Page 119 of Knot Your Average Beta

I clap a hand on his shoulder. “As long as she can feel you, she’ll be happy, Swift.”

His expression is uncharacteristically grim as he shakes his head. “Its weird, but I swear she keeps thinking Claudia at me. Like she just keeps popping into my head. I never think about that woman unless it was to get rid of her to make Sadie happy.”

I frown. “Maybe she’s worried about her?”

“Our girl does have a soft heart,” Logan pauses in his pacing. “Maybe she’s worried Claudia is wherever she is?”

“Have we had any calls?” Luca asks, sounding wrecked. His face is pale, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in a week. Dark circles under his eyes and gaunt cheeks. I’ve never seen up close what losing a bond can do to a person. Not the immediate aftermath. Sure, years later, I’ve seen it. But this is… I’m worried Luca won’t survive this if we can’t get Sadie back.

I shove that thought aside. We will get her back. We will bond her. Bite her. Make her ours. And then we’ll never let her go again. I’ll even help Swift convince her to let us put a tracker under her skin so we can always know where she is.

“Nothing,” I mutter. We’d been hoping that whoever took her would reach out. Would try to ransom her. I’m pretty sure I would give the heart right out of my chest if they demanded it. So long as Sadie is fucking safe.

But there’s been nothing from them.

Only silence.

And that is concerning.

This whole time, we’ve been thinking any threat to Sadie would be because of us. Our enemies. But any of our enemies would want to taunt us with her. Play with us by dangling her in front of us.

That we haven’t heard from anyone makes me think maybe this isn’t about us at all.

Our omega has enough weird shit in her life that it could be about her, about the experiments Dr. Funkle did on her and Claudia.

That terrifies me. Because if that is the reason they took her, there’s a very real chance we won’t ever see Sadie again.

The elevator dings and our heads whip toward it as the doors slide open. I don’t know what we’re hoping for? That Sadie escaped somehow? That she made her way through the city back to us without calling first? Without one of our guys seeing her? It’s wishful thinking at its finest. Whoever took our omega isn’t going to just let her go.

The scent of cherry pie hits me as the doors slide open. It has all of us lurching toward it. My heart thunders in my chest as the metal doors part. An inch. Two. Three.

I’m right outside them when they part enough for me to see the occupant.

Claudia.

Fuck.

I should have known.

She’s looking at the ground, blonde hair a mess, tears streaming down her face. She looks up with those wide blue eyes of hers and whines when she sees me, sees us, her pink manicured hand reaching forward, like she expects us to grab her and cradle her close.

Good fucking luck with that.

“Alpha,” she whimpers, stumbling forward, the omegamones flooding the space with her distress. “Please.”

I fall back, and the rest of my pack does too. Not wanting to let her touch us and trying like hell to shove down the instincts that are trying to make me comfort her.

Claudia doesn’t need me. She doesn’t need us. She’s here, safe and sound, stinking up our penthouse with her scent.

Sadie is the one that’s lost to us. She’s the one with god knows what happening to her. She’s our focus. Not Claudia.

The other omega draws up short just inside the apartment as the doors close behind her. Like she’s just now realizing that we might not give a fuck if she’s safe. She blinks at us with watery eyes. “Why are you treating me like this?”

I honestly don’t have time to deal with her bullshit, so I don’t answer. Instead, I turn and press a hand to Ethan’s chest, urging him back toward his laptop. “Go find our girl.”

He nods once and retreats to the table. “Logan.” Our doctor’s light green eyes find me and I jerk my chin at Luca, who is swaying on his fucking feet, looking about a second away from passing out. His nostrils flare as he breathes in Claudia’s scent. I watch as his eyes dilate. It strikes me that Luca hasn’t been around Claudia without his bond with Sadie. The bond that made it easier for him to resist her.

The rest of us have built up a tolerance of sorts. Sure, the instincts are there, but we’ve learned to push them down in favor of our chosen omega. Luca’s never had to do that.

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