If I expect an answer, I’m very mistaken. His black, cold shark-like eyes look at me with detached indifference.
"And now we wait," the man says as he pulls out a vape. His pale fingers turn it lightly in a small swirl.
Then he lights it, the vapor sliding from his lips in a thin mist as he stares up at the sky with that same completely unreadable expression.
Because I know that every passing minute could mean something tragic happening to Bay, it bursts out of me.
"Are you able to get any information about where that car is?" I blurt in a shaking voice, because it’s the only thing I can think of that he might actually be able to do.
The man takes a slow drag from his vape, and the smell drifting toward me makes me realize it’s some kind of sedative, not regular nicotine smoke.
"You could say that. We know people who can track cars through their GPS systems."
"That’s something only the police can do," I say, my voice catching, my heart pounding so fast I have to reach for my inhaler again, because the edges of my vision start to shimmer. There is too much happening for my brain to hold on to, and to stop myself from collapsing face-first onto the ground, I let myself sink onto the concrete, lying flat.
I must look strange, but I’m shaking so badly, the shock is so deep, that everything feels unreal, like moments when I’m convinced I’m inside a dream or a nightmare or maybe even a computer game, because this just couldn’t have happened.
The man ignores the fact that I’m lying right next to him on the ground. One of the alphas who are with him leans against a nearby luxury SUV with blacked-out windows, speaking quietly with the other one. From time to time they glance at me, and their faces reveal almost nothing. They’re strange types.
Since the slick-haired man says nothing, I mutter,
"Are those your bodyguards?"
Again, no answer. The man just smokes and stares into the dark sky.
My eyes struggle to focus on any single thing, everything is blurry and drifting, my whole body is trembling, and I feel like I’m about to slip into some kind of shock where I won’t be able to think straight anymore. My arms and legs are still shaking uncontrollably.
The man seems to notice my condition, because he finally turns toward me and says,
"Get a grip, omega. There’s nothing more you can do right now. You won’t help him by shaking on the ground like a bug."
"I love him, you don’t understand! I love him so much," I whimper through my sobs.
Only now do I see a real reaction. A sour grimace crosses his face.
"There’s no such thing as love. There is only loyalty or the lack of it."
"And yet there is," I whisper. "He just proved it."
My words cause a brief pause in his movements, but then the vapor rises toward the sky again.
I squeeze my eyes shut and beg Fate to have mercy on Bay. I beg with everything I have, and another spasm tightens my lungs. I reach for the inhaler, but too late.
I lose consciousness.
I open my eyes to a sharp slap across my face. Not that hard, but enough to pull me back from the edge.
"You drifted off," he says, his voice cold and factual. "Time to move. We have a location."
"What… what?"
His hands lift me upright.
Even though he’s an omega, he’s fairly tall, taller than me by a lot, and he seems strong and somehow… military, solid to the touch.
He sets me on my feet with a rather rough push.
"Yes," I choke out, "let’s go, we have to save him," and I sway, instinctively reaching out to steady myself against him, but he pulls his arm away. Clearly he doesn’t tolerate being touched by random crying teen omegas.
