Page 13 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)
“This is a missing person! She—they ran out without their food and disappeared into thin air! I couldn’t find them anywhere, and I looked all over Main Street.
I even looked again after work. Plus, I don’t even know why they ran away in the first place.
Maybe they didn’t go willingly! Something bad could have happened to them! ”
He’s hyperventilating now. I grab his shoulders to get him to focus on me, then walk him through taking deep breaths together. I do that until he doesn’t look like he’s about to faint.
I’m not sure what’s the best way to fix this. Trying to convince him it’s okay if this person doesn’t come back isn’t working .
I haven’t seen Sterling like this in years. I don’t want him to regress and end up back in the hospital. I thought he’d worked out his coping mechanisms so it would never get that bad again. But if something this small is affecting him like this…
I haven’t seen any other signs that Sterling isn’t doing well. He’s felt perfectly fine in the bond until now.
It could be Ciro’s trauma affecting him. He did say something about Ciro before. It’s possible this is about our larger pack issues.
Still, going along with Sterling’s plan to find the missing customer might help him feel better.
“Do you know their name? We might be able to look them up online. If they posted something recently, then you’ll know they’re okay,” I say.
Sterling shakes his head rapidly from side to side. “I don’t. I don’t know her name.”
I squeeze his shoulders again to ground him.
“That’s fine. I can call the investigator.
We’ll make sure this woman is fine so you don’t have to worry about it.
There’s almost nothing dangerous in Starsfalls though, besides minor things like when a scaled bird carried off a roast boar from the town barbeque that year. ”
“There was a giant scaled bird nearby! She’s smaller than a boar, what if it carried her off??” Sterling says, grabbing at my shirt. “Wait, no, that was just my cover story.”
“Your cover story for what?”
His explanation is making less sense as he goes on. I put the back of my hand to Sterling’s forehead to check his temperature. A fever would explain this delirium. I frown, moving my hand back and forth, but he doesn’t feel hotter than normal .
Sterling is looking at everything but me like he does when he thinks he’s pulling off a lie.
“Sterling,” I say sternly.
“Yes?” he answers innocently, still not looking at me.
“If you want my help with whatever is going on, you need to tell me the whole story, starting at the beginning.”
“If you just send me the number of the investigator, I won’t bother you about this anymore…”
“Sterling.”
He stares at the cabinets behind me for another few seconds before relenting and looking at me with puppy-dog eyes.
“I didn’t want to tell anyone until I know for sure,” he says sullenly.
He pauses, and I give him a sharp nod.
“I ran into an omega at work today, but she ran out before I learned her name, or even had time to really talk to her. I wanted to find her and see if she’s interested in a date before I told the pack about her.
I don’t know if she’s single, or even likes me, so I didn’t want to tell you about her in case I got my hopes up for nothing,” Sterling says.
That explanation is more coherent, though I didn’t expect this to be about an omega.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sterling pursue someone before, at least not for a first date.
Anyone he’s ever dated asked him out first, or it was a group date set up by one of us.
Sure, after he started seeing someone, he’ll reciprocate and ask them out on more dates if he’s interested, but Sterling is never the initiator.
Even Aero, the most shy, timid person I’ve ever met, was the one to ask Sterling out.
I scrub a hand over my eyes. I’m happy that Sterling is this passionate about someone, but I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the shift from thinking the mob was after his cookies to how cute it is that Sterling wants to ask someone out on a date for the first time ever.
“I’m happy that you found an omega you like, but where does the scaled bird come into this?” I ask, hand still over my eyes.
“Oh, right. Well, Ciro ran into me while I was running down Main Street looking for her, so I had to come up with a cover story about why I wasn’t at the bakery.
I said I saw a big scaled bird I wanted to get a closer look at.
It was a great excuse. Even though I had to come up with it on the spot, he totally believed me,” Sterling says proudly, puffing out his slender chest.
I guess I’ll also be coming up with ways to throw Ciro off Sterling’s trail until he’s ready to tell everyone about the omega.
“That’s great, Sterling,” I agree, picking up my phone to complete the half-finished text to Alice. “I asked for the investigator’s contact info. Why don’t you tell me what you know about the omega so we can pass on any potential leads.”
“She appeared suddenly, lured in by the scent of the bakery, drifting over to look at the desserts so gracefully. She was warm and sweet, and kind of flowery, like a rich vanilla that lingers on the tongue, curves everywhere, so soft. Hair the color of the best chocolate, dark green eyes like a lush, leafy plant. Even when I dragged her onto my lap, she sat daintily upon me, as if I were a tuffet,” Sterling says wistfully.
I pause my note-taking on my phone.
“You pulled her into your lap?”
I think my brain is breaking. Sterling had someone sitting on his lap when he just met her? Without even asking her name?
“You said this happened at the bakery, right? You didn’t sneak out to a club in the middle of the day?” I say, just to be sure.
“Yes, at the bakery. Oh!” Sterling pauses his reminiscing about the omega goddess to slap frantically at his clothes.
“Your phone is on the counter by the fridge,” I say, having seen his missing phone dance many times before.
Sterling darts over to grab it and starts tapping. I wait to see what shocking new thing he’s going to tell me next. Maybe he’s decided to change careers and become a candlestick maker.
“Here, this is her.”
Sterling shows me a still image from one of the security cameras at Flourist. A dark-haired woman stands in the doorway, clothes hugging every curve. She’s staring at Sterling like she’s starving, but he hasn’t noticed her yet.
The omega looks like you just want to take a bite out of her, or really sink your fingers in. Even with the grainy security camera footage, I can tell she’s beautiful. It’s not surprising that Sterling would want to ask her out.
After studying her for a bit longer, I try to look at the full video of her visit, switching over to the security camera app. Before I can press play, Sterling snatches his phone back.
Flustered, he swipes around before locking it and putting it in his pocket.
“I sent you the photo so you can give it to the investigator,” he says.
“Did you check the video to see why she ran out?” I ask.
“It doesn’t show anything, she just walks out after I go in the back to grab something. ”
“Then you don’t have to worry about her being kidnapped. If I could see the video, maybe I could figure out what happened. Did she get a phone call before leaving?” I say.
“Someone outside the bakery could have called her out and then kidnapped her,” he says defensively. “She didn’t look at her phone or anything else before leaving.”
“Can I see the video?”
Sterling looks away before answering, “There’s nothing more to the video. She comes in, looks at the desserts, I step into the back, and she leaves.”
“Where does her sitting on your lap come into this?” I question him.
“That’s not important. What matters is she left before I could learn anything about her, so we don’t have much to go on.”
“Are you sure she wants to be found?”
I hate that I have to ask, but if she was sitting on his lap and wouldn’t tell him her name afterward, it doesn’t sound like the omega was very interested. I might have been wrong in my assessment of the image. Maybe she wasn’t hungry for Sterling, and it was the desserts she was looking at.
Sterling’s lip trembles, and I feel like shit for asking, but I don’t want him to pin all his hopes on this just for the omega to tell him off when we find her.
But Sterling firms his mouth and says, “She was worried about me when I slipped in some cake. She tried to help and stayed there to make sure I wasn’t hurt.
She didn’t leave until after I assured her I was fine.
She might have needed to get back to work, and that’s why she left.
There’s no reason to think she wouldn’t want to see me again. ”
“We’ll find her then,” I assure him.
I hope Sterling’s right about this, and not just for his sake. If Sterling found someone he’s this interested in, maybe she’ll be a good fit for the rest of us too.
We might finally find a mate for our pack.