here. I thought she was with you?”
Swallowing the sudden lump in my throat I backed out of the apartment and pulled my own phone out of my pocket, tapping on Ciara’s contact which was a picture of her sticking her tongue out at the camera.
She sent me straight to voicemail and I let out a growl of frustration as I reentered our apartment where the rest of the pack was still standing as if they were frozen.
I called again, and then again until Ciara finally answered.
“Where are you?” I barked and immediately winced at how my voice sounded. “And don’t say you’re at your apartment because I know you aren’t.”
Her voice sounded odd when she spoke, almost wet like she’d been crying. “I’m at my dads’ tonight.”
My anger left me in a whoosh and my shoulders sank. “Are you okay? You’re worrying us.”
There was a pause and I could hear her sucking in a deep breath. “I’m all right. Just going to stay here and deal with things.”
“What things?” I prodded, wanting her to tell me anything that would make what was going on make sense.
“I’ll tell you guys tomorrow after the invitational,” she promised, her words thready and weak.
“She’s still going to the invitational, right?” Artie asked in a whisper that must have been just loud enough for Ciara to hear.
“Of course I’ll be there, don’t worry. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“I love you, Ciara.” I don’t know what possessed me to say it—I never had before—but there was a creeping sense of worry that if I didn’t tell her now I would never get the chance.
Ciara sucked in an audible breath on the other end of the line. “I love you too.”
Then there was a click and she was gone.
“Something definitely isn’t right,” I said, turning to the rest of the pack who were looking at me funny. “What?”
“Nothing—” Artie hurried to say as the other two quickly made themselves busy in the kitchen. “I’m just surprised that you were the first of us to tell her those words out loud.”
“Why is that so surprising? I can be romantic.”
My words were punctuated by a chorus of snorts as the men around me made themselves scarce.
Artie gave my shoulder a pat. “Sure you can love, it’s just… I still remember that you told me you love me when I had a mouth full of fish and chips and hadn’t showered in two days because we were traveling.”
I’d brought him to Italy with me to meet my nonna a few months before she died and as soon as I saw him with her I knew that he was my omega and my soulmate.
“I think I remember it a bit differently than you.”
In my mind it had been a sweet declaration that had taken the omega off guard, making it all the sweeter when he leaned over to give me a soft kiss, both of us knowing that we would take the next step toward a bond.
“I had vinegar breath, love,” he reminded me with a playful grin.
Artie was trying to distract me from my worries about Ciara even though I could feel his own down the bond.
With a sigh I tugged him into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.
“She’ll talk to us tomorrow,” I promised.
At least, I hoped she did.
As we went through the motions of the rest of the night, I couldn’t get rid of the nagging doubt that things were about to go horribly wrong.
“She’s late,” Artie said from his seat where I was helping him style his hair for their performance.
He was dressed in a lilac-colored figure skating outfit—one that was a twin to Ciara’s own that was hanging on a hook on the wall..
We’d called her this morning and when she hadn’t picked up I’d finally given in and called her sister.
Aurelia had been… less than forthcoming about what was going on.
And there clearly was something going on because Ciara had yet to show up to the Complex.
“She’ll be here,” Leith reassured him, his hair still wet from the curling showcase that had been first on the invitational schedule.
The door to the private changing room opened and we all wheeled around hopefully to only find that it was Wiz coming inside.
He was half-dressed in his hockey pads because his scrimmage was supposed to start in the next ten minutes.
“Is she here yet?” he asked, breathless.
I shook my head. “No, but what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on the ice next?”
Wiz’s lips formed into a thin line. “I was but Alexei wanted me to come and see if she was here before that. Judging by the way he and Maxim are acting, some shit went down yesterday. I guess she didn’t stay there at all last night.”
“So where the hell did she stay?” Artie asked, but none of us had the answer to that.
I whipped my phone out to call her for what felt like the hundredth time this morning, but never got the chance to hit call because the door opened again and Ciara breezed inside.
“Sorry I’m late! I went to the apartment to get my outfit but it wasn’t there…” her eyes went to the garment bag hanging up on a hook. “And it looks like it’s here, you should have told me!”
We all looked at her like she was a ghost. She looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept a wink since we’d spoken last night. Dark smudges sat underneath her bloodshot brown eyes and her hair had been hastily pulled back into a low bun at the back of her neck.
She was also still wearing the same thing as she’d been wearing yesterday when I last saw her.
“What?” she asked, as we continued to stare at her.
“Mo ròs, where have you been?” Leith crossed the room and dragged her into a tight hug. “We’ve been calling you.”
“I’m sorry, my phone died,” she said, thankfully returning his hug. “And I didn’t have a cord to charge it.”
I wanted to strangle her for making us worry, but at the same time I also wanted to comfort her because she was clearly struggling with something. “Why didn’t you have a cord? And don’t say it’s because your dads’ house didn’t have any, we know that something is going on.”
Ciara’s expression wobbled as she peered at me from over Leith’s shoulder and I thought for a moment that she would tell us… but then the expression shuttered and became neutral again.
“I’ll tell you after we skate, I promise, but right now I need to get ready,” she said, glancing over at Wiz. “And you are going to be late if you don’t go now.”
“Ciara…” Wiz began, looking as if he’d rather do anything else than leave her right now.
Ciara held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t let my shit keep you from doing what you love. This is your first official appearance with the Stallions—so go—enjoy it.”
Wiz finally sighed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as it’s over.”
Then he was gone, leaving the four of us alone.
Artie, who had been silent up to this point, turned around fully in his chair to face us. “Why did you shut down your end of the bond?”
Ciara stepped out of Leith’s arms and crouched down in front of the omega. “I don’t want you to have to feel what I’m feeling…”
“That’s what packs are for,” he pointed out, his expression tight. “Is it that bad?”
Ciara’s brows drew together, and for just a moment, I thought she would cry. I’d only seen her cry once before on the anniversary of her mom’s death. Something about the vulnerability of it worried me, especially seeing as they were set to be on the ice in half an hour.
“Maybe we should pull you two out of the lineup…” I began slowly.
Artie’s head whipped in my direction. “No! We can’t do that!”
The omega had been riding on this performance and I knew it was important to him, but Ciara looked about two seconds away from losing it. “But if Ciara isn’t feeling up to it, Artie, that’s not safe.”
“No, it’s okay, I can do it,” Ciara promised, though I didn’t know how much I believed it. She threaded her fingers through Artie’s. “It’s a shorter program and we’ve got each other, right?”
“Right,” Artie agreed, throwing himself forward so that their lips could connect.
After, Artie turned to Leith and me. “You two should go and find some seats so Ciara can get ready.”
It was clear we were being dismissed and I let out a worried sigh and pressed a kiss to the tops of both of their heads.
“Please be careful,” I told them both, but my eyes were on Ciara who still looked like a stray wind would blow her over completely.
Once we were back in the hallway, I exchanged a look with Leith.
“What do you think? Do you think everything will be okay?” Leith asked, turning to look over his shoulder at the changing room door that we were heading away from.
“I don’t know.” I wanted to tell him yes, that everything would be okay and that this would be their triumphant debut into the world of paired skating… but I couldn’t shake the nagging sense of doubt that had filled me ever since I’d woken up this morning.
The ice rink, which was normally devoid of people, was now packed to the gills as we stepped inside.
There were family seats reserved toward the front and I found Aurelia Peterson already sitting there with her two sons.
“Hey!” she greeted us with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
We sat next to her, settling in as a pair of skaters zipped around the ice to a classical piece. “Did Brynn’s performance go okay?”
The single skaters had gone first and that included Ciara and Aurelia’s youngest sister.
“Yep, and I recorded it for Nash and Dutch since they had to be over at the stadium for the scrimmage,” Aurelia said, nodding at the phone that the smaller of her two sons, Tobey, was currently playing on. “…Did Ciara make it on time?”
She’d been our first phone call this morning only to learn that she didn’t know where Ciara was—that none of them did.
“She did,” Leith assured her and we watched as the woman’s shoulders sank with relief.
“What the hell is going on, Aurelia? Why does she look like someone reached inside of her and yanked all of her emotions out?” I wanted to figure out who it was as soon as I could and throw my fist into their face.
Ciara was one of the strongest people I knew, so to see her look so… weak didn’t sit right with me.
Aurelia looked down at the swell of her belly and I almost missed the flash of guilt on her face.
I was so involved in our conversation that I didn’t realize that the skaters had finished their set and another pair stepped onto the ice.
“I’ll tell you guys once Ciara and Artie finish their set,” she finally said, her blue eyes bright as she turned her full attention to the pair just starting to skate.
I wanted to push her more—the need to know what was going on with my packmate was strong—but Leith gave my shoulder a nudge and shook his head.
So I, instead, just settled into my seat to watch the skaters on the ice.
Ciara and Artie were next, so when the lights dropped lower and I saw them skate to the middle of the ice, my heart was in my throat as that same anxious feeling from earlier returned in full force.
Their mix began and Adele’s voice began to fill the air.
Ciara still looked peaked, like someone had soaked her and wrung her out to dry, but to someone who didn’t see her every day I knew she probably looked just as gorgeous as always.
They started back-to-back, their chins tilted up to the air as their hands clasped over their heads.
Then they were off.
I’d never seen their routine all of the way through, but Artie had explained it to me once. Because of his eyes, he couldn’t always spot where Ciara was going to be, so he was the leader that moved into each new step and Ciara’s job was to make sure to get into position wherever he was.
It sounded complex, but the two made it seem effortless as they skated in perfect sync.
What worried me, though, was the shift in their expression from the serene smiles that all figure skaters seemed to don, to something different, more pained.
Leith sucked in a deep breath next to me and I turned to him with a frown.
“She’s opening her end of the bond so that they can skate better,” he explained through gritted teeth.
I didn’t feel anything yet. Delving into our bond, I could feel Leith’s worry, but Artie and Ciara’s emotions were ghosts to me.
Until they weren’t.
They were moving toward the end of their routine, I could tell by the way the song had begun to crescendo dramatically, and finally I could feel them.
Hurt rolled off of Ciara in waves so heavy that I was surprised I couldn’t physically see them in the air.
“What’s going on?” I vaguely heard Aurelia ask as they got into position for their final move.
But neither Leith nor I answered her as we watched in horror as they reached for each other, their fingers just barely brushing when they were supposed to link together.
Both of them careened backward, the audible gasp of the crowd heard even over the loud music.
Pain flared down the bond as Artie’s head connected with the ice and they both crumpled into the ice, lifeless.
“Someone call 911!” I heard someone scream over the roar in my ears.
But I was already vaulting over the half wall and onto the ice, my heart in my throat as two of my packmates remained motionless on the ice.