Page 168 of Eclipse Sector

However, considering it now, I wondered if that was the past Ashlyn had referenced. The night I’d failed to kill my father.

“You mentioned Eclipse Sector being part of this Omega slave trade before.” Kyra’s voice reached my ears from somewhere to my left. I couldn’t see her, and her words were faint, but my enhanced hearing allowed her soft tones to reach me. “How?”

“As a trading ground or a potential auction site,” Cael replied. “Or that’s what we think. It’s possible they’ve also hosted hunting parties out here.”

“Hunting parties?” she repeated, the term sending another chill down my spine.

Because I absolutely knew what a hunting party was. My father had loved them.Cravedthem. He’d fucking loved making his females scream.

“Where the Omegas run and the Alphas hunt,” Grey growled, his crude summarization making me grunt. “We’ve never seen it happen; we’ve only heard of them. But we know they’re real.”

“And you think they host them here?” Kyra pressed, asking a question I was dying to know the answer to as well.

“Not regularly.” Cael’s reply was louder, his scent curling around my senses and confirming they were close. “But at least once. Unless it was an auction or a trade.”

“Too many scents for a trade,” Grey muttered. “An auction, perhaps. But most likely a hunt. This land is perfect for it.”

“And the hills have a history associated with it as well,” I added as they appeared to my left.

Grey nodded. “That they do.”

I wasn’t sure what he knew about it other than maybe rumors. But the haunted gleam in his gaze made me wonder if it was something more. Something to do with whatever he was hiding. His talent, perhaps?

I didn’t have it in me to press him, not when it was clear we needed to focus on Ashlyn.

“I don’t hear her anywhere,” I told them, getting right to the point and changing the topic away from theOmega slave trade. We’d… deal with that issue after we handled this one. “Do you smell her?” My question was primarily for Grey. I suspected that of all of us, he would be the one most familiar with her natural perfume.

Unfortunately, he shook his head.

Sighing, I was about to suggest splitting up on different parts of the isle when he rumbled out, “But she’s definitely here.”

“You can sense her?” Cael asked.

“No.”

“Then how do you know she’s here?” Kyra asked, her exasperation rivaling my own.

“I just…” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “Trust me. She’s here.”

Trust you, I thought, grunting internally.Right.

Where are all the Infected?Lorcan thought, his gaze flicking toward me.I don’t smell any of them.

They’re probably in the old cities,I replied telepathically. It’d been a long time since we’d been back here. Maybe four or five decades. There just hadn’t been cause to visit after we’d moved everyone to Blood Sector.

But not to smell a single one?He glanced around, his gaze narrowing.I don’t know, C. I don’t like it.

I didn’t like it either. I didn’t like any of this. The cryptic journal entry. Granger’s unexpected betrayal. Cael’s and Grey’s mysterious powers. The Omega slave trade. Leaving Ivana behind. Beinghere.

Something wasn’t adding up.

What am I missing?

I’m embracing my past, just like you said. I’m here. I’m not my father. But you want me to think like him…

He left Omegas in holes. Ashlyn sent her blessing from the grave.

But she’s not here.