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The crazy omega across from me looks down at the phone wedged into her fist. I can see the moment she remembers she doesn’t actually have any proof to back her up—because she is and always has been a liar.
With a scoffed, “Whatever, bitch,” she strides out of the room.
But I hear her heels, click-click-clacking all the way to the elevator. When I hear the doors ding and know she’s on her way out of the building, I find myself sliding down the wall.
Exhaustion rolls over me as the fight drains out of my body. The cool smoothness of the tile feels good under my legs. My arms and hands tremble, my teeth chattering even as a mist of sweat blossoms over my chest.
And I think, maybe, this is it.
I’ve pushed and stretched myself to my absolute limits. Dealing with Katrina is just the thing that finally depletes my self-control.
Weirdly, I feel okay with that. A stab of pain twists my abdomen, but I feel calm. Vaguely, my fuzzy brain remembers the last time I found myself on a bathroom floor—the day of my initial interview.
Then, I felt panicked and hopeless.
So… alone.
But this is different.
The fact that I can’t get up or walk the forty feet back to the box feels like an inconvenience, not a disaster. As my eyes drift shut, a sense of peaceful resignation settles inside of me. I have only one thought.
It’s okay. My alphas will find me.
chapter
sixty-three
Declan seems distracted.
He throws an interception eight minutes into the third quarter, and I curse loud enough to startle the other owners. They’re an older, polished beta couple, clearly not accustomed to tattooed alphas yelling “fuck” in polite company.
I don’t care. That was a particularly stupid throw. Declan doesn’t normally make mistakes like that.
On the screen overhead, I watch Theo jog up and nudge him. They share a few words and motion to the sidelines, requesting a time out. While Theo ambles over to Coach, Dec takes off like a shot.
Running toward… Archer?
I have my phone in my hand before it even rings. “What’s wrong?”
“Possibly nothing.” Arch sounds calm, but the background noise is deafening. He speaks up. “Is Meg there with you? Declan needs to speak to her.”
I don’t want to alert the other team’s owner to our weakness. “Not at the moment.”
Archer relays the information. The television broadcast has gone to commercial, so I have to squint down at the field to see Declan harassing him. Players aren’t allowed to take any calls on the sidelines, per League regulations. Really, Arch shouldn’t even be on his phone.
My oldest packmate comes back over the line with a terse sigh. “Ronan, I don’t know what’s going on up there, but you better put our omega on the phone or you’re not going to have a quarterback for the rest of the game. His Alpha is on edge.”
I stand as casually as I can and make my way to the box’s door. Worry crowds in when I realize Meg’s been gone for close to twenty-five minutes. “Tell him I’m going to get her, and I’ll have her text you a message for him in a moment,” I direct. “He has to go back out there. Remind him that she came here today to watch him play.”
I click off the call and pace down the curved hallway. It’s hard to hear with the roar of the fans below and the stadium’s speakers pumping pop music, but some instinct inside of me trips and I break into a run.
The peach perfume soaking the air is my first clue.
Oh fuck.
Meg’s perfume has saturated the air. It’s so strong, I’m afraid to reach for the bathroom door handle.
Will every other alpha on this level smell her the same way I can?
