Chapter Eighteen

King

I was walking toward the warehouse when my knees buckled and my chest exploded with piercing pain.

Something was wrong.

My lion burst forth, the pain radiating through my body as he let out a throat-shredding roar. My mate. Something was happening to my mate.

"What is it?" Aziz threw open the side door of the warehouse, and my beast whirled on him. "King, talk to me. I've never heard that from you before."

Mate.

Hurt.

Mate.

Find.

I forced the change back to my human form then bent over and braced my palms on my knees. I barely had control over my lion. "Where is Ryan?"

"I don't know," Aziz said.

"Find out!" I yelled, my lion speaking through me again.

Aziz pulled out his phone while several others, omegas and my brothers, came out of the warehouse to see what was going on. "Hey, is Ryan there?" He waited for an answer. "Then, where is he?"

My body vibrated with my animal's caged anger and fear.

"Alone?" Aziz asked. "Why didn't anyone go with him? Fine. Call me immediately if you see him or if anyone has any information."

"What?" I spoke again. Sloan and Grey wrapped their arms around their torsos, shielding themselves from my voice.

"He went to town to run some errands. He's been gone an hour. They say he usually isn't gone that long."

"Fuck!" I stomped to the warehouse and to my room, pulling on a shirt and jeans.

"I'll drive," Aziz said, touching my arm. "We'll go into town. He's probably there. Stopped for an ice cream or pizza."

"Brother"—I spoke around my growing fear while I rubbed my fist into the center of my chest—"something isn't right."

"Then let's go scent it out. If that's the last place he was, then we'll find him. You and me. Best noses on the fucking continent. Come on."

Aziz drove us into town at lightning speed. Once we were there, we took off in different directions, scenting out the places Ryan had been. To the pharmacy. To the small market. To the clothing store. When I crossed the street, his honey and cream scent dissipated completely. "It ends here."

Aziz came up behind me. "It ends here for me too."

"There's something else. A hint of someone else. An omega. Canine? Wolf? I can't tell."

Aziz sidled up to me. "If only it were acceptable to shift here, I could get a better read. I think you're right. It's not a wolf but canine. Not a hyena either. Wait, I've smelled that before. It's…" He trailed off.

"What? It's what?" I yelled so loudly that a few human patrons stopped to stare.

"It smells like a jackal, King."

A jackal. A fucking jackal had my mate. I stepped from the curb onto the street, desperate to pick up another scent—something that would lead me to my omega, but instead, all I saw was a bruised apple near the edge of the street.

Apples were Ryan's favorite. He had one every night, dipped in peanut butter.

"Let's get back to the warehouse. We make a plan. Get Tyrus on the computer. Maybe they can track his phone. I know Tyrus gave him one yesterday since he is part of the team. That should work."

"Fine."

We hopped in the car and on the trip there, I made calls to my brothers. Tyrus was already on his laptop and, sure enough, they could track Ryan through his phone, but I wasn't happy about what he told me. "His signal dropped off somewhere off Highway 449. Looks like a patch of woods there, from the aerial maps."

I stayed on the phone until I entered the warehouse. "Talk," I barked to Hammer.

"We're ready. Get your weapons. They're on the table. We have a GPS location from the last place his phone pinged. After that, King and Aziz, you'll have to use your noses. Beast form. We'll follow you in."

"Done." I strapped on my shoulder holster and got ready in seconds. The alphas kissed their omegas goodbye and we were all wished good luck.

No omegas on this mission.

We didn't need more than one of our mates to worry about.

"Whoever took him is dead, and I can't guarantee he will live long enough to tell tales," I said as we slammed the doors of the black SUV. We all rode in one this time. Less conspicuous.

"That's okay. This isn't an intelligence-seeking mission. This is fucking personal." Hammer was right. This wasn't part of the job, and I didn't want to treat it as such. I was simply warning them. If they wanted information from whoever took my omega, they would have to get to him first because as far as I was concerned, the alpha was future ground sirloin. He just didn't know it yet.

"Nothing else?" I jabbed Tyrus in the ribs. He was friends with my omega. Teaching Ryan how to do the things he did on the computer. They were together all the time. We all had skin in this particular game.

"No. I'm refreshing every few seconds."

"How long since the last one?" I asked.

"Thirty-two minutes."

I balled my hands into fists. "A lot can happen in thirty-two minutes."

Hammer turned around in his seat. "Ryan's smart, man. Really smart. He'll keep himself safe. He'll do what it takes. He's a fucking survivor. Saved himself. Saved all those cubs. We'll find him alive."

Survive, omega. Survive for us.