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"I need to be doing something," Mo insisted, pacing the kitchen floor. "I can't just sit here while Zack is out there somewhere."

Three very long hours later, they all sat around the huge kitchen table drinking coffee to stay awake. Jacob had been brought here and was asleep in Noah’s room after Riley had checked him over, or at least enough until they could get a doctor to see him tomorrow. He hadn’t been able to give them any more information and Riley had decreed Jacob and Noah both needed sleep. Alex had waited until they were both settled before he had joined them.

“I still think they should be moved,” Martin said.

“Actually,” Asher said. “The obvious decoys aside, this is still the safest place for them to be.”

“Except this was the place they were taken from,” Martin countered.

Raschid grunted his disapproval, but Martin met his gaze square on, and Mo didn’t blame him. Raschid had guaranteed their safety. But Alex had been quick to confirm it had been wolves that attacked them. In such a large pack, ordinary gammas wouldn’t recognize individual scents and would have assumed any shifters were pack.

Or at least until they got close enough to hit them with the darts and by then it would have been too late.

“I heard them say,” Alex chimed in, “‘This is the one we want’ before they took Zack, but why?”

Riley met Victor’s gaze. “Ideas?”

Victor wanted to put his fist through something.

Riley paused. “Okay, this has to be said. Zack’s wearing your mating mark.”

Victor stilled. He stared at Riley. “He submitted to me.” He knew it was very rare for alphas to wear one, but in their relationship, it had seemed natural at the time, and he didn’t know about bears. They still had to talk about it, though. The knotting in particular. No, the heat as well. He’d been blind. Deliberately fooling himself.

Riley nodded. “I’d have to check with Noah to find out exactly what he said—”

Everyone heard the growl from Alex, and Riley sighed. “I know it wasn’t his fault, Alex, but what was our fault was that we never asked Noah to repeat exactly what he’d told his father, especially in the week of their heat.” He laid a hand on Alex’s arm. “No one’s blaming Noah.”

Victor swallowed with difficulty. “What has that to do with why they targeted Zack?”

Riley gazed at him, but he knew, or could guess. It just didn’t make sense. “We know shifters were involved,” Riley said. “We know Pearson has knowledge of shifter society. You were upstairs for nearly a week mating, and afterwards, Zack wore your mating mark.”

“So did I,” Mo said.

Riley glanced at him and smiled. “Except you are a human omega. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it makes Zack—if he is a shifter omega—a better bet.”

“A better bet for what?” Mo whispered.

Riley sighed. “This was a theory,” he started. “I don’t know these kids, but from what Raschid told me”—he looked to Raschid, who nodded grimly—“all of them demonstrated omega traits. There are shifters at the school who have never been targeted, and Raschid has confirmed those are shifters demonstrating alpha tendencies.”

“Are you saying these drugs work better on omegas?” Martin asked.

Riley shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But what’s the one thing shifter omegas can do that no human male can?”

Victor felt the blood leave his face.

“Wait,” Asher said in astonishment. “You think Zack’s an omega?” He stared at Riley, then whispered. “And he could bepregnant?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Zackwoketodarknessand pain.

His first instinct was to shift, to let his bear's strength protect him, but when he tried, nothing happened. A cold weight encircled his wrists and ankles—metal restraints, he realized groggily. Something about them blocked his ability to shift.

"Don't bother," a voice said from somewhere in the darkness. "The cuffs are silver-lined. Quite effective against shifters, I've found."

Zack blinked as lights suddenly flickered on, revealing a sterile, white room that looked like a cross between a laboratory and a hospital. He was strapped to a padded table, medical equipment surrounding him.

"Where am I?" Zack demanded, his voice hoarse. "What do you want?"