AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turn around and smile at Falcon as he approaches me. He’s wearing a suit as he always does, and his cold assessing glare runs over me and leaves me feeling like a muddy toddler yet again. The sun is shining at the Treyfield estate. The garden party is superb, and everyone is having fun. Everything is beautiful, expensive, luxurious. The people are friends. So, why am I so annoyed by it all?
It’s been three weeks.
Three weeks since the night she disappeared. I don’t even know why I care. I don’t know why it's bothering me so intensely. How does a woman who looks like Silver just vanish? What happened to her?
I heave a sigh, not wanting to deal with him. Not today. I was not out driving around searching for an omega. Not at all. I was hungry and couldn’t find a bakery open. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
“Have you thought about our deal, Ian?”
“I have. I’d like to see the contract, but I like it. The project sounds incredible.” I don’t care about the deal. Go away, Treyfield. I’m tired, and I want to pretend I’m just resting. Who’s idea was it to come to this stupid party, anyway?
Oh. Mine. Damn.
Falcon grins, but his attention gets side-lined when Grayson waves his hands in the air. He points at Grayson and nods his head. I don’t miss the way his eyes soften as he looks at the happy alpha.
“Attention, everyone. I just want to say thank you,” Grayson booms.
Not a speech. Anything but a speech. I groan and have to stifle it when Falcon shoots me a frigid glare.
I tune out of his conversation and discreetly melt back into the gardens. If I can just get five minutes alone to deal with this headache. I turn three corners of shrubs, quickly becoming lost. With a backwards glance to ensure I’m alone, I heave a sigh, letting the tension out of my shoulders. I’m almost relaxed when I spot movement. Someone is already drunk and sneaking into Grayson’s maze. The person looks small. Why can’t I be alone? I’m tired.
“Ian?”
I glance to my left and realise Quint has snuck up on me but refocus my attention on the figure. There is something wrong and off about the whole situation. I find myself drifting towards them. The hair is dark, and the clothes torn and filthy. The smell is awful, but is it a child? A runaway teen?
“Hey, you can’t go in there!” I call out, increasing my pace as the person steps towards the mansion and the open doors.
The person flinches and trips on the next step, hitting the ground hard. They don’t move, they just lay there on the ground, barely breathing. I rush forward, kneel, and carefully turn them over.
For a moment, I think it’s Onyx because there’s no way Silver could look this bad in just three weeks. There are bruises all over her. She’s filthy, and she’s thinner than I’ve ever seen any omega.
“Silver, what have you done?” I whisper the words in horror.
Her eyes open a fraction, and in them, all I see is pain and defeat. She doesn’t seem to recognise me.
I scoop her up into my arms.
“Call Adrian!” I bellow, uncaring of what I’m interrupting.
She clutches at me, her eyes wide and huge. “No! I didn’t mean to come here! Ian, please, I’m sorry! I’ll leave! Please! I’m sorry!”
Why does she beg like this? Where is this fear and hysteria coming from?
“Well, it’s a good thing you did come here,” Quint says, though I can hear in his voice that he’s struggling to keep the horror out of it.
She coughs weakly, and I get the impression that if I don’t do something, I might just watch this omega fade away and out of my life. My heart thuds, slamming against my chest. I see her image a million times in my mind’s eye, and the panic at the thought of having her gone leaves me raw and blind.
I loved her back then. I never got to tell her.
I can’t lose her!
It’s not conscious thought, it’s not intentional. There is no plan, there is only instinct.
I bring her wrist to my mouth, and I bite hard. She stiffens and whimpers, but that’s the only sound she makes. Her body is so depleted that she can’t even cry out. I can barely feel the bond. It’s so weak.
Please! Oh, please let this work!
I put my hand to her mouth. My fear is a living, writhing beast inside me. I will not lose her.
