Page 223 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

I turned to Trent and Langston. “You guys got this?”

“We’re good,” Trent answered.

With a final wave to my men, I hurried into the house to grab my truck keys. I’d cut the call with Avery short earlier, and now I had time to actually go over and speak with her in person.

Inside, I found Zayde pacing the floor. Worry oozed from him.

“Cole, have you heard from Porter?” Zayde asked. “I can’t get him on the phone.”

“Let me call Avery,” I said. “He was assigned to watch her. She may know where he is.”

Zayde nodded and put his own phone away. When I dialed Avery, I got no answer. Frowning, I tried again. Nothing. An icy finger dragged up my spine.

“She’s not answering her phone,” I said, my voice sounding strangely hollow to my ears.

“Is something wrong here?” Zayde asked, his eyes wide and vaguely terrified.

Shaking my head, I forced a smile to my lips. “Avery and I had a bit of a fight last night, and I was kinda short with her on the phone earlier. She probably doesn’t want to talk. She’s probably venting to Porter. Must be why he isn’t answering.”

“Okay,” Zayde said slowly, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Snatching my keys from the counter, I said, “I’m gonna head to Stormy’s place. She’s probably there.” Acid wormed its way through my stomach.

“Sure. Yeah. Sounds good.” Zayde looked like he was willing to latch on to any explanation at the moment.

On the outside, I looked calm as I walked to my truck. On the inside, though? Panic flamed like grease dripping onto a heating element. My stomach lurched.

The men had all dispersed. Langston and Trent were walking back to the house. They caught sight of me and called out. Hopping into the truck, I gunned it down the driveway.

As I drove past Langston, I slowed and told him, “Got to Avery’s place. Check on her. If she’s not there, come to Stormy’s.”

Langston raised a hand, nodding as I rocketed past.

Everything is fine, I told myself.You’ll walk into Stormy’s place, Porter will be out in the driveway, his cell phone dead or something, and Avery will be inside, drinking coffee.

I repeated that mantra to myself the whole drive. Yet, when I pulled into Stormy’s house and saw no sign of Avery’s car or Porter’s truck, my stomach dropped again.

It was all I could do to keep my hand from shaking as I knocked on Stormy’s door. She pulled open the door a few seconds later.

“Cole? What are you doing here?”

“Is Avery here?” I asked, my voice wavering slightly.

She frowned. “No. Didn’t she call you?”

I rubbed my hand over my face. “She did. It… well, I didn’t… it’s complicated?—”

“God.” Stormy rolled her eyes. “You didn’t get all weird about her being pregnant, did you?”

“We didn’t talk very long, and I kind of hung up on her…”

I trailed off, gaping at Stormy as her words finally registered. “Wh–what did you say?” My lips felt numb.

Her eyes went wide with shock. “Oh,piss. She didn’t tell you.” She slapped her forehead. “I totally fucked that up.”

The world, steady a few seconds before, began to tilt on a crazy axis. Suddenly, I felt dizzy.Pregnant? What?

“Tell me exactly what happened,” I said, feeling like the floorboards of her porch were shifting sand rather than solid wood.

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