“How long has she been in there?” Chase asked as he wandered up to me. He was wearing a university T-shirt and baseball cap, a generic backpack slung over his shoulder.
“Twenty minutes,” I groaned. “But this is the last meeting of the day.”
“Good. I want to get home and eat. I'm pretty sure Bear is going out of his mind. He's happy to be playing with Maggie, but you know he would rather be here.”
The bond was no longer brand new, so Bear and Flora could handle being apart for a few hours, but that didn't change the fact they simplywantedto be together because they loved each other. And even if I wasn’t particularly good at saying so, I understood that. I didn’t want to be apart from her, either, which just made right now that much worse.
“It should have been Bear here. You and I both know that Flora won’t give a shit if someone dares to give her a funny look for being with him. Hell, she’ll chew them out.”
It was one of the many things I loved about our omega. Smart and headstrong, even though those traits could be incredibly annoying. She didn't care what anyone else thought. Flora loved Bear, and she would happily declare it from the rooftops.
“Honestly, seeing the way she spoke to her mother when it came to him, if someone dared to open their big mouth, I think Flora would go feral on their ass. Is it bad that I would really enjoy seeing that?”
Chuckling, I shook my head. We were going to protect Flora so she never needed to be in any sort of physical altercation, but even I had to admit that would be a rather amusing sight.
Chase sighed. “Bear is calling. Again. Maybe next time we should force him to come to campus, ’cause otherwise he's going to be insufferable.” He laughed, holding up his phone, showing three missed calls from Bear.
“You're going to be just as bad when you bond with her, and you know it,” I pointed out.
“No, I won't, because when I bond with her, she’s not going to be allowed to leave the nest for an entire month.” He spoke with such confidence.
“Sure, and when she tases you for keeping her captive, you’re just going to go along with it?” I cocked a brow at him, remembering our girl’s skills vividly.
“That’s just spicy foreplay.” He smirked.
“And people thinkI'mthe crazy one of this pack.”
“Nah, just the one with a stick up his ass most of the time.” Chase laughed, nudging me with his elbow.
“If you're not careful, I’ll remove that stick and beat you to death with it,” I threatened.
Instead of being scared, Chase simply beamed. “If that's the price it takes to get the stick from your hole, I will happily pay it because I love you, my dear pack mate. Anyway, I’m thinking about getting takeout from that Greek place down the road tonight. What do you think?”
“Sounds good. But Flora hasn’t really been eating much with everything going on.” I frowned. As an alpha, my primary job was to look after my omega. Before work or other obligations, my first priority was taking care of her. So the fact she wasn’t sleeping well or eating was a kick to the nuts I had limited experience with.
“Do you want—” Chase was cut off as his phone started to ring. Not the normal ringtone, either. It was a harsher alarm that I recognized immediately.
Many years ago, we’d implemented an emergency ringtone. One that none of us would ever ignore. It was a kind of failsafe in case we didn’t answer our phone because we didn’t want to talk about something silly.
If Chase was receiving that call, though, it could only be from one person. Everything in me stilled, terror gripping at me in a way I had never experienced before. Without even thinking about it, Chase placed it on speaker, so we both could hear.
“Bear. What's going on?”
“Are you with Flora?” he asked, his voice rough.
“She’s in the meeting with one of her TAs. We're just outside his office.”
“Get her. Something's wrong. I can feel it through the bond.”
That was all I needed to hear. Their bond meant they shared a unique connection. If he felt like something was wrong, then something wasdefinitelyfucking wrong.
Lurching forward, I grabbed the handle of the office door, tugging.
“It’s locked,” I hissed.
There was no reason for a teacher’s assistant to lock his office while having a meeting with a student. My heart rate sped up, generalconcern ramping up to true worry. I needed to see Flora immediately; to know she was safe.
With a roar, I threw my body weight into the door, the flimsy lock shattering under the force. The university could bill me later. I didn't give a shit.
