At first nothing happens. I compare the feel of Omar’s rougher hand and Jasper’s more slender hand and how they feel in mine. I notice Jasper twitching and give him a calming squeeze to let him know I’m here. My fingers begin to tingle, then my palms and wrists, and then suddenly, pulsing energy rushes up through my arms, flooding my torso and running down to my legs. Their energies wash over me, until they flow inside me like blood. Each has its own distinctive feel, but as they mingle and mix, I stop keeping track of whose is whose, and as their energy settles with my own, I begin to lose all sense of where I end and where Omar and Jasper begin. Our energies have become one.
That’s when I know to reach out.
I expand my consciousness up and out like a mushroom cloud, searching in all directions for other wolves. As I reach the ground floor I’m suddenly hit with a wall of energy. That must be the entrance chamber. It’s now filled with at least thirty strong wolves, waiting with tense muscles and set jaws. I don’t attack them, instead I delve into their subconsciousness, I speak with their inner wolves, I pat their heads and whisper calmly to them, until one by one they fall asleep.
The guard behind the glass is the only one I leave awake. Him I coax into pressing the necessary buttons to activate the elevator and bring us back to ground level.
I open my eyes as we arrive and the doors slide open. Sleepily Omar and Jasper open their eyes as well. Jasper looks especially groggy, his eyes red and droopy, and Omar looks a little drunk, like one side of his face is too tired to move.
“Did we do it?” Jasper asks.
“Almost,” I say.
Feeling strong, galvanized even, I step from the elevator and make my way through the carpet of sleeping guards.
“They look sort of cute,” Omar says, following behind.
“You!” the guard in the window shouts. “You can’t do this! When the alpha hears about this you’ll be—”
“Silence,” Jasper commands in his alpha voice, stepping forward. He’s given an order and the guard has no choice but to submit. “Open the door.”
The muscles in the guard’s face twitch as his cheeks turn pink. Clearly, he’s struggling against the direct order from his future alpha. But the part of him that’s a wolf, that’s part of this pack, knows not to disobey his superior. He hits whatever buttons he needs to to open the door, and before Jasper can lose control or any of the other guards wake up, we hightail it out of there.
“Where will you go?” I ask Omar as the crowds of Grand Central rush like rapids around us. We ran straight here from the packhouse, knowing we needed to get Omar as far from the city, from Walter and his assassin for hire, as possible. “Back to the Sanc?”
“No,” Omar says. “I’ll only bring trouble with me. They don’t need any more upheaval.”
“Then where?”
Omar glances at the departures board as some passing commuter knocks into me.
“I’ll head north,” he says. “Maybe cross the border into Canada, see what it’s like for rogues up there.”
“I—I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” I say, noticing the way Jasper clears his throat subtly.
Omar places one of his sturdy hands on my shoulder. “You can always find me, cuz.” With the same hand he taps one finger against his forehead. “We’re all connected, right?”
“Right.”
“Jasp.” Omar turns to my mate, who has been hanging out a couple steps away. “You’re a decent guy. Maybe with you as a leader this pack has a chance of not sucking.”
Jasper’s voice catches a little in his throat. “Thanks.”
“You take care of him.”
“I will.”
“Cuz. It’s been real. Keep up the meditation. Stay true to your inner wolf. Don’t let those walls get in your way. You’re going to do amazing things.”
I can’t help the tears welling in my eyes. “Be safe,” I tell Omar, then I give him a super tight hug.
He winces and I let him go.
“Sorry, I forgot about the bruises.”
“Nothing a bit of time won’t fix.”
For a second we stand under the starry ceiling, letting the crowds drift by, not quite ready to leave just yet. Then Jasper clears his throat.
