Page 2 of Your Wild Omega (The Feral Actress #2)

Chapter two

Callisto

Two full days have passed since Red vanished.

I slide a mug into the coffee machine cradle and watch the trickle of black gold spill out.

Exhaustion saps my bones and I move mechanically, bumping into the benches.

We’ve barely slept, and the few hours we grabbed this morning were on the mattress dumped on the living room floor.

The omega’s heat scent lingers in the apartment, the fading hints of honeyed nuts driving home the fact she’s gone.

Rickon stirs, his slender body jolting as reality sets in. “Any news?” he murmurs groggily, rising on his elbows.

“Nothing.”

He groans and flops back, his white-blond hair splaying on the pillow. A sting runs through my heart. If I’m this worried, how much worse must it be for her actual alpha?

“The guys at the OCB will find her,” I say to reassure both of us. “If we don’t hear anything today, they’ll put out a missing person alert.”

Ricky nods and sighs. He rolls off the mattress and collects the trash from the floor we haven’t had time to deal with yet.

As he bends, his bed hair flops in his eyes and my fingers itch to brush it back for him.

We haven’t shared a bed in ages; takes me back to when we were teens.

After all the distance between us in recent years, it feels companionable, like we’re inseparable best friends again.

But I can’t enjoy it with Red missing.

My phone vibrates, spinning on the marble bench, and I frown at the unfamiliar number as I snatch it up. “Callisto Wren speaking,” I answer.

“Hello, Mr Wren. This is Sheriff Peter McCullis from the Etelis Police Station. We’re holding someone here who claims to be your client.”

My heart double beats in my chest. I snap my fingers at Ricky, and he comes running, skidding to the island bench on his white socks. “Name?” I ask huskily.

“Red Jones.”

My breath catches and I flash Rickon a thumbs-up. Thank God, she’s alive and at a police station. “Yes, she’s my client,” I say. “What charge is she being held on?”

The sheriff hums. “Well, it’s a little hard to explain really, but the official charges are impersonating an OCB agent and—” He hesitates, and I tense, waiting for the blow.

“And what?” I coax when the pause gets too long.

“Um. Stealing an inmate from a federal facility.”

“She stole . . . someone out of a prison?” I repeat numbly.

Rickon’s mouth forms a huge O. “What happened?” he hisses in a whisper.

Shaking my head, I walk a few steps so I can look at the message Red left on the wall. See a man about an alpha. I press my hand to my thumping chest. “An alpha?” I mutter to myself, forgetting the phone call. She left here to break an alpha out of prison?

“Yes,” the sheriff says, sounding worn out.

I shove one hand through my hair, a chill tickling down my arms. What the hell was Red thinking, waltzing into a prison, of all places?

They could have torn her to pieces. From what I hear, she can’t even stomach the scent of alphas in closed spaces.

I grip the phone tighter. I need to know Red’s okay.

“Put her on the phone,” I demand.

“Well—” McCullis clears his throat. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. She’s still in the company of the stolen alpha, and we couldn’t separate them.”

I turn to face Rickon, blinking at him while I process. My brain doesn’t want to compute the officer’s words. Separate? Surely he doesn’t mean what I think he means. But it wouldn’t be the first crazy thing Red’s done.

“What do you mean, you can’t separate them?” I ask cautiously.

The man clicks his tongue. “He’s still got his teeth in her for a mating bond. And a knot.” His voice cracks, and I can picture him sweating on the other end of the line.

The phone slides from my frozen fingers and clatters to the floor. Rickon leaps forward and scoops it up as ghostly tremors slide up and down my spine. Maybe I’m sweating too.

“Callisto? What is it?” Rickon begs as he passes me the phone.

I shake my head. A mating bond? Rickon’s contract with the Omega Center has a condition that doesn’t permit a bite. For twelve months. Did Red sidestep the legalities? But more importantly, who the fuck is this alpha? It can’t be good news if she found him in prison.

“She’s bonded to an alpha,” I whisper numbly. An alpha who isn’t us.

Rickon staggers back a step, catching himself on the breakfast bar. “She what?”

I slump onto the bar stool and switch the phone to speaker mode, clearing my voice. “Sorry about that, Sheriff. Can you confirm that despite being in your jail, Red has an alpha bonded to her?”

“Yes, sir, that’s what I’m saying. We can’t separate them.”

I rest my forehead on my hand, the skin hot to touch. I’m Red’s lawyer, so right now I need to act like one. “Okay. What’s the bail price?”

“Well, that’s the problem,” McCullis says. Noise scratches in the background and a door closes before the line quiets down. “Hers is a-hundred-thous, but the alpha is a ward of the state, so we don’t even have a precedent. I’ve got agents coming from Alpha Lodgings as we speak to sort this out.”

Well, that can't be good news. I slap my hand down on the bench. “Where did you say you’re calling from?”

“Etelis. A town in Darinian State, near the border.”

I jump to my feet and clap my hand on Ricky’s shoulder, pushing him toward the stairs.

“Okay. Do not, for any reason, move Red or that alpha until I get there. She’s considered an at-risk omega by the Laversham Omega Center, so do not move them or separate them, no matter what the agents say.

We’ll be there on the next available flight. ”

An ache clamps around my chest. Red might not survive losing another alpha, so I have to do everything in my power to protect her decision. Fuck, I hope this was all her decision. Otherwise, if he’s force-bonded her, I’ll be the one sending this damn alpha back to prison.

Rickon’s already halfway up the stairs as I end the call. He pauses and looks back at me, a half smile tugging at his lips. “This is Red we’re talking about. Nothing should surprise us.”

I scoff and run up the stairs after him and push him onward. “Make sure you pack your alpha contract, as well as a bag for her. I’m guessing she didn’t take much with her.”

Upstairs, I grip the doorframe to my room, my brain running in a million directions.

How the fuck did she manage a jailbreak on her own?

“I’ll pack a bag for this alpha with his teeth in her,” I call down the hall.

“If he’s someone Red decided she needs, I bet he’ll be coming back here.

You okay with that?” I drag my suitcase down from the top shelf in my walk-in closet, head cocked to catch his answer.

It takes a while, but finally he calls back, “Yeah. Do we even have a choice at this point? I’m just pissed a stranger got to bond her first.”

I grunt in agreement.

A moment later, Ricky appears in my doorway. “Um, Calli? About the bail money . . .”

My throat squeezes and I drop everything on my bed before crossing the room in a couple of strides. “You don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it, Ricky.”

He nods and drops his gaze. “I’ll pay you back later, if you need the cash, or something goes wrong.”

His vulnerability scrapes at me like a carpet burn. “No need. Let’s just get Red back in one piece, okay?” Ricky should know that money isn’t a problem in our family, and his anxiety makes me uneasy for reasons I can’t put a finger on.

Ricky draws a shuddering breath. “Okay, thanks.” He squeezes his hands into fists, tension running through his shoulders. “Bloody hell, I’m angry and relieved at the same time. A bond?” He hisses softly, and then nods and turns on his heel.

I shower and get dressed in a decent suit, and then throw clothes into my case.

Yeah, I’ve got that same feeling shunting up through my throat to choke me.

At least Rickon has the right to be angry, unlike me.

But Red needs us now, and that’s all that matters.

She can pick any alpha she wants, especially since I—

Yeah, I fucked up.

I snap the case shut and zip it up, remembering to call my driving service for a car before I head into the office to grab my laptop.

I have tons of work to catch up on with dozens of cases to prepare for, so I’ll have to do as much as possible on the flight.

Including preparing a defense for Red’s OCB impersonation and alpha theft.

No matter how much I wrack my brain, I can’t think of a single precedent for an omega physically breaking an alpha out of prison.

Rickon waits for me in the kitchen, stuffing snacks into his backpack. I glance around the house. “Is the bird going to be all right for a couple of days?”

“Oh, shit,” Ricky wails.

I roll his case to the front door while he refills seed and water dishes, listening as the parrot calls him a bastard.

“I can ask Mom or Lector to swing by if we get held up,” I offer as the tiny metal doors rattle on the birdcage.

Rickon joins me by the front entrance, dusting seeds off his hands. “Fingers crossed we’re back in a day or two.”

“Yeah.” We need our omega back home where she belongs—in our home. I huff out an agitated breath and drag the cases out the door.

The idea festers on the drive to the airport.

My apartment has become a home since Red and Rickon moved in.

I steal glances at my best friend, taking in his pursed lips and the way his fingers tap against the car arm rest. I screwed up with Red, yes, but she still let me help her through her heat.

Maybe if I prove myself, she’ll let me into this fold she’s building.

I mean, she went all the way to Darinian State and broke a man out of prison. If I prove my worth and beg hard enough, will she take me back? Maybe if I make myself useful, she won’t have a choice.