Page 5 of Captive Omega

"And it is, beautiful." Kylian pops his dark head out of an upstairs window, giving me a salute before adding quietly, "From up here."

The first time I came to see Rune, she asked if I’d learned anything about Resa, a fellow captive who she was—and is—still desperate to find. I didn’t have any news for her then and I don’t now.

So when she gives me a hopeful look, I shake my head and her face falls.

“We’ll find her,” I assure her.

“The city is a big place,” she murmurs.

“But there are only so many places a person can hide. We will find her.”

Rune wraps his arm around her waist and tucks her close. “Garrison says it’ll happen, so it’ll happen, cher.”

She slips out of his hold. “You look like you need to talk. I’ll leave you to it.”

I wait until she’s disappeared inside so I can get to the reason I made this brief visit. "She's more at ease around me."

After Lawrence Wentworth spent the better part of a year abusing her, I’d thought it would take longer than a few weeks for her to be comfortable around alphas.

He’s dead now, courtesy of her scent match Kylian, but that doesn’t mean her scars have healed over.

"You're an alpha she can trust, and she knows what you’re doing for Resa. How's the search going?" His gaze sharpens. “Really?”

“Resa. A young woman in her mid-twenties, approximately 5’4, with long dark hair, olive skin, large brown eyes, between two to four months pregnant. No last name, and a first name that could as easily be fake or a nickname. Slow is how things are going. Too slow.”

“You sound frustrated.”

Pissed is what I am. And worried.

I lower my voice, not wanting Everleigh to hear any of this. “She isn’t just a missing person. Someone is holding her. The longer this investigation into Asylum goes on, the more likely someone will see her as a loose end to tie off.” They might have already.

Rune scrubs a hand over his dark-blond beard. “Fuck.”

“That is what I hadn’t wanted to tell Everleigh.” It’s what had me making a forty-minute drive to Rune’s home to get this frustration out before I implode.

“And that—” Rune’s eyes sweep over my face, “—is why you look like shit.”

I stare at him. We’ve been friends for a long time. He knows what that look means.

He huffs a laugh. “I mean no offense. Just looks like you’ve had the better part of two hours' sleep over the last two weeks.”

I feel it. And he’s right. My hazel eyes are gritty, and I’ve been delaying sleep to work later and later. It’s a miracle I remember to shave in the morning, much less brush my dark hair. It’s why I’ve let the situation at home get as bad as it has. Now it’s the worst it’s ever been. But this case has gotten under my skin unlike any other.

In the ten plus years since I started Lucas Security, I’ve had my fair share of missing person cases. So why this one? Why do I get this stomach clenching panic that time is running out on Resa? That I have to be the one who saves her?

“The longer we don’t find her, the less chance we will find her in time.” I say nothing of the fact it might already be too late.

We’ve combed the building Asylum held their meetings. Any stone we found, we turned it over so many times we don’t know which side is up anymore. Whoever this Resa is, someone has gone to great lengths to hide her.

Rune’s brow furrows into a deeper, more concerned frown. “So, no leads?”

He’s offered his help, but this isn’t his job. It’s mine. And I am striking out.

"Whoever has her must have the means to keep her well-hidden."

"So, one of the wealthy families?" Rune folds his arms, muscles straining his check shirt.

Alphas are big, biology made us that way, but Rune Fontenot, the Cajun alpha who was once a former client but now someone I call a friend, can intimidate a person if they didn’t know about his affable nature.

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