Lena wasn’t in her apartment. And not at the hotel. The drive back from her apartment is quiet and solemn, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
We’re at a loss for what to do next with no clues to go on, and Lena’s scent is still too faint to trace.
Gunner’s only suggestion was to go home, regroup, and then try to think of somewhere she could have gone.
We walk into the pack house, and suddenly my phone rings. One look at the caller ID has me fumbling to answer, my hands gripping the phone tightly in urgency.
“Lena?” I answer frantically, and Max and Gunnar stop in their tracks, their eyes whipping towards me. Max’s eyes are wide with surprise, but Gunnar only looks concerned, waiting to hear what our omega has to say.
“Damon!” she sobs, the sound of her voice breaking my heart. She sounds scared, and I try to keep calm, knowing it won’t help if I scare her any more than she already is.
“Where are you right now, darling?” I ask, putting my phone on loudspeaker so the others can hear. “Where did you go?”
She takes a gulping breath, trying to form her words between her tears.
“D-Damon,” she stutters. “H-help, h-he’s…”
She dissolves into tears again, and I take a deep breath, trying to clamp down on the panic I can feel building in my chest. Gunnar and Max are leaning toward the phone in my hand, listening closely.
“Take a deep breath, baby,” says Gunnar.
“Yes, slow down,” I say gently, trying to get her to calm down even though I was fucking scared right now for her. “Deep breaths. Tell me what’s wrong. Where are you?”
“I’m at an airport,” she whispers as if she doesn’t want to be overheard. “Clinton National Airport.”
Max grabs a notebook and writes down the information.
“Okay, and what’s happened? What’s got you so scared, darling?”
“Zorin,” she breathes, and my blood runs cold. Gunnar stills, his eyes starting to glow with anger.
“What did you say?”
“Zorin,” she says again, this time a little louder. “He was on the same flight as me and sat in the seat next to me. He says he’s been following me for months, watching everything I do. He knows that I’m pregnant.”
She starts to cry again, and I try to remain as calm as possible while my packmates are already rushing out the door, and I follow them.
“Where is Zorin now?” I ask.
“He’s outside the bathroom waiting for me. I don’t have much time. He’ll come looking for me if I don’t hurry up.”
A thought occurred to me, and I hope that Lena was smart enough to have thought of it first. If she wanted to get away from us, she certainly would have wanted to disguise her scent from us.
“Do you have your scent blockers on you?” I ask, praying that she took them with her.
“Yes,” she says, and I breathe a huge sigh of relief. “I already took one and rubbed my scent blocker lotion on. I’m covered from head to toe.”
“Good girl,” I murmur, my lips curling up in a rueful smile as I join my pack at the car.
“Hold on,” says Max, grabbing my phone from my hands. “We need to draw Zorin away from the bathroom so she can escape. Why don’t I call Clinton National Airport and ask a staff member to request Zorin come to the help desk to take a phone call? That way, he’ll be out of the way, which gives you time to run.”
“Okay,” she says quietly, and I’m impressed.
“That’s fucking brilliant,” Gunnar mutters. “Let’s do it.”
“Hold on, Lena,” I say when Max hands me my phone back and moves into a distance to make a call on his phone. “We’ve got a plan. Max will get Zorin to go to the help desk to take a call. It should give you enough time to get away from him. Try to see if you can see when he leaves. When he does, you make your move. Okay, honey?”
“Okay,” she whispers, and I hear what sounds like the click of a lock on the toilet stall door. There are some quiet footsteps before a door opens, and slightly louder chatter reaches my ears. “I can see him.”
“Good, Max is making the call now. I will stay on the phone with you, alright?”
“I’m scared, Damon,” she admits, her voice trembling, and all I want to do is reach through the phone and hug her. “I don’t want him to catch me if I leave this bathroom. He’ll kill me, I know it.”
“You can do it, love,” I soothe, listening out for Max’s voice. “You’re my brave omega. You won’t let him get to you.”
She’s quiet for a few moments, and then, faintly in the background, I hear Zorin’s name being called on the loudspeaker. Lena sucks in a sharp breath, and I tense.
“He’s gone,” she says. “I think it worked.”
“Run, Lena,” I say immediately, my chest tight with worry. “Run and don’t look back. Get out of there now!”
I hear the clicking of the bathroom door, a few tentative footsteps, and everything goes quiet.
My heart stops and I look down at my phone, thinking that the plan didn’t work and the worst has happened, but I see that the call cut out. My phone screen is dark, only my panicked expression staring back at me.
“Fuck!” I shout, my voice ragged, breath hitching in my throat as I slam my palm against the roof of the car.
“What happened?” Max asks frantically as he returns. “Did it work? Did she get away?”
“Lena’s line went dead,” says Gunnar.
“I don’t know,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “We lost connection.”
“Shit!” he snaps. “We can’t just sit here. If Zorin’s there, we have to move. Now.”
Gunnar’s expression hardens, his eyes blazing with determination. “We take the chopper—fastest way. If Lena is in danger, every second counts.”
“If Zorin gets his hands on her, we’re fucked. I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do to her. I can’t lose Lena, not like this,” I growl, jumping into the car.
“Then we’re in agreement. Let’s move,” says Max sharply.
I don’t want to think about what will happen if we’re too late. I’m not relaxing until I see her myself and hold her in my arms. I try to shove any doubts I may have to the back of my mind. We’re bringing her home, even if we have to tear the city apart brick by fucking brick.
Lena
As soon as Zorin is out of sight, I slip out of the bathroom and hurtle down the passageway, my suitcase flying behind me.
In my panic, I accidentally dropped the call with Damon, but I don’t have time to call him back as I fly past several confused travelers and toward the airport exit.
My only focus is getting as far away from Zorin as possible.
I have no doubt that by now, he’s worked out that Max’s call was a diversion and is looking for me. He’s going to be furious when he discovers that I’ve escaped, but I can’t let that stop me.
Freedom is just within reach.
I race through the airport, running so fast that my scarf whips off from around my neck, fluttering somewhere behind me. My suitcase is knocking into people left and right as I round corners wildly, and I can barely spare a thought for the shouts of complaint when I finally see the exit doors and the taxi bay nearby.
I burst outside and hurriedly wave down a taxi that is just pulling up, two people leaving the backseat.
The couple looks at me in alarm before grabbing their bags and hurrying inside the airport.
I fall into the backseat, slamming the door and ducking down to avoid being seen. If Zorin managed to track me outside, I don’t want him to know where I’m going.
Taking a deep breath, I try to calm my nerves before I speak to the taxi driver.
“51st Maple Avenue, please,” I wheeze at last, giving him the address of the home that I rented online. Hopefully, they’ll allow me to check in early.
“Are you all right there?” the driver asks in concern, staring at me with wide eyes. “Do you need me to call someone?”
“I’m okay,” I say quietly, wiping the tears off my cheeks. “I just really need to get going, please.”
He casts me one last concerned look in the rearview mirror. “All right, but let me know if you need anything.”
The driver pulls out smoothly from his parking spot, and I take one final look behind me as we pull into the city traffic to make sure that Zorin is nowhere to be seen.
Drive faster. Drive faster.
I’m nearly having a heart attack watching the traffic and how slow we’re going.
My fingers are trembling, and I clasp them together on my lap, trying to keep it together for just a little bit longer until I can get to safety.
Things could not have gone any more haywire.
Remembering the plane ride from hell, I’m just grateful I was able to escape him one more time. With Zorin, it was complicated. He was my ticket to escape my hellish mother and the hope for freedom.
But I was so wrong. So very wrong.
The taxi driver drops me off in front of my rental home, and I tip him generously for his promptness.
“Now you take care of yourself, miss,” he says. “If you need a ride anytime, call me.”
Grabbing my carry-on from the backseat, I lumber out of the car with shaking limbs, and the taxi drives off. I walk up to the house, rolling my suitcase behind me.
The home is a modest light green color, giving me cozy vibes. Punching in the code the landlord emailed, I walk inside and immediately lock the door.
I’m a little paranoid right now.
I double-check every window in the townhouse to make sure that they are closed and locked. I check the kitchen pantry, the bathroom behind the shower curtain, the bedroom closet, and even under the beds.
I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, but Zorin scared me badly enough that I think he’s already in the home waiting for me.
To make matters worse, Zorin never said whether he had acted alone in his stalking of me. Aleks and Raul could just as easily be part of his plan, and I would be none the wiser until they showed up. The thought terrifies me, and I feel a violent wave of nausea pulse inside me, desperate to be let out.
I rush to the bathroom and puke into the toilet.
This time, there’s no Damon sitting beside me to hold my hair and rub circles on my back, and I cry as I battle through my nausea, occasionally hugging the toilet as my body expels the little I’ve eaten today. I know that my vomiting is partly due to morning sickness, but I also think that it’s partly due to stress. Damon isn’t here to keep me calm with his purring.
Hopefully, I’ll be safe here for a while.
Panting, I slowly get up with shaky limbs and flush the toilet. I wonder when this nausea will stop.
I wash my face and rinse my mouth, then head to the living room to sit and relax for a moment. My phone is still in my bag, where I had thrown it in my haste to leave the airport, so I grab it to see if I’ve missed anything.
It was on silent, so I was surprised to see that I had several missed calls and texts from the alphas.
Max
Did the plan work? Were you able to get out?
Max
Is everything okay, Lena?
Max
Call me sweetheart. We’re worried sick about you. I love you, and I need to know you’re safe.
My heart aches at the declaration of his feelings, and tears roll down my face.
Damon
Please let us know that you’re all right, baby.
Gunnar
Lena, I’m desperate. Call me. I love you.
Why did I ever leave when I had the love of three phenomenal alphas right in front of me? I feel like a moron, but it’s too late for that now. All I can do now is let them know I’m okay and where I am.
I send the alphas a group text.
The plan worked, and I’m okay. I’m safe. I’ll send you my location.
My message has only just been delivered when my phone rings, Damon’s name flashing on the screen.
“Damon?” I answer, surprised that he’s calling me within seconds of me sending the message.
“Did you make it home safe?” he asks loudly over the sounds of a whirring engine.
Was he in some kind of helicopter? My face heats with embarrassment at the urgency he and his pack are taking to get to me.
“I’m fine,” I say, raising my voice so he can hear me. “I just texted you all back. Where are you? It sounds like you’re flying.”
“That’s because we are!” he shouts over the loud engines. “We’re on our way to you. Max has got your location. Hang tight, okay? We’re coming for you. Don’t answer the door for anyone except us, and we’ll let you know when we’re there. Promise me you won’t open the door no matter what.”
“Okay, I promise,” I say, not wanting to go against his order this time. I need him. I need his pack to keep our baby safe. “Thank you, Damon.”
There’s a long pause, and I wait for him to say something more. Max and Gunnar told me they love me. Is Damon going to do the same? My heart skips a beat at the thought.
“We’ll be there soon,” he says gruffly and hangs up.
Disappointment wells in my chest, but I swallow it down.
I can hear in his voice that he’s upset with me. He doesn’t trust me now and thinks I’m like his ex. Dropping the phone onto the couch, I sigh as I close my eyes, and tears roll down my face. Loud sobs fill the living room as I break down.
Damon’s trust in me is gone. It’s my fault.
Thirty minutes later, my shirt is drenched with my tears, and my face is wet.
Leaving my phone on the couch, I shuffle into the kitchen to make something to eat. I grab the few snacks I’d bought at the airport and scrounge some ramen from inside one of the kitchen cupboards.
My stomach rumbles hungrily, and I chuckle softly through my tears, patting it gently.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you fed, little one,” I murmur and start cooking while thinking about the baby that will be here in months. There’s no point beating myself up over messing up everything Damon and I had between us. There’s a baby, and I need to protect him or her from the threat outside these walls.
My hands are busy preparing the meal, but my mind is going a hundred miles an hour. I head back into the living room and turn on the TV, hoping it will drown out the noise in my head. I check the time on my phone, wondering where Damon, Max, and Gunnar are.
Slurping my noodles, I watch the comedy show on the screen without smiling. I can’t relax until Damon and his pack are here. For some reason, a part of my soul is also missing them. My heart aches as I think about every one of them.
The thought alone is scary, but it makes me giddy that I could fall in love again. And maybe I’m not as damaged as I think I am.
