Page 97 of Heat & Deceit
JAVI
Rome doesn’t talk for the rest of the ride. I grip the steering wheel so tight, I swear it creaks, ready to break from the excessive pressure. Fucking lies upon lies. I hate liars, but it’s hard for me to hate Rome. He’s pack, and he was right to protect Carmine. It’s difficult to think about hating Carmine. I never asked her if she was an omega, so she didn’t exactly lie to me, but she hid who she was.
Maybe it wasn’t a lie, but I know what it was.
Deceit.
My stomach turns and I clench my jaw. Why was she hiding? What is she running from? That’s not the only reason for an omega to take heat suppressants, but Rome was right. Carmine does flinch in a way that hints at some sort of abuse in her past. That day Todd came by, I lost control at the sight of her fear.
Whoever hurt her is going to pay.
I growl again as I take a turn too fast, smacking the top of the steering wheel. “What the fuck, Rome?”
“I’m sorry for not telling you, but I’m not sorry for protecting her for as long as I did.”
I pull up behind Ly’s Boxley. The driver’s side door is wide open, and the car is still running. Rome scoffs and spears me with a look.
“One whiff of her scent, and this is how he reacts. You know I was right for being cautious.”
Cutting the engine, I glare at the Boxley’s taillights. “We’ll talk about this later.” I get out and run to Ly’s car, turning it off and locking it up before pocketing the keys. Rome is holding the door to the rundown apartment complex open.
“It’s not just a whiff of her scent, and you know it. She’s in heat.” We head inside and follow Ly’s scent up the stairs. I grimace at the broken door handle and walk into the open apartment, where Lycus is storming about. He’s opening and closing doors, head swinging back and forth. He walks toward her bed and drops on the floor, searching under the bed. With a fierce growl, he shoves the bed away, and it crashes into the wall.
“Hey,” I snap at him. “She’s not here. Don’t break her stuff.”
“Where is she?” he snarls. “Where?”
“I don’t know.” I glance around her tiny apartment, worry gnawing at my insides. “Let’s keep looking.”
* * *
LY
My heart pounds as I pace in front of the piano. We searched for Carmine for hours. She’s gone. Disappeared, without tracks to follow. The remnants of her scent are long gone, dissipated into the atmosphere, almost like none of it happened at all. Almost like she was never really here. She was, though.
I went as far as to check our security footage, double checking that I hadn’t imagined the whole thing. Her purse and phone are here too. She was here. It was real. But we have no idea where she is. No idea if she’s safe. Jamming my fingers into my hair, I seethe and pull at the roots, growling when the pain becomes unbearable. The door to the music room swings open, and I whirl around, glaring at Rome.
“You.” I launch myself at him, but he knocks my fist to the side, wrenching my arms behind my back and slamming me against the wall. “Get the fuck off me!” I snarl.
“No.”
“This is your fucking fault, Rome!” That accusation might not be totally fair, but he’d suspected what she was. We could have done something to prepare.
Like what? Trapping her in the mansion? She wanted to run. She wanted to escape.
Rome presses one arm into my back when I buck. “Will you calm the fuck down?”
“I’ll calm down once we find her.”
“We don’t even know if she has a pack.” A growl chases his words. He doesn’t like that idea any better than I do. “If I let you go, will you let me talk? I did a background check and have some information. Not a lot, but some.”
“Yeah, you can talk.” I smirk to myself as he presses me into the wall a little harder. A warning.
The thing about warnings? I’ve never been one to heed them.
As soon as he releases me, I spin around and hit him square in the jaw, rocking his head to the side. His eyes flash with anger, but he douses it, glaring at me as he cups his mouth, working his jaw.
“Feel better?” Javi asks, pouring himself a glass of whiskey.
