Page 67 of Desperate Omega

I close my own eyes. I can hear the rhythm of my heart beating within my chest. The slow, steady breathing of the alphas beside me. The soft crackle of the fire in the center of the cave. The air is comfortably warm, and it is laced with the scent of my alphas.

“Do you feel it?” I ask.

“I do,” Markus says.

“Me too,” says Brik.

And so do I. I feel the mate-bonds connecting both of their souls with mine.

They’re not as noticeable as my bond with Thorus, but that’s not because their bonds are weaker. The difference is that Brik and Markus are safe beside me, while Thorus is far away and in pain. It’s kind of like how you don’t notice the way your foot feels until you step on a sharp rock. Then you notice it a lot.

Markus and Brik don’t feel Thorus’s absence the way I do because they are not bonded to him the way I am. But they can both feel their bonds with me, so they know I am telling the truth about Thorus.

Now, only one question remains—what are we going to do about it?

For me, the answer is simple.

“We have to find him,” I say.

“We?” Brik asks.

“Yeah. Me, you, Markus. All three of us.”

Brik shakes his head firmly. “Out of the question, Syra. It’s too dangerous.”

“I can handle myself,” I protest.

“I know you can,” Brik says, pressing his hand to my cheek. “But so can Thorus. He’s the toughest out of all of us. If he got himself into trouble, then it must be a dangerous situation indeed.”

“Well we have to do something!” I cry. “We can’t just abandon him.”

“I don’t intend to abandon him,” Brik answers. “I’ll go find him. You stay here with Markus, where it’s safe.”

Now it’s my turn to shake my head in disagreement.

“You just said yourself that Thorus is the toughest of us all. If you go after him by yourself, whatever happened to him could happen to you too.”

“She’s right,” Markus says. “At least let me come with you.”

“And leave Syra here unprotected? No way.”

“We could take her back to the Central Ruins then. And while we’re there, we could gather some reinforcements to help us rescue Thorus.”

Brik thinks about this for a moment.

“Perhaps… but what about your status with the Tribe? You abandoned your pack, Markus. That’s a serious crime. You could get into a lot of trouble if you go back to the Ruins now.”

It’s a point Brik has brought up many times already, but this time I don’t hear any anger in his voice.

“We can’t go all the way back to the Ruins,” I say. “There’s no time for that. I don’t know what kind of trouble Thorus is in, but I know it’s bad. If we don’t find him soon, he might die.”

Brik growls in frustration.

“Fine. Syra, you can stay here in the hideout by yourself. Markus and I will go find Thorus together.”

I open my mouth to argue with him, but before I can get any words out, Markus speaks.

“There’s another problem,” he says.