Page 32 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

I swivel my desk chair side to side as I wait for my computer to boot up. Rays of fading sunlight shine through the window, creating a golden rectangle on my desk and catching on the dust gathered on top of my trunk.

I didn’t realize how much dust had collected on it until now. I rarely look at it these days. It reminds me too much of her , and I haven’t had the heart to open it, let alone touch it, since the one and only time I used it.

Music from the club reaches me through the vents.

It mixes with laughter and chatter as the crew readies the space for another evening.

Their jokes and jabs are too muffled for me to make out what they’re saying, but I don’t mind.

I didn’t come here today to see or speak with anyone. I came here with one singular purpose.

The computer kicks on at the exact moment my phone rings. It vibrates on my desk, the screen flashing with Wesley’s name and picture.

With a groan and a sigh, I swipe it up. I’d rather get started on my task now than speak to him, but if I ignore him, he’ll just keep calling until I answer. Hopefully, whatever he needs from me won’t take too long.

“What?” I slump back against my leather chair.

“Where are you?” Wes asks, not bothered by my lack of greeting in the slightest. “I tried mindlinking you, but I couldn’t reach you.”

“I’m in town.”

“Well, I need you here.”

“Why? ”

“Pack business.”

I tap my foot, waiting for him to elaborate.

He doesn’t.

“I’ll see you soon.”

He leaves no room for argument in his tone. It’s an alpha command. I can’t feel it through the phone, but I know he used one.

Wesley hangs up before I can ask any further questions or tell him to start without me.

Whatever it is he needs me home for is important, urgent—he wouldn’t command me like that if it wasn’t—but I’m finding it harder to care about pack business when all I want is to find my little rogue.

I’ve been without her for too long. Each day that passes, the hole in my heart expands.

Darkness creeps in, filling that gap, making it difficult to hide the pain.

Burying myself in my work—for the pack and for the club—helps, but only so much.

It’s only a matter of time before I snap. Before I break.

Seeing my brother and my friends with their mates—helping Reid win over the female who could finally tame him and watching Nolan find his much deserved chance at happiness—doesn’t help.

I’m happy for them all, of course, but when I’m around them, that growing hole is an aching, yawning cavern—a stark reminder of what I’m missing without her at my side.

Love. Happiness. Peace. Life.

My eyes flick to the computer screen. It glows in the darkening room, beckoning to me. Tempting me.

My lycan pushes me to leave, though. To head back home. He’s been on edge since last night: pacing, snapping his jaws, snarling, and whining in my mind off and on for hours. He kept me awake until dawn and had me distracted through every training session I ran today.

I grit my teeth, not bothering to turn the computer off or lock my office as I depart. I’ll come back after this meeting.

“Leaving already?” Forrest’s voice stops me in my tracks as I reach the back door.

“Pack business.”

He crosses his arms, leaning against the stairwell, examining me. “No luck?”

“I didn’t get to check. Wesley called me back to the pack before I could.”

Forrest and my dad are the only two who know I’ve been searching for Sarina.

My dad knows because he’s helped me this entire time, utilizing every connection he has and even flying to other countries to follow potential leads when I couldn’t get away without raising suspicions.

Forrest knows because I told him I’d be using my computer here to store all the information, and because he kept asking me when my sub would be returning with me to the club or wondering why I wouldn’t come down to watch anymore.

I had to tell him to get him off my back.

I never told him I think she is my mate, though. Bear shifters don’t always settle down with a single mate, so I doubt he’d understand. But as a Dom, he gets it. He understands that when you find someone that special, that perfect of a match for you, you don’t let them go without a fight.

“Are you sure you have to go?” he asks. “Maybe this lead is the one.”

“I doubt it.” I shove through the back door and leave him and the club behind without saying goodbye.

A breeze flutters through the alley, carrying with it a warmth that signals summer is around the corner.

It follows me down the sidewalk as I walk past the downtown shops, all the way to my truck.

It swirls and spirals, teasing my messy hair and dancing around my limbs, only stopping when I slam the door shut with a growl.

The engine rumbles, muffling the wind that rustles over the roof, and the tires squeal as I pull away from the curb, drowning out that annoying spring breeze rattling the windows.

I hate spring, and I hate breezes. They remind me too much of the night four years ago when she left me.

Four years.

Four fucking years of dead ends. Four years of searching and hoping, four years of let-downs and pent-up desolation.

Sarina and her pack are good at disappearing. I’ll give them that much.

I know she’s out there. Somewhere. I promised her I would find her, and I will. I just wish she would let me.

Nothing has worked. Not one of my dad’s connections, not a cent of the money we’ve spent, and none of the deals we’ve made. Nothing.

It’s enough to make me lose all hope of ever finding her .

My lycan growls at me at that thought, teeth bared and hackles raised. I strain my neck as I fight to push him into the bowels of my mind, to leave me alone so I can be miserable in peace.

He does no such thing. He rides shotgun in my mind the entire drive home, adding to my burgeoning irritation from leaving the club without a chance to check the potential lead my dad sent me.

I’m a breath away from snapping, a click away from taking it all out on the next unlucky soul who dares to agitate me.

Like so many times over the years I’ve been searching for Sarina, I’m wound up like a top, tied up like a too-tight pair of shoes.

But there’s nothing I can do to ease that tension.

All I can do is hope this meeting Wesley insisted I join is over quickly.

I leave my truck in the parking lot and trudge up the front steps of the packhouse.

I have no desire to see or speak with anyone.

If I can’t check the information my dad sent, then all I want to do is head into my apartment, spread out the blue blanket Sarina left me, and lose myself in a mindless television show.

I won’t, though. I’ll be the good little brother, the duty-bound delta.

I’ll pretend that seeing them happy and in love with their mates isn’t a searing brand on my heart.

I’ll sit through this meeting with the others, with my typical smirk and my armor of snark—exactly like I have for the last four years.

“Where are we meeting?” I ask Wesley through mindlink as I shove the front door open.

“Conference room,” he replies. “Everyone else is already here. We’re just waiting for you.”

I frown but make my way through the pack members lingering in the common areas of the house, skirt around the kitchen, bypass the hall to Wesley’s office, and turn right down the next hall.

Usually, we meet in his office or the house Wesley built for Haven as a wedding gift, or even in one of Haven’s dance studios.

I can’t remember the last time we used the conference room for a pack leadership meeting.

I pause at the door. I shake the tension from my muscles and glue a smug grin on my lips before I enter the room.

“What’s up, dickheads?” is on the tip of my tongue, but I trip over the words before I can get them out, taken aback by the presence of an extra body seated at the far end of the rectangular conference room table, directly across from Wesley and a very pregnant Haven.

My mouth snaps shut, and I close the door behind me, glancing at Wes with a raised brow.

He says nothing and instead nods at the empty chair next to Nolan, silently ordering me to sit down.

I bite back my huff of annoyance and switch my focus to Reid and Taryn.

Reid’s jaw is tight, his light blue eyes shooting occasional scowls towards the male to his left.

His pregnant mate, Taryn, holds Reid’s hand on top of the table.

His thumb rubs circles into her dark brown skin.

It’s clear that the only thing keeping him from outright glaring at the male is her touch.

“Hey, Dominic.” I extend my hand to the former alpha of our neighboring pack, Silver Ridge, ignoring Reid’s pointed stare at my hand and the subtle growl he doesn’t hold back. “What brings you here?”

“Not his daughter,” Reid snarls.

Dominic flinches and ducks his head, dropping my hand after a brief shake.

“He doesn’t give a shit about her,” Reid adds.

“Reid!” Taryn hisses between her teeth. “He said he—”

“Has a reason, I know.” Reid shakes his head and crosses his arms. “I’m still waiting to hear it.”

“We all are.” Wesley gives Reid a warning glare. “He told you it would make sense once he explains why he’s here, and he wanted to wait until everyone arrived before he began.” His glare switches to me.

I finally take my seat next to Nolan, but I’m already focused on Dominic.

His dark gray eyes fill with turmoil and remorse, and he no longer resembles the powerful, confident alpha he used to be.

His light brown hair is shorter, the curls nonexistent with how closely it’s cropped to his head.

He’s dressed simply, in jeans and a black T-shirt.

Yet even with the pain, even with the regret, he seems more himself than the Dominic I remember.

Although, I don’t know if the Dominic I remember was ever truly Dominic.

He gives Wesley a nod of thanks, then folds his hands on top of the table.

“As you all know, I’ve been working as an official member of the royal guard.

I left on my first mission shortly after Savannah was born last July.

After a few months, King Malachi switched my assignment.

He placed me on an exclusive mission—a mission so classified and secretive that it doesn’t exist on paper.

I had to cut myself off from contact with anyone other than him, and I could only communicate with him through very specific means.

” His eyes flick to Reid and Taryn, and the pain in them grows.

“I couldn’t tell you any of this. It was an honor to even be considered for this mission, and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. ”

Reid stares at him, eyes wide and guilty, and Taryn nods, a sad smile on her face. “We understand,” she whispers, glancing at Reid out of the corner of her eye as she brushes her long box braids off of her shoulder.

“I’ve seen every picture and video you sent me, though,” Dominic continues, swallowing and rubbing his chin as his eyes turn glassy. “King Malachi made sure I received them so I could watch Savvy grow. I just couldn’t respond. We couldn’t take that risk.”

Reid clears his throat. “What was this mission? Or is it still classified?”

“It is, but I have special permission to give you some of the details.”

“Why?” Wesley angles his head.

“Because we need your help.”

“But why?” Wesley repeats.

“Well, for starters, you have a healer, an oracle—”

“Acolyte,” Nolan corrects him, lips twitching with a silent laugh as he winks a hazel eye at his mate, Cassandra. “She’s just an acolyte.”

Cassandra giggles but bumps him with her shoulder and shushes him with a finger over her lips.

“And a computer hacking genius among your ranked members,” Dominic finishes, ignoring Nolan’s remark and Cassandra’s laughter. “King Malachi also says you know the female we’re trying to help.”

The others exchange glances, brows raised or frowns of confusion wrinkling their faces, but I’m focused on Dominic.

My heart skips a beat. My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.

It can’t be her. It can’t be her. I won’t let it be her.

“Someone from our pack?” Wesley asks.

“No.” Dominic shakes his head.

I grip the arms of my chair, my fingertips itching as my claws push against my skin.

“Then who is it?” Haven asks .

Dominic is quiet for a moment, hands tightening around each other and his brow furrowing.

He stares at a spot in the center of the table, jaw ticking as he thinks through his words.

“The king sometimes enlists small, nameless packs to perform favors for him or investigate issues he doesn’t want to draw attention to until he has more information on them.

In exchange, he provides them with resources and protection.

” He taps the table with his finger and glances at each of us in turn.

“A few years back, your pack stumbled on one of those groups. They helped you, and you unknowingly helped them.”

“The rogues?” Reid’s head swivels between Nolan, Wesley, and me before returning to Dominic.

“Nomads,” I reply, but my voice doesn’t work.

Dominic nods. “You shouldn’t remember them. They’re supposed to erase any traces of themselves, including memories, before they leave for their next location. But they broke that rule for your pack.”

I shut my eyes and roll my neck, rubbing my temples to massage away the overwhelming sense of wrong creeping up on me. It slithers up my spine and slinks through my veins, cold and dark and gruesome. I blink my eyes, vision blurring as I fight through the black sludge of doom poisoning my mind.

“When the palace reassigned me, they appointed me as the…liaison…for that group,” Dominic continues. “They were drawing closer to their goal and needed some extra help and support. I’ve worked with them ever since. Last night, one of them went missing.”

The air leaves my lungs at his words as if sucked out by a vacuum. I freeze, heart pounding in my chest and ears thundering.

“Who?” I lean forward. My voice is quiet, icy, and deadly. “Who went missing?”

My lycan growls in my mind, crouching into a defensive stance. Both of us are already sure of the answer before we even hear it.

Dominic’s voice sounds as if it’s coming through a tunnel as he answers my question. “Her name is Sarina.”