“Darius might have a job for me. He wants me to visit him in his office downtown.” I slide my phone into my back pocket. Guess that’s that, then. With any luck this job will take a while and be so intense I can finally get my mind off that omega.
I fear it might be my only hope. If left to my own devices, it’s more than clear I’ll continue to wallow and spend all my free time thinking about that girl.
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s best not to keep that asshole waiting.” He breaks out into a grin when he says that. If anyone else was to say something like that, Warren would have some choice words, backed up by his fists and other various weapons. He’s only allowed to say that about Darius because Darius is his pack leader and his adoptive brother. “You better get going.”
I nod my head at him. “I’ll see you later.”
After he waves me off, I leave. There are other alphas here who are more than capable of training the newer squads while I’m off on a job, so I’m not too worried about that. I am, however, beyond curious why Darius would call me specifically. We don’t often accept solo jobs, so it must be something peculiar.
Once outside of the warehouse, it’s a short jaunt to my car, and then a not-so-short drive to the HQ downtown. The main office of Alabaster Security dwells in one of the highestskyscrapers in the city, taking up a few floors at the very top. There is ample parking beneath the building, complete with cameras all around, along with a stationed guard who checks everyone’s identification as you pull in.
I park and head right to the elevators, and soon enough I’m walking out on the correct floor. I’d like to say it’s been a while since I’ve been here, but when that omega was interviewing alphas for a bodyguard, I was hand-selected as a possible candidate. She didn’t choose me, of course; she chose Pax, the eldest Alabaster son, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Never thought all it’d take for Pax to get that stick out of his ass would be for him to find an omega. I honestly never thought an omega would give him the time of day, but I guess we’re all wrong on occasion.
Darius has a corner office, which means the room has quite a bit of natural light, regardless of the time of day. He sits behind his large desk, reading something from a file. He’s like me, an über alpha, so he’s on the bigger side all around. Tall and muscular, he radiates power and intensity without trying.
The moment I walk in, his green gaze lifts from the file and he gestures for me to sit down after he says, “Close the door.”
I make sure the door to his office is shut before I take one of the seats facing his desk. “What’s the job?” I ask, getting straight to the point. Now’s not the time to beat around the bush, not when a random job pops up out of nowhere.
Hey, I won’t complain.
“Warren told me you went to the Omega Garden last week,” Darius starts.
My brows furrow as I hold the alpha’s intense stare. “Yeah, what’s that got to do with the job?” Color me confused, although I would never say that much aloud.
“Alabaster Security was contacted late last night about a missing omega—this omega is one I believe you met, if Warren’s stories were true.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that Warren told his brother about my failed attempt at finding a match, but what does surprise me is what Darius says next.
“We were contacted by a beta named Cecilia Dryers. She’s the guardian of a Jessica Dryers, the lone Dryers heir after her parents got into a fatal car crash ten or so years ago. Cecilia’s husband was a Dryers, but unfortunately he passed away as well a few years back. Cecilia has been trying to push Jessica to find a match and failing, and now… now she thinks the omega has taken it upon herself to run away—right before her first heat is scheduled to hit.”
The more he says, the more speechless I am. Not only do I now know the omega’s first name, but she’s also missing, presumed a runaway. And right before her first heat? Not exactly the best time for an omega to stretch their legs and test their willpower.
Darius says, “This is the omega you met, isn’t it? Warren told me all you got was her last name, that you said she was vehemently against matching with anyone.”
Finally, once it all dawns on me, the gravity of the entire situation, I nod. “Yeah, she said she was a Dryers. She made it clear she wasn’t there to get any offers.” I wondered at the time why she was there at all if she was so against it, and now I have my answer: her aunt.
“Did she reference running away at all?”
“No. She was just… closed-off. Throwing insults as fast as she could.” I rub my jaw as I think back to that night. Not hard for me to do, since that omega has haunted me every waking second of the day.
“Police found her car and her phone in the park. They’re working on gaining access to the local camera feeds, but I.T. has been busy dissecting her online presence. Her aunt obviously wants her back before her heat arrives, and I’m inclined to agree. I don’t know this Jessica Dryers well enough to say whether or not she could survive a heat on her own, or if she’ll end up somewhere she shouldn’t. We need to find her, Rourke, as soon as possible. Think you’re up for it?” He closes the file and slides it over to me.
I stare at it for a few seconds before I take the file off his desk. “Why offer the job to me?”
“Warren says you’ve been talking about the omega a lot, and I figured you would do everything in your power to make sure she turns up safe and sound.” What Darius isn’t saying is that he believes I have a personal stake in the matter.
I don’t, not really. I mean, yes, the omega smelled like sex on two legs, but that doesn’t mean anything. So what if I can’t get her out of my head? So what if I’ve been dreaming about her?
“Well?” he asks. “What are you waiting for? Get on it. Find her. Bring her back home. The moment I.T. finds out anything, I’ll have them contact you directly.”
Standing, I tuck the file under my arm. I don’t say a single word more as I leave his office, but my head is spinning.
Jessica Dryers. Not only do I have a name, but she’s missing. Bad things tend to happen to omegas who go missing, even those who choose to run away. The world is a dark, dangerous place, especially when you can’t defend yourself. Being so close to her heat, she’s in so much danger out there, wherever she is.
I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
