Page 44 of Petals and Strings (Broken Melodies #1)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Audrey

M y eyes kept drifting to Caspian. He came out of Ares’ office shaking and pale, but something had changed.

He seemed… stronger.

Even more lucid.

His gaze sought me out and he approached me, pulling me to a hug and breathing deep as he held me tight.

There wasn’t a word uttered as we were ushered to breakfast. Ares watched over us as we gathered our food and hurried back to the table. Kane even slid Caspian a cup of tea, which he took with a grateful smile.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Ledger asked, never the subtle one. “Something’s changed. Talk to us.”

“Lilly is alive.” Caspian uttered the words without skipping a beat. “I didn’t fail her.”

“What?” I gasped, glancing at Ares who nodded once, quick and subtle, before gazing over the room.

“Eat,” Ares warned. We all listened, taking a few bites of our food and waiting to see if Caspian would offer anything more.

“I have to be patient,” he finally said, shoving a bite of eggs in his mouth. He was struggling with this. Who could fucking blame him. He found out she was alive but knows he missed so much time with her. That and they’d never let her walk in here.

Ansel cleared his throat. “We’re here, Caspian.”

Caspian glanced up, a strained smile on his face. “Thank you, Ansel.”

I loved the small ways that Ansel was stepping past his discomfort and was embracing our pack. Even a supposedly feral alpha like Rydell. He still didn’t want one romantically, but he accepted them as our protectors. That was enough to tell me this was right.

A retching sound had us looking up and glancing over where a few patients were vomiting over the trash can.

“What the hell?” I groaned, shoving my own plate away. Though, there wasn’t much left.

“Must have a stomach bug,” Ares muttered, shifting uncomfortably before stepping closer to us. “Should have had food delivered to the wing.”

“We can’t hide,” Ledger said. “It’s best this way.” The ‘It’s less suspicious’ was left unsaid.

We tried to act cool, until more and more disgusting sounds joined the mix. Groans, vomiting, dry heaving, and the ones who ran out with hands gripping their stomachs.

“Okay, now I’m worried,” I said, glancing at Ares in panic. “It’s everyone.”

We were late to breakfast, one of the last, but it clearly wasn’t taking long to hit.

Ares pulled out his phone. “Cross, we have a situation in the dining hall. Food poisoning, maybe? It’s not taking long to hit after eating. Mass sickness.”

Cross came in quickly, a box of masks and gloves in his hands, passing them out to every staff member he encountered.

“Malik is on his way.”

My stomach churned, a loud bubbling noise that had bile rising in my throat. Fuck, it was hitting.

I gazed down at the remnants of my breakfast, hoping to see something stand out, but it all looked so normal.

“I’ve got to go,” Ansel said. He was looking a little green.

“Nancy!” Ares called. She was the one nurse he trusted here.

“I’m here,” she called back, rushing forward. Her frown was deep, making her weathered skin look even more aged.

“You take her, I’ve got the guys,” he said. “Call me if anything happens.”

“Oh god,” I said, slapping a hand over my mouth and rushing to the women’s bathroom.

When I got inside it was chaos. Stalls wide open as nurses rushed in and out, offering buckets to everyone who wasn’t already by a toilet. Everyone was groaning in pain.

“Are we going to die?” someone whimpered.

“No,” the nurse said, rolling her eyes. How could she take it so lightly? We were all affected.

“Here,” Nancy said, handing me a bucket. When one girl was ushered to the showers, another took her place.

For hours, it continued like that, not one of us caring that this was the most humiliating situation, just running on fumes as we emptied our stomachs and showered through the pain.

My legs and arms were shaking as I stood under the spray. I’d emptied my stomach so much only bile remained. My eyes were heavy and I gripped the bar on the shower wall to keep myself upright.

“I’m grabbing another towel,” Nancy reassured me. The angel of a nurse had been with me for hours now, never leaving my side.

“Okay,” I croaked, leaning my head against the shower wall. The cool tile sent a shiver through me but it was soothing.

My eyes were heavy, drifting closed as I let the water rain down on me. Exhaustion had taken hold, making it a chore to keep my body upright.

The water shut off and a towel wrapped around me as I was scooped into someone’s arms. I didn’t open my eyes, my exhaustion already pulling me under.

In the back of my mind, I registered that Nancy wasn’t strong enough to do this, but I was too far gone.

I had to trust I was safe.

Ledger

My stomach was empty, my body heavy, but my head was finally clearing. Whatever they’d done to us was fading slowly.

Ansel was collapsed nearby, his body shaking even covered in towels and in this hot steaming room, but at least he’d been able to stay away from the toilet.

Kane and Caspian were both still struggling, shifting through the crowd while Ares helped where he could.

Rydell was the first to break, I was the second. Both of us helping Ares keep an eye on the other three.

I hated I couldn’t see Audrey, though I knew she wouldn’t want us to see her like this.

“They have answers yet?” I asked Ares when he walked by.

He frowned. “They’re saying it’s just food poisoning.”

“You don’t agree,” Rydell summarized. Ares shrugged, answer enough that he saw right through it like we did.

“I need to know my omega is okay,” I said. Before Ares could answer Nancy burst in, face pale and frantic.

“She’s gone. I turned to grab a towel, and she’s gone.”

Ares turned to us. “Keep them safe.”

Then he was gone.

“Go,” I told Rydell. Even though my alpha was desperate to be out there, I couldn’t risk leaving Ansel vulnerable.

Rydell was out the door with him, their footsteps pounding against the tile as they rushed away.

“What’s going on?” Ansel asked, pushing himself up to sit. I never realized how tiny he was until now, in just his boxers and skin sickly pale.

“Audrey is missing,” I admitted. His eyes widened and he jumped to his feet.

“We have to go,” he said, calling out to Caspian and Kane who were stumbling our way. “Audrey is missing.”

“No,” Caspian said, looking even more green but he shoved his legs into sweatpants and tossed Ansel his. “Let’s go.”

We weren’t quick, but we were just desperate enough to make it out of here. Ares was nowhere to be seen but Rydell was pounding on Malik’s door. The doctor wasn’t answering but from the way Rydell was hitting the door near the hinges, he didn’t care if he was in there or not.

“Is she in there?” I called out. Rydell turned and nodded, his fist slamming down as if to punctuate his answer.

“I can scent her. It was faint and off, but it led here. He’s got her,” he growled, slamming his foot near the hinge again. The door groaned but didn’t give away. We saw the lock on the other side.

“What is the meaning of this?” Dr. Malik’s cold voice rang out. Rydell spun around, moving so he was pushing Malik against the wall. The doctor sputtered but he had no hope of pushing Rydell away.

In fact, Rydell had never looked so feral.

“Where. Is. She?”

“Who?” the doctor asked, but I clocked the small smirk that was there and gone in an instant.

He had her.

“Then you don’t mind showing us inside,” Ares said evenly, glancing around at the growing crowd of guards.

He started to protest when Dr. Cross walked over. “What’s going on?”

It was a demand, one even Malik couldn’t ignore.

“Audrey is inside and he won’t open the door,” Ansel said. His voice was stronger now, firm. He might be soft for her, quiet for us, but he was ready to battle when she was missing.

“Let us in. Now.” Rydell’s growled words weren’t a question, but a warning. They had seconds before he continued to bombard the door.

“Fine,” Malik bit out. I watched as he moved, eyeing every loud movement, then banged against the door as he pretended to struggle getting it open after Rydell’s pounding.

When Director Cross cleared his throat, Malik had no choice but to open it fully and go inside. Letting our pack, Ares, and Cross inside with him. He stood off to the side, twitchy but angry as we searched. Rydell’s nose was stronger than the rest, a supposed side effect of his condition.

I’d call it an asset. Right now, he was like a bloodhound on a trail. He walked right through the office, breathing in deep and not stopping until he hit Malik’s personal office.

There was no Audrey inside. Not even a trace of her outside the faint hint of fresh rain and sandalwood.

“No,” Ansel’s broken voice was the first to speak, my heart aching at the pain there. “No, no, no!”

His words shattered on a scream that sounded raw. Caspian caught him as he collapsed, but the alpha looked just as broken.

“Where are you, Wildling?” I begged her as I glanced around.

“She’s here,” Rydell insisted. “I can tell.”

“You’re insane,” Malik huffed. “Now kindly get the fuck out of my office. I’ll be reporting this little incident to the board.”

“If you want war, you’ve found it,” Ares said, voice holding a sharp edge that had the doctor stumbling back.

“And I’ll have your job,” Malik fired back, not letting the other alpha intimidate him for long.

“Maybe it’s time to call my dad,” I said, voice hollow. I knew what was at stake if I did. The offer had been there for years.

But she was worth it. I’d go back to that life if I needed to.

“They’d tear this entire establishment apart with one word,” I said, glaring at the doctor who looked horrified now. “They have ways of making people talk. Hell, so do I. Where is my mate?”

“If you had that kind of power you wouldn’t be here. This is the home for broken toys, Mr. D’Angelo. You’re nothing special. Now, I asked you all to get out.”

“Come,” Ares said, pulling me and Rydell out of the office, the others trailing behind. Cross followed us to our wing, head down, not engaging with anyone.

When the door clicked shut, Ares pulled out his phone. A deep voice rumbled on the other side in greeting.

“They have my mate. It’s time to bring this place down, Director. Time is almost out.”

“What do you have on this? I need something to go on before I make that call, Aeron. You know what this means to me, and you know I don’t take this lightly.”

Why is he so invested? What brought them here?

So many questions were circling my mind.

“It’s this or the fucking mafia,” I said easily. “But we have years of stories, firsthand accounts. And if that doesn’t motivate you then maybe a mass poisoning will get you in the door. Literally everyone who ate was down.”

“That’ll do it, m’boy,” the director said. “Someone, get a food sample, then sit tight. Backup will be enroute in twenty.”

The call ended, leaving us in echoing silence.

“We’re coming, Wildling,” I said, refusing to put all my hope in the men coming.

“I’m not waiting. I’ll restrain the doctor myself,” Rydell growled, stalking to the door but Ares stopped him.

“We’ll rip this place apart, no corner untouched,” he promised. “Give us twenty minutes. He won’t move her yet.”

“I’m going to monitor him,” Cross said, patting Rydell on the shoulder as he walked away. “I’ll keep exits locked down tight.”

“We are going to find her,” Ansel whispered to no one in particular. “We have to.”

The end…