Page 41

40

EMMETT

I don't know how Vincent is staying sane right now. Maybe he isn't, and he's just better at compartmentalizing the sheer chaos thundering through the bond with Amaya. I can't feel half of what he does from our omega, yet I'm still jittery with the clear fucking feralness exuding from her that shatters any kind of calm in the bond.

She's filtering through the pack bond too. I can see it in Samuel's rage and Oliver's need to escape.

Something's changed, but my mind runs rampant with what that could possibly mean. Are they scrambling to run now that two of their locations have been raided?

"Vincent—"

"She's still there. Hasn't moved," he answers my unspoken question in a stunted monotone voice that worries me. Vince's voice might not show his emotion, but the way his hand settles over the center of his chest where he feels the tug to her location says it all.

"But—" I stutter, feeling the urgency in the bond.

Oliver's eyes dig into the side of my head. "What's going on?"

"She's going feral," Vincent replies. He doesn't look back and doesn't sugarcoat his words.

Samuel snaps and lunges between the seats. "What?! Why?!"

"Sit down!" Paul roars as my arm whips out to keep my friend in the back. We don't need him getting us into an accident when we're only an hour out.

Oliver pokes my thigh. "Why is she feral, Em?"

His worried tone and watery eyes break my heart. The organ has taken beating after beating that now seeing my beta looking so scared and lost makes me physically hurt.

"Something's going on," I mutter, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to focus. It's fucking useless though, because Vincent and I don't even have a full bond. The only thing I have is a rising sense of foreboding and a ton of damn fear about why Vincent's acting like the life is being sucked out of him.

Shit, can that happen?

I rub my chest. This is the strongest I've felt Amaya since Vincent bonded me. Is it possible that she's getting stronger because she's channeling his strength?

I lean forward and curl my fingers around the big alpha's shoulder. He doesn't even flinch. "Vincent, are you okay?"

"Fine." He gives me a brisk nod without breaking his stare off with the highway.

Paul's head whips back and forth from Vincent to the road. "What's going on?" he asks, dividing his attention between us and driving.

I wait for Vincent to answer, but he doesn't make any move to show he heard his father-in-law. "I don't know," I say, eyes locked on the alpha I really fucking wish would give me anything .

I can't work through what I'm feeling because it's secondhand. Feeling Amaya losing herself and succumbing to her instincts is just that, a feeling. I don't know anything.

In the silence, something builds. And builds.

It's like my chest is expanding, like I'm being filled to the point my bones are creaking. With the rising pressure behind my breastbone, my breathing stutters and shallows.

"Em?"

"Guys what's?—"

"I—" I choke and gurgle, trying to get myself under control. But it's useless. My alpha rushes the cage he resides in, rattling my sanity. The urge to get to Amaya rises with the horrific realization that the clock is ticking.

"H-hurry!" I gasp out, doubling over just as Vincent does the same.

Vincent loses it. His sanity. He loses his sanity in the face of Amaya's impending doom. "FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!"

I can't breathe.

Oh fuck...

The cage shatters into a pile of rubble, my alpha breaking free and shattering all reason. Then the pressure of my mate’s unbridled fear crumbles and vibrates with the anguished roar of my own feral descension.

'OMEGA!'