Chapter 35 #2
“Drive, idiot!” a woman’s shrill voice yells, and my limp body is dropped to the floor of the van as it lurches forward.
My eyes are heavy and my limbs immobile as the woman squats beside me, pushing me over onto my back. Whatever was injected into my veins is really fucking powerful. I can’t move at all.
“You’re a difficult person to find,” she murmurs.
She has jet black hair and soulless eyes as she smirks down at me.
Her cool fingers push my dark hair out of my face while I cringe, and I can’t do anything to push her away.
“We’re going to have so much fun while I break you.
It’s a shame you killed the muscle. He had dreams of fucking you. ”
As my eyes slide closed, all I can hear is screaming in my head, but I can’t tell if it’s mine or someone else’s. Everything is jumbled and too hard to pay attention to.
Somehow, my father won.
* * *
NICO
My heart speeds away in a moment, and everything crashes around me as I run to the space where Rosa just was.
Lyle, Silas, and Easton stand nearby with shock and horror on their faces, but Ciro doesn’t think. His feet are moving first, and then he’s punching Lyle in the face.
“Woah!” Easton barks out.
“What…why did Rosalia just call me a traitor? Why are you hitting me? I’m assuming you think I’m the goddamned problem, and I need to know why so I can fix it,” Lyle says, eyes wide.
“Rosa got a text,” Verona rasps at my side, tears sliding down her face as she picks up Rosa’s gun. “It was from your phone, Lyle. You said you wanted to see her.”
“No. It wasn’t me,” Lyle says, shaking his head.
“I couldn’t find my phone after court today.
It ended up being left at the lost and found, but that would have been enough time to clone my number.
Fuck. I do need to speak with her, I have just been waiting because I know she went into heat.
It would have kept for a few days. Fuck, it wasn’t me! ”
“I’m going to make the police do some work for us,” Easton grunts, twisting around and running forward to catch the license plate of the van before it disappears around the corner. “It’s probably under a fake name or stolen, but it’s something.”
My soul feels as if it’s being ripped out of my body as Rosa disappears, and the bond reacts violently. I’m beginning to wonder if bond sickness happens to alphas who don’t take well enough care of their omegas. Is this the universe’s way of punishing us?
I deserve this. I deserve to be punished for not protecting Rosa well enough. Bubble wrap simply isn’t a good solution for my wild wife.
My brain begins to come online as I shudder, gasping as I struggle to breathe. Rosa’s screams are the only thing I can focus on until it cuts out all of a sudden. My brothers, Verona, and I shudder as it stops, and I have no idea if she’s alive or not.
“She’s not screaming anymore,” Verona wails, her fingers touching her temple. “What does that mean?”
“You mean through the bond?” Silas asks, his eyes laser focused as he walks closer.
We all growl in anger and he raises his hands.
“Yes. Somehow, this is our fault,” he admits. “Let us help. We’ll bring in other help. Maybe Shiloh can follow them through the license plate.”
Pablo’s shoes scrape across the sidewalk as he runs toward us, pulling up his pants since he was in the middle of changing when the gunshots began going off. It feels as if everything is moving at both the speed of light and slower than molasses.
It’s a surreal experience.
“Hello, this is Dispatcher Easton Mayor,” Easton says, stepping away with his finger in his ear to listen to the call. “I’d like to call in a kidnapping I just witnessed.”
Pablo’s eyes are stricken as he begins to breathe hard, trying to process what we saw happen with our own eyes.
It takes way too long for me to remember important things as my body feels as if it’s being torn apart. I need to keep it together for my pack for as long as possible. I can feel my baser instincts threatening to take over, and I can’t allow myself to go feral.
“Shiloh… Shit. Pablo, the ring! Go track her,” I rasp, my voice grinding like glass and stone as I toss my phone at him. “There’s an app on my phone. See how far you can follow her.”
“Oh… Fuck, Nico. You put a tracking device in her ring,” Pablo mumbles, realization hitting him as he unlocks my phone.
The PIN number is his birthday, and it has been since the day I met him.
While his fingers tremble, having something to do is helping to center him.
“Of course you fucking did, you amazing, possessive son of a bitch! Verona, come with me. There’s nothing we can do here. ”
“We should have had her listen to her instincts,” Verona whispers, taking his hand as he walks away from her.
God, she’s gone through so much with Rosa, and now our omega has been taken from us.
“If you’ll allow me to, I’ll get the delivery movers out of your house,” Lyle murmurs, his hands carefully at his sides.
Turning, I see the men are staring at us, and I sigh heavily. Fucking rubber neckers.
“Thank you,” I say.
“Sorry I hit you,” Ciro mumbles.
“I’m not,” Lyle mutters. “I deserved it. Somehow, I let these bastards get to her.”
Without another word, he begins jogging toward our house.
“How do I know she didn’t leave of her own accord?
” Easton yells, wide eyed as he pulls on his silver hair.
“There were gunshots and I watched the kidnapping happen. If you don’t send someone in the next few minutes, I’ll have your fucking job.
I am not waiting for forty-eight hours to call her missing. ”
Ugh. Fucking cops. Shaking my head, I begin to feel lightheaded and my body sways. Dario grabs my arm, delayed in his arrival because he was upstairs when everything began to happen.
“Careful, Nico,” he rasps, emotion in his voice as he helps keep me upright.
“It’s the bond sickness, isn’t it?” Ciro asks, wrapping his arm around my waist as I watch Easton fight with the police.
Silas is furiously texting people, which is more than I’m capable of.
“Don’t let them lock me up like an animal,” I breathe. “There are places for people like me…”
“Not happening,” Silas grunts without looking up. “Riley from Pack Thornefield works there. You’re not dangerous to anyone other than the people who took Rosa. Everyone is on their way. Let’s reconvene at our house if you’re okay with that?”
“Thanks guys,” Lyle says. Turning, I see he’s directing everyone out of our house. I don’t care enough to ask about where they’re putting everything or if they’re going to deliver at another time. It doesn’t matter without Rosa.
“I don’t want to be in the house without her,” I admit, coughing as I try to clear my throat. God, I feel like I’m slowly turning into a goddamned animal. “Someone needs to grab Verona and Pablo so they can lock up. I don’t want anyone alone right now.”
We need to find her…
“I got her!” Pablo yells. I don’t know where he is since the gate obstructs my view, but at least we know the ring is working.
That’s something.
“Let’s get to work,” Silas grunts.
Taking a deep breath, I know I can’t help the process of going feral, but I can orchestrate a search.
“Get our men on Rosa’s trail. I don’t care if we end up with several cars following Rosa. Organize it with Pablo, Dario,” I growl.
Using Ciro as my personal crutch, I begin walking toward Pack Mayor’s home.
Please, Rosa. Fight for me, mia moglie. Fight.