“Jo?” I call out, knocking again. “Is that you?”
I swear I hear a sigh of relief, and then the door swings open. “It’s just you guys.” Hayden stands in Jo’s doorway with his jumpsuithalf on. His blond hair is sleep-rumpled and there’s an imprint of pillow-case wrinkles on his cheek. “What’s up?” Immediately my eyes are drawn to the silvery bond mark on his pec.
Seeing it for the first time in the light, I find myself thrumming with jealousy. Not jealousy that Hayden got to bond with her, but at the fact I’m not sporting a matching one. Sure, I was fighting the pull towards Jo until two days ago, but now I want nothing more than to be claimed by her. The fact that we could scent each other with her on the instinct inhibitor, even if it was the barest whiff, tells me we’re at least scent-sympathetic, if not a full on true scent match.
My gaze snaps back to Hayden’s confused expression when I realize that if I can see it, there’s a possibility the cameras can too.
“Get the fuck back inside before someone sees that,” I hiss, pushing him into the room and dragging West behind me. Shit. How the hell are we going to explainthisif someone happens to be watching the cameras at this exact moment?
West makes sure the door latches shut behind him, but my eyes are scanning Jo’s room. “She’s not here?” I ask, something twisting in my gut.
Hayden blinks, looking over at the analog alarm clock next to the bed. “Shit. No, I just woke up. You haven’t seen her this morning?”
“Leslie took her somewhere at breakfast,” I bite out, my heart starting to race. Something isn’t right. “What about your bond? Can you feel anything from her?”
The pyromaniac frowns, grabbing his annoying little lighter from his pocket and flicking it open. There are no flames of course, because what kind of place would give an officially diagnosed pyro unlimited access to fire, but the motion helps him, apparently.
“Nothing. But…she was working on shutting down the bond. She didn’t want to distract me with her emotions.”
“Nothing? According to bond studies, even if she were intentionally blocking her emotions, or even sleeping, you should still be able to sense…well, her presence, so to speak.” West takes a step closer, observing the bondmark like it might start talking to him. “Usually, unless she was forced into unconsciousness, you should be able to feelsomething.”
I stifle a growl at that thought, turning to Hayden. “Well?”
Hayden’s hand lands on his mark as he screws his eyes shut tight. “She’s…she’s there, but…it’s almost…muted, somehow.” His eyes open, and he frowns, looking down at his mark.
“We need to pay Leslie a visit,” I growl, grabbing West by the arm and leading him back to the door. Turning my head back to Hayden, I pause at the sight of his lost expression. Sighing, I do my best to try to make him feel a little better. “We’ll let you know when we find something. And…don’t say anything to Kole unless he asks. We don’t need him going on a rampage.”
“Wait for me!” The blonde alpha tries to get the rest of his jumpsuit on, but I shake my head.
“No. You stay here. It’ll give us away if you come.”
Hayden looks like he wants to argue, but changes his mind at the last minute and nods, sitting down on the bed like a petulant toddler.
West and I make our way to Leslie’s office, and when I burst in without knocking, the beta scrambles out of her desk chair, yelping in surprise. Her eyes are rimmed red, a look of intense guilt on her face.
“Leslie,” I growl, taking a step forward, “where did you take Jo this morning?”
Leslie’s eyes widen and she swallows, looking between West and me. “I…”
West shakes his head, and I know it’s because I’m acting like a complete caveman. “His instincts make him protectiveofallomegas, Les,” West says smoothly. “He’s one of the good ones. She didn’t show up for her psych meeting with me.” If Leslie realizes that Jo wouldn’t have a psych appointment on a Sunday, she doesn’t say anything.
“You won’t see her again.” Leslie’s words have my blood turning to ice, a lead weight settling in my gut as West stiffens next to me.
“What…” I try to keep the growl out of my voice. She can’t be serious. She can’t be right about this. “What…do…you mean?”
“She…” Leslie chokes, tears welling in her eyes. “I took her to Brooks and Whitmore. They told me I had to…they were so mad. She drugged the alpha from the fight last night. They realized when they ran his blood and found all the compounds for the tranq serum. Then they checked their inventory, and saw that Nurse Helaena was missing one. Jo was her only patient of the day.”
This can’t be happening. My fists are clenched so tight I’m sure they’re white.
“I tried to talk them out of it, but…” She chokes on a sob, and I’mthisclose to losing my shit.
“Spit it out, Leslie!” West snaps, his expression contorted in uncharacteristic panic.
“They took her to the Cathedral. They’re done with her.”
two
Jo
