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Alejandro:

Is she at Cosmic Bonds?

West:

Hang on

I feltdumb for not thinking of that sooner. I called the front desk.

“Thank you for calling Cosmic Bonds. Terran speaking. How can I help you?” Terran said on the other end.

“It’s West,” I said. “Is Ember at work?”

“She left a half hour ago. She said she was swinging by the cottage for more clothes?” He sounded amused about that.

“Right, I forgot. Thanks.”

“Everything okay?” Terran asked.

“Fine, I’ll check in later.” I hung up. It wasn’t okay, but I didn’t have time to get into it with Terran.

I opened up the group chat.

West:

She left work a half hour ago and she’s swinging by our cottage for clothes, her brother said.

Ben and Rianhadn’t replied yet, but it wasn’t weird for them to be radio silent for hours at a time if they were recording a session.

I glanced at the clock. It was only five, and I was supposed to be here for another hour, probably two if I wanted to be able to double-check my work. I’d had small issues with the coding the last month or so, and it was adding an annoying layer to everything I did.

But Ember needed me. I knew she did. We might not be able to bond with each other, but it didn’t matter. I had been by her side for almost ten years, and I knew her better than I knew myself at times. We had formed our own sort of bond, like her heart beat in my chest.

Something was wrong.

Alejandro:

I’ll swingby the cottage, see what’s up

Relief warred with affection.He didn’t question me, didn’t ask for explanations, just trusted that I was right.

Who would have thought an alpha could be so laid-back while still having the alphaness my omega craved? And would be interested in me?

I thought about Ben. Who would have thought two alphas would exist like that in the world? I certainly didn’t.

West:

I’ll meet you there

I prepared to leave work,trying to get Ember on the phone again. Knowing she wasn’t going to pick up. Hating how far away I was. Thank god Alejandro worked close by.

Chapter 33

Ember

Isat on my knees, staring at the nest. Something smelled like burnt lemon cake, but that seemed irrelevant.

My nest was destroyed. Tears were streaming from eyes, my cheeks wet. The nest I build with West, layer by layer. The blanket we found on sale at Nests and Knots was ripped in half. The pillows lining the walls were torn up, like someone had taken a knife to them. Stuffing littered the floor, like malicious little clouds.