Oftentimes people think she's cold and detached—that's not the case. She simply gives her energy to those she cares about. Nobody else is even on her radar. Young and scared people? They're an exception. She understands them.
"Silas," Kade breathes, stopping dead in his tracks. "Does she feel?—"
Before he can finish his statement, the slight note of alarm we notice at the same time blares loud and terrified. "VIVIAN!" I scream, already running only to find her gone from the aisle we left her in.
A sharp prick of pain in my temple makes me stumble. My hands claw at my chest at the following sensation. As if someone flipped the switch on our mate, she disappears.
Nothing after the terror and pain. Complete and utter silence in our bond. The only place she's never quiet. My eyes burn with increasing dryness from having them wide and unblinking.Where did she go?!
"Vivie," I wheeze, tugging at my shirt.
I'm quickly snapped out of it when Kade barrels past me. His all-consuming rage in the bond makes it hard for me to stand and follow. He pummels me down over and over again, each wave of feral fury urging me to submit and hide.
I can't hide. My mate is gone from my soul as if she was stripped from the very marrow of my bones.
I have no clue how I manage it, but I force my legs to follow Kade out the front of the grocery store and down the street. The wide berth we're given barely registers, but I'm thankful for it all the same. Kade doesn't need the guilt of accidentally shoving someone into oncoming traffic.
Is this my job now? Keeping him from murder?
Something happened to our omega and my alpha isdefinitelygoing to burn the fucking city down trying to find her.
I might tear my chest wide open and dig through my bleeding heart to find even a scrap of her presence.
Eighteen
Jarek
The faint buzz in the bond grows the longer they're gone. It brings a smile to my face to be able to feel their heightened energy.
I'm glad Kade demanded Vivie get out of the house today. It makes me wonder if we need to push her a bit more than we have in previous years. She's been home a lot more this month which isn't all that uncommon. But when I compare how many times she's left the house in the past year with previous years, it's not good.
Maybe we're enabling her depression by accepting her preference for isolation. That's not to say we don't all have pack dates and do fun things. We do; it's just become more hikes and less crowded places.
Pushing away from my desk, I swallow my natural inclination to growl over the distance I feel in the bond. I hate when she's physically far from me. That with my other two mates being ten miles away, I feel like I'm being stretched thin. Like I might snap at any moment.
Closing the office door behind me, I breathe a sigh of relief. My dick twitches at all of our combined scents. Fuck, I'm so gladit's Friday and we can put work on the back burner for a few days.
I love my job, but there are a lot of days where I just want to be with Vivie. It wouldn't be sustainable, and I'm sure she would grow tired of me always around, but I could work on some hobbies.
Maintaining our lawn is something I've always taken a lot of pride in. I'd also love to get a big ass aquarium or two and have some cool fish, but it's not realistic right now. We're saving up for an underground pool, and quitting my job to play around with fish tanks won't work well for my desire to provide for my family.
A few dishes piled up in the kitchen sink pull me from my thoughts. Deciding I'll get going on a few of our chores so we can have an easy night, I get to work.
With the dishes in the dishwasher a few minutes later, I turn around to wipe the counters only for my breath to be sucked from my lungs completely and my knees crash into the tile at my feet.
"Vivie," I wheeze, grabbing at my throat in a panic. Her terror sucks the life from me, but the prick of pain in my skull shoots a spark of adrenaline through my veins.
She's hurt!
I'm about to force myself up and figure out what's going on but suddenly, as if amputated from my soul, she's gone.
My thundering heart crowds my airways, restricting my ability to breathe. Without Vivie, I don't know how to get the fuck up.
Nineteen
Kade
Ayank of fear in my chest forces my spine to snap straight. My chest tightens as I move on autopilot in the direction her tether pulls me.
