Page 103 of Our Deceptive Heat

My hand is still cramping from all the autographs I’ve just signed. Despite how well the show went, that kernel of anxiety refuses to leave me.

I just want to get back to her. Throngs of people get out of our path as I lead the way. I can feel the rest of the pack behind me, as anxious as I am. I don’t know if my feelings are fueling theirs or theirs feeding mine, but the last two hours have stretched on for an eternity.

I push open the door to our room and look around. My eyes skip over Tony, but even when I search the room a second time, she still fails to appear.

“Where is she?” Tyr growls.

Envy clutches his head and groans. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

Tony folds his arms over his chest.

“What the fuck were you four thinking?" I’ve never heard him use a tone like that to us before. It shocks me for a moment. “You knew what kind of trouble that omega was in! How could you do that to her?”

My gaze sharpens on him, reading a thousand inflections I know from years of experience.

“What did you do, Tony?” I ask flatly. I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive him for this.

The deep, savage growl comes from the most unlikely of places; Digs.

“I made sure she got away safely,” Tony says and doesn’t even flinch when a glass hits the wall behind his head.

Digs is rigid, panting, his face turning red and splotchy. All I can see is rage, all I can feel from him is a panic so deep and so complete I don’t know if he will survive it.

“Why would you do that?”

Tony scoffs. “You screwed her. This is all on you. That song was a thousand times better than the one you put out tonight. Why would you do it?”

“What right do you have to question me?” Tyr roars. “You helped her leave. She’s not safe out there.”

“She’s not safe here now, thanks to you four idiots.” Tony stands up. “Well, what’s done is done. She’s gone, and you have a tour to finish.”

Tyr throws him up against the wall, an arm across his throat. “Fuck the fucking tour. Where is my omega?”

I still can’t move or speak. There is a roaring in my ears. I whirl and run, forgetting everything. I round a corner and cameras start flashing.

I hesitate as fans start screaming.

The area is blocked by so many people there’s no way I can get through. I can see the exit on the other side of the mob. I can’t see anything but Ryn slipping away from me.

Security grabs me, and I’m pulled away.

I scream and fight the hands that hold me, but within minutes, I’m dragged back out of sight.

As soon as I stop fighting, they let me go.

“Sorry, Mako,” Nial murmurs. He puts a hand on my shoulder and just sits with me.

I squeeze my eyes closed and hold out my hand. “Give me a phone, please. Someone give me a phone.”

A phone is handed to me by a woman with a headpiece on. I dial Ryn’s number.

It doesn’t even ring. The phone is switched off. I try again and then a third time. I curse, I swear.

It’s just like last time. She’s going to turn into a ghost and leave the shattered remains of us searching for her.

I run my fingers through my hair and pull. The panic is growing again, rising in a wave. She left. I won’t see her, won’t touch her. She will be gone. No, no. Please no.

I hear a giggle.

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