Chapter 33 Ben
BEN
Overwhelming panic is flooding the bond along with fear.
It’s so intense it actually makes me feel lightheaded for a second.
I’m moving before I can think out of my office at the lodge and storming into Micah’s, whose startled and confused face greets me from behind his desk.
“Thea. Something’s happened, we have to go,” I say, as though it’s a fight to get the words out.
He doesn’t say anything, just meets me at the door and by the time we get to his car, the bond is singing with her fear and anguish.
What is happening to her? Micah is moving me around like a zombie, trying to get me in the car.
He races to the house. It doesn’t matter because by the time we get there, the bond is silent.
She’s alive but there’s nothing coming through.
The last thing I felt was her love and regret.
The scene we walk into in the sitting room just off the entrance is a sight.
Taz has Keelan pinned face down on the floor.
Shock at seeing someone able to do that to Keelan briefly overrides everything else.
Parker has silent tears running down his face and Eli is shouting at Harrison.
They had to have felt it too. Unsurprisingly, it’s Ren, their pack’s beta, who gets us to refocus.
Ren lets out a sharp whistle, shutting everyone up.
“One at a time, explain. Keelan came storming into the security office asking where Thea was and picked a fight with Taz. We all can see how that went. Now someone explain why you’re all panicked. We can’t read your minds,” Ren explains, crossing his arms and waiting for one of us to say something.
“Something happened to her, panic and fear rushed the bond and not long after it went silent…” I break off, belatedly thinking that’s happened before, when she had a panic attack after her date with Liam.
But this was different. I just know it. “…before it cut off, she pushed her love down the bond. Something happened to her.”
After I say that, Harrison, Ren, and Taz all straighten, looking like they know something. There’s a hesitancy in their expression. Before I can question it a loud bang rings out behind us, the front door?
Jake storms in—no, that is too calm a word for this.
He’s actually in an alpha rage. Holy shit.
“Where is my omega?” he says in a deathly low calm voice, not the loud angry one I expected and it somehow makes it scarier.
Keelan is still fighting hard to get free.
Gods, we can’t handle him going into a rage too.
“Let me up so I can help him,” Keelan says to Taz.
Taz seems to consider this before letting him go.
Just as he does and Keelan gets on his feet, something snaps in Jake.
Maybe we took too long to respond but he lunges for Harrison.
Keelan grabs him in time and wraps his arms around Jake, holding him still.
Jake lets out a growl of frustration and fights fruitlessly against Keelan. “You all need to answer his question,” Micah snaps and the glare he’s aiming at them promises pain for someone.
“Some of the cameras on the north side of the property went out this morning. Then once we got them back the ones on the south side went out. This happened to coincide with us getting word from the guy we hired to tail Henderson in Florida that he had not seen him for a full day,” Harrison explains regretfully.
“I ran through what I could and found he booked a flight under a false name. We’ve been trying to track him down all day while also fixing the cameras,” a voice says from a phone Ren is now holding up.
It must be their other pack mate, River.
I’m not sure when he got on the phone but I don’t care right now.
“That doesn’t answer the question—where is she?” Eli asks, sounding almost as hollow as I feel without her there in the bond.
“When Keelan stormed in, we found that she left the house with Duke but once she got to the tree line on the south side, the cameras lost sight of her thanks to them being taken out,” Harrison answers.
“He got her. We promised to protect her and he still got her,” Parker says, heartbreak evident in every word.
Liam is the only one not here. Gods, I can’t imagine him at his office in town and trying to get back here after feeling that in the bond. Hopefully he’ll be here soon. Jake starts trying to break Keelan’s hold again. We need to get him under control first.
“I’m going to head out to where she went and see what I can find.” Ren makes his way out of the room.
“I’m going with him,” Eli says, quickly following Ren out.
Harrison moves to stand in front of Jake, a bold move considering he was the one Jake was about to attack.
He smacks Jake’s face. “Pull it together, Carter. Your omega is in trouble and needs you to find her. You gonna rage like a poor little alpha or are you going to do something about it?” Harrison nearly barks at Jake.
It seems to help clear his deep blue eyes that seemed pitch black, now returning to normal, but Keelan doesn’t release him. After some deep breaths, Jake says in a normal voice this time. “Thank you. Let’s get to work.”
Harrison nods his head at that, satisfied, but Keelan doesn’t seem convinced.
Jake looks up at him as best he can while he’s being held.
“I’m good, I promise. Thank you for making sure I didn’t do something I would regret.
” After some consideration, Keelan releases his hold on Jake and collapses back onto the love seat next to Parker.
“You okay, big brother?” Parker asks as Keelan rests his head on Parker’s shoulder.
“No,” is all he says. Yeah, none of us are going to be okay until we find Thea and that bastard is gone for good.
A few minutes later Liam is wobbling in, looking no better than the rest of us.
We bring him up to speed and he looks as distraught as I feel.
I don’t know what to do or how to help. It’s the silence in the bond getting to me the most. I know it must mean she’s unconscious, Liam confirmed that much.
All the what ifs are plaguing my mind. We all remain in the small sitting room until Ren and Eli return, both carrying a limp Duke between them.
“She wasn’t there. Took photos for evidence and found this next to the dog.” Ren holds up a clear bag with some kind of tranquilizer dart.
“Looks like he dragged her away based on the imprints in the snow. I followed them until I reached where he likely had some kind of ATV waiting based on the tire treads,” Ren continues, more to Harrison than any of us.
“Get that, Riv?” Harrison says to the phone left behind on the side table.
“Yeah, checking any rental places for ATVs as well as remote houses available for rent. He couldn’t go too far with her unconscious, so I’ll check the surrounding towns,” River answers. “Parker, can you tackle the cameras and see if there’s any leads or answers on what he did?”
Parker sits up a little straighter and looks a little clearer now that he’s been given something to do.
I wish I had a skill that was useful here.
Parker is up and leaving, likely heading towards the room we set up the security monitors/system in.
Jake ends up on the phone with Logan for a while, explaining what happened.
Harrison chimes in every now and then when Jake needs to pause, I’m assuming to help keep his rage in check.
He wasn’t the one I would’ve thought in the pack would end up in a rage first. I’m glad Harrison and Keelan were able to snap him out of it.
After Ren and Eli returned and told us what they found, Taz ended up leaving for a bit, visibly upset. Thea had mentioned how they had gotten close these past few weeks.
Micah has been uncharacteristically quiet most of the time, of course.
I’m an idiot because he isn’t able to feel her like the rest of us.
It’s a good and bad thing right now. At least we know she’s alive but there’s an emptiness, an absence, in the bond that’s not usually there.
Micah doesn’t have any reassurance. He’s likely going out of his mind. We have to find her and quick.