Then silence.
Heavy and oppressive and full of things no one wants to say.
Ragon is still leaning on the counter. He hasn't moved. His head is down and I realize I have never seen my pack lead look like this. He’s not angry or in control. He’s just broken in a way that doesn't have a strategy attached to it.
I can still smell Marie on me. Days of her scent soaked into my skin. It makes my stomach turn.
Jasper speaks first. "Don't report Vee missing yet. It will backfire."
Ragon nods slowly. "I'll find her myself."
"How?" Eli asks.
"I'll figure it out."
I turn toward the hallway. "I need to shower."
I need to scrub myself clean of Marie.
And then I need to figure out how to get Vee back.
That's all that matters now.
Just Vee.
Chapter 5
Vee
I wake up in a bed that isn't mine.
It isn't even the one I've been in through my heat.
The realization comes slowly. Piece by piece. Unfamiliar ceiling. Unfamiliar walls. Unfamiliar weight to the blankets.
I blink and the room comes into focus.
Wood beams overhead. A window with white curtains. A dresser against the far wall with nothing on it. Clean. Simple. Empty.
Where am I?
I sit up. My body protests immediately.
I'm sore everywhere. It's the specific kind of wrung-out exhaustion that comes after heat. Muscles aching. Sensitive skin. My throat dry and scratchy.
I take inventory.
Thighs sore. Hips tender. A deep ache between my legs that I recognize. I've been knotted. Multiple times. The ghost sensation lingers.
But the heat is gone.
The desperate, animal need has vanished. The fog has lifted from my thoughts. For the first time in days, I'm just me again—not a creature of pure instinct and hunger.
I'm wearing a soft t-shirt that smells like coffee. Malcolm's. And clean underwear that definitely isn't mine.
Someone dressed me.
The thought should bother me more than it does.
