Page 59 of Pack Favero

I nod, because there’s no use in me hiding it. “Every single day. I lost count after I finished the right side of your face.”

“You’re such a goofball,” she giggles.

I shrug. “Your goofball now.”

“My goofball,” she sighs, and I’ve never heard a more peace-filled sound than that.

Well, that is before an adorable, little snore escapes her after she falls silent and drifts off to sleep between my brother and me.

As soon as she’s asleep, Ford snuggles closer, slinging his arm over her and me before he whispers, “We’re going to have to call the others to explain what just happened.”

I snort, knowing damned well Alek is going to lose his shit, but I nod in agreement. “Let’s rest for a little while and then we’ll do what we need to do.”

Sure enough, as soon as Zira’s body unlocks our deflated knots hours upon hours later, the sky is dark and glittering with sparkling stars visible through the large expanse of sky, not a cloud in sight to smudge them out of view. The three of us take a quick shower and redress in warmer clothes before I make good on my promise, providing a cozy night for my freshly bonded omega. And while Zira is twirling her melting marshmallow over the fire pit, her face pointed up at the sky as she admires thestars, I go about texting the guys about what happened.

I keep it short. I keep it sweet.

And then I turn my phone off so if anyone is going to deal with the backlash, then it can be Ford.

For the rest of the night, I spend it between feeling content and incredibly happy, sticking close to my omega and wondering how the hell we managed to snag a funny, caring, and beautiful omega I now get to call mine.

***

Three nights later, I’m awoken from a dead sleep, shooting up in bed in a panic while I clutch at the sheets now pooled around me. I have no idea what wakes me, only that my heart beats frantically beneath my chest and my mind is a foggy muddle of anxiety, fear, and something else I can’t really pin.

I sigh into the dark room, trying to remember the dream I was having and curious whether or not that had a part to play in my wake-up call. I go to lie down and fade back into sleep with Zira beside me and Ford cuddling against her back.

I’m just about to fall asleep when I hear it. The sound that must have woken me from my dream. I’m not sure what the sound is, almost a scuffing of a shoe if I were to guess, and I frown as I sit back up in the bed we all fell asleep in after expelling a whole lot of energy out of our restless omega.

At the mere thought of her, I peer over in bed to check on her, only to pause when I find Ford exactly where we left him, but no Zira. She’d fallen asleep between us for the third night in a row, spent and loopy with orgasms, and it’s dark enough that I know we haven’t been asleep long enough for her to be awake yet. After all, the sky is still dark, and Ford is snoring gently enough that I know he’s deeply asleep, meaning we’re still in the middle of the night.

Deciding to check on her, I carefully climb out of the bed, making sure not to wake my brother before tugging on a pair of shorts that probably belong to Ford, slip on my white Vans, and sling a hoodie over my head as quietly as I can muster before leaving my bedroom, but not before snagging my cell phone from the bedside table and tucking it into my pocket.

Shutting the door until it’s closed halfway, I walk down the hallway and whisper, “Starlight? Are you up?”

I don’t receive an answer, and I frown, wondering where the hell she’s disappeared to, when I hear the scuffing sound once more. I’m not sure where the hell it’s coming from, the house is big enough that it could be coming from downstairs or outside, so I head down the hallway, checking doors as I go and finding each room empty, one after the other. There’s no sign of her at all, only her bag left in my room after we moved from Ford’s to mine after the first night we soaked the entire mattress.

Chuckling quietly at the reminder, I make my way down the stairs, thinking I might find Zira down there making tea or something. Only, my movements slow as I get to the last step and I spy a single lamp switched on in the kitchen, a steaming mug sitting atop the marble counter. What has my steps slowing, however, is seeing the lamp tilted to its side, as though it was knocked over by mistake, the discarded spoon on the floor with a teabag that still clings to the metal surface, and the very faint but oddly placed waft of gasoline.

“Zira? Are you down here?” I call, an uneasy feeling blooming in my chest when I don’t receive a reply. “Come on, starlight. Come back to bed.”

I’m greeted with the ticking of the clock that hangs in the open-plan living room, and I shake my head as my brows furrow in confusion. Where the hell is she? Could she be in the bathroom down here?

Sensing the answer already but deciding to checkanyway, I storm through the entire lower level of the house before returning to the tea that sits untouched. Eyeing the mug, the sight not making sense to me, I call out once more, “Zira? Zira, where are you?”

I pause while I wait for an answer, and one comes, but not in the way I was expecting. A muffled cry breaks through the silence before I hear someone hiss with a harsh shush, right before I hear that strange scuffing sound again. My head snaps in the direction it came from, and my eyes widen when I find the front door slightly ajar, only enough that I missed it on my first look around. Now, however, I can see a tiny sliver of the porch light seeping through the cracks, and those cracks highlight the broken door handle I didn’t notice before.

Cold dread washes over me so suddenly that I immediately feel sick, right before a wave of atom-deep terror crashes into me so hard that I stumble and crash into the grandfather clock Lazarus bought five years ago. Terror that isn’t mine, though it might as well be for how strong it is.

“Zira?” I shout now, clutching at my chest as I pull away from the shattered glass of the clock and hurry toward the broken front door. I sling the fucking thing open with enough force that it cracks against the wall behind it, right before I dive out of the house and scan my surroundings with wide, panicked eyes.

Everything inside me turns ice cold when I catch sight of Zira’s fiery red hair glowing beneath the moonlight through the copse of trees. But it’s not just the sight of her that floods my body with horror, but it’s the figure behind her dressed all in black as they drag her toward a car that blends into the night before trying to push her into the back seat of the idling vehicle I can’t make the color or model of in the dark.

“Hey!” I shout before thinking better of it, jumping off the porch and running toward where Zira is being shovedtoward the car, my heart suddenly galloping a mile a minute as adrenaline slams through me with all the force of a battering ram.

I hear her muffled cry as she appears to fight the hold of whoever has her, but it looks like her arms are bound behind her back, leaving her without much options on how to fight back. Fury like I’ve never felt before explodes in my chest, and my speed quickens as I race toward them, Zira’s cries for help tearing my heart to ribbons right before it shatters when I hear a sickening thud and her voice stops dead silent and I see her body drop from between the trees.

“Hey, fucker! Leave her alone!” I shout, fury turning my voice hoarse as I pump my legs faster and faster, gaining on them just as the bastard manages to stuff Zira into the back seat of his dark sedan, I think, and gun it for the driver’s side.

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